Fall CUE was another great conference and I would like to share some of what I learned and presented. The biggest difference between Fall CUE and others was the intimacy.  This conference felt like the conversations were more pointed. The classrooms were perfect and we did not have any people sitting on the floor, unless you were a boss like Alice Keeler and Lisa Highfill (standing room only), their sessions were great! The classrooms were nice because it felt like running a PD in my own district. 

I was fortunate enough to get accepted as a presenter and my two sessions were:

The thought process behind these presentations were to let the attendees leave with something they can take back and work on immediately. I realized quickly that many people are working on e-portfolios in some form or fashion. Our district is working to integrate e-portfolios in a way that does not add another item to the plate of our teachers. We essentially took the curriculum that we had a created one lesson that teachers could implement with a little tech infusion. Funssessments was all about looking at assessments tools and playing. We highlighted

One of the best aspects of presenting this year was getting to present, its about to get real corny up in here, with my best friend, my wife, Ruby (@MrsRubyRivera). She is an amazing teacher and I get to bounce all my ideas off of her. Ruby is special and everything she works at is perfection. Getting some alone time in a beautiful place like Napa was a wonderful treat. She makes me better everyday.

I have tons to learn about presenting and how to get to Boss Level Presenting (or RockStar Presenting, another great Corippo session) but this was a wonderful experience. What I wrestle with is, am I sharing valuable information at this level? I know presenting at my district is productive because I know the needs of my school sites. I love listening to what the audience took away from my session but people are always so nice, look below:

I am thankful for all the peeps that joined in our sessions and shared in our learning experience. I have lots to learn and I am glad to have company. Have a nice day.

Aside from realizing my body is getting older, I remembered how important it is to have arts at school. My kiddos were having fun, interacting with each other, and building relationships. My students were exercising a part of the brain that I often ignore.

Of course I had to incorporate some of the cool tech things that I have learned along the way. First of all I used this website to share the routines with parents. Talk about flipped learning, students could go home and watch their little hearts out. I know it was easier in Casa Rivera. My two boys took my class and as much as I wanted to keep teaching them at home (Just kidding, I was too tired to teach) it was nice to put on a video that they can watch over and over. I was also reminded of the different levels, even within the same age group. Teaching requires differentiation and tons of patience. I was able to take a page out of Catlin Tucker's playbook and had me some station rotation. We learned choreography together and as I identified sticking points in the routine those became the stations.

I'll leave you with a little bit of the showcase from my kiddos, enoy! I know I did. 

ISTE 2017 was a blast. There were a lot of first for me and some things have moved me emotionally and professionally. Let us begin with the not so sappy stuff. 

I have never been to San Antonio. I have never eaten brisket... I ate a lot of brisket. I have never heard teachers sing their hearts out. #ETK Seriously though, what librarian has lungs like that... 

What was so emotional? Jennie and George. I now realize that any stories relating to parents and their children will always make me cry or, if you are in San Antonio, you can say "the humidity is making my eyes sweat." George Couros' session was great. When I heard him speak at CUE I was also inspired this time around he spoke about creating Digital Leaders. I love that idea, I submitted to Google Innovator around Conscientious Cyber Citizens, but Digital Leaders sounds awesome. George is a great reminder that technology needs to be harnessed by our students. Teachers need to be the movement that shapes that future, or I mean shapes the now. Technology integration needs to be done today. Students are not waiting for teachers to get on board, they are already zooming past us in a speedboat. Let's teach them to swim, just in case. 

Jennie Magiera . I have wanted to begin this blog so many times, pretty sure I have written my first post about 10 times since CUE 17' but here we are, I am ready to contribute to the community. Jennie reminded me to tell my story, or someone else will. Her passion for education is astonishing. As I watched and listened to her on that stage I am reminded of how my teachers impacted my life, that will be another post, but it goes without saying that we need to keep building those relationships students, they matter so much.

So aside from those amazing speakers and all the other sessions, I thoroughly enjoyed the expo this year. I barely fit all the swag back in my bags but I realized how many relationships I have formed being in this position as Tech TOSA. It was great putting a face to the name and connecting with companies that are now our partners. Shout out to ClassCraft for getting us some Karaoke tickets, Librarian rock, literally.

Final thoughts. Keep creating things that help change lives, keep inspiring, keep.google.com, keep telling your story, and keep learning.