Top Ten Things I Learned While #notatISTE

Being from Letterman's hometown, it feels only appropriate that I put my ISTE2015 reflections in the form of a top ten list.

I attended ISTE/NECC from 2009-2013, but did not this year (partly due to the mushrooming expense)  In recent weeks, I noticed increasing mentions of #NOTATISTE and investigated what that involved.  Little did I know it would mean I would spend hours on Google+ (the first I had really fully integrated it), hours in the "notatISTE" Voxer group with over 140 others, not to mention Google Hangouts, podcasts, twitter, periscope, email, diigo, Pinterest, and other websites-- all while having a fabulous time! The #notatISTE Google+ group has over 660 members.

10. It probably is a little easier to imagine what is going on if you have attended an ISTE in person. I was grateful that I had a great guide the first time I went (Washington, D.C. in 2009). I had even been to the Philadelphia ISTE in 2011. I can't imagine trying to picture an event with 20,000 people not having experienced it.

9. In this group, you were correct if you "Assumed Good Intentions". There really were no dumb questions. The atmosphere in the Voxer group was very open, non-judgmental, and patient. Many attendees mentioned that it was interesting to feel comfortable sharing so openly with complete strangers.

8. I knew this already, but the librarian network at ISTE (ISTElib) is fabulous! I watched two of their GHO; they are very organized and share many great resources. They have online opportunities throughout the year, and this was no exception. There are some excellent tweeters who readily share as well.

7. I will now be more equipped to encourage other educators to learn "off-site". When I was a beginning science teacher, it was attendance at events like NSTA and our state science convention (HASTI) that really added to my teaching repertoire. Today's teachers may not have as many in-person opportunities, but there are many resources available to everyone.

6. One of the #notatiste leaders, Jennifer Wagner, made a very creative challenge for us to perform different tasks to earn points. This led me to crowd source suggestions for the best Philly Cheesesteak in Indianapolis, do a photo walk of my neighborhood, and experiment with different tech tools. There was even a #notatiste karaoke group at the same time EdTechKaraoke was happening in Philadelphia. Did I win anything from this? No, just the satisfaction of learning and figuring things out.

From my neighborhood photowalk

5. I was willing to explore many new technological things with the support of our community. One of our leaders, Craig Yen, spontaneously offered a Google Hangout to teach us about... Google Hangouts! This community was the first time I used Google Draw, 81 Dash, and the most time I've spent on Periscope, Google+, Pocket and other sites.

4. You can empathize with people you've only "known" for a couple of days. One of our Voxer members had the adoption of her baby boy finalized on the final day of ISTE; she told us, posted a picture, and we all rejoiced!

3.  Quickly shorten URL's. Why didn't I know this before? When you see a long url, much of the time the end of it shows the path taken to reach the site (twitter, facebook, etc) Shorten the link by deleting everything from the '?' mark on! That takes you to the original post. May seem trivial, but I post a lot, and always try to find the source.

2. There were some advantages to being at home.  
Yes, there were times I had my phone, laptop, iPad, and chromebook in use. It would have been hard to juggle in person!  There is still the FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) But, in a way, it was easier to be in more than one place at a time.

1. There is still an after-ISTE letdown.

I still encourage people to go to ISTE (Denver 2016, San Antonio 2017), but this experience was awesome!  I have made connections for years to come.

ADDENDUM: Check out this great post from Craig Yen, in which he details how he accomplished so much while #notatiste. It helps explain how he seemed to be everywhere!

Hosting edCamp Was Like My Wedding

It seems only appropriate that I write this on the Saturday of ISTE2015 in Philadelphia, for it was on June 25, 2011 that edCampIndy was "born". On what would become one of my "Top Ten Days of PD Ever"* I heard Kristen Swanson speak at TEDxPhillyEd 2011 on Penn's campus.

On the ride back from Philadelphia, AISLE President Denise Keogh and I made plans for the initial edCampIndy. AISLE (Association of Indiana School Library Educators) wanted to host a summer conference, but hosting a traditional conference was becoming very difficult financially, and we embraced the ideas of a participant-designed meeting.  Our summer workshops were already including educators outside the library realm, so edCamp fit that as well.

