Running Into the Future of Education

Well a bit more than a week has gone by since the institute and I am still excited about all I learned. I went in not quite knowing what to expect, but already there have been huge benefits. I have connected to a learning community of teachers around Mexico who all understand what it means to integrate technology. There were so many different examples of way to do this at all levels brought out during the week's presentations from each other and I continue to see them posted on our Facebook group and through emails and on our ADE community. It is very exciting to continue to work on our projects and learn from each other. Things you thought you were great at, you find your are good at, but came home with new ideas to make you even better. I am excited to be a part of this community and hope to bring great ideas to others and share what I am learning and experiencing.

Day 3 was the day to figure out project groups. Our main idea had a group of 11 people and it took us a while, but we finally came up with a theme and broke into smaller sub-groups. Yesterday we outlined our project and now each know what we have to do by what deadline. Today we will present our ideas to the big group and hopefully get some good feedback. I feel like I have a good handle on what I need to do going forward. Day 3 had another talk from Bill Frakes where he shared not only more videos, but the stories behind the videos as well.  He finished up with a show of his favorite Sport Illustrated photos he has done.  Then yesterday, we also had an inspiring talk from Bill Rankin. (You can watch his TEDxDubai talk here .) He gave us visionary thinking about the design and direction of schools. One of my favorite points was that a lecture hall is a place for rhetorical questions. And a very cool photo walk around town will Bill Frakes teaching us about using light and