Thursday, March 5, 2009

EdubloggerCon West - TakeAways

So, it's the day after and on my commute into another busy day.

My takeaways:
1. I came with an expectation of what Edublogercon West 2009 would be and I was really pleased. It still amazes me that you can have an opportunity to participate in event like this (an unconference where you decide what is going to be talked about and you can know that your voice will be heard) and most educators are still unaware, don't see the importance, or just plain don't care.

2. When I look at professional development and everything that is spoon fed to us, Edubloggercon West was such a rewarding experience. There are a few things that I already do. What the unconference did for me was to give me validation, knowing that I am not alone. Also, what others are doing as in the cool things but more importantly how they keep going.

3.Next Steps This is critical; I can be happy, I can say how good the food was (Alice had great snacks) and I CAN go back an do NOTHING. Sure I can, I've done it before. My next steps is to walk into my classroom and infect my students with this bug.. the learning for life bug, the go out and network bug, the share what you are doing and bring it back to those around you bug. My next steps does include my continual quest to "think globally and act locally"

Have a listen to my reflections as I take my 10minute walk to tomorrow. WoodenNickelz Podcast

2 comments:

Mr. Kimmi said...

Couple of things here (and maybe they aren't really comments on this and should happen via twitter or email, but I am here and what the hey!)

1) Is there an EduBloggerCon MidWest? If not, any ideas of how I get one started up...

2) I love to hear the newfound motivation, especially in the essence of high-stakes testing time. However, my mind has been bent on summer school. Will you be teaching it this year? If so, I'd like to get together to collaborate more.

Jose Rodriguez said...

Hey Steven,

Thanks for stopping by the woodennickel. You can find info on Classroom 2.0 meetups at http://www.edubloggercon.com I would approach Steve Hargadon about possibilities about midwest meetup. For me tech will let my kids open their minds and not stress out over High Stakes testing. Maybe they'll even do better. That's something I am exploring now. I do plan to teach summer school if it is offered. Not sure because of budget. I'll let you know. It would be great to find blog buddies.