Last year at this time, I climbed into my van with a couple of my tech buddies, and headed to St. Louis to attend and present at METC.  I was excited to be going, but truthfully did not expect to come away with anything that would impact my teaching in a huge way.  I don’t mean to be disrespectful about that, but I have been to many tech conferences, and each time I come away relatively empty.  Done it, seen it, had it, thanks.  Perhaps I have been tainted by the fact that I was trained by one of the most talented tech integration specialists in the country, and over the years she has left no stone unturned when it comes to inquiry, cool tools, and tech. tips.  BUT, last year at METC, I got really excited, because there were new ideas, new energy, phenomonal keynotes like David Warlick, Bernajean Porter, Hall Davidson…I left with a ton of questions spinning in my head.  I was renewed and re-energized.  I felt a new urgency for impacting education.  That was the beginning of this most amazing year of professional growth.  Second Life, SL virtual conference, twitter, skype, k12online, ustreams, blogs, connections with educators all over the world, and on and on.  What a year!

Now, I sit here writing this post with great anticipation for METC 2008 coming up in only 3 days!  Our group has grown to 5 this year, all presenting.  I look forward to every bit of it…the 4 hour drive- (time to re-connect with my tech buds), excellent keynotes, meeting some SL and twitter folks f2f for the first time, soaking in all the conversations and connections that I can possibly manage in 2 days.  If any of you reading this are attending, please come introduce yourself- I will be the one with the goofy smile of anticipation on my face!