Learning and Working Hard in Seattle

SAM of Seattle
Originally uploaded by vanhookc

Recently, I participated with a team of educators from our district in a national conference. Six members of the Southeast Polk Community School District attended the National School Board Association's Tech + Learning Conference, Oct. 28-30, 2008.

And my thoughts?
The major focus of the conference was: The future is now! We must open doors for our students to learn, compete, and achieve in new ways of classroom exploration. "Minds-on" and "hands-on" learning must become a natural way of life, a "lifelong learning habit." We must equip our students with the tools needed to travel the 21st C Literacy Avenue and encourage them to explore their mountaintops and to achieve their highest levels of excellence!

I loved every minute of it! I heard great presentations by David Warlick, Paul Saffo, David Thornburg, Jim Brazwell, and Gary Stager.

I thoroughly enjoyed learning more about Adobe Premier Elements and Photoshop Elements 7, Atomic Learning, netTrekker, ProQuest, and Student Response Systems.

One of my favorite sessions was on transforming the library from a 19th Century library to a 21st Century learning center!

I especially had a wonderful time sharing this experience with a fellow teacher librarian, Harriet. To learn more, my library colleague and I have uploaded our notes:
http://docs.google.com/View?docid=ddsqzxm4_86dnns8pg5

It was certainly a highlight of my teaching career to attend this conference!