NECC 2007

Atlanta, Georgia

"Actually Awesome"

Each year that we have gone to the National Educator's Computer Conference (NECC), we have faced our fair share of challenges.  This year was no different, but at each turn my students reminded me that they knew how to conduct themselves and that any obstacle that came their way would be handled professionally.  They did not let me down.  The only way to express how this trip went is to combine the two words heard most often by myself ("Actually") and my students ("Awesome")...

NECC 2007 was "Actually Awesome".

 

On our way...

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Since we were presenting on the first day of NECC, we had to prepare on our way there (those big smiley face beach balls take time to blow up).

 

Just getting there...

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We do have a nice time on these NECC trips, but most of the time we do all we can to make the best impression.  Our first day in Atlanta involved getting checked in at NECC and our hotel.  We then took some time to go to the Georgia Aquarium.  We had fun, but used this opportunity to invite educators we saw to our presentation the next day.

 

Our day to present...

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Since we presented on the first day of NECC, we had to have everything ready.  We took the time to blow up the big smiley face beach balls and we had to get them there somehow...so we carried them down the street.  Yes, we got some funny looks, but we had a job to do.

We talked to so many people that day.  Educators from all over the world stopped by our display.  Our scheduled presentation time was from 9:00 AM until 11:00 AM.  People started coming long before our time was even to start (some came as early as 7:45 AM) and they kept coming past our time for us to be gone (11:30).  How many people?  Let's just say that we had 400 brochures to pass out and we had gone through those by 9:30 AM.  There were times that so many people were there that we had trouble moving.  We just kept right on teaching them all about our EPals project and answering all kinds of questions along the way.

 

Having some fun on our "work day"...

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Testing the new technology is a blast.

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Since we "Google" everything...

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Best Buy had a BIG presence at NECC...

 

Back at the Hotel...

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You know, we do work hard...but you always have to take some time to unwind.  Once we were done with our presentation and touring the different vendors, some fun in the pool was just the thing to do.  The great thing was, when it started raining...no big deal...we just moved to the indoor pool.

 

Day 2...

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On our second day, we decided to stroll through the huge exhibit hall.  This is the day we talked with different vendors from different companies who set up booths at NECC.  Many times they give you free stuff, and we sure do enjoy that.  We also get to check out some of the latest technology that may just be in our classrooms next year.

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One of the main projects the Tech Team did this year was a hardback book.  We all created stories and then bound them using the products and services by Lintor Publishing.  During our presentation the day before, we were asked many times about our books, and we knew to send people to their booth to find out more.  They came to visit us yesterday as a "thank you".  Today we visited them.  We loved putting those books together.

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Next year, Mrs. Ramsay will be using some new technology in her classroom.  This Promethean white board does some really great stuff for students and teachers.  She got to test it out first hand and now she can't wait to get some lessons going with it for next year (those cool orange bags we all have came from them too).

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We all worked so hard getting here and doing a good job at our presentation that we got to enjoy a little treat.  A trip to Starbucks Coffee seemed in order.  We all got something and loved every drop.

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The last "Hoorah" of the day was a trip to Stone Mountain.  This place is beautiful when the sun is out, but when they do their night time laser light show...WOW!  This extra fun stuff makes these trips that much more rewarding...and educational.

 

Coming Home...

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The final day is always a little excitement and little bit of a bummer.  We want to get home to our families, but we have such a good time on our "business trip" that we may not be ready for it to end just yet.

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We had to have a couple more pictures of us in front of our "home" for the last few days.

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On the final day, before we got back on the bus to come home, we had to stop at a couple more vendors.  This one was something very similar to the EPals project...but farther away.  This booth had set up a station where we could work on a math lesson with students over in India (talk about long distance learning).

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We had done a lesson on robots this year and we had to stop by the NASA booth.

 

Well, that was our 2007 NECC trip to Atlanta, Georgia.  Hope you enjoyed the journey walking through it with us as much as we enjoyed being there.  We can't wait until next year when NECC will be in San Antonio, Texas...

Home of the...

ALAMO!