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ISTE 2016 Closing Keynote: Michelle Cordy: Show Up and Refuse to Leave!

Michelle Cordy, a Third Grade educator from Ontario, Canada, blogger of "Hack the Classroom," was the closing keynote at ISTE 2016. 

She got jumped right in, and challenged the audience to think about who we are and our place in the world.
It is her school's last day, and she'd rather be there, but chose to come speak to us!

In 2012, she got her, "Magic Schoolbus!" a grant for 1:1 iPads. She was considered a "rougue" teacher, as her classroom was the only one.
She sought out ideas online and found Howard Reingold, author of Netsmart.
She tweeted to him, he commented on her blog, and she was shocked. He noted:
"That's how it works, Michelle!"

She wants her students to be seen and heard, in her classroom and beyond. She needed to connect with a PLN, because there was nobody in her district to help. 
Here is what she has learned from the community

Be a Connected Educator.
  • Coming to ISTE is like an oxygen mask. 
  • Going home can be tough. #ISTEsadselfie
  • Christakis in Connected: The shape of the network matters, we shape our networks, and our networks shape us. Carbon forms graphite as well as a diamond. It's the shape of the bond that determines its structure.
  • What if there are connected educators who introduce friends to other friends. When you connect your colleagues, you are better connected!
  • Once you have 3 degrees of separation, it becomes "contagion!"
  • Focusing on the connections and the good work will create diamond networks!
Engage and Empower the Network 
  • When we engage our network and our students it empowers us
  • BreakoutEDU is a great way to do that
Engage and Empower the kids
  • She had the kids build bridges so that spheros could get between the desks. Her kids said, "We want to build a marble run for the spheros! She said, "ok!"
  • When you engage and empower, kids see themselves in the curriculum.
GoPro Hero of the Day to Document Learning
Assigned a student to go around and ask kids what there plan was.

Once you take care of the "must do's" you open up space to make stuff and make stuff up!


Power Pose Time
Cordy notes that when people powerpose they are more successful
Amy Cuddy- There is a connection between the devices we use and powerposing. Larger devicdes the better. 
1st Graders thought the power pose was of male gender and closed pose female.

Mindfulness Research
SAM Self Assessment Manikan  
A 10 minute intervention per day can have a huge impact!

Flipping the "Eye Chart" from Top Down to Bottom Up showed a difference in the ablility of people to read lines!

Real but not true. You are what you decide you are!! She wanted to teach, and do research, so she started calling her self an "applied researcher." Now she has 10 publications to her name! Believe your dreams into reality!


Falling in and out of sync and in and out of love with our ideas.
Hacking the Classroom-sounds a bit adversarial..."When someone says you're "in the trenches," who are you at war with?"

Move from Disruption to Stewardship!



Fundamentally all of the things eduation needs exist righ now, we just need to organize them differently!
We need to play a long game on a short track. Recommit to that place where you can make your greatest contribution! Show up at the place you can make your greatest contribution and refuse to leave!!

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