With summer coming soon, many teachers are looking for a fun, challenging project this summer to totally up their game on hacking and make skills.  The Tech-Savvy Teachers recommend an Arduino, the inexpensive microcontroller.  What’s an Arduino, you ask?  Make Magazine has you covered: What can you do with an Arduino?  The only limit is your imagination.  To get an idea if some of the amazing projects available, check out this page of projects from Instructables.  We love the LED projects and the tree-climbing robot! Right now, Amazon has a sweet Arduino Starter Kit up for just $100 (and free shipping if you have Amazon Prime!).  The kit comes with all the hardware components you need for 15 different projects and the official Arduino Project Book.  Together, this kit will give you a great start to this amazing platform! Do you have an amazing Arduino project from you or your students?  Hit us up in the comments below!

When I was a 4th grader, my classroom had an Apple IIe that my teacher basically used as an incentive station for students that finished their work early.  I remember pounding out my math facts as quickly as I could so I could be the first person to use the station.  I had a few options to choose from: games, math reinforcement, and programming.  A group of my friends started tinkering with the programming to see if we could build a game.  The outcome from this early exposure was my friends and I started to gain a basic understanding of both computer hardware and software.  Fast forward to today’s youth, most interact with computing hardware on a daily basis, but a much smaller percentage actually program their device. Enter the Raspberry Pi.  For $40 you can purchase the hardware to create a place for students to tinker.  This introductory video gives a great overview of the hardware and possibilities: Once you are up and running go to http://www.raspberrypi.org/ to give your students ideas to get them started.  Some ideas from the site are:   If you decide to setup a tinker station or already have one, please share with us in the comments below so we can show off your setup to the NCCE community!

I know, summer is here for some and ALMOST here for others, but I just finished reviewing a great study released by the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation on the effectiveness of blended learning.  The study is an interesting read and has a little something for everyone. Here are some highlights: Technology problems impacted programs throughout the study.  Specifically, "Unreliable Internet connectivity, inadequate bandwidth, and problems with software programs hindered many schools’ ability to implement their models."  This highlights the importance of good decisions made on hardware and software platforms as well as infrastructure.  Blended learning environment decisions go well beyond curriculum! Good old-fashioned learning strategies help students work for success in this environment.  I was particularly struck by the notion that weekly goal setting helped students succeed in the environment.  "According to a majority of the administrators, teachers, and lab monitors interviewed, weekly goal-setting helped students to become more   invested in their learning and to see both the rewards of meeting goals and consequences of failing to meet them."  It reminds me of how true things like the "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" remain, even in a digitally enhanced world. Advanced students seem to benefit the most from these environments.  This is a challenge for those that dream of using technology, blended learning and online learning to engage those that don’t seem to find success in more traditional learning environments.  "The models were   possibly less effective for students whose academic work was below their expected grade level. In addition, many teachers interviewed felt a student’s ability to self-manage and self-direct their learning   determined which children would most likely thrive in a blended learning model."  This also confirms my own informal observations of those that are more successful in online learning environments. Overall, this study doesn’t make any broad pronouncements for or again the model, but, does provide some intriguing fodder for discussion. Enjoy the read!

