“I was halfway across America, at the dividing line between the East of my youth and the West of my future, and maybe that’s why it happened right there and then, that strange red afternoon.”  ― Jack Kerouac, On the Road

This post is about the rest of Monday, after my presentation, which you can read about in this post.

The halcyon moments after a presentation are filled with reflection and taking stock. And an entire bottle of water to rehydrate while I regrouped in the Presenter’s Lounge. #ISTEspoiled.

Although I had a few poster sessions and interactive workshops selected on my schedule, I took a few moments to regroup before attending a session on Adobe Spark. Unfortunately, it was a how-to session, and I already know how to use the app, and I was hoping for a session about possible applications for the app. This is another thing I love about ISTE, though, there are sessions of all types, from philosophical discussions on learning to these how-to sessions, where presenters boil down the steps in using a certain technology and generously provide ways for the complete novice to learn. These sessions are where you’ll find the foot soldiers – the classroom teachers, technology teachers, and digital coaches. Another great thing about ISTE is you can “decide with your feet”, quietly leaving one session and finding one that is more appropriate to your needs. I ended up wandering among the poster sessions (think science fair) for a while.

Next up was a moment I had been looking forward to – assisting two friends I had met at last year’s ISTE conference, Barbara Liedahl (@bliedahl) and Susan Brown (@SuBrown4h) with their presentation, Bring the Maker Movement to Your School – One Box at a Time. I had participated in this workshop with these two brilliant “maker mavens” at ISTE in Denver last year, so I was looking forward to assisting participants with paper circuits and other fun projects.

It was not a surprise that they did not disappoint! In no time, paper circuits had been used to create light up wearable technology in the form of flower pins. Participants exuberantly exclaimed, “Ta da!” as their pins glowed with light.

After that fun session, the next was about Genius Hour and it included lots of great resources, some of which can be found here: http://www.eddiesclass.com/genius-hour-2-0/.

It was only 2:00 on Monday and my brain was full and overstimulated. We decided to get a burger (and whataburger it was!) and then visit the Briscoe Western Art Museum.

As I mentioned before, my husband is a cowboy at heart, and the Briscoe is now his favorite museum. For me the standout was seeing a nice collection of George Catlin’s art that I had heard so much about in an American Art class years ago.

The Briscoe is pretty small so we had time to walk around San Antonio for a while.

And spotted this compelling sculpture, which is a monument to Samuel Gompers, founding president of the American Federation of Labor.

Drawn to it by my union sensibilities, I was moved by the idea that when Compers wrote his list of “What labor wants” nearly one hundred years ago, he probably expected the items would have been resolved by now. I was struck by how much we want/need the same things today:

Just as we were considering plans to go to one social event (at the library) we got a text inviting us to another one. this one was hosted by Explain Everything (@explaineverything) and Soundtrap (@soundtrap) and there was to be food and frolic. And there was! Because along with all the other great folks, the art education crew was there. It was a delightful surprise to spend an extra evening with them! Don’t we look like we’re having fun?