For the opening keynote at ISTE 2014, I was expecting inspiration, technology, and education. Hearing Ashley Judd talk about her journey from a childhood of love and neglect and abuse to an adulthood of healing and recovery was not what I expected. She did share how some teachers’ actions and remarks made a positive impact on her far beyond what they probably realized. And she talked about how important it is for us to listen to children and to really see them.
So while her talk was not what I expected, perhaps it was what we needed to hear: the core of what we do is to listen to and see what is going on with the children who walk into our classrooms. Sometimes we fill our heads with great educational ideas and exciting technology tools to the extent that we forget the human beings who are our students. Hopefully, we will find ideas and tools that will help us listen to them better.
