PD Carnival of My Own Creation-Build Your Own ISTE

The summer of 2015 I made a commitment to teach summer school which was a first for me (traditionally I worked at a garden center or plant nursery in the summer time), as well as it was my first time teaching in another district. It was convenient because the school was in the neighborhood that I live (0.7mi from the doorstep to be exact), and the most important factor was that it worked around a lot of the PD that I had already planned for the summer! The downside however, was that it did not allow me to fly to Philadelphia for the annual ISTE conference, so I decided to create an ISTE compilation of my own in what I would be attending.

My summer began with my first #USMSpark experience at University School of Milwaukee. 
Summer Spark was INCREDIBLE. You can tell that there was a ton of time, talent, and passion put into the planning. What you really saw by spark was not just the quality of the presentations and passion of the educators, but you saw what it truly meant to be a connected educator. We were connecting the dots and so excited to meet each other face to face. The speaker lineup could not have been better. Incredible that it brought a bunch of our Twitter PLN in from outside the country! There was not a time slot that there wasn't something great to see. I can't imagine a better way to start it off than with a Dave Burgess keynote. That was truly amazing. Congratulations for blowing the walls off of the building and allowing us to come in and participate in your own USM PD. Every school should look at offering a model like this! I am truly grateful to have been asked to be a part of this opportunity!

July consisted of my first #EdCampLDR experience in Illinois.
I was fortunate enough to be joined by some of my colleagues for a PD road trip. I do this often alone, but this time I was grateful to be able to use the time of transit to talk about what we do.  I was amazed by how far some of the attendees traveled in order to participate.  It was great to connect and reconnect with so many of my Twitter #PLN.  I walked away with a spark that I was confident would ignite into a fantastic 2015-2016 school year.

Two weeks later I participated in my first #Leyden1to1 Summer Symposium.

This is something that I had been looking forward to for a really long time!  Leyden never seems to disappoint in regards to the PD that they provide and the people that they bring in.  I was first inspired at #edcampchicago four years ago.  Ever since, I enjoy returning to experience the great things and the energy that exists thoughout that building.  They have such exciting, inspiring things going on.  It was some of the most innovative PD that I've experienced.  I also got to reconnect and meet for the first time, some of my awesome Twitter #PLN.  This was an action packed three days, but some of the best PD I've experienced.  I left with so many great ideas and could not wait to implement them.  What wasn't part of the plan is that upon returning, I would be applying for a new position to utilize both my personalized learning & technology integration tool kit.

Shortly after returning...August is the annual #edcamposhkosh.

This year was a celebration of my very first #edcamp four years ago in Oshkosh where I was first inspired to take the leap and jump into the quickly evolving #edtech world.  I do also believe that #edcamposhkosh was my first ever experience with Twitter.  What a fantastic four years of friends, discovery, and finding my passion within education.

Sometimes some of the smaller experiences can be just as enjoyable as the larger ones.  This summer was an incredible summer of learning and I hope to carry that into next summer's lineup!