And to think I was close to never applying for the SEE Global Summit! What a mistake that would have been! This year has been full of amazing ups and downs, but THIS was definitely one of the best weeks of the year for me! I had just received my SMART Interactive Flat Panel at the start of this school year from a teacher fellowship that I won last year. Due to budget shortfalls, I was the only teacher in my building with a SMART panel in my room and I was itching to know as much as I could about how to implement it most effectively with my students.
I spent the summer and the year going to trainings, watching webinars, hitting up people on Twitter and Facebook for ideas, and asking my fellow SEE's (SMART Exemplary Educators) for tips and tricks. I am lucky to have a SEE that is a technology integrator in my district. She has had my back from day 1! She is also the person that encouraged me to apply to become a SEE in the first place. I jumped on that right away in the fall after just using the SMART Learning Suite for a few months! Luckily in the spring, she told me about the SEE Global Summit in Calgary, Canada at SMART Headquarters. I immediately applied for that as well. Then I think I crossed my fingers every day until I found out I had been chosen to attend!
My hopes and expectations before leaving for Calgary:
- Learn how to become the best advocate for SMART that I could be
- Collaborate with others from around the world to get the most out of SMART Technologies
- Have FUN!
- Make it there in one piece (I'm not the best flyer and this was my first solo flight and really solo adventure of any kind!)
- Became life long friends with 33 other SEE's after just spending 5 days together!
- Met the entire SMART family throughout the week (ok, maybe not the whole family, but truly a BIG chunk of them) and had real conversations with them. They listened to what we had to say and valued my opinions and ideas! I will definitely always remember that respect when I am advocating for this great company! A special shout out to our SEE mama for the week, Kelly Miksch and her team that planned it all!
- Spent time with a team of SEE's and developers to create a new item. These developers for team C.H.R.I.S.N blew me away with how much they could create in such a short amount of time. We had a Hackathon to present our item to everyone and came in 2nd place!
- We had time to plan a global collaboration project together that will take place throughout the year with our students. I am lucky to have fellow SEE's from England, Sweden, and Florida to join up with this year with our team mascot: SMART Traveler! I can't wait to see all the valuable things that our students will learn together.
- SMART also allowed SEE's to present on topics that were important to them, but maybe didn't have a SMART Technologies focus. I was able to present with Glory from Australia on our love for Seesaw Learning Journals. This was a great experience to share my knowledge with others that were sharing so much with me!
- I am hopeful that I will be able to complete an implementation study with SMART this year with my students. SMART is a company that is always looking for ways to improve. They are an education company first! These implementation studies will not only just help me and my students, but others around the world!
- WHITE HAT CEREMONY!! I honestly can't say enough about how this made me feel as an educator! We were sneakily told that we were getting a group photo taken and when we went upstairs, EVERY SMART EMPLOYEE was there giving us a standing ovation and a star walk of fame! We received a white hat and became honorary Calgarians, but so much more happened in that moment. We were appreciated! I will never forget that moment! Thank you SMART!
- Every day was a new adventure awaiting us and I enjoyed every conversation, meal, surprise, session, and activity that we got to do. This included going to the site of the Winter Olympics, Canadian Hall of Fame, and Calgary Stampede. WOW! I talked about this experience so much when I got home, my family got annoyed:) And maybe just a wee bit jealous!
THANK YOU SMART for showing me the passion that you have for your company because it is the exact same passion that I have for my profession!
And yes, I have a new found love of flying! So, you know what I'm hoping for next year, right? Round 2!