Supplement Your Stretched Budget GetEdFunding is a free and fresh website sponsored by CDW•G to help educators and institutions find the funds they need in order to supplement their already stretched budgets. GetEdFunding hosts a collection of more than 2,400 (and growing) grants and other funding opportunities culled from federal, state, regional and community sources and available to public and private, preK-12 educators, schools and districts, higher education institutions and nonprofit organizations that work with them. GetEdFunding offers customized searches by six criteria, including 43 areas of focus, eight content areas and any of the 21st century themes and skills that support your curriculum. After registering on the site, you can save the grant opportunities of greatest interest and then return to them at any time. This rich resource of funding opportunities is expanded, updated and monitored daily. Click Here to Visit Website Bring Bing to the Surface Educators can earn credits for free technology for their classroom just by searching the web with Bing. It’s similar to participating in a frequent flyer program. Credits can be donated to help get free Microsoft Surface tablets for your school. Earning credits is easy. Simply search with Bing, try new features and take advantage of exclusive offers to see your credits start adding up. Status upgrades allow you to earn even faster. Try it now. It’s free. Click Here to Start Earning Bing Rewards Champion Creativity Crayola’s 2014 Champion Creatively Alive Children program provides grants for innovative, creative leadership team building within elementary schools. Each grant-winning school receives $2,500 and Crayola products valued at $1,000. In collaboration with the National Association of Elementary School Principals(NAESP), Crayola offers up to 20 grants. The scoring rubric is available online for applicants to review before submitting an application. Deadlines: Applications will be accepted until 12:00 midnight (ET) on June 23, 2014. Every Early Bird application submitted before midnight on June 9, 2014, will receive a Crayola product Classpack. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rP0nA1x8PI Click Here for More Information Plus: Crayola’s free Champion Creatively Alive Children series will help you implement arts-infused education in your school. Arts-infused education helps children acquire critical 21st century skills: creativity,critical thinking, collaboration and communication. The complete program includes seven videos andguides, along with a supplemental introductory leadership guide and additional resources to help you facilitate workshops and arts-infused education advocacy meetings—everything you need, from PowerPoint presentations to flyers, handouts and evaluation forms. Click Here to Access Free Professional Resources Provide Access to Good Books for ALL Lois Lenski, children’s book author and 1946 Newbery medalist for Strawberry Girl, had a lifelong concern that all children have access to good books. In pursuit of this goal, she established a foundation to provide grants to agencies serving children in disadvantaged populations. The Lois Lenski Covey Foundation annually awards grants to libraries and (other institutions that operate a library) for purchasing books published for young people, preschool through grade 8. School libraries, nontraditional libraries operated by charitable [501(c)(3)] and other nontaxable agencies, and bookmobile programs are eligible. Grants for 2014 will range from $500 to $3,000 and are specifically for book purchases. Deadline: June 16, 2014, for completed applications; grants to be awarded on or before December 15, 2014 Click Here for More Information Teach and Learn with the News Every year since 2010, The New York Times Learning Network has invited teenagers to add The New York Times to their summer reading lists, and every year more and more youth have taken The Learning Network up on the offer. Each Friday, from June 13 through August 15, The Learning Network will pose the same question: What interested you most in The Times this week? Anyone between 13 and 19 years of age, from anywhere in the world, can post an answer, and contestants can choose from any Times article, essay, video, interactive or photograph published in 2014, on any topic they like—whether Ukraine, the universe or ugly "selfies." Every Tuesday, The Learning Network will choose the winners and publish their responses on its blog. Deadlines: Weekly through August 15, 2014 Click Here to Participate in Summer Reading Contest Energize Classrooms, Activate Minds In a 1:1 iPad classroom, ClassFlow allows every student the opportunity to learn by doing and to show what they know. With ClassFlow, a free, cloud-based teaching and learning tool for K-12 classrooms, educators can create dynamic lessons, deliver interactive content across multiple devices (including tablets, laptops and interactive whiteboards and displays) and conduct real-time formative assessment. To get started with ClassFlow, simply register for free at ClassFlow.com. Click Here to Register for Free Teaching Tool Communicate in the Garden The School Garden Curriculum from the University of Georgia’s College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences includes lessons that use gardens to teach a wide range of topics from kindergarten through grade 8. The garden-based lessons are listed by grade level, and at K-5 they are further subdivided into earth science, life science and physical science topics. Grade 6 lessons are aligned with the earth science topics required at that level; grade 7 has life science lessons and grade 8 has physical science lessons. Click Here to Access Free Garden-Based Lessons Plus: Written as a University of California Master Gardener Program project, A Garden of Words/Un jardín de palabras is a free bilingual English-Spanish/Spanish-English dictionary that is intended as a tool to help both elementary school children and their teachers/leaders communicate in the garden. It is suitable for use in schools and in after-school, garden-based learning settings. The dictionary includes the most common gardening words and phrases. Also provided is a translated and converted metric/US units