Now that the luggage has been unpacked and the journey home completed, I've had a chance to reflect on the people and experiences I've had at NYSCATE. The three hour workshop I presented introduced me to many fascinating NY State educators who are facing some of the same challenges we do in New York City. The primary question was "How do we prepare our students to succeed in the 21st Century? It was gratifying to hear the many voices discussing this issue.
I was also delighted to see how commonplace interactive whiteboards, be they SMARTBoards, Prometheans, MIMIOs or any of the other competitotrs, have become in all school districts. This is such a far cry since I began this blog in 2007 when I was a "solitary voice calling out in the wilderness"! I'm so pleased that students are getting the benefits of working with this most engaging technology.
I had the opportunity of attending several workshops between presentations. "Collecting Podcasts for the Classroom", "The Reading Brain" and "The Almost Entirely Paperless ELA HS Classroom" were highlights. Materials on these workshops can be found on the NYSCATE.wikispace. Be sure to explore them if you get a chance.