The fourth annual edcampIndy was held June 12, 2015, and as AISLE past president, I was the chair. We were able to hold it in my district at Raymond Park Middle School/Intermediate Academy. So many details ran in my head for months. For one reason or another, the things I lost the most sleep over:
1) Would we have enough sponsors? (I never worried about this until I was the chair this year.)
2) Would the wifi hold up? (Our tech department worked all of this out for us.)
3) Would enough people show up? (155 registered; about 90 attended.)
4) Would enough people volunteer when it was time to build the board?

The Fourth Annual #edCampIndy at Raymond Park Middle/Intermediate

As the people started to roll in, it really hit me: I knew most of the people coming, from several different walks of my life.  What a unique privilege to have co-workers, others in the district, librarians from across the state, friends, and others all in one place, meeting and interacting with one another. I even saw my daughter's second grade teacher for the first time in many years. As it would turn out, just like my wedding, I didn't begin to have as much time as I would have liked to talk to them. I also didn't get enough pictures (and why didn't I periscope?) I met several people face to face for the first time whom I've "known" on twitter for months, including some #BFC530 chatters. 

Fortunately, I have attended several other edCamps, including 3 in Chicago. At their most recent one on May 9, the organizers generously shared their google doc to organize just about everything in one place. All I had to do was make a copy. Our final document with links to our sessions can be found here. 

Of course, we had glitches, leading to recommendations we will make for next year. They include:
1) Somehow, in modifying the google doc to add session titles, some of our links to session notes disappeared.  I had qr codes plastered everywhere, but should have included the short url.
2) We should have had Tshirts to make it easy to find one of us. We had a session about google apps and extensions that ended up without a facilitator and attendees had trouble finding one of the organizers, scattered across sessions.
3) Although sessions are proposed by attendees, we had so many first time edcamp attendees that many were hesitant to come forward to propose a session. I had a few panicked moments where I was afraid our board would be half full.  Then some people stepped forward to get the ball rolling.  The same thing happened with our smackdown, which eventually turned out great! We could have "pre-arranged" a few more sessions that we knew would be of great interest since we had so many rookies.

4) Serendipitiously, I came across a video from Wes Fryer showing how to use google forms to email participation certificates using the autocrat addon.  Somehow the sharing permissions are still a bit muddled, so I need to figure that out. Although I thought everything was created in one google account, sharing permissions sometimes point to another, but overall, it was fun to use!
5) We should have included some students.

As with any special event, it took many hands stepping in, including MSD Warren teachers Becky Taylor, Krissy Carson, Jennifer Atkinson, and Roberta Kuonen. Krissy, as media specialist at Raymond Park, helped before and after with many setup details, including equipment. AISLE members Michelle Houser, Gigi Shook, and Denise Keogh jumped in several times to help during edCamp.

My overwhelming feeling when edcamp was over: gratitude that I had the opportunity to be among so many dedicated educators, many of them old friends, and all of them future connections.

*With ISTE in Philadelphia in 2011, I had the opportunity to do all of these in one day: ISTE Unplugged (for a little bit), Discovery Education at the Science Leadership Academy (a school I had wanted to see for some time), TEDxPhillyEd at Penn, and the ISTE Affiliate reception. The conference itself had not begun, and I had already learned enough to make the trip worthwhile!

You, Too, Can Moderate a Twitter Chat*

I have been continually inspired through my participation in the Breakfast Club 5:30 AM twitter chats (heretofore referred to as #BFC530 ET and MT). They truly are "spark chats" that take just 15 minutes of your time initially, with positive effects lasting much longer. I also joined the Voxer chat group, and frequently learn from my BFC Voxer friends as I listen to posts on the way home.

You can read more about #BFC530 here, but the best way is to just follow the hashtag #BFC530 (Did you know you can search twitter even if you do not have an account? ...although I can't imagine learning without twitter now. ) Because I had gained so much, I decided it was time for me to attempt to give back, so I volunteered to moderate for a day.

I had recently read a post about an ASCD book by Suzy Pepper Rollins called Learning in the Fast Lane: 8 Ways to Put All Students on the Road to Academic Success. The first chapter really resonated with me. Take the time to open the link above; does the first paragraph describe anything you've ever seen?

Book available from http://shop.ascd.org/

Topics on #BFC530 have been very thought-provoking, applicable to almost any educators' situation, sometimes philosophical, sometimes content-specific, sometimes serious, sometimes fun. Inspired by the book, I decided to submit the topic, "What are your best methods to assist struggling students?" and agreed to moderate both the 5:30 am ET and 5:30 MT (7:30 am for me). When I was booked into the schedule, I looked forward to it with eager anticipation for an entire week.

