It was another busy time at the ISTE 2018 conference in Chicago. I had the opportunity to present several different sessions, connect with colleagues and peers from around the world, and gain new ideas and tools to try out in my classroom. The first day of the ISTE conference, I presented at the Buncee booth on digital storytelling. Several people stopped by their booth during my talk, and it was great to talk with and catch up with the people at Buncee. Later that afternoon, I presented a session on global collaborative projects and how they align with the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals. The presentation can be accessed here. We had a really good turnout for the presentation, and shared many collaborative global projects that we have done via Skype. After the session, I attended a Skype Master Teacher dinner and meeting. It was so nice to reconnect with many fellow Skype Master Teachers that I had not seen in a year or two, and I even met a few Skype Master Teachers that I had not met in person previously. It is a breath of fresh air to be a part of a professional learning network such as the Skype Master Teacher and Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert program where the expertise and opinions of educators are valued.
The morning of the second day of the conference was spent visiting several booths in the expo hall. I visited some booths of sites that my students utilize in class, and discovered several new tools and websites that I want to explore more this year. I particularly enjoyed perusing the booths in the start-up section of the expo hall, as many of those companies and organizations were new to me. In the afternoon, I did a Facebook Live session with Skype in the Classroom, and I volunteered in the Microsoft and Skype in the Classroom booth for several hours helping educators discover the possibilities of Skype in the Classroom and how to connect their students to the world. On the third day of the conference I presented on ways that you can use Buncee and Microsoft together. The session was well attended with people in the audience and viewing online. I also volunteered in the ISTE Digital Playground area helping educators connect with others through Skype in the Classroom. It was a fast three days, but I was glad to reconnect with some of my favorite global educators and share some of the great work my students are doing!
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