mauilibrarian2 in Olinda: 7 Delightfully Surprising Things That Happened at the Second Google for Education Hawaii Summit (updated 5/21/14)

Google selfie with +Molly Schroeder and +Wendy Gorton (IC)

Yes, +EdTechTeam's Second Google for Education Hawaii Summit was FUN!

Seven delightfully surprising things happened:

1. I learned about how education can and should be 'uncomfortably exciting'.

This is a new phrase I learned from Googler (and former Hawaii resident) +Evan Rapoport, via +Larry Page. I think I'm going to use it. Wouldn't it be fantastic if we could get our students uncomfortably excited about learning?

Evan Rapoport

2. The majority of the attendees were public school teachers.

I was thrilled to find out that the majority of the 500+ people who attended the summit were public school teachers. Shout-out to all of these educators wanting to make a difference in their schools! Attendance almost doubled from last year's summit.

+Brendan Brennan commented that he would like to see 1000+ next year. Now wouldn't that be something?

Hale Kula Elementary School represents!
IC: +Wendy Gorton

3. Internet was unthrottled.

The wi-fi was smooooooooooth and blazing fast at 'Iolani School! A big mahalo to Jim Crum and his crew for an outstanding job. Here's a great article about Jim in the 'Iolani student newspaper: The IT man: Jim Crum hopes to boost information technology at 'Iolani. I hope next year's summit will be at 'Iolani again.

4. Some of my #pln friends were different.

It was so much fun to meet members of my #pln in person! +Brendan Brennan and +Lisa Nagamine are much taller than I imagined, and based on +Rachel Armstrong's wonderfully strong voice on hangouts, I expected her to be less petite than she is.

5. Jim Sill was FUNNY! --- in a good way :D

Humor is so important for engaging students I think, and Jim, also known as Mr. Sill, made us laugh often. I love how Mr. Sill weaves his filmmaking skills into his presentations, too.

And his Sillfie Fun! page is pretty awesome. #sillfie / #selfie, get it?

6. Three Hawaii Google Certified Teachers gathered together in one room to learn from each other.

GCT +Liz Castillo from the Google Teacher Academy 2012 Mountain View cohort and +Michelle Carlson Colte from the 2013 Sydney cohort attended my Curate and Organize Like a Ninja, in Chrome session. I was so thankful for their support.

7. I went away to meet up with someone from home.

Well, this isn't surprising, is it? It was great to catch up with technology coordinator +Larry McCarty and I'ao Intermediate technology teacher +Pete Hansen (in the back). Lots of good discussion going on here. :)