table. The language is color coded, with English words in green and Spanish words in orange. The publication is divided into two sections: English-to-Spanish and then Spanish-to-English. Click Here to Download Free Bilingual Garden Dictionary Inspire Manufacturing Innovators of the Future Alcoa Foundation and Discovery Education have launched Manufacture Your Future, a new online destination designed to inspire students in grades 6-12 to take the first step toward exploring and pursuing today’s manufacturing careers. The program provides middle school and high school educators, guidance counselors, students and families with hands-on resources that build excitement around postsecondarymanufacturing career opportunities. Manufacture Your Future encourages the development of critical thinking skills through real-world applications and offers standards-based Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM)-focused lesson plans, a manufacturing career guide, family discussion starters and a virtual field trip designed to give students an inside look at some of today’s most prominent manufacturing careers. Manufacture Your Future will launch its first virtual field trip on National Manufacturing Day, October 3, 2014. Students will get an inside look at careers in advanced manufacturing through an interactive event hosted live from an Alcoa facility. Click Here to Access Free Resources Walk in Someone Else’s Shoes A group of education researchers at Harvard University has developed a virtual simulation for "walking in another person’s shoes" to help students relate to one another better. The simulation is part of a project calledSocial Aspects of Immersive Learning (SAIL). The technical term is "social perspective taking," and it means understanding another person by taking in their thoughts, feelings and motivations. To create an experience that will help build these types of positive relationships through nuanced social perspective, the research team created a scenario that involves a confrontation between a park ranger and a golf course owner who share land but disagree over how to use it. The simulation allows a participant to play the role of the golf course owner, walking around in his world, talking to his colleagues and getting a sense of his perspective and opinions about the world. The player then has the same experience walking in the shoes of the park ranger. Finally, the player is asked to negotiate from the perspective of the golf course owner with the park ranger over various differences of opinion related to how the land should be treated. Each of the points of negotiation have a money value attached, giving the player a stake in the outcome of the negotiations. The research team would like to hear from educators interested in getting involved in this project. Click Here for More Information Click Here to Get Involved in Project Enhance Text Engagement with Multiple Media A team of researchers from the Annenberg Innovation Lab at the University of Southern California has created a model of what they call participatory learning, which engages students with materials on a personal level, often by incorporating different types of media into the classroom and offering varying points of entry to a text. Most recently, the team has put together a teacher’s strategy guide, Reading in a Participatory Culture: Remixing Moby-Dick in the English Classroom, and an interactive digital book,Flows of Reading, to provide models of their approach. The digital book allows readers to follow hyperlinks, enjoy embedded video content and add to an online space for related work. It broadens the model beyondMoby Dick and applies it to reading at all age levels, from a wordless picture book to the Hunger Games andLord of the Rings. It offers four pathways, or ways to view a text: Motivations for Reading, Adaptations and Remixing, Negotiating Cultural Spaces and Continuities and Space. Click Here for More Information About Strategy Guide Click Here to Access Free Digital Book

As an admitted Apple fanboy, I was thrilled to see all of the amazing announcements on Monday from the keynote address at WWDC, the Apple Worldwide Developer Conference.  While I still regularly using Apple hardware for my desktop and tablet, I moved to an Android phone 18 months ago and frankly haven’t missed my old iPhone.  Although I would likely need to see some improvements on the hardware side to switch back to the iPhone, I am hopeful that Apple can bring me back into the fold with iPhone 6 this fall. That said, for schools and teachers, there wasn’t a lot of excitement in Monday’s announcements.  There still isn’t a great management platform for iOS devices and, in my opinion, iOS devices are really intended to be personal devices and don’t play well in a multiuser environment which is unfortunately necessary in many schools. There is one thing, somewhat hidden in the nerdiest announcements for developers, that could have a great impact in classrooms.  Apple has announced the release of a new programming language, Swift, that allows developers to create applications on both the OSX and iOS platform. Apple’s own marketing material claim a revolution, touting "Swift’s clean slate, backed by the mature and much-loved Cocoa and Cocoa Touch frameworks, is an opportunity to reimagine how software development works." Early external reviews seem to support this.  Code School called the their early impressions "very positive," while the MIT Technology Review suggests that coding students will benefit from many of the changes. Of course, any Apple programming language has the inherent limitation of only working on Apple devices, including Macs and iOS devices like the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch.  However, Apple is continually increasing sales in that sector, topping a billion (with a B!) dollars last year and an astounding 94% of the education tablet market. In light of the increasing interest around coding and computer science, is this the language that can inspire the next generation to create their own apps? I have started the process of studying Swift.  Apple provides a great, free ebook that introduces the basics, available in the iBooks store.  This could be a very interesting development!

