2012 CPS Tech Talk

Yesterday I attended the Chicago Public Schools Tech Talk Conference at Roosevelt High School.  This is a technology conference for teachers and technology coordinators.  This year, librarians contributed heavily by presenting sessions about Animoto, iPads, VoiceThread and KINECT in the library.  It was great to see my librarian colleagues and meet technology coordinators and teachers from across the district.  Moreover, what I learned at Tech Talk greatly contributed to my own professional development.

The LMC's New Addition:  Apple TV

I presented a session called, "The Art of Blogging."   My session started off a little shaky.  I accidentally left my notes at home and discovered the batteries in my presentation clicker had died.  What a start to a day right?  Thank goodness for the Roosevelt High School Tech Coordinator, Victor Herrera who saved the day and found the AAA batteries I needed.  You saved me Victor!

During my session I discussed how I use my blog as a space for educational thinking/dialogue  and extension of my personal learning network.  This was the first time my presentation was actually about my blog.  Normally, my presentations are about Street Lit, iPads or African-American literature.  It was really fun sharing my blog and some of my experiences with my session attendees.   My hope is that I inspired some of the attendees to start blogging themselves.  As I said during my session, we are educators and we have good stories to share about our students, schools and ourselves.

The Prize!

At the end of the conference day, I won one of the prizes in the raffle:  Apple TV!  Throughout the day today, I've been doing some research online about this system.  I also visited fellow CPS teacher Jennie Magiera's blog, to learn how I can effectively implement this resource in my library media center.   I suggest that you not only take a look at her recommendations but subscribe to her blog.  She is doing some innovative things at her school.

Kudos to John Connolly and his team for executing Tech Talk this year.  The conference was great and I hope to attend and present again next year.  That's all for now!