#ISTE13 Part II

Ben Zoma said: Who is wise? He who learns from all people,

- Pirkei Avos 4:1

As Educators, we are always balancing two different identities, one as a teacher, and one as a student. I have had many veteran teachers tell me that if I show my students any weakness, or any hint that I don't "know" what I am talking about 100% of the time, that I am doomed. No pressure huh? While many think that educators spend their summers in the Bahamas, the reality is that outside of a few weeks of well deserved and needed rest, most educators are booked solid with professional development, researching, and using the wealth of the internet to create amazing lessons for the coming year. Now it is true that there are teachers that have been using the same tests and worksheets for 15 years, (lucky if your older brother had the teacher!) but for most students that kind of outdated material even in a subject like math doesn't fly.

#ISTE13 is something that I anticipated the whole year for, because it is a place where I can as quoted above, learn from everyone.

My three areas of focus for #ISTE13 were

iPads, Google, and Authentic Use of Technology in Education

Now, I was going to focus on

(Flipped classroom innovative one-to-one design thinking g2.0 a virtual MOOC to facilitate your own life long blended learning maker space aligned to 21st century common core standards for teaching the whole child good digital citizenship through authentic mobile assessment.) but....

Now I know that we love to throw around buzz words, but the truth is that the reason that these words are so popular is because they are used to describe different ways to make a difference in a child's life. The problem is that sometimes we use the wrong tool for the wrong task at the wrong time and wonder why it took you four hours to build an Ikea bookshelf with one of these

We must use technology in education, and in life to speed up the process so we can spend more time innovating, creating, and using our imagination. I do not think students should be spending hours learning how to manually solve a math problem when they could be using the math to build something.

This is math...

So is this...

Now I am not advocating throwing up every educational process until the advent of the iPad because now technology does everything smarter, better, faster, and stronger, because that extreme is also false.I have seen, (and am also guilty) technology not only being used for the sake of technology but technology in a way that actually takes you double the time it would take you to do it a more traditional way.

... ... ...

Still, we can really use technology to make things awesome! This is the main thing I took from #ISTE13 outside of my "3 Main Focus Areas" was that we can create these "Super Inspired Hopeful Individuals" who can make awesome things through learning.

Stay tuned as I spend the 2013-2014 school year documenting the experience.