Challenge Accepted: Educator Learning Series (#EduLS) Challenge #5 is to post a blog. I have had this blog for several years, but haven’t kept up with it. I am putting it on my calendar to write a post on the second Monday of each month. I am hoping that by putting in my calendar, I will be more likely to remember it. Maybe I’ll even post more than once a month, but don’t hold your breath. So, thanks @TechNinjaTodd!
I attended my first ever TCEA (Texas Computer Education Association) Conference last week! I got up VERY early on Wednesday morning (my birthday) and headed to Austin with some fellow librarians/media specialists from my district. The first thing I did was meet with some Scholastic folks about their products (a meeting had been set up prior to the conference) and then I headed for the sessions. I attended 4 sessions back to back and skipped lunch so I could soak it all in! I was so excited to get to listen to Naomi Bates (she’s a rock star in my book) talk about how Teacher-Librarians and Instructional Technologists work together (of course, I am both on my campus). I attended other sessions about MyOn, Hour of Code, and creating a tech ninja club. Thursday was the librarian/media specialist academy. That was pretty intense, too! My brain was filled with information about library commons, tech tools, teacher support, Google tips, and so much more. The break out sessions were pretty awesome, but I was pretty overwhelmed. I think we had 6 sessions that day! Whew! Friday morning I was able to meet with a friend from another district for breakfast and talk library lingo. That was invaluable. I finally got a chance to hit the exhibit halls Friday morning, too. I got some good information about some learning management systems, ebooks, and other cool techie tools. I have lots of notes and ideas. And the conversation among the media specialists on our drive home was so good, too!
SOOOOOO….now, what do I do with all this information??? I want to share it, of course. Tomorrow I plan to sort through my notes and come up with some goals and action plans. Things I want to do for my library, things I want to do for my school/staff, things I need to share with other media specialists so we can plan together. I have so many ideas bouncing around my brain as I reflect on TCEA, but mostly I keep coming back to the importance of literacy with technology. Yes, I love technology. It’s amazing. But if our students cannot read, technology isn’t going to do them any good. So, as I make my plans and move forward, I am going to keep that at the heart of everything I do.