Tuesday Notes from NECC

Tuesday at NECC was very good. The first presentation I went to was Developing 21st Century Skills in School and District Leaders, which you can find live blogged below. They discussed how they have been working to strengthen their pd after beginning a 1:1 initiative. They have an extensive online community for their teachers, which you can find links to in the live blog. They've put in many hours to develop everything, but it seems they think it paid off and they are great resources for the rest of us.

My next session to attend was one on open source software. However...the presenter never showed. So I took off even though someone else volunteered to present. I finished my rounds in the vendor area. As I mentioned yesterday, I've found a couple pretty cool things that I'll be working on more later. If they're decent I'll pass them along, but don't worry to bother you with junk.

The last session I attended today brought away what could be the quote of NECC (as mentioned on Twitter): Chris Lehman, principal of Science Leadership Academy (SLA) in Philadelphia, said, "The best collaborative tool is the one we all agree to use together." Simple, yet brilliant. No technology is going to change your district if it's used sporadically. Change has to be as complete as possible. His presentation was how they are integrating technology into their UbD guides, and his theories and shared activities were absolutely magnificent.

For better or worse, there is only one more day left of NECC. I'm very excited to get home, but I've got a couple presentations that I'm really looking forward to tomorrow, plus squeezing in a trip to the Alamo after we were denied by the rain this afternoon. If you've never seen the Alamo, I believe you are not allowed to leave San Antonio until you have seen it. I'd hate to get home any later than I already am...