Jason and I are headed to Atlanta to attend and share to the NCCE community everything we encounter.  Be ready for many posts on sessions, vendors, equipment, and anything else we encounter during the week.  As always follow @NCCE_Edtech on Twitter to get even more information about our experience at ISTE. In addition to following us, ISTE has a great program entitled "ISTE Live"!  ISTE Live let’s you access many great sessions as they happen. Participate virtually in ISTE 2014, including our Monday keynote and 20 of our most popular sessions — all live! Choose from five concurrent sessions at each timeslot. Interact with presenters, conference attendees, and other ISTE Live participants via moderated chat. Actively engage in post-session presenter interviews exclusively available to ISTE Live participants. Receive on-demand access to archived recordings of all ISTE Live sessions, plus approximately 50 additional recorded sessions only available to registered onsite and virtual conference attendees. Space is limited, so reserve your spot now! Cost: $199 ($219 after May 1) — includes access to recorded archive of all ISTE Live sessions, plus additional video-on-demand (VOD) sessions for six months. Register for ISTE Live Schedule: Monday, June 30 9-10:15 a.m. ET Keynote Session (to be announced) 10:45-11:45 a.m. ET The digital natives are restless 2.0: Captivating web tools[Interactive Lecture] Reuben Hoffman Synchronous collaboration on iPads and Android devices[Snapshot] Cathie Norris and Elliot Soloway Transmedia storytelling for teaching math [Snapshot] Jean Crawford and Jeanne Paratore TIME (tools, integration, models, engagement) for technology coaches [Interactive Lecture] Jana Craig Hare and Amber Rowland Classroom gymnastics: Using Edmodo and BYOD to blend and flip classrooms [BYOD] Kate Baker and Elizabeth Calderwood iStart to iFinish: Creating student-centered iPad lessons [BYOD] Kristy Andre 12:30-1:30 p.m. ET Thank you Mr. Gutenberg but we’ve moved on [Panel] Christine DiPaulo and Chris Penny Taming the e-book monsters: Managing a successful district virtual library [Lecture] Lisa Perez Tech that! Extending students’ digital environment into the classroom [Lecture] Robert Craven Cloud-based maps engage students from anywhere on any device [BYOD] Anita Palmer and Roger Palmer Using infographics to develop visual literacy skills [BYOD] Shriley Farrell and Margaret Rice 2:15-3:15 p.m. ET Young teachers and their first-year journey with 1:1 iPads[Lecture] Heather Blake and Kate Dye Finding your voice with media in the iPad classroom [Interactive Lecture] Sam Gliksman The reflective teacher’s tips and tools for guiding PBL [Lecture] Susie Boss and Jane Krauss What do you mean there’s no notebook? [BYOD] Chris Stephenson iPadeology: Staff and student resources for iPad deployment[BYOD] Helene Davitz and Candace Marcotte 4-5 p.m. ET The PBL and flipped learning connection [Lecture] Michael Gorman and Anita Harris Enhancing student engagement by infusing social media with course content [Interactive Lecture] Jennifer Alexiou-Ray, Andrew Battista, Tammy Cook and Cassie Raulston ISTE Ignite Sessions (to be announced) Cinematic storytelling wth iPads and iPhones [BYOD] Michael Hernandez Flipping the Google Apps classroom With Chromebooks and Nexus tablets [BYOD] Jennifer Lowton and Jennifer Middaugh

NCCE plays influential role in Leon County Schools in Tallahassee, Florida, by providing trainers for Microsoft in their digital initiative to enhance education through an interactive platform that creates interesting and compelling learning.  http://blog.ncce.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/b5960163-0bb2-4be6-9786-d30a2f853e14.mp4 New technology integration rollout? Need to train your staff and don’t know where to start? Let us help! NCCE embraces every opportunity to work with schools and districts to customize professional learning to fit your unique situation. With a highly qualified staff of current and former educators, NCCE has the talent onboard to assist you with everything from Classroom Management, New Teacher Induction, Working with Common Core and Preparing Students with 21st Century Skills using Technology. Our Professional Learning team will also tailor any of our professional learning programs to meet your group’s specific needs. Our team is available to custom design professional learning through consultative discussions and has experience fulfilling Requests for Proposal (RFP) from single schools to large districts. Make NCCE your first stop when searching for leading innovative learning! Request a Training Today!

