ISTE 2019 Recap + Ambassador Questions?

Last month, I was extremely fortunate to attend ISTE 2019 in Philadelphia, PA. I won a spot to present through their "People's Choice" session vote after initially being rejected as a standard session. I gathered all of my session resources (including the presentation itself, into one Wakelet collection, and you can find all of the info from my session, regardless of attendance at ISTE, here! My session was about digital storytelling and visual literacy through the use of video. I outlined the steps of Design Thinking and how they apply to the process of creating a digital story.

I posted a little recap of my experience at ISTE on my Reset EDU YouTube channel. You can check it out here:

I was fortunate to be able to attend ISTE thanks to WeVideo. They paid for my travel and registration for ISTE in exchange for working in their booth for the duration of the convention. Many educators are in the same boat as I am - we are unable to afford travel and registration to this convention on our own, as it is quite expensive. I have heard several educators who are critical of other teachers who serve as ambassadors for ed tech companies, and although I understand their views, I know that I could not be a part of this community and attend these events without it. So I need to be open-minded and flexible, and comfortable with the fact that I would not advocate for a company or service that I did not truly believe in and use personally. This is very true when it comes to WeVideo.

I have also made a lot of new friends and significantly expanded my PLN as a result of being an ambassador and the experiences that have come with it. At ISTE, I was able to connect with so many friends IRL, including getting to meet fellow WeVideo ambassador Bruce Reicher, pictured in the thumbnail above. (Find him at @breicher on Twitter!)

I'm happy to answer any questions that anyone has concerning my experience as an ambassador, so feel free to send them my way! I'd like to address them in a future blog post or Reset EDU episode. Is there anything you've always wanted to know?

- Mrs L.

My First ISTE Experience

So, I'm almost a week out from my very first ISTE experience. For anyone who's never been, ISTE is the International Society for Technology in Education, and their yearly conference is a super big deal in terms of size and scale. It's basically the national version of your teaching association group, but for anyone who uses tech. 

Then multiplied by 100. 

In Illinois, we have a state group, called Illinois Computing Educators, with regional chapters and such. Their state conference is big and all (it's the one I usually go to) but I was grossly unprepared for what to expect at ISTE. 

This year, ISTE was local to me, being held in Chicago at McCormick Place... the place that the auto show and Comic-Con is held, if that helps. Oh, and it's expensive, like too much for a person to pay out of their own pocket. So you have to be lucky and have your company or school district send you there. Thankfully, because of my history with WeVideo and willingness to present on their behalf and work in the exhibitor booth, they offered to send both myself and my husband, who teaches art in Oak Park. We worked in the exhibitor booth for 2 of the 3 days, and just that experience alone was insane and fun and basically a giant overload to the senses!

I know it's mostly because it was my first time, so I was unprepared as to what to expect. I'll do better next round. 

Mr Leban and I doing what we do best. Being weird. 

For starters, it felt like we were non-stop hit by people at the booth! Some with questions, some who wanted to try out awesome green screen activities using WeVideo, and LOTS of friends: both my coworkers AND my virtual friends who I was finally able to meet up with in real life and say hello! 

from upper left, clockwise: Suzee Reinheimer (my D205 coworker) and Todd Burleson (author/librarian/twitter buddy), Ben Hartman (another D205 coworker), Kaitlin Fajks (my grad school colleague), and Abby Almerido (one of my new #LAX18 cohort pals!)

I was able to hit up a few sessions, including one on creativity by Todd Burleson, who was kind enough to include me in his Green Screen Makerspace Project book last year, and one on the Google Dynamic Learning Project, which I am super interested in learning everything about! 

Not only did I meet friends at the WeVideo booth, I also had the chance to present at the Google for Education booth on WeVideo. (WeVideo is a Google for Education partner and so we had a space to present - it was super fun!)

