ISTE Denver Monday

Monday was a big day at the conference as the exhibition hall opened today and that was amazing I managed to get lost in there. It was quite overwhelming. I was trying to find the hapara stand to get our free goodies. The workshops I attended that day where Storytellers of the Future , Empowering Students with Multimodal Math which was probably more at a secondary level then primary looking at the magma app and number which is an Apple app and GeoGebra a lot of our secondary schools use. It was great to hear the presenter talking about John Hatties work talking about his effect sizes and about the importance of authentic contexts which were what a lot of these activities were based around. Magma it was great because it allowed the teacher to have access to all of the students' work. They were able to monitor the answers using a monitoring system. Story tellers of the future was another great workshop simular to the one I attended yesterday. I also attended Words matter in maths based around Peter liljedahls wonderful problem solving work which was good to see how they are using his work. She also shared lots of great links to resources.. We managed to head back to the hotel to get changed before heading off to the 90s party which was great.

ISTEDenver 24

Mind blowing!! So big and so many things to do, see and hear. I wanted to see as much as I could in the 4 days. Getting around the convention center was a feat on its own as it is such a big venue. Sunday I had some activities booked in my first one was a Storytelling Done Digitally to Showcase Student Voice, Views and Perspectives a hands on workshop that was amazing they were stations set up around the room with lots and lots of presenters with lots of hands on activities looking at all the multi ways of telling stories. I really enjoyed the movie making one which had lots of great resources and ideas on how to use moving making in the classroom. I also enjoyed a couple of others we looked at which were using voice in the classroom looking at pod podcasting using slides adding voice and multi other ways that you can add voice into activities. They were fantastic ideas you could use back in the classroom. They also shared lots of resources and links to multi pages of resources. Then I went to 3D Creation: The LiDAR and Photogrammetry Experience an interesting workshop of 3D creations which blew me away on how easy it was to create them with the correct apps. Then I also attended 20+ Creative Approaches to Revamp Your Formative Assessment Routines by Monica burns. We all lined up for the opening ceremony in the main theatre with some very inspirational speakers. Then off to the wonderland event which showcased many tools and toys to explore I didn’t manage to win a T shirt but enjoyed playing with robots, printing cards and talking to sellers and attendees. A long day and off back to the hotel for a good sleep.

First Day in Denver

Up early and sun was out and really hot. So nice to feel the heat. A group was off to do a tour, I desided to do my own tour around the city so off I went. Walked to the convention center and went in side had a look around. Then headed up town and found Ross so got in some shopping. Then headed to the Colorado State Capitol building. Found the mile step. walked back to the hotel, went and registered. THe other arrived back and we haeded off up town. Jono needed some cloths as his bags got lost, went shopping, targets, lunch at Giordans World famous Deep Dish Pizzas.

Then desided to head out to the baseball at the famous Corrs Stadium and watch the Colorado Rockies play. Was a great night out.An awesome expierence.

Denver Flight

Finally arrived in Denver. Started at Auckland Airport, checked in and met up with Dave, Fiona, Robyn and some of the Tamaki crew. Left NZ at 7:40 pm after a very long flight, watched a few movies and got about 5 hours sleep. Arrived in Houston, lucky Dave waited for me and we ventured our way through customs. I get called up for an Agriculture check so am escaughted down stairs to baggage claim and off to get my bags scanned. Then came out at a different gate. Lucky Dave saw me and aff we went to rescane our bags on their way to Denver. Then through another security check of our carry on luggage. Mine gets pulled to the side and searched. Lucky got the clear. I said goodbye to Dave as he headed off to c and I headed off to E3. What a huge airport, very daunting and scary. (on my own) Found my gate after a rush along very long corridors. Flight now delayed an hour. Which was good to have a walk around go and get a drink and calm the nerves down. Next flight to Denver was a 2 hour flight and had movies on board so I watched another movie. We landed in Denver just on dark. I walked for miles and down stairs then on an underground train to take us to baggage claim. Found my bag and jumped in a taxi straight to the hotel. I bet all the others there as their plane had been delayed. Went to check in absolutely dying for a shower and bed. There had been a mix up on something and could not get into my room. Fiona, Dorethy, Dave and Russle were not due after midnight. Kept calm, and had to fight back the tears as I was very tired. Had some dinner Matt, Jono, Angle and Robyn arrived and Matt contacted Jenny in NZ and sorted our rooms. Nice hot shower and bed. What a trip.

ISTE 2024 Journey Begins

What a start for my journey to Denver. Heavy rain warnings for the Far North, it rained all day and all night and very heavy. The planes from Kerikeri the day before had been cancelled. I woke up Thursday at 2 am listening to the heavy rain thinking of the worst flooding, cancelled flights, not being able to get through to Auckland. So at 5:30 am my husband and I decided to drive through to Auckland before it flooded and I wasn't getting anywhere. So packed and hit the road at 7am. We took my jeep as it was high and had 4 wheel drive. Kaeo was just starting to come across the road.We made a good decision.

I called into Whangarei to log into the PLG meeting, we had some teachers online and some at Paparore school. Somewhere dealing with flooding issues. We were in the middle of our meeting when we went dead. I tried to get back in and no one was there. As I was tethering through my phone I thought it was my end. But no, a major pylon had fallen over and the whole of the far north was out of power. We arrived in Auckland with a blue sky and no rain. We booked into the hotel and had a nice relaxing night I slept very well with not alot of sleep the night before. This morning I sent Bill back on his journey home to the Far North which luckily there is power at my home. I fly out this evening at 7:40pm so my day has been sitting at the Pullman lounge getting lots of work done and preparing for term 3. Let's hope the rest of the journey is not as stressful as the start.

Brisk AI Professional, Level 2.

Completed the micro credentail Brisk teacher level 2 course. I find them great to see and try any updates and new resources. It is also good to get the back ground story. This at the moment is my favourite go to AI tool for planning and making quizz questions. I have been introducing it to my teachers I work with and am modeling it the PLG for our leaders. I will find their stand a ISTE to learn more about the fast and efficient AI tool. Maybe I may find a better AI tool at ISTE. Challenge is on!

Create Staffmeeting Term 2

Te Hiku Create Staff meeting Term 2 was an online meet with our schools so spread out with great distances between them it is very hard to get everyone together in one place. The other option for me is to have 2 separate ones with one out the East coast and one in town. But with 3 schools up north it is still a great distance for them to travel. I may have to look at holding 3. This term I focused on digital create and shared some AI options for teachers to try in the classroom. We all meet together and I went over the Kaupapa of create and shared the AI tools and reminded them of other great digital create options. They had some time to explore and create and then we went into year groups. Each school had added create examples to a slide and sharred them in their groups. Mark Pickard led the senior group and Edwina the middle and I led the juniors. It is great to see so much creation happening across the cluster and lots of digital tools being used.