ISTE Bound

I haven't been to ISTE since 2010. That was my second ISTE conference, and I went to the Constructivist Consortium at Sidwell Friends. I spoke on a panel. I volunteered to showcase twitter at the SIGMS playground. I went to the Google Certified Teacher meet-up. I was a busy woman.

I was thrilled I could make it again this year, even if it means I won't be home before ALA Annual. Then my husband came home a couple of week ago and announced he was being sent to an investigative reporting conference in San Antonio.  At the end of June.

Wait, conference overlap? This never happens.

Sure enough, his conference ends Sunday, the same day mine begins. 

Stay over, I said, I can hang with YOU.

What about your conferencing? He wanted to know.

It wasn't like ALA, I told him. I didn't have things to do. No presentations. And while I've done committee work for the SIG every year since then, there really aren't meetings.
Then why are you going? He wanted to know.
Good question.

Oh, and not because "there are men there," as I was caught joking in SLJ. I tried to explain to him how it will let me peek at the new-new in ed tech.  I've seem pics of Google Goggles demos, example gratis. The freebies alone are worth it. If I lived in another state, I'd get a Surface tablet for my library. Talk about smart marketing -- Microsoft seeding thousands of classrooms with their technology. Meanwhile, Alabama won't let me take a "vendor gift," even for my classroom. So our children don't get those tools.

Frankly, it's the brain trust. The smartest people will here, showing us how to empower our kids. For me, ALA is about networking and supporting the profession, ISTE is about learning something.

Meanwhile, the enormous amount of vendor mail I've gotten through ISTE? And from places like Proquest and Gale? It's telling whose spending money, and on what. 

So today and tomorrow I'll be with my husband, not some strange man I've picked up on the Riverwalk. I'll see you tomorrow evening, ISTE.

Possessing the secret of joy, even on the road

In one week, I'll be in San Antonio...
In two weeks, I'll be in Council at ALA Annual...
In three weeks, I'll be in Mississippi...

Part of me feels like crying, because where is my summer?
But part of me is thrilled because I love every minutes of this craziness, and I avoid choices by attempting to do it all.

Below is the slidedeck (webpage) of Library of Congress and  I presented at our state organizations last week:

When my principal wanted to nominate me for a Distinguished Service Award, I thought the Alabama School Library Association would come after me for monopolizing all their honors. I have matching plaques from 2011 and 2012, too -- technology and programs. But then I thought, this is for service. Frankly, who serves Alabama school libraries MORE than me? Thanks, Cyndy, for the pic, and thanks to my schools and sweet husband for allowing me to spend my time and resources in this way.