NSBA’s T+L conference is one of my favorite conferences of the year. It’s unique in the fact that whole school teams come to the conference, not just technology folks. This provides a terrific range of perspectives and experience that can’t be matched in conferences that focus on one job title or subject area.

Generation YES is a co-sponsor of the T+L conference, and we’ll be down in the co-sponsor booth area, number 907.

If you are there, I hope you’ll attend a session designed to get everyone thinking about how to “grow your own” resources for technology learning and support in any district. I’m also co-presenting this session Thursday morning with Jeff Billings of the nearby Paradise Valley School District.

Creative Capacity Building for 21st Century Schools
Thursday, 10/21/2010 8:00AM – 9:00AM , Room 222BC
Schools are faced with diminishing technology and training budgets, yet ever increasing needs for technology integration, training and support. Finding cost effective ways to provide these essential ingredients for effective technology is no longer a goal, but a requirement.

Hopefully there will be a T+L Tweetup too – if you’d like to connect, please follow me at smartinez and let’s get together.

See you in Phoenix!

Sylvia

Yesterday, two Shadow Mountain GenYES students; Will Zandler and Hallie Liu, represented the PVUSD district, GenYES and technology at the high school level, at a prestigious event hosted by Apple Computers. The Education Leadership Summit was held at the Fairmont Princess Hotel.

First, Hallie and Will participated in a panel debate filmed by Apple which focused on how technology is used in high school. They enthusiastically promoted the ideas planned for our media center. They wowed the Apple executives with their innovative ideas and independent perspectives. Apple will feature clips on their website.

After the keynote by Apple’s Vice President, our students mounted a large stage before 50 college CIO’s and Presidents from across the nation; Stanford, Purdue, Ohio State to name a few. They answered a barrage of questions ranging from ‘how technology helps students learn’, ‘how and why they help staff integrate tech to curriculum’ , ‘expectations of technology in educational environment’ and much more. They were intelligent, articulate, thoughtful and genuine.

It was a most amazing sight and many captivated attendees, the Apple organization, Jeff Billings and I, were very, very impressed. I couldn’t be more proud of these students. Please, if you see Hallie or Will, offer your congrats… they deserve it!

Thanks, Deb

Our congratulations and thanks go out to Hallie and Will, and the whole GenYES team at Shadow Hills. By the looks of your website, you are ALL making a difference at your school. Check out these photos of a student-run staff inservice last month on Google Docs.

Sylvia