A Bright Idea- don’t get left behind (lost)

Kim – where?
Kristie- right there, turn
Kim- here?
Kristie- yes!
Kim- ok
Kristie- that was a red light!
Kim- it was?
Kristie- yes and there is a police officer next to you
Kim- oh great that is going to add to the cost of this conference
Kristie- this one is red also
Kim- but the police officer is gone now and we might be late if we don’t hurry
Kristie- sigh
Kim- when do you think lunch will be?
Kristie- the schedule told us — I am not sure- red light right here
Kim-do you know where we are, I don’t see any Signs, lets go this way
Kristie- are you sure?
Kim- there are a couple of girls who look like they are in college walking over there, we can follow them
Kristie- I think we should follow the directions
- A VERY LONG TIME PASSES-
Kim- Do you think we are lost?
Kristie- yes!
Kim- lets stop and ask people we see on the street walking their dog
Kristie- do you see the neighborhood we are in?
Kim- oh
Kim- there is a dog, a person must be close
Kim- here you talk
Kristie- what?
Kim- my friend wants to ask you where Michigan State University is, she is lost
Kristie- Could you tell us where Michigan State is?
Stranger with dog- it is way back there
Kim- here is a pen, write it down
Kristie- are we that far out of our way?
Stanger with dog- yes it is going to take you a bit
Kim- this way?
Kristie- yes!
Kim- where do we park?
Kristie- behind the red building
Kim- they are all red, did you want to get some coffee?
Kristie- NO we are LATE!
Kim- it’s ok, this place is so big we’re not gonna see Rozema
Kristie- sigh
Kim- I hope we don’t have to walk very far
Kristie- hurry up
Kim- look there is a Starbucks, are you thirsty?
Kristie- NO!
Kim- they have a much better clock tower than Grand Valley
Kristie- We are late!
Kim- look at how big this place is, I wonder if there is a coffee shop inside
Kristie- Pick up your tag and lets go
Kim- look free pencils!
Kristie- the room is over here
Kim- don’t worry Rozema is nowhere to be seen, I have to avoid him anyway because I am wearing jeans. The stress of this semester has put an extra ten pounds on me and I could not spring for another pair of nice pants.
Kristie- there are two seats over there come on
Kim- see I told you, when is lunch?
Kristie- told me what?
Kim- no Rozema, no worries
Kristie- TO YOUR RIGHT!
Kim- oops! Keep your head down
Kristie- sigh
Kim- the people in front of us have coffee!
- SESSION OVER-
Kim- do you belive the picture of that cheerleader? They put that up just to make people like me feel bad! Wanna get some coffee?
Kristie- we have to find the Tower room
Kim- right now?
Kristie – yes right now!
Kim- what a cool room, the lighting is very nice, I also like the crown molding
Kristie- sit down
Kim- why does everyone have coffee?
Kristie- because they were early enough to buy it!
Kim- did we figure out when lunch is?
Kristie- after this
Kim- how long is this
Kristie- sign
- SESSION OVER-
Kim- look out there is Rozema, he’s with a girl. Do you think that is his wife?
Kristie- I am going to go sit next to Dee for a while
Kim- what if it wasn’t his wife?
Kristie- would you like to join us?
Kim- lets ask Dee if she thinks that is his wife
Kristie- SIGH
- AFTER LUNCH-
Kim- do you want to go to the giftshop?
Kristie- why?
Kim- to look around
Kristie-NO!
Kim- do you wnat to get some coffee?
Kristie- we just ate
Kim- ok
Kristie- we need to be on time Rozema is going to be there
Kim- do you think he is going to be with the girl?
Kristie- come on!
Kim- I sure like that Rozema guy, he is the best teacher ever, for the rest of my life I am going to remember how great he is
- Session end-
Kim- do you remember where we parked?
Kristie- behind the red building
Kim- they are all red
Kristie- that one
Kim- I sure like that clock tower
Kristie- yeah it’s super
Kim- there is Starbucks, wanna get some coffee?
Kristie- ok
- SOMETIME AFTER COFFEE-

We all know how much fun going to a conference is. Those of us in education will likely have many more to look forward to. Bright Ideas was just that. I was impressed with all of the young energetic presenters. The focus on technology is an eye opener.

When someone says it is a good idea to use games and MySpace to study what comes to mind often especially for those of us that are out of the technology loop is “you must be kidding”. Sitting though three sessions that all focused on the use of technology in one form or another brought this concept home for me.

The first session looked at using games for students to explore characters. What stood out for me more than anything was the excitement of the presenters. It is true that I slunk into this one just as it was getting started. Right off the bat I was stuck by the energy of the presenters. Sure I had heard about visual worlds but I really did not know much about it and it just did not seem to fit into my view of traditional education. After listening and actually looking at how these worlds work I thought of my own kids and how much they would enjoy something like this. I started jotting down as much information as I could so that I could bring it home and have them explore it. This is really what it is about, reaching kids. As a parent, I spend the greater part of my life looking for fun ways to teach my children new things. It is not always about school, sometimes it is just trying to get them excited about cooking, planting a garden, taking a good photograph, reading the paper, or playing cribbage with a grandparent. We look for the hook with our own personal children as much as we do with our students. I cannot help but think that if more teachers were using programs like the ones demonstrated in the Visual World session that parents would be just as excited as kids. I am looking forward to exploring this at home. I very much enjoyed the session.

The second session that I attended was the MAC Beth. I appreciate the clever title. I have not taken a Shakespeare course yet so some of the content was not familiar. What stood out to me again was the interaction that students have with technology. Again I was excited about the filmmaking the students did and again was anxious to bring it home to my ninth grade daughter who is currently working on making a movie with a group of her friends for a Social Studies course. The presenters made a point of saying that the use of technology is what our kids are interested in. When I think about this in terms of what I have learned about technical jobs and the improvements that schools need to be making, it all clicks. This is what kids do, therefore it only makes sense that we take what we are hoping to teach them into their world.

The last session I attended was ours. I have to say David and Bethany did such a nice job in presenting this. The preparation that went into this was very impressive and I have no doubt that they are both going to be wonderful teachers very soon. I have not created a MySpace account yet. In truth my husband and I have told both of our children they cannot have a MySpace account. Most of my daughters friends parents have also banned this (which has made it much easier for me to stand my ground). The truth is that I do not think any of us know anymore about this then what we see and hear on the news. I think that this presentation should be running on some of the mainstream news programs that the average frazzled parents of today’s teenagers are watching in the evenings! By far this was my favorite!