A new program, called EdReady, is on the horizon and is showing great promise.  As a pilot state, Montana is leading the way with this exciting new initiative. What is EdReady? EdReady Montana is a program for all students in Montana from grade seven through college who want to Brush up on their general math skills Become better prepared for college math Or practice math skills needed for their desired career path Through the EdReady Montana Project, funded by a generous gift from the Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation, Montana Digital Academy (MTDA) will bring the EdReady program to the State of Montana as the first State in the Country to deploy EdReady to their students! Students can be signed up in the following ways: Through their secondary school, Through their college campus or Sign up all on their own to improve their own skills. NROC Dev Math Project and EdReady Montana History In the years leading up to the gift in February of 2014, Montana Digital Academy leaders worked with the NROC Project, a member-driven non profit organization with the goal of creating open educational resources, to advise in the creation of the math curricular assets and assisted in piloting EdReady and providing feedback on the program during the Spring and Summer of 2015. As one of 5 pilot States, MTDA tested the system at the University of Montana, Missoula-Sentinel High School, Corvallis High School and Lolo Middle School in the spring and summer. For more information on the NROCmath project, visit this site: http://nrocmath.org/ EdReady Montana - A Montana Digital Academy Project Montana Digital Academy is the statewide virtual school for the State of Montana created in 2009 by the Montana Legislature to serve K-12 students in Montana through a supplementary online curricular model. EdReady Montana extends upon the MTDA core offerings by helping address gaps in math (soon English/Language Arts) readiness and helps students become better prepared for their college and career paths. The uniquely positioned MTDA that serves almost every high school and a growing number of middle schools in the state already, is funded through the Office for Public Instruction and resides at a campus of the Montana University System. The reach and coordination of MTDA through these and other educational partners in Montana will help EdReady Montana be deployed efficiently and broadly to all levels and will tie in with the MTDA vision. To learn more about MTDA, visit this website: http://montanadigitalacademy.org/ NROC EdReady Piloting and EdReady Montana History Based largely on the success of this pilot project and most notably the results of the incoming freshmen with low math placement scores at The University of Montana, MTDA partnered with the University to share the data and seek funding for the EdReady Montana Project to bring the customizable version of EdReady to all Montana students grade 7 to College. The project is funded for 3 years initially and will allow the State to assess future funding opportunities after use cases are explored, served, measured and assessed. NCCE is proud to showcase exciting new projects happening in our member states.  Do you have a new grant or project you would like to showcase on our blog? Contact Us today! 

NCCE is proud to announce that Richard Snyder has joined the Tech-Savvy Teacher team as our Tech-Savvy Librarian-in-Residence!  We are thrilled that Richard will be joining us as a model teacher-librarian, helping our professional learning community grow to engage all of the great professionals that serve students throughout our region, country and world! To help you get to know Richard better, we asked him to sit down with the Tech-Savvy Teacher team to discuss his workflow, technology tools and philosophy related to educational technology.  Enjoy! Name: Richard Snyder Location: Seattle, WA Current jobs: Teacher-librarian (Lake Washington School District, Kirkland Middle School), NCCE Board of Directors, Seattle Pacific University (adjunct faculty for department of education) Current computer: Surface Pro I Current mobile device(s): Nokia Lumina 1020 One word that best describes how you teach or work: Checklist What apps/software/tools can you not live without? I use OneDrive, Pandora, OneNote and 6Tag, an Instragram client for Windows Mobile. Share with us a time when you failed in your teaching or learning pursuits.  How did you persevere? One year I attempted to go with a progressive grade in my English classes. At mid semester, students who were doing well should have a "C," which would (eventually) turn into A. Sounded like an amazing idea in July. By the end of September, it was a huge mess. After many meetings with admins, colleagues, and parents, I made my grading work for me that reflected my students’ skills and growth. What is your favorite organizational tip, app or advice? OneNote: I’ve used it daily, maybe hourly, since 2008. I have notebooks for work, vacation, recipes, home information, and classes I’ve taught. It works because you make it work the way you want it to. It matches my organizations style (reasonably structured, yet fluid) and I can have it with me across all devices. What browser do you use regularly? I am all Internet Explorer: currently on IE 9 at work, and then using the Windows 8.1 version on phone. What is your best time-saving trick? It’s simple: restart your computer at the end of every work day. Restarting daily covers a multitude of sins. What are your most valuable classroom/work routines? Get kids to do the work for you (especially useful when in a 1-to-1 environment). Passing out papers? Have kids get a buddy to come pick up a paper for them and themselves. Teaching tech skills? Have kids who "get it" raise their hands. Tell them to find a student not raising his or her hand and teach them. Lost? Check a friend’s screen to see where you went astray and get back on track. What is your favorite avenue to connect with social media? My phone. When you are not living the glamorous work life, what do you like to do in your spare time for fun? I like to travel.  I am going to France and Norway this summer and hoping for Bhutan next spring break.  I enjoy cooking anything and everything.  My specialty is pizza and paella.  I enjoy being with be with friends and family (karaoke gets rather rowdy, but always a good time!).  I also enjoy gardening.  Our small garden box is bursting with lettuce and chard at the moment! What are you currently reading? Re-reading Cinder (Marissa Meyer) to make questions for Battle of the Books.  It is a great sci-fi retelling of Cinderella from a Seattle author. The series is fantastic! Who are your influences in the education community? I am influenced by librarians who share their practice and are deeply involved in their community. I respect anyone who gets up (physically or digitally), says "here’s what I do." It reminds me to share what we do so that we can find more ways to impact our students and colleagues. Any parting thoughts you would like to share with our readers? I was hired to teach a tech class for teachers at a local university. In preparing for the class, I was chatting with a friend who is in higher ed. I just wanted some feedback on developing a vision for my graduate students. My friend’s advice (which works for all situations in education) was "tell them to be fearless." I think that should be our motto when working toward being educational leaders and tech savvy people. Be fearless. Try things. If they fail - try them again. If they are successful - tell someone else about it and help that person be fearless, too. Welcome, Richard!

