ISTE10 Sunday's Events (6/27/10)

Well it has begun. All of the excitement leading up to ISTE10 has brought me to this opening day. I got up early at the Pearl Street mini-mansion, as our place has been nicknamed by members of my PLN. Paul R. Wood and his group are staying at the ISTE mansion in Cherry Creek, I can't wait to visit it.

I called John Shoemaker (@showee) and arranged to meet him for a late brunch at his hotel. John didn't find out until about two days ago that he would be attending ISTE10 from his school district. He and I have developed a relationship on Twitter and we definitely wanted to meet each other face-to-face. We had a great visit and realized that we were attending a lot of the same events while in Denver.

Brenda Smith talked me into attending the opening ceremony. I'm really glad I went because the skit by Mario Armstrong was great. He talked about battling the "Locked Net Monster", "Dollar and Cent-atur", "Medi-Orge", and "Abominable No-Man". I also managed to get one of the ISTE metal water bottles.

Next, I spent some time in the Bloggers' Cafe and watched the opening keynote from here. Pretty sad to watch that unfold, but I won't dwell on it. Other bloggers are having a field day with it, but I don't want to go there. I'll just say it was very sad to witness the feeding frenzy.

My next activity took me over to the Hyatt Regency to attend the Glogster Ambassador meeting. Jim Dachos greeted all of us and handed us a Glogster bag full of goodies to help spread the word. I saw John Shoemaker, Ann Leaness, Patti Duncan, and Traci Blazosky at this gathering. I love Glogster.edu and feel very comfortable telling others about this great tool.

Finally I attended a TweetUp at the Hard Rock Cafe. We were packed into the bar area like sardines but it was fun. Had wonderful conversations and enjoying meeting people from all over. Headed back to Pearl Street tried but happy after a long day.

I'm Presenting at ISTE Unplugged

12:00-12:30 pm

Title: Web 2.0 Lessons Learned from an Elementary Teacher Description: I teach 4th graders and I use many of the Web 2.0 tools you've heard of with them - Skype, VoiceThread, Glogsters, Edmodo, Google docs, and more. Join me as I share my lessons learned and best practices for integrating today's tools into an innovative classroom. Let's share our experiences. Presenter: Paula L. Naugle, Bissonet Plaza Elementary School, Jefferson Parish Public School System, Metairie, Louisiana

Well I did it. I signed up to present on Wednesday, June 30 at the unconference known as ISTE Unplugged. I am both excited and nervous at the same time. I figure I'll rally some of my PLN members around me for moral support and I'll be fine. (Sue Waters you better be close by.) I figure with the topic I chose and how I like to share my experiences it should go well. Wish me luck.

Check out the schedule and maybe add your own presentation to the list.

Let's Skype While I'm at ISTE10

My last post let you know how excited I am to attend ISTE10 in Denver. I know how jealous I am when members of my PLN are attending conferences around the country that I can't get to. I have attended many conference sessions virtually thanks to my PLN tweeting out the URLs. I have been a part of many backchannel chats while I was sitting at home in my pj's.

I'd like to extend an invitation to anyone who is interested to Skype with me while I am at the Bloggers' Cafe. Too many people think they shouldn't go there if they don't blog. Nothing could be further from the truth. They really should call this area PLN Plaza. Everyone who hangs out in this area of the convention center is more than willing to engage in conversation with anyone who is there. I will spend several hours in the Bloggers' Cafe each day and would love to let you experience it first hand. If you are interested add plnaugle to your Skype contacts and let me know through a tweet or an email that you would like to connect. I will do all I can to make you feel a part of the experience.

Can't Wait to Attend ISTE10

Today I filled out a survey put out by ISTE asking what excites me about ISTE10. I found that an easy question to answer. I am excited about meeting the members of my PLN (personal learning network) face to face. I was fairly new to Twitter last year when I went to Washington, D.C. to attend NECC, but I was warmly welcomed into the Blogger Cafe by the likes of @bethstill, @suewaters, @jutecht, @rmbyrne, @paulawhite, @paulrwood, @dobrien917, @angelamaiers and many others. I went to a TweetUp and attended a baseball game with my new friends. I had great conservations with @coolcatteacher, @stevehargadon, @teach42, @mcarls, and other wonderful educators. I had such a great experience that I decided there and then that I would definitely attend ISTE10.

I've been lucky enough to attend NECC04 in New Orleans, NECC08 in San Antonio, and NECC09 in Washington D.C. Each of these trips was funded by my school. Funds were written into our School Improvement Plan to allow for this. Unfortunately those funds are not available this year, but I decided to foot my own trip to ISTE10. Why you might ask? Is the $1,500 worth it? My answer is absolutely YES.

What will happen in those five days in Denver will be worth every penny I will spend to attend. I will attend sessions presented by innovative educators from around the globe. I will renew my old friendships, and establish many new ones. I will get to share ideas and set up collaborations for the coming school year. I will hear about others' best practices and learn new ways to use Web 2.0 tools. I will get to spend quality time with other educators who are like me. I will get to hone my presenting skills at ISTE unplugged. I am psyched. It will be so invigorating.

I am prepping for my trip by adding an ISTE10 column to Tweetdeck, tweeting with my PLN, establishing a presence on the ISTE Ning, ordering my Twitter Tshirt, organizing my conference planner, and signing up for activites like TweetUps. I have started adding places of interest to my ISTE10 Google map and I downloaded the Bump app to my iPhone so I'll be ready to exchange contact info with everyone. Okay what have I forgotten?

Can you tell that I am excited to get to ISTE10? If you are attending I hope I get to connect with you. If you are not attending in person, be on the lookout for all of the tweets on Twitter which will tell you how to attend virtually. Look for the backchannels that I'm sure will be set up for some of the sessions.