The opening keynote was interesting, though not particularly applicable until the end. Why must a doctor present a DVD that isn't even audible. Granted, the sound quality was absolute junk and the kid that was rapping sucked at using the microphone. Don't doctors get research grants? Enhance the audio or at least throw some subtitles in there.
The first session I attended was on conflict management. It dragged on and I didn't really feel as though I learned anything that wasn't just common sense. The presenter also said "at the end of the day" at least fifteen times. I should have kept a tally, that may have passed the time. Tallying the phrase may have also been the equivalent of counting sheep though, in which case I would have most certainly nodded off. My forehead smashing into table would have been slightly awkward, particularly after a break, during which it is assumed that students get rested and recuperate for the coming semester.
Lunch was delicious. I had a grilled cheese sandwich from the Owl. Yeah, I'm high class. To the max.
Differentiated instruction was the topic of my second session. The lady that presented this, a learning resource teacher, definitely had a passion for her stuff. She was great to listen to, and the time flew by. Though I knew some of what she discussed, she brought new things to the table and really focused on meeting the needs of the people she was presenting to. This was a bit of a task considering that the audience consisted of both primary and secondary education students, but she was cognisant of this and did really well attacking both sides of the coin.
The final session I went to was about technology stuff. The bus-eders, a tight-knit group, got bounced out of a couple of full sessions before making its way to our final destination. I'm glad we ended up at that session for several reasons. 1- Alec Couros, who presented, is a total badass. He's hilarious. 2- What he talks about is incredibly relevant to business education, which will soon be merged with technology education. And, reason 3- I love the stuff he teaches. Useful stuff that, for the most part, could easily be implemented into the classroom in a meaningful and positive way. I'm a little bit burnt out on computers, having spent a lot of time on them in university, fixing them at Best Buy, and spending a great deal of time working on them in high school, but it's still cool to see what technology has to offer students. I find this information age incredibly exciting, and the social aspects that the internet is starting to take advantage of will surely be applicable in the classroom setting.
Outside of school, not a whole lot is new. I'm slowly upgrading the sound system to compliment the tv I bought a while back, and I got a new blu ray player to replace the old junky one, which was a first generation player I got for $100. Extremely slow, and a decent player, but it had some issues with freezing and wouldn't play one of the movies I bought at all. I also bought a new subwoofer. I'm not really sure why, because the one that came with the sound system i bought a few posts down is working really well for me. I guess when I see something that's regular $500 on for $250 I tend to jump on it, even though it probably isn't something that I particularly want.
Random rant: I ordered some shirts from Abercrombie & Fitch on Christmas eve and they're
still in Chicago. They "shipped" almost right away, but so far the tracking info only has two departure scans from Chicago, about a week apart. How can a package leave Chicago only to leave Chicago again a week later? Weak. This random rant was mostly so I have a picture to put up on this post. Just posting the shirts that I ordered. Maybe I'll get them by the time 2010 rolls around. I'll keep you posted.
Cliffnotes: School started again. It was pretty decent. Keynote wasn't terribly relevant. Session one was boring, session two was awesome, and session three was pretty good., though to be fair I would have enjoyed it more if I wasn't so tired. Grilled cheese sandwiches are delicious. I'm slowly upgrading my home theatre sound system. Abercrombie & Fitch should get their act together and ship me my shirts already.
Cheers, next update'll be shorter hopefully.
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