The Super Bowl of educational technology conferencing is here!  ISTE 2014 in lovely Atlanta, Georgia starts Saturday.  NCCE is at the conference in full force with an excellent group of teachers from the Virgin Islands who will be attending the conference after two days of work with the professional development crew at NCCE: The tech-savvy teacher team, Jason, Mike and Richard, will be at the conference and look forward to connecting with like-minded teachers from around the world: Whether you are an ISTE pro or a first timer, there is no shortage of tips across the web (here, here, here, here), but our team would like to share a couple of extra bits from our experiences at this, and other conferences. Here is our take.  While no list is comprehensive, here is our a few of our BEST tips for a great conference experience in Atlanta. Download the conference application! ISTE has done an amazing job of creating a stable, easy-to-use mobile app.  It is available in the typical app stores (Apple, Google Play and Windows Phone) and is of course, free.   With the app, you can get one-click access to sessions, maps, vendor information and ISTE’s very well done secret code networking game. Haven’t arrived at ISTE yet?  Perfect… you can download the app right now and read through the amazing sectional titles while in transit!  (Don’t plan and drive, though… ) The shear amount of great content and connection opportunities demands that you do some planning and the apps make it easier than ever before. Take care of yourself! I know you ard your district are making an investment in your learning, but, it will do no good if you don’t make it through the conference with your health and good spirits!  Atlanta is a hot, humid place, so, be sure to eat three nourishing meals a day and don’t forget to drink extra water, especially if you are from a climate that is less hot and humid (ah hem, fellow Pacific Northwesterners!). Also… take care of your feet!  Wear comfortable, breathable shoes and prepare for many times your normal foot traffic! Find social opportunities! It isn’t uncommon to hear the the best experiences at ISTE aren’t in the sessions, but in the hallway before, during and after.  If a session isn’t meeting your needs, poke your head out the door and see if there is conversation going on related to the topic outside the door.  I have found that there is always a buzz related to any given session’s topic well down the hallway.  Be part of the conversation. Engage on Social Media! Even if you are a light Twitter and Facebook user, your conference experience will be that much better if you track the "shadow conversation" via social media.  ISTE itself recommends tagging your social media posts #ISTE2014, but I have also seen a lot of great conversation at #NCCE14, #secretcodes and for an alternative view, you can hear the perspective of those that didn’t make the journey through #notatISTE.  The NCCE team is also tweeting out at #NCCEatISTE so you can follow our crew on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Don’t Learn it All! …or at least don’t feel obligated to.  This is a BIG conference with a lot of amazing information!  You are not expected to learn everything there is to learn here because it is impossible to do so.  Do your best to engage in the ongoing conversation and the topics that interest you as a teacher, mentor and learner.  But… the conversation is too much to entirely process. Pro tip: I always care a small notebook (or a great app, as I do with Evernote or OneNote ) and I always jot things down throughout to process after I get home.  Sometimes the greatest revelations I take from ISTE are NOT at the conference but the ideas that are revealed to me in the days, weeks and months after I get home.  That can only happen if I write down some of the things I can’t process now to be reminded of them later. This list isn’t comprehensive, but, it should give you an idea of some strategies you can utilize to dominate this conversation as a tech-savvy teacher. See you at ISTE.  We want to connect with YOU!