Friday FAVORITES

Between HATTS (Holton-Arms Technology Training Seminars), ISTE, iPad BootCamp and preparing to present at The Lausanne Learning Institute, unfortunately the blog has taken a little bit of a back seat. While I have several blog posts in the works to share bits and pieces both from the conferences I have attended and trainings I have facilitated, I couldn't wait to share a few of my favorites from ISTE 2014.

1. Kevin Carroll, author of Rules of the Red Rubber Ball, delivered an amazing keynote reminding us of the importance of play. He was entertaining, informative and most importantly truly inspiring!

"Some of our greatest lessons are learned at recess" -Kevin Carroll

2. Interestingly enough, two of my favorite sessions were presented by the co-authors of Invent to Learn: Making, Tinkering and Engineering in the Classroom. Gary Stager spoke about making as a way of learning and the need to create a context for meaningful learning. Making things is great - making things work is even better! The following day, Sylvia Libow Martinez presented the Top Ten Tools for Maker Spaces. She did talk about tools and gave great examples of the types of projects students are working on to solve real problems, but more importantly she talked about an educational environment that promotes authentic problem-solving. "Its not the tool that makes something work, its the kids, the environment and most importantly the teachers". The maker movement is about every kid approaching the world and every challenge in front of them and saying "COOL!!"

"Give the kids the tools and materials to solve the problems of the future and change the world!"  - Sylvia Libow Martinez