C4T#1 Beth Still

For the first C4T assignment, I was assigned to Beth Still. I really enjoyed reading her first two posts. She introduced me to ISTE, the International Society for Technology in Education.

ISTE11 Newbie Project
By: Beth Still

In this blog post, Beth tells readers about her Newbie Project that she started in 2009. Beth had such a wonderful experience at ISTE, that she decided she would pick a different educator new to ISTE every year and start fundraising efforts for this person to attend ISTE. She asks for donations to help this "newbie" reach the goal. Most donations come from individual readers, while the rest comes from corporate sponsors. Throughout the course of her project she has run into some criticism. People don't fully believe in the power of her network. They also question sending an administrator, George Couros to ISTE11. She proves the critics who doubt her power wrong because she is "a teacher in rural western Nebraska" and she is "able to raise over $1500 in a matter of weeks using Twitter". In regards to sending George she states, "I cannot emphasize enough that I really believe in George and his ability to have a positive impact on education. He is a role model for both teachers and administrators. He is passionate about sharing, learning, teaching, and communicating and I believe he deserves the opportunity to attend ISTE".

In my comment I introduced myself to Beth. I told her about how recently I had become so passionate about teaching and learning to be the best teacher that I could be. This passion increased with the more I learned. I told her that she had taught me something. She had introduced me to ISTE and made me interested in finding out more about it. I admire her for starting the project and helping teachers and administrators attend such a beneficial conference. As the saying goes, she is being the change she wants to see in this world. She is actively taking part in a positive change for education.



So What is ISTE?
By: Beth Still

I went a little backwards due to some confusion on my part, but I'm glad that I did. I found more information about ISTE. Beth paints a clear picture of what ISTE is. She even talks about her first experience with ISTE and what led her there. ISTE stands for International Society for Technology in Education. It was founded in 1979. Beth wanted to find more ways to incorporate technology into her classroom. Her principal suggested that she attend a conference outside of her area. After much exploring, Beth found ISTE. She saw that it was held in San Antonio, the city she grew up in. This made her even more excited to attend. The rest of Beth's post explains the benefits she sees members of ISTE receive. She tells readers that through ISTE she has acquired an abundance of resources that will help her with technology in the classroom.

In my comment, I told her how I had once again enjoyed hearing about her experience. She had mentioned in one of her posts about getting to meet certain teachers face to face at conferences just like this. I pictured myself attending ISTE, eager as always. It would be so awesome to meet these amazing educators that I follow on Twitter or that I will continue to meet through this class. Beth has inspired me to look up more information about ISTE and even look at the resources she provided in her post.