My initial thoughts: the 530 ET chat will be very nerve-wracking because there are so many people. The MT chat will be really easy, because not as many people participate. Was I ever wrong!!

The 530 ET chat generally begins a few minutes early with lots of hellos from around the world (lately including many laments about weather and snow day and delay announcements, as well as comments about the heat from our Floridian, SW US and Down Under friends) When I have tweetdeck open, it is a fast and furious conversation that reminds me of spinning fruit on a slot machine.

The surprising, wonderful thing about the MT chat was that while there were fewer participants, the conversation was much richer, deeper, and challenging.  There was actually time to think through a response and interact with the participants. I felt that my role as moderator was more important. There was more time to ask more questions to keep things moving, and more time to formulate a reply.

I've noticed that many of the valuable chats I've participated in have moderators who move things along (believe it or not, sometimes we get off topic!), and have carefully thought out questions that build upon previous ones.  However, they are also not averse to capitalizing on a good question or comment shared by a participant.  If you like leading class discussions, you'll be a natural, and if not, you can learn (growth mindset noted).  Before I give myself too much credit, it should be noted that yes, this was just a 15-minute chat. Many chats are an hour long, although I am starting to notice more 30-minute chats as well.

Please consider joining the #BFC530 chat sometime, no matter what your time zone. There are some storify posts available as well, and you will have a treasure chest of favorite and reply tweets. It's also a good idea to have a method to curate much of the information you receive, because you will learn a lot! Better yet, the feelings of inspiration and camaraderie with other educators throughout the world will often last until you recharge the next week day.

*Yes, I looked up the proper use of commas in this instance; most responses said it depends upon the emphasis desired, and I wanted to emphasize you!

My One Word: Time

Let it be known that I didn't jump on the #OneWord bandwagon this year; I did that last year. Of course, as 2015 approached, I had to search to find what my 2014 word was (pride). At first I was leaning toward something in the "no excuses" vein for this year. I have a problem with procrastinating, so I've actually held some "no excuses" days in the past; when something came up that I needed to do, I promptly did it!  It was fun and strangely satisfying.

Image courtesy of http://www.freerangekids.com/free-ranging-under-the-clock-of-fate/

While there are many trite sayings and platitudes about time, what is true is that I do have the same amount as everyone else. Eric Sheninger's blog post of 12-21-14 had a graphic that really stuck with me: 

Image courtesy of http://www.beliefnet.com/columnists/blissblog/files/2014/02/whatmattersmost.jpg

Then, as I started to work on my word, I serendipitously heard a sermon by our youth minister, Jenni Crowley Cartee, about the "fullness of time". She cited a book by Daniel Stern called The Present Moment. (When I investigated later, I discovered that the complete title is The Present Moment in Psychotherapy and Everyday Life.  Whew!  I'm glad I had Jenni's sermon to explain it.)

What struck me most about Jenni's sermon was the description of Chronos time vs. Kairos time.  How do we reconcile the precise, objective measurement of time, Chronos, with the importance of Kairos?  Kairos reminds me of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's concept of "flow " when you become completely absorbed in what you are doing.  Steve Chapman says, "The way I understand it, the difference between the two is that chronos time is informed by the passing of seconds, whereas kairos time is informed by the emergence of meaning." What's fascinating is that as you may lose track of time, you may find insight.

During my time working with a dozen outstanding educators to write Teaching 2030: What We Must Do for Our Public School Students--Now and in the Future, we frequently discussed the concept of "seat time" vs. "learning time".  I always think of 2030 colleague Renee Moore for her views on using seat time (Chronos) as a measure of accomplishment.  Is, "Congratulations! You're spent 13 years with us; you're done," the best way to measure K-12 education?  Should students be assigned work by their age?

Archived Webinar from Indiana DOE

Even as I worked on this post today, the Indiana State Board of Education was debating the definition of an "instructional day" at the same time school districts were holding eLearning days due to frigid temperatures.  


