ITSC 2012

Wow, what a whirl wind of workshops!  I wish I would have blogged about this during the workshop, but perhaps a day or two to stew on the events of the last three days is a good thing.  Although I went to this conference hoping to gain insight into how to implement BYOD (bring your own device), I failed to come out with any concrete "how to" instructions.  However, what I did hear was encouraging and consistent (a huge plus).  Everyone seems to be using the same language which is nice!  The biggest downfall...no time to meet with my team (WMS or PR).  Yet again this seems to be the hardest hurdle to overcome :(

Here are my take aways:

1. Today's education with technology really isn't that different from yesterday's.  (It just looks different.)
1. BYOD--how is this any different than requiring students to bring a graphing calculator to school.  I remember when I had to purchase a TI 34 for math class...that darn thing was $150 or more at the time.  Now of course this is a throw away calculator (costing only $10)...why is it so extreme to ask today's students to bring an electronic device?  The funny thing is not all students were able to bring one in and the schools were always able to provide something for these students.  Why is our discussion today any different?
2. Digital media and inappropriate content--once again I was reminded that when our students access inappropriate content using their digital media this is a behavior issue just like when students would bring playboys to school!  Duh...this is a behavioral issue--not something new due to digital resources.  Why couldn't I see that before this conference?  As one teacher commented in a small group discussion, " we have always had these issues and always knew how to deal with them...it is the same here!"  So my question then becomes...how are we dealing with this issue?  What are the consequences?  And is it fair, even necessary to take the technology away like we would a playboy magazine?  Doesn't this the teacher/students since productivity/learning is affected in the classroom?  Do we really expect our teachers to always have a back up source--well yes--especially if technology is down for the day.  If we take technology away...do we always need a paper and pencil version as a back up?  
2. If we are going to move our schools into the 21st century we will have to change the culture of our school.  
• This was probably the most profound piece I got from this experience.  I realized most of this already, but the importance of it in regards to both incorporating technology in the classroom, BYOD, and 21st century teaching/learning was very evident throughout the whole conference.  When listening to the first keynote speaker (Diana Laufenberg), and workshop presenters, it became painfully evident that collaboration among our peers and administration is huge.  It seems like these amazing educators all have one thing in common--a team of like minded colleagues to invest the time (supported by administration) to meet on a regular basis (in most cases a half day once a week).  They know what each other are teaching at any given time and modify their own lessons to build off each other's lessons.  This makes education much more relevant for the students and more fun for the teachers to teach.  I posed this question to Diana Laufenberg and she couldn't answer it because she communicates with her colleagues so seamlessly that she doesn't even realize how much they modify their own lessons to create a real-world experience for their students.   I think this is what I miss the most from working at WMS.  I really felt like when I was there I had a finger on the pulse of what was happening in other teachers' classrooms.  Gail and I used to work together a lot...although I had a lot more to learn from her and cut it up short.  I don't think I had truly integrated her content into mine...but she was able to do that much better with mine.  In addition, the term where Glover came in the last twenty minutes of my science class was awesome...we were doing physics and I loved when she would take over the math explanation of the formulas and tie different content we were studying into math class.  Furthermore, thanks to this conference and the many history teachers presenting I can see so many connections between language arts and history that it actually excites me to get into an environment where I can teach history (did I mention I dislike history--it seems so boring to me) or at least work with the history teacher to build units rich in real world applications!  (See post on Lesson ideas for technology--ITSC 2012)  I will say the largest disconnect for me at this conference was the lack of science presentations (ok, there was one that I know of) and content presented.  Perhaps in the future I can contribute to this and make the conference more holistic!
• Part of changing culture is changing the culture in our own classrooms.  I love the idea that trust and respect are the cores to this amazing climate.  I have always asked myself why some teachers are able to put a basket by the door and students are willing to put their phones in it and leave it there until the end of class.  I think this is the answer--respect and trust.  I guess I thought I was building this in my classrooms in the past...but not sure.  I think my elementary classroom was built on these things...everyone was accepted and had I had those kids as middle school kids they probably would have put all their phones in the basket.  However, when I actually taught middle school I don't think there is a single class that I could have asked to do this--all of them would have fought me.  So, what was the difference and how do I create this now in a different environment?  My elementary classroom was a classroom based on learning together--I didn't dictate...I shared the power with all my students.  We used "discovery" to learn science and looping with my kids from 4th to 5th grade was completely rewarding and beneficial!  There was a special connection between each of us and as a result hurt feelings when one of us left the group, but utter joy in each others successes!  There is something to be said for knocking yourself off a pedestal and adopting a teaching/learning approach such as inquiry or project based learning.  Once again this is a characteristic I see in amazing teachers!  Someday I hope others are able to include me in that pool--AMAZING TEACHERS!
• Bud Hunt--can we say amazing and FUN!  This was the best session I attended...he was FUN! He is all about building a classroom climate (or workplace) that is FUN to learn in.  Here is his list of principles (he called them six principles of play):  trust, spontaneity, accepting offers, storytelling, celebrate failure, and communication.  And if you couldn't tell...he was an English teacher...hence all the incorporation of poetry and literature in the classroom
3. If we are going to incorporate this technology in the classroom we must be sure to include lessons on proper use of this technology.  Topics like netiquette, cyber bullying, safe communication, etc...must be regularly included in our curriculum.
4. Finally, we must "amplify" our classrooms.  We just go beyond our classrooms and reach out to other classrooms, other schools, other states, other countries, peers, experts in their fields, other teachers, etc....  This was a huge idea presented by Silvia (see notes from the conference:   https://docs.google.com/a/athwestsd.org/document/d/1UkJiR7SXHM1q_MV-lBT73OwRaBYhh-fd2vUsX7VhCVc/edit).  This idea of global classrooms has been showing up in my edmodo groups, collaborize classroom groups, blogs, twitter, Simple K12 webinars and now this conference!  Seems to be a theme!  Be sure to look at my posts about connecting with authors and Building a Network post as well!

So, there you have it!  Take it for what it is worth!  Can't wait until next year's ITSC conference!  There is still so much to learn and so many new friends to meet!  Can't wait!