I'm Technically Speaking

March 16th - 17th 2017 Detroit, MI #macul17 Michigan's Association for Computer Users in Learning (MACUL) Cobo Center This is the first of what I hope will be yearly "checking out new conferences" adventures. For many years, ISTE has been THE destination, and rightly so -- it is a huge, national conference. However, this year I wanted to try something new (and cheaper). MACUL (an ISTE affiliate), bragged it is one of the Midwest’s largest educational technology conferences with 5000+ educators from across Michigan, the region, and Canada. What I didn't realize is just how close to Canada we were.... Looking out from the Cobo Conference Center  - there's Canada! Funny story - I didn't realize it, until I was speaking to some locals, that I was looking at Canada. They were surprised that a person from KS was at the conference...I mentioned that I thought it had a international pull...to which they said, Canada is right over there. And that ...

This year I am checking out a new conference! So here I sit at the airport ready to adventure to Detroit for the Michigan Associate for Computer Users in Learning (MACUL). The conference brags that it is "one of the Midwest’s largest educational technology conferences with 5000+ educators from across Michigan, the region, and Canada." I'm excited about experiencing a new conference and new state! The icing on the cake....I am traveling with a colleague! This is the first big conference to travel with a friend and not stay alone or with a stranger. I'll be posting and tweeting from the conference the next two days (15th & 16th)! Look for the blog posts here and Tweets with #macul17.

I've chosen #oneword for my New Year's Resolution for the last few years:       2016  -- Release       2015  -- Step Back       2014  -- Stretch And now for my 2017 OneWord Goal...... RISK I love this Google HyperDoc  (click to make a copy for yourself or see below) for OneWord Resolutions that I found this year created by  @SeanJFahey who was inspired by @KarlyMoura -- What goals do you have for 2017? What would your OneWord be?

Grab your favorite beverage and snack and let's sit and catch up. June- We received an offer on our house and accepted. ISTE!  Beginning to look into our next housing option. Applied for a position with McPherson school district. July- 16th wedding anniversary and weekend get away to Topeka Finalized rental of a house in Mac Endured waiting for results of appraisal and inspections on the house to be sold. Interviewed (18th) for position with Mac and was offered position Secured closing of house on 28th and possession of rental for 25th. Stayed first night at rental 25th with first load moved over. Started new job as Education Technology Specialist on the 26th Moving truck and big move evening of the 26th August- Learning the new position School starts September- Adjusting to job, house, etc. October- Made an offer on a house and signed contract Attended: Greenbush Conference KanSPRA Conference November- MOVING! December- Welcome to...

Last day! Day 4 - June 29th Although, I had signed up for a BYOD, I headed in another direction for my first session. There are times that multiple sessions sound good and it is really hard to decide which to attend. I opted for a session with several "big names" like Sylvia Duckworth, Kathy Schrock, Vicki Davis to name a few on Sketchnoing. In fact the title was, "Sketchnoting with Superstars". I took notes for this session with photos. Honestly, by the time day 4 rolls around the brain is full and the body is tired. However, this was a really good session that covered the basics and some great tips/tricks. Here's the run down:           Sketchnote of the sketchnote session The last session was a short "snapshot" (30 minutes) on Teaching Passion Projects One more trek to the EXPO... A signed book from Alice Keeler, 50 Things You Can Do With Google Classroom , a couple super hero capes from Microsoft, and...

ISTE Day 3 - Tuesday June 28 My internal clock has been waking me up faithfully at 5:30am (mst)...which is 6:30am at home and not at all when I even want to be awake there :) I took advantage of being up and attended my first group function - GBL (game-based learning) Coffee. The group putting this on was Bloxels. With or without the block set, the app is fun to create your own game, game character, or game background. Then off to a BYOD session "Explain Everything: Mini Master Class". This was very informative on the functionality of Explain Everything, but not very hands on...I guess the exploration is now up to me! I volunteered in the TEN (Teached Educator Network) Playground talking about professional learning with online communities. This was a lot of fun to connect and talk PLNs. Following that, I visited several posters in the PD poster session. Somewhere in the mix I visited the EXPO, was photographed with Kathy Schrock (dream photo op), met Floyd Littl...

Day 2 - Monday June 27th Today was the BIG day for me! I can't even tell you how excited I was to present my poster presentation! In fact, I think I was so excited that I wasn't ever nervous!!  Here is my table all decked out!  Standing next to my display! In action! Thanks to @ersimmons for capturing this! Presenting this poster presentation was a BLAST! Definitely the highlight of the entire trip!! I will post a special blog that will be about my presentation topic and information. The next session I attended was with my SimpleK12 friends! You can catch the 40 resources that they shared in their presentation on my Twitter feed @mrscarolnelson all are #sk12. Lori and Lisa did a great job and were sweet enough to give me a shout out! It was great to see them in person :) And connect with other presenters! Pictured are: Valerie Lewis Lori Shelley Sanchez Lisa After that, I adventured into the Expo and made the dec...