I haven't actually shared the awesome news here on the blog, although I've been tweeting all over - I was accepted to the Google Certified Innovator program this summer! I'm going to LA in a little over a week to work on my project, and I am so so psyched about it. I have a really amazing and friendly group of teachers in my cohort with me, and a bunch of us were able to meet up IRL at ISTE! Don't worry, I'm sure to have a blog post all about it after I get back. :)

(Note to self #1: Always take selfies with everyone you meet at ISTE. I forgot this like 90% of my time here.)

We were invited to the special WeVideo/Soundtrap social at Underground on Monday night, which was super fun, and I met up with even MORE friends. Seriously, this ISTE thing is the best place ever to connect with your PLN! :)

Our WeVideo crew! Back row L-R: John, Todd, Me, Jaime, and Krishna. Front row L-R: Emily and Allison

On day three, Todd and I had the time all to ourselves, so besides hitting up a session AND meeting another friend for coffee, we made a valiant attempt to make it through the vendor hall... and I'd say we did a pretty good job of it? 

I was ridiculously excited to find the Osmo booth (I don't use it in middle school, but Iggy has a setup at home and we keep buying more stuff for it because IT IS AMAZING) and I got to meet Awbie of the Osmo Instagram account, who I'm kind of obsessed with. He's just the cutest. 

I also got to talk with exhibitors at some of my other favorite (and new favorite!) vendors, and learn a bunch of new and exciting tricks and preview a bunch of upcoming fun things: Makey Makey, littleBits, iPevo, Swivl, Flipgrid, Creaza, Strawbees... oh geez and I'm probably forgetting a whole mess of others... I told you this ISTE thing was overwhelming! :)

Did you go to ISTE? What was your favorite part? 

- Mrs L.

I'm A Failure, And That's OK!

I’m writing today’s blog post to tell you all about how I’m a failure. I’m going to my first ISTE Conference this summer. Because I’m a WeVideo ambassador, I typically present a session on their behalf in exchange for admission to the event. Well, this time around, the deadline for sessions had already passed, so I was asked to submit proposals for the “New Ideas” sessions at ISTE.

Well, yesterday I found out that BOTH proposals were declined. Heck if I know why, but it happened. It is what it is. I still get to go to ISTE, and I’ll be running some fun demos at the WeVideo booth (so stop by and say hello!), so it’s not really a loss on my part except for a little blow to the ego.

I really feel like it’s important to talk about our failures as well as our successes, for a variety of reasons:

Failing teaches us about what DOESN’T work. 

In the great wise words of Jake the Dog, “Dude, sucking at something is the first step towards becoming kinda good at something.” We learn a lot from failing!

You won’t have ANY success if you never put yourself out there.
If you never try, you never take a risk, you never even gave yourself the chance that you just might succeed. You’re doomed to fail no matter what!

Failure makes us human.
Failure is a part of life. No one is perfect, or succeeds all the time, and showing vulnerability is just one way that we can relate to other people.

Trying new stuff (whether we fail or find success) is good for your brain.
It stimulates creativity. You get to know yourself better. You overcome fears.

Failing shows others that you’re trying.
Again, as in #2, if you never try, you’ll never achieve. Others see you working hard and putting in effort regardless of your success (or lack thereof).

So speaking of taking chances and putting yourself out there, I decided to apply to become a Google Certified Innovator - the next cohort is being hosted in LA this summer (#LAX18). I know a few people who have done it, and I decided that I’m ready to take the plunge, knowing full well that many people do NOT get accepted the first time they apply, and it takes several tries before they got in. But I’m doing it anyways. Because failure is good.

Guess what? My theme, or problem that I want to tackle as an Innovator, is all about failure and risk-taking! I want to help other teachers and school staff be OKAY with failing. Let’s try new things! We always tell our students about how failure (or trial and error) is a learning process, so why don’t we follow our own advice?

I had to make a movie about it, you can check it out here:

Applications close TODAY. I’ll know if I’m accepted sometime after school gets out (our last day is May 25th), and although it’s nice to be accepted, if I fail, I’m okay with it.

Actual footage of me failing miserably. :)

Just get back up, and do it again!
Hope to see you at ISTE this summer!

- Mrs L.