I'm Technically Speaking

How else would you follow a post entitled, "What have you learned"? Than by asking, "Who are you?". At ISTE, one of the vendors had t-shirts like the one I am modeling below. In order to receive the t-shirt you had to complete a sentence on a small white board. The sentence was very similar and simple...."I am a/an  ____________". (If you want to see all the results of the participants you can look here ) I came up with the best, quick answer for the photo in order to receive my free t-shirt. However,  in reality the answer was/is not easy for me at this time in my life. Yes, I am an educator. I proudly wear the shirt and am proud to say that I teach. Ever since declaring my major in college to education, I have been "in education" (almost 20 years). In those years, I have studied education, student taught, taught my first years and last year in public education; substitute taught, filled in for study hall supervision; studie...

It was a question posed to me recently. What have you learned this week? Wow! What have I learned in the last week? I have a hard time remembering what I had for breakfast!      However, today I can tell you it was pancakes :) What have I learned.... Life lessons? Educational? Instructional? Vocational? I am also "post ISTE" and still cannot get myself to be able to share "what I have learned" from that conference. Why? It is not that I didn't learn anything at the conference or haven't learned anything in the last few days. I know that I have and did....so why is it so hard to be able to formulate an answer? Is there fear? Fear that somehow someone will think that I didn't learn enough (for the money spent)? Or that my learning isn't as important as someone else's. Or fear that I didn't seek the right sessions for the "right" learning? Is a communication issue? How exactly do I share the learning? It was valua...

I haven't posted resources or much of my ISTE learning yet. However, one thing I did walk away with was the feeling that there are a lot of others who are just like me. Some have somehow found a nitch within the educational technology world and are seen as "experts". They have a gazillion followers, are ask to give keynotes, maybe have a book published, etc.  I've begun to ask myself, "What sets me apart? What could my nitch be?" I even question what I "want to be and do" What I know: 1) I love teaching/training others.  It is so much fun to train others on something that I know how to do well. 2) I enjoy exploring technology. I will try about any technology app, game, online resource, etc. I like the feeling I get when a speaker is sharing about a tech tool and I know exactly what it is, how it works, and why they are recommending it. However, I like even more hearing about a new tech tool that they recommend so that I can give it a try. 3) I woul...