So, I didn’t end up eating on Monday.  There was just so much to do.  To be honest, I felt a little lost and overwhelmed.  Going in, I felt the most important thing was to hit as many concurrent sessions as possible to gather ideas for the classroom teachers at my school for integrating use of technology in their classrooms.  I wasn’t really in it for me so much as for the team.

What this turned into, though, was a “sit and get” experience.  Sure, there was exploration in the BYOL (Bring Your Own Laptop) sessions, and there were quite a few new things I learned about.  As to a lot of the stuff I ended up already having used or having a good grasp on, I learned some new ways of using the same applications or technology I had not thought of before.  This was all good.  I just feel like I wanted more “discussion.”  I just did not hit the proper meetings for this.  Part of it was the “birds-of-a-feather” gatherings were later in the afternoon when I was starving and thinking about dinner, part of it was that panels and other meeting of the mind sort of sessions conflicted with concurrent sessions that I felt were important.

I have enough notes and ideas to fill up two weeks of inservice. *grin*  I am glad my principal was able to wrangle some funds, and that I had enough $$ to cover the rest, making this a worthwile trip.

I head back home tomorrow, and at some point will begin blogging about some good stuff.  I need to digest things first.

I’m really looking forward to NECC, and will be leaving for Washington, D.C. this coming weekend.  It seems like such a busy ordeal, I have no idea how I might manage to get to the Exhibit Hall or make any SIG meetings, but I think just hitting these sessions is going to give me a plethora of ideas to bring back.

Here is a list of the sessions I will be attending.

• Teaching with Digital Video in the Social Studies Classroom
• Using Digital Tools Responsibly to Create Research Papers in the Elementary Classroom
• Great Open Source Programs You Can Start Using Right Away
• Teaching with Digital Video in the Mathematics Classroom
• Teaching Elementary Students Computer Science Concepts with Scratch
• Dr. Z’s Creative Cookbook on Collaborative Communication
• CSI NECC: Computer Forensics and Data Recovery for Educators
• Improving Writing Across the Curriculum: New Tools for Old Skills
• Library of Congress Open House
• Using Place-Based Storytelling to Teach Historical and Geographical Thinking
• Digital Citizenship: Tools, Resources, and Best Practices
• 10 Standards-Based Formative Feedback Techniques Through Technology
• Raising the Bar: Differentiated Learning

I got an email from CoolCatTeacher (could it be the CoolCatTeacher???) for how to prep my laptop for the Digital Citizenship session.  The Bring Your Own Laptop sessions (BYOL, hehe) I am most looking forward to.  I’m anxious to learn some more ways to use Scratch in the classroom, not just in the lab.  Plus, formative feedback techniques through technology–sounds like something that can make life easier for the teachers.  No, I’m not excited at all, am I?