#InnEdCO17 Day 1

This week, I am lucky enough to attend InnEdCO for another year. I am always so excited to see so many familiar faces and add new people to my network of incredible educators. Below are some highlights from Day 1.

First, I have been able to spend the day with so many incredible people - both old friends and new friends. As a part of a challenge, I took selfies with all six members of the DPS Edtech team (one of my favorite groups of people). They are a truly incredible group and I have felt so fortunate to know over my career. It is incredible to think that I got started with presenting on educational technology with them back in 2013, the fall after I started my master's degree.

I also had the chance to hear Ken Shelton present an opening keynote on the importance of student voice in our schools. He talked about equipping students with the tools they need to amplify their voice to share with the world. There is great power and responsibility in sharing our stories and he did a wonderful job illustrating this idea with relevant stories and touching student narratives. You can watch videos of some of his talks on his website.

I was also able to attend a session on #techquity from Kevin Riebau. This session touched on finding the intersection of Essential Skills and Culturally Relevant Education to create better instruction to prepare students for success. I greatly appreciated the combination of a formative check-for-understanding and application time built-in to the session. This made sure they could pace with the audience understanding and provide an opportunity for the new learning to stick. You can check out the presentationhere.

I was also able to present my work on #theGoogleGames in a snapshot session. I had a lot of fun sharing this project with others, and hope that it inspires other to experiment with gamification for their professional development. You can find more information in my presentation slides or in my previous blog post.

What are your highlights from Day 1 at #InnEdCO17? Please share them in the comments below!