ISTE13

I'd begged my way to attending the International Society for Technology in Education conference (ISTE) about a month before it began. Being one to jump in with both feet then panic later, I immediately made a bid to do an Ignite session. I'd presented locally at both the Region 11 Library Harvest and at Lone Star Technology Integration Academy as well at for the state Technology conference (TCEA) at 50 minutes a pop so I jumped at the chance, figuring "how hard can it be to present for a mere 5 minutes". Yeah....right!!! 

I turned in my 20 images 2 weeks prior and had it basically laid out in my head but when it got to be my turn those slides really moved FAST! You can see my slides here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/h3cdzsa4g4fcgg2/ISTE_Ignite_Seigler_ThinkTank.ppt 

Everyone said it was great and I felt like it went well but I sure could have talked longer. Ok....those of you that know me are going "duh!?!?!". It was a great experience presenting alongside so many others with awesome ideas. I already "knew" Todd Nesloney @techninjatodd from my Twitter PLN and was honored to present right before him. I made several new Twitter friends right there so we will be able to follow each other through additional share-worthy experiences. 

One thing I knew I wanted to see was LEGO WeDo. Since I will be charged with covering  the technology curriculum next year as well as library skills, I wanted a fun and engaging way to teach coding skills (and a large dose of following directions won't hurt either). I REALLY had a blast playing with these guys....bye bye book fair profit! 

One thing I really didn't want was to fall in love with things I couldn't afford. That's very hard in a place as tempting as this!!!!!

At TCEA one year, I made the mistake of admiring the pricey stuff....and ended up bummed out. That really wasn't a problem at ISTE......because it's not really about that.

What?!?   A technology conference not about technology?!? Well, it was...and it wasn't. What it was about was connections (although they forgot to pass that memo to the WiFi). It was great to meet people I only knew online. I was amazed by teachers and kids sharing about how they used technology to connect themselves with others. I was inspired to dust off this blog and get sharing. And I was also inspired to step outside my comfort zone....

I'm NOT a fan of parties. Being hearing impaired kinda does that to ya. It's a bummer to go somewhere and be in constant fear of not hearing the directions or answering the wrong question. My cochlear implants have mostly eliminated the risk...but not the fear. Having walked approximately 187.3 miles up stairs carrying a backpack containing not only a fully Griffin-decked iPad but also a Surface tablet didn't help either. But I went anyway...and actually had fun. ;) I was just about to chicken out when Krissy Venosdale @venspired flagged me down. We thought we followed each other on Twitter but then realized we didn't....it was on Pinterest. I also had to go watch Holly Davis, our new Tech director singing Karaoke. 

The pictured (above) list is from the opening Keynote by Jane McGonigal @avantgame and shares the positive emotions gamers experience. In looking at that list, it pretty well covered my ISTE13 experience as well. Counting down (and probably counting my pennies) till ISTE14.