#AuthorSpeak 3 Day Recap

I've had a couple of days to think about my three days at Authorspeak and I have to say it was a great time. Before I go into the overall feel of #Authorspeak, I need to recap my last half of the day on Thursday.

The Connected Educator by Sheryl Nussbaum Beach and Lani Ritter Hall

I had a blast at this session. Sheryl is a very passionate person and I could see that she sees the importance of teachers integrating technology into the classroom and that the Connected Educator is something every teacher should strive to be if they are going to meet the students where they are.

One of my favorite parts of this session was when Lani Skyped into the session to talk about her work on the book. What came out of that conversation was that this book never touched paper before it was printed. Their collaboration took place using Google Docs and was submitted online when complete. These two educators were modeling what a collaborative and connected educator looks like, and it looked great.

There are so many great tools out there that allow educators to connect and share. I've been lucky to have made some great connections over the past couple of years that has allowed me to grow as an educator. My Romeo and Juliet project would have been impossible a few years ago if it were not for the collaborative tools available today.

I love the idea of Connected Educators working hand in hand to great a world wide learning environment for students and teachers. The more we can connect students and teachers to ideas from all over the world, the better off the world will be in the long run. I would recommend picking up Sheryl and Lani's book, The Connected Educator, and sharing it with your friends.

The conference closed with some prizes and recognition of teachers and other educators that are making a difference in their schools. I love prizes, but I love recognizing educators even more. These were people that were nominated by their peers and created a video showing why they were so valuable to them. As a teacher, I do not do the stuff I do in my district or with my students to be recognized, but when it happens, it is a very nice feeling.

I was to sure what to expect heading to AuthorSpeak. A conference where authors talk about their books could seem like an endless infomercial, but it was the exact opposite. I was able to see some educators talk about learning. There were great conversations before and after sessions that I would never be able to have outside of this conference. While I might not have been in total agreement with every author in every session, my thinking was challenged. I like to be challenged and this conference offered that for me.

I was able to hangout with some great friends and talk education, it just educational technology. Best practices were discussed and new ideas were shared. Connections were made and learning took place. I feel like I picked up a few new friends along the way as well. I was very happy to go to AuthorSpeak and want to fit it into my schedule. I hope to see many of you at AuthorSpeak2012 October 30 - November 1.

Did you attend in person or virtually? Leave me your thoughts here.

- @TheNerdyTeacher

#AuthorSpeak Day 2 Recap

Here are my thoughts after attending #AuthorSpeak Day 2.

Motivating Students with Carolyn Chapman and Nicole Vagle

This was a very high energy session that made me think about student motivation, but my motivation. The feelings I carry into a lesson can easily be transferred to students and even other staff members. I like the idea of letting students have more of a say in the lesson building process and that will help increase motivation if students feel a sense of ownership. Connecting with students on a personal level also will motivate students. That sounds weird, but their is some truth to that. Students want to work with teachers they know are invested in them. Lastly, there are many factors that are out of the control of teachers, but its important to focus on the factors teachers do have control over. If the focus is on the other issues, it is energy sapping and everyone loses.

Communicating and Connecting with Social Media with William M. Ferriter (@plugusin), Jason T. Ramsden (@Raventech) and Eric Sheninger (@NMHS_Principal)

This was a great session with the amazing presenters Eric, Bill and Jason. I am a better teacher for having been to this session. Every person should follow them on Twitter and read their blogs. They are simply awesome. (Was that a good shout out Eric?)

In all seriousness, this was a great session that focused on the value of Social Media in the school system. The news tends to focus on the bad side of education. Social media allows schools to control their PR and highlight the amazing things students and staff do every day. Being in charge of the message is key in today's world and Social Media allows schools to do that. People do not travel to websites to search for information. They want Facebook pages where the important information is right there.

Social Media can allow people to grow and expand their PLN in ways that will challenge their thinking and help them grow as professionals. Learning and growing should be the goal of every educator and Social Media plays a valuable role in accomplishing those tasks.

Twitter, in particular, is a great tool to connect with educators from all over the world. I think it is important to interact with people and share ideas. I have had so many great interactions on Twitter that I cannot imagine not having it in my teacher toolbox. Twitter allows me access to some of the most amazing minds in education. My ideas on teaching have been challenged and I'm better off because of it. Long story short, get on Twitter.

Creating a Digital-Rich Classroom with Meg Ormiston (@MegOrmi)

I love Meg! She is just a ball of energy. She has a passion for integrating technology into the classroom. This was one of the those had to be there session because she was sharing great idea after great idea. She shared some web-tools (Jing being one of my favorites) that can help any teacher create exciting lessons. She really showed how important it is to start to create lessons that focus on how kids learn not how we want them to learn. Brining digital tools into the classroom will engage students and allow them to take ownership of their learning in new and exciting ways. I recommend you pick up her book.

Personal Learning Networks with Will Richardson (@WillRich45) and Rob Mancabelli

This was an excellent session. Here are some quotes I tweeted during the session.

Learning is more than walking around the living room trying to memorize facts for a random test.

Teachers are everywhere!

Information is not for kids, it's for everyone.

Schools still act like the majority of people on the internet are predators.

Transparency is key in 21st Century Learning

It was a great session where my fingers could not keep up with the greats bits of wisdom shared by Will and Rob. Making connections with educators is how we are going to change education. The more voices that speak up, the better the chance we have to make an impact on education reform. PLNs are a great way and making positive steps toward changing education and I think Will and Rob did a great job sharing their ideas.

