In a previous post, I mentioned that I would be presenting at the National Council of the Social Studies annual Convention. That day has come and gone and I wanted to circle back and report how the convention went.
Let’s start with my presentation. First and foremost, I forgot my Chromebook at school about four hours away. I realized this fact at 5:00 AM the morning of the presentation. Needless to say, not much sleep was had after this moment. I was able to borrow a colleague’s Chromebook (thanks Anna), and it went reasonably well. I was trying out something new during the presentation by using Poll Everywhere’s feature that links questions together, but it was not working during my presentation. I am blaming this on using someone else’s Chromebook, but I have also followed up with the presenter I borrowed this from to get some help for next time. Other than that, everything went well. I heard good feedback. Most people appreciated that my presentation was usable and practical. I have posted a recording of my presentation in my podcast feed, which can be found here (in case you are interested).
The rest of the Conference was pretty typical of a national conference. There were a lot of people attempting to sell me something, even more than our annual state social studies conference. While there are times that i am looking for a new product, I am not as easily convinced of new products. I find myself heading to my trusty favorites to see how they have adapted since I last saw them. I also use conventions to network with people in my field. This time I ran into one of my college roommates who is now teaching history. It was fun getting to reconnect with an old friend. Finally, I did learn about some new technology to use in the classroom. I will be reviewing it on next week’s podcast and it’s awesome, so tune in!
Overall, I love going to conventions. I think it is important to help spread the knowledge that I have acquired as well as learn from other. Good times in Austin, TX.