Dothan Brook School Library & Media Center: VermontFest 2019

I had the great opportunity to attend Vita-Learn's VermontFest once again this year, thanks to a scholarship from VLSA! VermontFest is a fantastic tech-ed conference held at the Killington Grand Resort each fall. There are vendors and presenters from all over New England and I always leave with new ideas and inspiration.

This year's conference had two amazing keynote speakers: Dr. Nathan Lang-Raad and Dan Ryder. Dr. Lang-Raad has an extensive list of accomplishments for a guy who looks way too young to have such a long list! According to the Vita-Learn website, Dr. Lang-Raad is an "Author, Google Certified Educator, Microsoft Innovative Educator, 2016 Apple Teacher, Solution Tree Consultant, Chief Education Officer at WeVideo." He led sessions on instructional coaching and using WeVideo in the classroom, as well as delivered the keynote speech on the first day. He is relatively new to the New England area and has a brown bear story that will leave you in tears!

Dan Ryder, the keynote speaker for Day 2, is a "Success & Innovation Center Education Director
idea wrangler, design thinker, improviser, author, and award winning educator
Apple Distinguished educator, NEA Foundation’s 2018 Horace Mann Award for Teaching Excellence, and Co-founder of education consultancy, Wicked Decent Learning." He led sessions on design thinking and critical creativity. We had fun using Play-Doh, Legos, action figures, and other manipulatives to explore ways we can help bring creativity and whimsy into the classroom. I walked away from his Design Thinking session with a clear plan for handling one of my trickier classes! Dan's keynote had us all thinking about ways we can implement change within our own environments using creativity and fun.

While there I also got some podcasting questions answered during Joe Bertelloni's podcasting session, learned about new AR opportunities from Maureen Yoder and someone from CoSpaces. I ended Day 2 with Kelly McGee and Linda Mullin, both from Rutland Town School, talking about incorporating STEAM in the library (McGee) and using PLPs in kindergarten (Mullin). I got to use a 3D pen to make a cool snowflake, learned that I'm not persistent enough finish a Breakout box, and had my mind blown by the success Mullin is having getting her kinders using PLPs. I'm eager to talk to my kinder teachers about and share some of Mullin's tips and templates.