With the advent of the net and easy access, I spend a lot of time on social media. I'm not sure how often I experience Kairos, especially while jumping from platform to platform. We can connect to more information than ever before, and, if we are deliberate in our practice, much of it can prove to be useful.  My goal for 2015 is to be more mindful of my Chronos time while obtaining more meaningful results. And, what does this mean for students?  How do we guide them toward experiencing Kairos time, or flow, while adhering to the implications of the typical Chronos school time?

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Shake it Up: #BFC530 and Voxer

Sometimes in the past, I would check twitter right after I woke up. Gradually, I noticed an increase in the hashtag #BFC530; eventually I figured out it's the "Breakfast Club 5:30 am" (There's actually a MT group too, which is 7:30 am ET) How many times have you googled a hashtag?  Joining this chat and then Voxer have changed my whole daily routine! I set my alarm for 5:25 am and only occasionally hit 'Snooze'; I don't want to miss the chat.

Courtesy of @ScottCapro, #BFC530 Co-Founder

Now, I've participated in lots of twitter chats, but some don't seem to accomplish much. Plus, this one is a mere 15 minutes, a "spark chat'. Another thing that distinguishes #BFC530 is that it is very organized, has high quality topics, and encourages participants to lead the chat and suggest themes. I can honestly say that starting off the day with #BFC530 has given me a more positive outlook. Frequently during the day I will remember something said in the chat and draw some inspiration from it.


I moved slowly at first, but the group convinced me to try Voxer. What a revelation! Voxer is a sort of walkie-talkie phone app, with messages that can be shared with individuals or anyone in a particular group.  First I joined the #BFC Voxer group, then #INeLearn, and then started a group for AISLE (Association of Indiana Library Educators).  Yes, the tweets are still valuable, but Voxer gives you an opportunity to extend the learning and interaction beyond 140 characters.  Frequently I listen to Voxer on my way home from school, although then I have to scramble to remember some of the ideas or resources I learn about while driving.

Courtesy of @ScottCapro

Some reflections from chat/Voxer members:
1) You can use this to support a Critical Friends Group (CFG). You can easily share ideas, reflections... now or later
2) One member is using Voxer for a book club (Love that idea)
3) This extends your PD time without necessarily taking up extra time.
4) It takes even less time if you play the voxes at 2x or even 3x the normal talking speed.

Sometimes I think it's almost better than most of us do not know each other. We have been amazingly open and honest, with several individuals sharing successes, failures, get betters and requests for assistance. By trying these new technologies and interactions, we're modeling in a way what we would like our students to experience.

When I was working with some students one day after school this week, the Voxer signal on my phone went off; they asked me what it was, and I explained that it was my "Voxer friends". They were intrigued with the premise that these friends were from around the world-- and that we concentrated on education.  Hopefully, they too will come to see learning as something it's easy to do 24/7 in a meaningful way.

Please check out the #BFC530 chat and the website if you haven't already. (You can also get the Voxer details from the site.) Many have gone from lurkdom to total participation almost instantly.  Thanks to @ScottCapro and Jessica Raleigh for a fabulous idea!

What's in a Name? ICE was Right to Change Theirs. Day Two Review

After the second and final day of the ICE Conference, I've taken some time to reflect on the overall experience.  It was an outstanding event! What really struck me is that the most moving, inspiring sessions really had little to do with computers or technology.  The keynotes from Dave Burgess (AKA Talk Like a Pirate) and Kevin Honeycutt truly were more about relationships than technology. Thus, the name change from 'Indiana Computer Educators' to 'Indiana Connected Educators' seems to make a lot of sense.

Yes, there were great ideas to be gained from the speeches and sessions, but things have moved more from the "things" to the 'why'.  It's not how you get there, it's just that you get there. And, students should share in some of the decisions on the path to take... even the destination.

Danielle Darnell &Amy Schmidt from MSD Wabash County shared their successes in coding with all students. 
Here we practiced with moving cups to simulate the moves of a robot.

We heard quite a bit about coding, and the session I attended was great at giving some of the nuts and bolts, as well as resources,  In addition to their emaze presentation, and a Pinterest page, they shared specific ideas for different grade levels and answered many questions. I really liked the fact that their entire district participated in an hour of code last December. Could my district do this?  Even just the two schools in the same building? 

Any time Leslie Fisher is presenting, I have to go to at least one of her sessions.  From the clever videos she plays as you wait for a session, to her content and comments, she is always entertaining. This time I attended her gadget presentation, although I heard that the twitter session was very illuminating, too.  And then there was evernote and others.... too hard to choose!

