Miami Device Part 1

I got back from Miami Device a few hours ago and have been thinking about how to write a post on the best conference I have ever been to and keep it to a length that is reasonable. I have decided to use TeachThought's blog challenge to split my thoughts into 2 posts. This one will be specific to the prompts and one I write later tonight or this week will ramble about the entire experience. I missed some days of the challenge, so these are a little late.

I will answer the day 7 prompt quickly. "What new learning has inspired you in your career?" Easy answer: Miami Device

Day 6 Prompt: Share a quote or verse that has inspired you and tell us why. Instead of a famous quote/verse from a song or a book, I am going to talk about the specific sessions I attended this week and what the presenters said that inspired me.

The opening keynote was given by Kevin Honeycutt. His style reminded me a lot of Robin Williams and I wasn't sure what was going on for a few minutes. Once I adjusted, I realized he was brilliant and passionate and immediatly followed him on Twitter so I could learn more from him. He said something pretty close to "I'm smart, but my network is brilliant" and it really summarized the power of connection, especially through Twitter. It's so true that no matter how smart/good you are, you'll be better with the help of the 10/100/1000/whatever number of people that you follow and learn from.

I saw Holly Clark next and one thing she said that I liked was "I want kids to ask the right questions, not answer questions right."

Tony Vincent did a great session on organization and productivity. I got a lot out of this session, but not many quotes. He did give a great quote from an author that I can't remember that said "minds are for having ideas, not holding them."

I got to see Todd Nesloney present 2 times. I have followed him on Twitter for a while at the suggestion of an elementary teacher in my district and I was curious to see how his passion and energy would translate to a face to face interaction. He did not dissappoint and although I didn't take away any single great quotes, I learned a lot from his sessions.

The person that had the biggest impact on me was definitely Erin Klein. I saw her for one session right after she flew in from Michigan and she was great. There were 3 quotes from her that really impacted me. The first was one I read from her this summer about the need to "rethink the physical learning space for your students." Too many teachers line desks in rows or put them in groups/tables and that's all the thought that goes into their classroom besides posters. Her thoughts on classroom design inspired me to gut my classroom this summer and annoy the hell out of the custodial staff in the building with all the crap I threw away. The 2nd quote might not have been hers because it was in her slideshow, but it said that "the majority of kids in kindergarten right now will be alive to see the 22nd century." With all the talk of 21st century skills going on right now it is a little scary to think that educators are going to be behind the curve if we don't start focusing on the 22nd century pretty soon! The final thing Erin said, and the quote that summarizes Miami Device (both presenters and attendees) for me is "would I want to be a student in my own class?" No matter if they know it or not, that is the reason everyone of us was there, to make their class/school better for their students!