I was glad that Debbie and I were able to host the final job-alike at Shutesbury. When we initially layed out plans for the job-alikes we had hoped that the final one would be a sharing opportunity. In December I attended the CS50 Fair at Harvard University. Several of my son's close friends are computer science majors and his roommate Yuhki Yamishita organized this huge event. Over 300 students were stationed at their laptops all around the huge conference room and visitors got to see some very cool websites and applications. Amazingly creative stuff! Sure, the next Mark Zuckerberg was probably in the room. Representatives from Facebook, Google, Apple and Microsoft were in attendance. Heck--this is just what we need to do in Union-28--share our best stuff!
And so it was...the first I3: Inspire, imagine, integrate!
22 Teachers came forward and shared their projects. Steve taught us how to Skype with his friend in Spain. We saw iMovies and Garageband, Comic Life, blogs and wikis. Having the opportunity to talk about the projects with their creators made them more accessible. We imagined new opportunities. We saw tools used in ways different from the way we had been using them. We made contacts. We planned to integrate technology into our teaching. The afternoon affirmed what a hard working, dedicated bunch we are. It ended the year in an upbeat way which is what we hoped for.
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