I just realized I never blogged about my NCTIES experience. I can only blame that on the fact that I saw so many fabulous uses of technology while I was there that I was too busy playing around with all the "techno-stuff" that I totally forgot to share. NCTIES (North Carolina Technology in Education Society) is by far the best conference I've ever been to. Wait, let me rephrase that, the content, presenters, and attendees were the best. I once went to a conference that had Starbucks coffee on tap along with all the food you could eat. But I digress.
Where to begin.....every session I went to was amazing. I highly recommend going to pre-conference sessions because they give you a chance to really delve into something new. In the morning pre-conference session we learned about using video to enhance instruction. Richard Byrne was full of ideas that can easily be incorporated into the classroom or library. He has inspired me to do a video research project with my 5th graders so be on the look out for their projects soon. The afternoon pre-conference session was actually a photo safari with Ken Shelton. He had a tremendous amount of patience as he taught us how to "make" pictures instead of taking them. I've been practicing my rule of thirds and I'm even considering doing a project 365 where you take a picture each day of the year.
The concurrent sessions were full of wonderful FREE ideas. I absolutely loved the Web 2.0 Smackdown that Jennifer LaGarde and Jennifer Northrup presented. It's not that I'm partial to school librarians...well obviously I am so I won't even go there. Back to the smackdown: It was fast and furious but it was so much fun. They used a symbaloo (which I had never heard of) and shared tons of tools that I've been playing around with.
I can't even begin to discuss all the new tools and ideas that I found at NCTIES. What I will do is share how we're incorporating them in the library and in my school. Stay tuned!
