My Island View

I had a rare opportunity to experience a wonderful sharing of a meaningful, unselfish, insightful, reflective, and most enlightening, and personal keynote address at ISTE13 from my friend, Adam Bellow. I was also aware of his struggles with its creation over the last several months.

I have come to believe that a thought not shared is simply a passing thought, but a thought shared is an idea. That was never more evident to me than it was yesterday as I experienced the closing ISTE13 Keynote address from Adam Bellow yesterday in San Antonio Texas.

Adam shared with the thousands of educators in attendance what it means to be a connected educator. Before he did this however, he wove a story of his personal history as a kid growing up with a yearning for learning, and what that meant to him. He introduced us to his family, his motivations, his connections, his creations, and his ideas.

Adam validated what educators are doing globally with their connections. He managed to introduce many of his connections to the audience glued to the screen enthralled with the dazzling array of interactive slides and text underscoring and accenting every thought shared and explored. He managed to pump up the audience with a cadence so fast that there was little time to reflect before the next idea came streaming in. There were well over 300 slides in support of this cavalcade of ideas.

What I came away with was a profound commitment to continue to share ideas in spite of the roadblocks and side tracks of the detractors. There is power in connecting and sharing. As educators we need to harness that power not to control kids, but to teach them and learn alongside of them.

I do not feel I was alone in my adoration of this keynote presentation. I was not the only educator moved to tears and laughter. I was not the only educator to feel validated in my efforts to connect and share. The five-minute standing ovation as well as the lengthy line of well wishers waiting to shake Adam’s hand as recognition that he did strike the chords that validated and inspired everyone in that huge auditorium.

I know that this keynote was video taped. I only hope that in the spirit of sharing, so well highlighted in Adam’s address, that it is distributed by ISTE to be shared by all educators in an effort to advance all educators in connecting, sharing, teaching and most especially learning. I will post the URL when I get it and if permitted, I will post it on The Educator’s PLN. Thank You Adam Bellow @Adambellow.