Thursday is the last day for #AuthorSpeak and I will be sad to go, but I have met some great people, made some new friends and will know that the learn will not stop at the end of the day.

See you later.

- @TheNerdyTeacher

#Authorspeak Day 1 Recap

Today was a whirlwind day of learning for me. I've spent the last hour or so trying to collect my thoughts and think of what I wanted to share and the one one word that kept coming to mind was change. Change not for the sake of change, but for sake of the students in our classroom. Here are the various sessions I went to and my thoughts on them.

Keynote with Daniel Pink

Before the conference, I really did not know much about Daniel Pink. I had heard about him and knew he was an author. Other than that, I really didn't know what to expect. I have to say that I was very impressed with his speech and motivated to make some changes.

The part that stood out to me was when Pink talked about creativity. A study was done with artists. They were asked to create art. Some of the art was whatever they wanted it to be and the other art was very specific commissioned art. After all of the art was made, art experts were brought in to evaluate the pieces of art. It turns out the experts ranked the non-commissioned art higher than the commissioned art. The commissioned art was equal in technique and skill, but the non-commissioned art had that extra something. The results did not really surprise me. It seemed to make sense that people perform better when they feel ownership over their work. This seems like common sense, yet we seem to expect less from our students. It really made me think.

I am a big fan of project based learning and have seen the positive impact it has had on my students. However, the projects are still based on the curriculum. The kids do not get to choose the topic of the project, just the project. What if I gave the kids the chance to spend time exploring the topics they want? What if I used the Google model and gave students 20% of the week to work on something that is important to them? Would I see even better results from my students if they felt like they owned every aspect of the learning process? This is something I really want to explore this year.

Another part Pink talked about was that Merit Pay doesn't work. Duh.

Building a Professional Learning Community at Work - William M. Ferriter and Parry Graham

This was a great session. One of my favorite things was that Bill starts out with telling the crowd what the outcomes of the session are going to be. It's a very simple thing to do and I need to add it to my presentation tool box.

We talked about emotions in PLCs. When Bill asked for some emotion words in their school regarding PLCs, the word frustration was mentioned. I would have to agree with word. I feel the biggest thing I have experienced in the PLC process that has been going on for 8 years in my district is frustration. Nothing has been accomplished in using PLC time in 8 years. Thing that have been accomplished have been tossed aside for other ideas. We spent 8 years on common assessments and do not have one because they are changed year to year for "tweaking". We have no data and things seem to just never get better. We are currently working to renew the PLC process in our building, so we will see where it goes.

Back to the session, the expression of emotions made me feel better because I did not feel alone in my frustration. PLCs can work, but everyone needs to have buy in and the little bits of progress need to be celebrated. That is something that I feel was great to take away. There will be times when it feels like a PLC is sitting in neutral and the smallest bits of progress need to be pointed out and celebrated to encourage the groups to keep working. I really look forward to bringing that idea to my building. No matter how small, progress is progress and needs to be celebrated and encouraged. I was very happy that I attended this session.

Mobile Learning Devices with Kipp Rogers

I'm getting a class set of iPads in my class in the next week or so and I wanted to see if there were some cool things I could get from Kipp. I met him the night before and he was such a nice guy. That might seem random, but I feel that people that I have met that are nice in person tend to give awesome presentations. Kipp gave the best presentation of the day for me. He was engaging and used the tools that he was talking about. He had us using Poll Everywhere and scanning QR Codes from the projected screen. I learned that you can text Google any question and Google will text you the answer. Crazy! Some of the ways he suggested using cell phones were not new to me, but I'm sure they were new to many people in the audience. The session was engaging, light and a good time. The 45 minutes blew by and I was sad to see it end. I recommend picking up his book Mobile Learning Devices if you are using them in your class. You will not be disappointed.

Teaching the iGeneration with William M. Ferriter and Adam Garry

I've already raved about Bill (@Plugusin), but he deserves another shout out. He talked about engagement in the classroom and admitted that his tests scores where lower than the teachers down the hall. I do not know of any person, especially someone speaking to educators who he needs to trust him, that admits to that fact. What it showed me is that he is dedicated to his work and does not judge himself by test scores. I admire that. I have felt the same way with my projects, but it was something different to see someone stand in front of a packed room and say it.

Bill uses Kiva.org with his students to show them the difference between developed and developing nations. Kiva is a site that connects people with developing nation citizens who need loans for their business ideas. Bill's students formed a club, made presentations and have raised over 4K for Kiva. I tweeted that it makes me smile on the inside when I see students passionate about projects involving social good. I was talking with Eric Sheniger in that session during one of our breaks to discuss what was covered about what kids are learning. The presentation showed story telling skills and understanding of music and audience, but there was something else. Empathy. I feel this is something students need more and more. Caring for others outside of their bubble is something all people need to do, but it is something that needs to be instilled in kids at a young age. I feel that could really help solve many of the problems we see later in school. This was another excellent session where I felt empowered to make a change.

I said the word change at the start of the post and it is still in my mind. I do not want it to just be a word. I want it to be an action. I want to do something. Daniel Pink said that it is not possible to change an entire school district or state by yourself. However, it is possible to make something a little bit better every day. That is my goal. I want to make something a little bit better every day. Who's with me?