Treat People Right

I am finally able to get words from my jumbled brain onto the blog from my first trip to ISTE. I am going to have to break things up in parts for it all to make sense so please bear with me.

Three and one half days of ISTE 2017 changes you. This conference was my first experience of a complete ISTE and I now realize why we people from all over the world come together to this conference. It is a transformational experiences that brings together people who have such synergy that could literally change the face of education for the better.

The things I have learned all come down to a few essential truths.

1. Treat people right
2. Don’t be fake
3. Never stop learning

As much as these all seem to be ideas that have been discussed at great length in many books, podcast, tv, movies, and more, they are all essential to impacting education and making the necessary changes.

Often times what sets back the learning for students and teachers is not a lack of materials or resources, but a culture of toxicity where we don’t treat people right, therefore leading to situations where:

1. Educators don’t celebrate excellence because of ridicule
2. Educators look for the bad in students and trying to catch them in the wrong act instead of praising the good acts because this is what happens to them
3. Educators feeling like they have no more to learn as they know all they need to learn or there is a fear of learning because it is not worth the risk to try something new
4. Educators feeling not supported by leaders in their building/district

Everyone I talked to at ISTE was full of passion and pride for their work. It was contagious. You just catch the bug and spend the whole time recharging your battery as you embrace the passion of others.

Something I want to figure out is to learn how to create the culture of ISTE where there is celebration of learning while also actively challenging ideas and bring that back to school districts.

It is amazing how the Golden Rule once again comes back around to the essence of all things. So simple and yet so hard for many to do.