Summer of Texas & Technology

This summer was a whirlwind for me but I loved every minute of it.  I started the summer in June by attending the amazing iPadpalooza conference in Austin, Texas.  Since I started the iPad Lab at Woodstock Elementary four years ago,  I have always wanted to attend.  Attending this summer, was even more exciting because it would be my first chance to meet other ADEs from my new Apple Distinguished Educators family. I was selected in April to be part of the ADE class of 2017!
Being at iPadpalooza was incredible, to attend a conference all about iPads and how to teach children to use them to create cool content in your classroom-Genius. I met so many amazing ADE friends as well! I enjoyed listening and learning from so many brilliant educators, that I already followed, as part of my PLN online. Now I have the chance to meet them face to face and enjoying being in their learning sessions.

Later that month I flew to San Antonio, Texas for the amazing ISTE17 conference. Again such an inspiring group of educators all coming together to learn about new ideas and emerging technology.  I was thrilled not only to attend the conference but also to present in several different environments.  First, I started with giving  a presentation about App Smashing in the #WESiPadLab.  Next I was asked to be on on a panel discussion about game-based learning. Then, I helped in the ADE playground around the early childhood table.  Finally, I was also asked to be part of the ADE (Apple Distinguished Educators) LIVE twitter chat.  I was interviewed about using the accessibility features of our iPads with students and the audience responded  live and also through posting on twitter using the hashtag #ADEchat. If you are interested to be part of an #ADEchat please join us on Twitter most Tuesdays at 9pm ET. This chat is moderated & attended by the ADE community but everyone is invited to attend and participate. Please join us! Starting January 2018 #ADEchat will become #AppleEDUchat.
The final visit for my summer of Texas was to Houston, TX to attend ADE Academy with my Apple Distinguished Educators class of 2017 and other educators from our ADE community. It was the most excited I have been to attend anything in my life! Being at Apple Academy was an incredible opportunity because I finally felt like I was completely surrounded by my tribe,  other educators who want to use technology tools to teach students to collaborate, create, communicate, improve critical thinking skills,  focus on digital citizenship and build character education. It was an experience I will never forget and it has empowered me not only with new knowledge and skills but also with so many ADE friends to collaborate with and discuss #edtech ideas together and plan for upcoming events, presentations and conferences. I honestly feel incredibly blessed to be an ADE.  While I was at ADE academy, I participated in many awesome workshops but my favorite was the Clips App workshop with one of the app creators. While listening and learning with the new Clips App I realized it was going to be a game changing tool in my K-5th iPad lab. If you have not seen the Clips App in action please check out the student and teacher tutorial in this post.  I created this tutorial to give my students something to refer to while creating their own Clips videos. It is a Clips Tutorial made with the Clips App.

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If you are interested to become an Apple Distinguished Educator (I highly recommend it) please check out the Apple Teacher program and start working on earning your Apple Teacher  badges on either your Mac or iPad. It is an amazing place to begin your own professional learning on your own time and your own pace. Also, it is full of excellent and easy to implement classroom ideas for teaching students how to create content using their devices. 
Apple Teacher Link