If you follow me on Twitter, then you know from my tweets that I just attended the ASCD Empower 17 conference in Anaheim, California. The last (and first) time I got to attend an ASCD conference was 4 years ago when it was in Chicago. This year’s conference came full circle for me, because in Chicago I attended a session led by ASCD editors, along with Doug Fisher and Nancy Frey about how to get a book published by ASCD (you can read about that here) and this year I attended the conference ready to lead a session and introduce the book that I co-authored that will be the ASCD May member book. And as another bonus…I also got to hear Fisher and Frey present again!
This is just the first of several ASCD #empower17 blog posts I will have, because I will be blogging about the great learning I am brining back home with me.
What makes ASCD such a great conference to attend?
1. Amazing speakers. Just look at your bookshelf of education books, those authors were probably at ASCD! The only downside is that there are SO many great sessions available that it is hard to decide which session to attend. Here are some of my favorite authors that I was fortunate to learn from:
2. Getting to connect with your Professional Learning Network. It’s one thing to be connected to educators across the country on Twitter and Voxer, but it is even better to get to have face to face conversations with people that you’ve been virtually connected with. The schedule of the ASCD sessions had ample time in between each to allow for reflection on what was learned and to use the time to connect with people around you. Here are just some of the great people I got to connect with:
3. Great book shopping. Ok, if you know anything about me, then you know that I cannot pass up good books. I had a hard time containing my excitement that I nearly had to leave my clothes in the hotel room to make room for all the books I needed to bring home!
4. The location. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity for me, so the view was just icing on the ASCD cake!
Edited to add Posts written to share my learning:
