Greetings From Our Chair
2
Dear SIGAdmin Members,
Spring is finally starting to arrive in the Northeast and hopefully where you live! In Connecticut where I live, we thought we would never see spring - especially after the BIG Blizzard of 2013 dumped over 3 feet of snow across the state in February. Schools all around Connecticut lost many days because of the blizzard and Hurricane Sandy earlier in the year. Many spring breaks have been cancelled or shortened and most schools are going up until the end of June. My district lost 10 days because of weather related issues - a record loss for one year. All of us were so excited on February 2nd, Groundhog’s Day, when Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow and predicted an early spring. But now, after the blizzard and additional school days lost to snow, we know Punxsutawney Phil’s prediction was just a big tease, and most of us will never trust that groundhog again! LOL
But, the cold weather will all be behind us when we arrive at ISTE 2013 in San Antonio, Texas June 23 – June 26. The SIGAdmin officers and I hope that you are planning to join us for this exciting conference. I am especially excited to hear game designer, Jane McGonigal’s, opening keynote on the application of game-design to real-life challenges. You can learn more about her by listening to her Ted talks at: http://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_the_game_that_can_give_you_10_extra_years_of_life.html and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dE1DuBesGYM on how gaming can make a better world. Steven Johnson, author on the topic of innovation, and Adam Bellow, founder and president of eduTecher and eduClipper, are also keynote speakers. You can learn more about them and the rest of the presenters and session highlights at http://www.isteconference.org/2013/.
SIGAdmin is planning some exciting learning opportunities and social events during the conference as well. We hope you will join us on Sunday afternoon, June 23 for the Open House. Stop by our table and introduce yourself to us. We will have some information about our SIG and different ways for you to network and get involved with other administrators interested in technology to engage and enhance teaching and learning. We also hope you will join us for the “SIGAdmin Forum: Common Core Standards” from 8:00 – 9:30 am on Monday, June 24th. This is a breakfast meeting – a great way for you to start the first day of the conference with a good breakfast and network with other administrators about how to effectively integrate the Common Core Standards into teaching and learning. Monday evening you are also invited to attend a social event for all SIGAdmin members. You can learn more about all of these and other opportunities by following us on twitter @SIGAdm or #SIGAdm, and on our wiki http://sigadmin.iste.wikispaces.net/ . If you plan to attend ISTE 2013, be sure to join the ISTE 2013 Conference NING http://iste2013.org/, especially the SIGAdmin group http://iste2013.org/group/sigadmin to stay current on all the exciting opportunities and news before, during, and after the conference.
We hope you enjoyed the webinar on Blended Learning Tuesday, April 9, 2012. If you missed it, you can find the url for the achieved webinar on our SIGAdmin wiki. SPECIAL THANKS to Stacy Hawthorne for organizing the webinar and also to Michael Simkins, the chapter facilitators, and everyone who participated in the weekly book study discussions!
Again we look forward to meeting you at the ISTE Conference Open House. We hope to see you at the SIGAdmin Forum on the Common Core and at our Social Event in San Antonio. Continue to follow us on Twitter and the ISTE 2013 Conference Ning for the latest details about the Conference.
Keep Smiling
Rosie O’Brien Vojtek
SIGAdmin Chair