NCaect now NCTIES (conference thoughts)

Well, as always, I had good intentions to blog throughout the conference. Instead, I spent time talking with board members, feature presenters, and conference participants. There was a great buzz throughout the 3 days of conference.

My first great experience at the 2008 NCaect conference was going to the Charlotte airport to pick up Leslie Fisher and Deneen Frazier-Bowen. These featured speakers had never met each other but in a matter of minutes had made several connections and were talking like old friends. These women are at the top of their field so it was an honor just to sit back and listen! Deneen spent the first 2 days of conference in character (Edy, Julio, Maria, and Joanne-their blog is http://learningconditions.blogspot.com) going around and talking with participants as well as a special trip to Concord Middle School to talk with students. Julio managed to surprise Leslie during her preconference- it was about 3 minutes into conversation before Leslie realized that it was Deneen. She was not the only one fooled!

A big thanks to Kevin Honeycutt for letting me take part in his preconference- a totally unplanned moment but fun! As he was sharing Twitter with the group, I sent a tweet in reply to him which spurred him to ask me to speak. I almost forgot how much I enjoy presenting at conferences.

Finally, the EduBloggerCon mediated by Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach and David Warlick was the beginning of a great conversation! I am amazed at the number of people who have decided to follow me now on Twitter. It really is about making the connections and building the network. These are people I would never have had the opportunity to bounce ideas off of or just talk shop. We talked about issues regarding students in the 21st century and how to get teachers to get on board.

Big thanks to all the teachers, administrators, directors, and vendors who made the conference a success. Scott Smith, the new NCTIES president, was awesome as this year's conference chair! Only 363 days until the NCTIES conference in Raleigh!

Get your motor running...

NCaect is just a week away! This year's conference is already proving to be inspirational and uplifting. Have you heard all the cool stuff people are presenting? I just wish I could attend more sessions (a little hard when you are the president!) but I hope my folks from Winston and my peeps from Alamance will take good notes! Scott Smith, VP and Conference Chair, shared today that there are already over 1200 people registered! That is a conference record!

Can't wait to see you there!

NCaect Conference 2007

So I sit here in my living room after an exhausting but satisfying week in Raleigh for the NCaect conference. When I agreed to be the conference chair last year, I did not realize how much this would renew my faith in technology in education. We were blessed with the presence of some of the greats- Will Richardson, David Warlick, Leslie Fisher, Chris O'Neal, Elliot Soloway, and Cathie Norris. My only regret is I did not get to sit in on their sessions! The feedback we received was fantastic and the board is already excited about next year's conference in Concord.

I was able to spend a little time with Stephen Shapiro and Brian Hackett from SchoolFusion as well as two of my colleagues in my district. We are working directly with them to develop our system's web presence. It is doing wonders for our teachers! I digress...During our dinner, we had some very serious conversations about the use of technology in education and how accountability is playing a role. Our frustrations with NCLB came out quickly. But the most serious discussion that came out of our dinner and also throughout the conference in sessions is that our teachers need to understand that they have to work smarter not harder and how technology plays a role in that. I get tired of teachers telling me that technology is just "ONE MORE THING" as if it is the straw that broke the camels back. NO NO NO! We have to get teachers to open their eyes and see that techology can make everything EASIER!! I am not sure how to do that but it is my personal mission.

Thanks to everyone who came to the conference and especially to EVERYONE that helped. We were truly a great team!