June 25, 2008
F2F PLN = family-like reunions (UTC Reflection)
I arrived for the UTC around 7:20 AM and was very surprised at how quickly that happened. It was just under a 2-hour drive and easy. I was dismayed though to discover my sessions were scheduled for Thursday and not today as I had planned, and had to apologetically withdraw/cancel my sessions for tomorrow. I have a meeting in Columbia at the State Department of Education, and it is one I cannot miss. I (along with others) will be working with other educators across the state on a curriculum project and even though I am not sure of the exact details, this is an opportunity to demonstrate that teacher librarians are partners in instruction and collaborative planning, and can be an asset in the development of standards-based instruction. Since way too many schools use the teacher librarian as holding area so teachers get a planning period, I want to do my very best in this project. I love brainstorming project design. Hopefully I will “represent” teacher librarians well. It is important that teacher librarians help change the view that so many have, that which is incorrect. So I feel this is more important than the UTC tomorrow. I am disappointed though because I am leaving the conference with 2 empty spots, and this is the first time ever I’ve done this. I am also missing what I’m sure will be fabulous sessions and a keynote by David Jakes.
Mind Boggling
Today’s material was mind boggling and terrific. I commend the planners for the UTC. I really thought it would be difficult to top attending a conference the day before that featured a keynote and 2 sessions by Marc Prensky, but Ewan McIntosh blew my mind. He is probably the strongest “think outside the box” speaker I’ve ever heard. I left with many ideas on rethinking my approach to teaching, using video games in a classroom, and how to have fun with pictures that tie into the curriculum. I remember reading McIntosh last July while BLC was happening (in both his blog and a skype backchannel), and he wrote some outstanding material about Resnick’s contribution,
which focused on keeping the term “play” relevant throughout all grade levels, not just preschool/kindergarten. I wondered if Ewan would be able to top it from back then, but he has shown me even more, taking it to a higher level for me. If you do not read Ewan McIntosh, you should. Ewan, you are a ROCK STAR in the field of education for me, forging a new way to think about learning.
Like brothers and sisters
I am still processing all that I learned today, and trying to collect my pictures. I’ll share them as soon as I get them. Pat (aka Loonyhiker) sent me one we had taken together today (but it’s not available under creative commons.). It was nice to group up with so many in my PLN, like Ewan, Jakes, Chris Craft, MaryAnn Sansonetti, Julia Davis, Pat, Heather Loy, and others. We had a great time today, and oddly enough each session I attended had me sitting with or by several from this group. I guess we all think a little bit alike, though that would make sense if we are truly a PLN. When I first arrived after meeting up with Pat, I followed Chris Craft into the auditorium, where we saw David Jakes and Ewan McIntosh. Ewan hopped down from the stage, greeted me warmly by calling me by my Twitter name, and then firmly planted a kiss on each of my cheeks. He exclaimed, “You look just like your avatar picture!” That’s the beauty of a PLN—we all feel some kind of brotherly/sisterly connection. These people are not strangers at all. They frequently mirror my thoughts and extend my thinking/learning.
P.S. I did sit right in the front row as I vowed yesterday! Best, I had David Jakes on my left, and Chris Craft on my right! What more could a girl ask for? Brilliance all around. Oh no, I guess I really am some sort of edtech groupie. Pictures to come, I promise.
“Mitch Resnick”
Photo by Ewan McIntosh licensed under Creative Commons Attributon 2.0 Generic
Filed by Cathy Nelson at 10:42 pm under Uncategorized
4 Comments
June 26th, 2008 at 5:48 pm
Sorry to hear your sessions had been scheduled on the wrong day. I was one of about 10 or 12 people sitting in room 910 this morning waiting to see your presentation. We did not realize you had to cancel. I hope your meeting at SDE was productive. Teacher voice is so important and should be utilized at every given opportunity.
June 26th, 2008 at 8:34 pm
@Leslie – I was told they would put signs on the door. I didn’t decide to
cancel right way, else Jeff would have announced at the beginning of
Ewan’s keynote. I even gave thought to coming and doing the 8:00
session and then driving on to Columbia for the standards work, but
the more I thought about the gas from Rock Hill to Greenville, and
then from Greenville to Columbia, and then Columbia back to Rock Hill, well…it just sounded very wasteful. The curriculum project I’m involved with at the sde will help change the view of teacher librarians to more of a collaborative team player, so I thought I should keep that
commitment. Also, when I read that Don Cantrell had a similar topic,I didn’t feel as guilty. I am now feeling huge EMBARRASSMENT at the thought of people waiting on me. Bummer. Again, I am so sorry.
June 26th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
It was great meeting you yesterday! You are so right about feeling like we all knew each other already. I hadn’t heard anyone mentioning much about your session being cancelled so I’m sure they survived. I’m sorry you missed David Jakes’s keynote because it was awesome. I also attended his other session which was great. I did come away with a door prize though. I won speakers for my laptop! Hope to see you again f2f!
July 1st, 2008 at 1:44 am
Hey Cathy! I looked for you at UTC, but I never did get to meet up with you. I did want to let you know that our group from North Carolina thought it was fabulous! I presented 4 times and each time we were full (one was even at 8:00!!). We are talking about coming again next year instead of going to our State conference. You guys in SC sure know how to put on a conference!
Talk (see) to ya soon,
Danita