Just added 6/19/2012 

Even though the weather in San Diego will be balmy, all conference centers seem to be kept frigid. Bring a light sweater or wrap that you can take on and off, and won’t take much space to deal with unexpected “arctic” conditions.

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I’ve managed to cobble together going to ISTE at the last minute. Big thanks to Karen McMillan (McTeach) for the ride south. This will be my third ISTE, but the first since the name of the conference changed from NECC (2009) to ISTE, so I’m an almost newbie (although last year at ASCD kept me in the swing of things) and looked with interest at some recent posts on how to prepare/do ISTE. They are full of great advice, so I’m going to link and just excerpt my favorite parts here

10 Tips for ISTE 2012 Attendees: Making the Most of Your Conference Experience is written by Katie Stansberry at the ISTE Blog and has many helpful suggestions for getting the most without burning yourself out.

• She points out how big it is (18,000 attendees last year). This alone can make it overwhelming for first timers.
• Her suggestion to not over-do the scheduling, but to plan your “must-do” sessions in advance is wise.
• You will enjoy yourself and learn more if you don’t do a presentation every single session, but spend some time hanging out in the lounge areas, etc.

ISTE12 Recommendations from Michelle Baldwin is full of great advice aimed at getting both newbies and old hands connecting. My husband is in transportation, not education, and has wisely said that most of what he “learns” at conferences happens in conversations in the hallway with other attendees. Michelle gives some concrete suggestions on how to make this happen. I know she lives her advice because I we ended up sharing a cab, that led to dinner at the last ISTE/NECC conference I attended.

Android Tablets

I can always count on Rushton Hurley to have a great presentation, this time he did not disappoint. It was a small workshop, but a nice mix of folks familiar with Android, folks who knew iOS, and a bunch who had experience with both. Everyone was excited by the possibilities, and we quickly dug into apps (which you can get to from the link on the sub-heading above). I’ll be doing a short 20 minute session on Android Tablets at ACSA this Friday.

Bernie Dodge’s Dodgepodge

This is a cool tools type session, that was nice because it had an organizing focus on four areas: The World and Other Worlds, Organizing Thoughts and Actions, Collaborating Across Distance and Time, and Tools for Creativity. It’s easy to get overwhelmed in a session like that with so many tools. I usually have one or two get me thinking of possibilities, and I concentrate on those. He shared a nifty little screen-sharing program, Quick Screen Share, that got me thinking about the homework help I used to do with Vyew, and maybe reviving that process.

Wireless Revolution: From Implementation to Integration – One School’s Story

I sat in a bit on the session before mine from an LAUSD teacher about a wireless roll out at his school, and the many contradictions that followed. He did manage to internet coworkers in his portfolio about action research he was doing for his Masters when he asked them to look at it, and started spontaneously commenting on it. Because I was in and out that session, I didn’t get an overall “takeaway”, but he was a witty presenter and made good points.

E-mail Enhanced Google Forms for Walkthroughs/ Quickvisit

I started in one preso that was about taking your class online, which seemed really good, but I wasn’t feeling (sorry to presenters). It wasn’t them, it was me. Instead I went up to presentation on using Google forms to create a walk-through record AND how to use scripts to automatically send out email notices. I may look into using this for reports about students that I’m individually typing, and sending out to some parents.

Closing Keynote with Tammy Worcester

Tammy works with the fine folks at ESSDACK (Kevin Honeycutt). Her keynote was about Web 2.0. She started by saying it was having a larger effect, faster on classroom practice than prior innovations (radio, tv, telephone, film, etc.). I’ll go with faster implementation of Web 2.0, but I’m not seeing it changing things all the much in most classrooms. Frankly, tv/video, and even reel-to-reel had better penetration at their height than Web 2.0 does now, they just built up slower.

But the thrust of the presentation wasn’t an analysis of technology implementation in schools. Instead, it was about how to manage technology in our own lives. She ran through a list of apps and sites to help with that organized together under the titles Better Searching & Filtering, Use Multi-Purpose Tools, and Bring the Information to You! She didn’t get to the last part but has it up on her Website, which you can get to by clicking on the linked header above.

On the whole, she is a polished presenter, picked her tools well, and showed uses that were, well, useful. I think the idea behind her preso is needed, as I constantly hear folks at conferences talk about information overload.

My secret? I know I will hear about many of these tools again. Probably more than once. I don’t worry about “missing” something crucial, because usually, if the tool is any good, and doesn’t become vapor-ware, I’ll hear about it again. What I look for is something that “clicks” — where when I hear about it, I immediately think of  a way I can use it. I focus on those tools, and move on. Also, I do posts like this AFTER I leave and come down from my conference jag, so thanks for being part of that process. I hope some of  this helps you too.

This post is about the larger lessons I took from ASCD. What do I mean by this? Looking at a lot of school reform, programs, schools, ideas, and changes are offered as either a promise, or a threat.  It’s this ugly mix of an appeal to avarice, and a fear of failure that I feel created the toxic mess that is the DCPS testing scandal. It wasn’t just that folks wanted to earn bonuses, they also feared being fired. This isn’t an original thought of my own, but was suggested to me by fellow Sacramento teacher, Lori Jablonski, who I have the pleasure of running for union office with.  This approach will never lead to meaningful reform over the long term because you can’t do your best when you have a gun at your head.

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I have not been very efficient this trip. I feel like I haven’t attend a lot of sessions at ASCD and the few I have attended haven’t offered me a lot of new insights. I think part of the problem is that I have done a lousy job of picking out sessions for the few that I did attend. I need a booker.

What happened on Monday at ASCD? Well, Jay Mathews made an appearance ;-). For those not aware of the joke, Mr. Mathews missed his session originally scheduled for Saturday. That ended up being my big event for the day, so let’s start with that…

Jay Mathews is a well known education writer with books on Jaime Escalante,  Escalante: The Best Teacher in America, and the founders of KIPP schools and TFA alums Feinberg and Levin, Work Hard, Be Nice. The long-running theme of his work is about breaking down barriers of exclusivity in education that track students away from higher classes. More recently, he had gotten the ire of teacher bloggers for supporting many of Michelle Rhee’s policies during her tenure as DCPS Chancellor, and being a cheerleader for KIPP in the face of mounting evidence they do not truly serve all their students.  I don’t follow Mr. Mathews columns as closely as I read Valerie Strauss, mostly because I’m not as crazy for TFA/KIPP/Rhee and at a certain point, you’ve read all the arguments. Read the rest of this entry »

Overall, it was  a hectic day, with three sessions that I attended and blogged,  and a couple hours of live streaming conversations with various folks including Larry Ferlazzo, Bill Ferriter, and David Cohen. The conversations were great, and I’ll just point folks to the videos on UStream and my live blog. My take-away, when even great teachers like Bill, and David feel they are under attack, the level of rhetoric about our profession has gotten to a really bad place. Now to look at how it might have gotten there…

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