The Education Experiment: April 2016

So it has been a few weeks since the infamous monster conference we call National CUE (formerly known as Palm Springs CUE). It has also been over a year since I last blogged, so I thought this would be a good time to start up again. This was my second time attending the conference and had so many thoughts go through my dome regarding what I learned, experienced, and shared over the culminating three days. As always, the highlight of the show was the networking amongst the incredible educators that I met there or already had a relationship with. It is always an honor to connect with other teachers that have a passion/desire to learn more about how to integrate technology into their specific role, whether that be in the classroom, administration, or as a tech leader.

Now that I am no longer in the classroom and in a role of training teachers in the art of tech integration, I kept finding myself viewing the sessions that I attended through a different lens compared to when I was an everyday teacher. For example, I attended +Mari Venturino's session, Gamify Your PD with Badge List and throughout her presentation I couldn't help but think about how I could utilize this idea of badging with the trainings I lead with teachers. Whereas before I would have been racking my brain on how I could implement a more effective badging system with my 6th graders. So my perspective on conferences has now taken a different turn and I love that because it is something that challenges me to figure out how to make teachers think/see how technology can enhance the learning experience for our students.

The other thing I appreciate about a conference like this is the opportunity to be inspired by others. I think education can be such a draining occupation at times and it is important for us as educators to revitalize and refresh by attending an event like CUE to allow that moment of inspiration to happen. Not just to become better teachers, but to remember that we are not in this alone. I think it is also important to remember to not get frustrated at something NOT going exactly the way you thought it would. For instance, a tech conference is never going to be flawless (i.e. the electricity goes out or the wifi is spotty or we can't find a seat at the session I really wanted to attend and had to sit on the floor for an hour). Much like the desire to teach that perfect lesson, the reality is there will never be the perfect conference. Yet, so many of us focus on the negative instead of focusing on the many moments/gold nuggets that we experience at a conference like CUE. We can all still have a positive experience no matter how many snafus come up in the process. So with this spin on positives, I feel like posting the positive moments I had through picture and video. Here are just some of the positivity of my #CUE16 experience through the lens of my iPhone.