2015 PBS LearningMedia Digital Innovator

2015 PBS LearningMedia Digital Innovator

Monday, June 30, 2014

ISTE: Yesterday was The Good. Today is The Bad (and Still some Good).

Quick recap:  Atlanta is beautiful.  I love pie.  Read yesterday's post here.

Let's get right to it, shall we?

THE BAD:  I'm going to try to be as kind as possible with this one, which is so unlike me, but I'm writing this after my first two cups of coffee, so just roll with it.  THE OPENING KEYNOTE.  Were you there?  'Nuff said.  Ok, not really because apparently somebody has to say something since ISTE has NO IDEA who would be appropriate as an opening speaker.  Really, we only needed to fulfill two out of three requirements:  1) Good speaker, 2)  Involved in education, and 3) Involved in education technology.  ISTE is zero for three on this one.  To be fair, I blame ISTE for the choice of speaker, but I blame the speaker herself for that trainwreck of a keynote.  We can't fault ISTE for assuming that a professional actress would be on her A-game for a speaking engagement.  Ms. Judd did not do her homework, and I think that is insulting.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="511"] She looks so poised and professional here. What happened?[/caption]

 

By the way, ISTE, you had a Keynote Speaker right there the whole time:  Why no LeVar Burton?  Judging from the Twitter-clamoring to get into his small session (not to mention my own starstruck wishes), I'm betting that not one person at this conference would have left that hall before the time was up.  We love you, Mr. Burton.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="275"] Look at that man. LOOK AT HIM and tell me he shouldn't have been the Opening Keynote Speaker![/caption]

I am snarky, but I am not a heartless bitch, so I am going to finish this post with a bit of the good.  Yesterday I attended a double session  on using Twitter to engage students.  Adam Taylor gave us some tips on teaching students to connect with professionals through Twitter.  I use Twitter quite a bit, and while I've thought about having my students "interview" writers and other professionals in the language arts field, I've never really thought about how and why I should do it.  Mr. Taylor was very engaging and knowledgeable, and he gave me a lot to consider in teaching my students to leave a presentable "digital tattoo."  Shannon Wentworth led the session on using Twitter to collaboratively write stories, and this is something that I honestly never thought of doing.  I love this idea, and I plan to use it as part of my icebreaker exercises.  I think her session really started me thinking of ways to creatively teach students to use Twitter in my class.  I also love that both sessions emphasize that we need to model professional digital citizenship to our students.  Thank you, ISTE, for giving me the opportunity to participate in these sessions.

Next Post:  The Ugly.

 

Like what you read?  Follow me on Twitter @itibrout.

4 comments:

  1. Thanks goodness Stephani! Thought with you being busy at ISTE that you mightn't publish your post until the evening and I wouldn't find out the bad until I woke up in the morning. Now I will be able to sleep tonight!

    Great reflection on your thoughts. Tweets and blog posts on Ashley Judd's keynote have been mixed. Some really liked it while others had similar thoughts to yourself. You've probably explained the best why you feel she wasn't a good choice.

    There are quite a few sessions on blogging at ISTE which is good to see. You'll find our tips on using Twitter with students here - http://theedublogger.com/2012/02/13/the-updated-twitteraholics-guide-to-tweets-hashtags-and-all-things-twitter/#students You'll also find information that I've been documenting from sessions that involve either blogging or twitter here - goo.gl/Gcz4pq

    Now to ponder Ugly.

    Sue ( @suewaters )

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  2. Thanks, Sue! I will definitely explore those links. So much to absorb!

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  3. Thanks, Elliot! I'm so thrilled! I just added the post to the Reddit. Thanks for the suggestion.

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  4. It's okay! Give yourself some time to have a rest when you get home from ISTE. It is always very tiring at the conference and you'll have lots of ideas you want to follow up.

    Another great post today! Loved reading about Kevin Carroll. I missed watching the tweets because I had to attend a work meeting and wasn't able to catch up so it was good to hear it was a great keynote.

    Looking forward to your next post!

    Sue

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