I think this year, I made the transition from attendee to networker. Attending individual sessions became less important for me this year than the connections I could make with people in my PLN. PLN, if you're not familiar with it, means "Personal/Professional Learning Network". In simple terms, it means the people that I connect with on a regular basis on Twitter. In my world, these are educational leaders from around the nation (and even world) that I interact with frequently. For me, my "tribes" include #connectedTL peeps, CUE Admin folks, #CVtechtalk people (Central Valley of California), #leadwild principals, etc.
#CUE17 took place in Palm Springs, California this March 15-18. I was blessed to be able to send myself along with 5 teachers from my school site to the conference. I was super-excited to share CUE with these folks, and I feel like it really ignited two of the five teachers. The other three varied in their experiences, but I'm glad they got to go, too. [post edited]
As for me, I barely spent time with them. I was there to learn a couple of new things (expanded below), but also to connect more deeply with leaders in the #EdTech world that would enable me to bring new knowledge and information back to my site and district in ways that will pay dividends over the next couple of years. For sure, my connections with Jon Corippo and other CUE Admin leaders will push me to continually grow in ways that will improve LIFE for me and my colleagues moving forward. There are ideas that are "common" in circles at CUE that are pretty uncommon in my neck of the woods in Selma. I'm hoping that as I continue to grow personally, that I'll be able to leverage that growth to improve my school site, my district, and even my region. And all of that growth is not about me...it's about doing what's best for kids. My love for technology is all about that...how can we improve processes and procedures (empowered by technology) to better ensure student learning and teacher success?
One of my highlights at CUE17 was a dinner on Thursday night. I reached out via Twitter to my fellow foodie Jon Corippo (he's the Director of Academic Innovation for CUE...founder of Minarets High School) because I was seeing his pre-CUE posts about meals (at The Hat, at Sherman's Deli) that were making me jealous before my arrival. He replied about a "super secret" dinner on Friday night. He invited me to join him and a couple of other fellows (Dustin "they're out of prime rib" Ellis and Robert "Pork Chop" Hochberg) for a simply amazing dinner at L.G. Prime Steakhouse. I had an awesome whiskey-based cocktail while we waited quite a while to order. That may or may not have played a role in my inability to say "bone-in ribeye steak" properly when relaying to our waiter what I wanted. It came out as "bone-eye"...and a new nickname was born! The steak was simply amazing, so I wear the new name with pride.
Another highlight of the trip was picking up my amazing friend Cate Tolnai. Cate is one of the moderator of the #ConnectedTL tribe, and is a world-leader in the TOSA community. She started the #sketch50 movement, helps run CUE Karaoke, and is simply a great person. I love her energy and enthusiasm, so it was a kick when I got an Uber call from a Catherine on Friday afternoon. I had a session at the far-away Riviera Hotel, and so I was simply going to miss a session. I decided to see if I could make a quick buck during that time, so I turned on my Uber app. I got Catherine's call, and noted that she was at the Riviera Hotel. When I rolled up, she was super-jazzed to see me, too. We had a great ride.
The #CUEber hashtag was revived (it was used the year before about some golf cart ride)...and I actually got to pick her up AGAIN on Saturday morning!
The best session I attended:
I'm sorry to bury this note so deep in my post, but I have to tell you about the session I attended on a Friday afternoon. Zach Smith and Ali Halsey from Sanger were presenting about UDL (Universal Design for Learning). Full disclosure: Zach is a friend of mine from church, and that was at least 75% of the reason I attended his session. The other 25% had to do with the fact that I was sorely disappointed by the UDL presentation that had been made to our ALMS staff at the beginning of the school year, so I wanted to give it another chance. Also, I've been totally impressed with the work I had seen Zach do with Special Ed. students in Sanger (think: 3D printing of digestive systems...by SDC students!). So here's my weird note:
I had a spiritual experience during this session. I'm a believer, and sometimes I'm touched by something I can only describe as the Holy Spirit reaching into my life. While Zach was describing how UDL helps us to reach the traditionally marginalized students (both Special Ed. and "gifted"), I couldn't help but hear it as a gospel message of how to love ALL of the people in our lives. UDL helps us to serve the students I believe God has placed in our lives. I know that standard instructional practices do a less-than-ideal job of loving our students on both ends of the spectrum, and I saw how UDL can help us do better in that charge. I was moved to tears as I considered the implications: how powerful to work intentionally to make sure that EVERY STUDENT MATTERS!
The second-best session I attended was hosted by Catina Haugen. She helped me see some better ways that I can communicate well with all the stakeholders at my school and in my district. I had followed her for a while on Twitter and Facebook, but this was the first time I had seen her present in person. She did a great job, and I brought home a couple of ideas that we'll put in place for this summer and next year.
THE NEGATIVE:
I have to say that I came away from CUE17 kicking myself for four things in particular, all of which are strangely tied to George Couros. I had recently seen George present at the Tulare County Tech Rodeo, and fell in love with his message, presented clearly in the book The Innovator's Mindset. I chose to skip his keynote address (which is PHENOMENAL, but I saw a heads-up on Twitter that it was going to be a repeat of what I had heard).
1) while I don't regret missing the keynote, I do regret that I missed sitting next to Todd Schmidt for that session. He had saved me a seat, and I wish I had spent some more time with him. #opportunitymissed
2) at CUE Karaoke, I left early to drive for Uber. I missed the chance to perform, and I missed seeing George Couros (and Mike Lawrence) sing. #bummer
3) the next morning, I saw George in the hallway. The person I was standing with said "Great job, George!" referring to the Karaoke. In my jealousy, I made a sarcastic comment along the lines of "Yeah...it wasn't THAT good." I have no idea whether George heard me or not...but what could I possibly have gained from that interaction?
4) The final session, I went to see a person that I have followed on Twitter for quite a while. I have always enjoyed his contributions online, so I went to his "futuristic" session, even though that's not the type of leader I really am. I saw all my #edufriends posting from George's session at the same time, and had some MAJOR #fomo about missing it. Not just for George's content, but also for the missed connections with Amy Fadeji, etc.
I caught up with Voxer messages in several groups after the fact, and one of the pieces of advice for CUE was to "follow the dynamic speakers". I missed that chance with George. #mybad
In any event, I'm glad to be back in the blogging saddle. They won't always be this long, but upcoming topics include:
• Podcasts:
- (what do I listen to)
- (Teacher Tales: my FAVORITE new podcast)
- (Google Teacher Tribe: my second-favorite new podcast...and it's great!)
• #sketch50
• Twitter for my colleagues
• feedback for my presentation (I've reworked my #edtech conference presentation, and need some help)
• BOOKS:
- Lead Like a Pirate #LeadLAP (new study group starting now!)
- #KidsDeserveIt (I've been reading it, but need to post about it!)
- Innovator's Mindset (I can't believe this has been shoved down to third position! I can't wait to read it!)