Whenever I hear Kevin Honeycutt speak, I have to tell people about the stories he relates. Even though I had been to two sessions of his before, he had lots of new material. As I mentioned on my twitter stream, he has so much that is "quotable and tweetworthy" that it's hard to keep up. Listening to him makes you feel empowered, important, and inspired; now for the follow-through.

At a later session (wisely moved to the auditorium to accommodate a larger crowd and keep his equipment intact), he gave some rapid-fire ideas for incorporating digital literacy into research. By using us as a class, he showed how he would have students answer the question, "What was the first submarine to sink a ship?" Then he asked many, many follow-up questions, asked us what websites we were using, alerted us to false information, and told us we always had to cite sources.  Have 15 minutes left at the end of a period/day?  Divide a class in two; half the room researches to support     A: Black widow spiders are the worst  OR B. Brown recluse spiders are the worst.  Put your links and citations into a shared google doc (which can even be shared with parents)  Or choose things such as dogs/cats, standard/automatic, text/email/chat. He encouraged us to use one of his ready-made PBL lessons dealing with an asteroid hurtling toward earth. He has worked with many students to find ways to turn their talents into money, even careers.  

Our great Indiana DOE Office of eLearning has several events for October, Connected Educator Month.  One of these is the #INeLearn Challenge, designed for you to use with your staff.  You can even earn PGP's for completing it, all as you learn about different aspects of the Google Online Communities of Practice. There are communities by discipline and grade level.

Sherry Gick &Addie Matteson demonstrate their enthusiasm in the Maker Space photo booth.

And, I would be remiss without another mention of the extensive Maker Space available to us.  A lot of effort went into affording us the opportunity to experience several possibilities. All in all, the conference was an ideal experience, and will definitely go on my calendar for next year!

Pirates, Vacation, and Makey Makey

The first day of the Indiana Connected Educators (ICE) conference was a fabulous experience! Several districts and the Indiana Department of Education Office of eLearning have combined to make our state a leader in education technology, with many inexpensive opportunities for teachers and other educators to learn from nationally-renowned tech stars.

Consider the line up for this year's conference:
-Sylvia Martinez
-Leslie Fisher
-Dave Burgess, AKA Talk Like a Pirate
-Kevin Honeycutt

Throw in two breakfasts, two lunches, free wireless and parking--- all for $100? (and presenters attend for free)  No wonder more than 400 people registered. My primary reasons to attend: ICE helps you experience the same joy of learning that you hope students will, and I get to see lots of friends!

Some of my media specialist friends at ICE. AISLE had great representation 
Photo courtesy of Michelle Green

Although I participated in the eLearning book club with Sylvia Martinez's Invent to Learn and have been in webinars where she presented, seeing her in person really helped me realize more of the impetus and reach of the "Maker Movement".

Buzz saw?  Whirlwind?  Psycho?  No-- it's Dave Burgess!

I've read the book, been in multiple chats... but nothing can compare to seeing Dave Burgess in person. My main take away when I read his book was that teachers should not be afraid to be different, to "go out on a limb" to be memorable, and entertaining to students.  The level of engagement in his presentations was phenomenal, and you could sense teachers thinking of ways they could adapt lessons.  I was so excited to see Dr. Nancy Steffel of the University of Indianapolis, who brought all of her junior and senior preservice teachers to this conference, and had them sitting in the front row for Burgess's keynote.  What better way for future teachers to prepare!

One of the best things about attending: the learning and connections continue. There are so many opportunities through ICE and the IDOE Office of eLearning. Whether it's the Thursday night twitter chats http://inelearnchat.blogspot.com/ or other programs, it is easy to find encouragement and support.  ICE has been during my fall break the past few years, and fits nicely with what I want to experience on a vacation: enjoyment, time with friends, learning new things.  I rarely go anywhere over break, but if I do, I plan around being able to attend ICE.  It's disappointing to me that some educators think of it as "giving up" their vacation.  There's no hassle of lesson plans, having a sub, and I think districts might more easily be able to come up with a mere $100 for this wonderful experience. It could also be that many classroom teachers don't realize this exists, as they are rarely sent outside their districts for PD anymore.

And best yet-- I get to come back today!

This year's ICE includes an extensive Maker Space.
As with students, it seemed like the 3D printers drew the largest crowds.