Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Mr. Pahl Goes To Portland

Each year, over 1,000 people from schools all over the Northwest gather in either Portland or Seattle to learn more about using technology in education. The organization that sponsors the gathering is NCCE which stands for Northwest Council for Computer Education.

This year, the conference was in Portland!


No, I didn't see Prue, Curtis, or Wildwood, but I saw the Railroad Bridge and the Industrial Wastelands!




 And I sure learned a lot more about ways we can improve technology use in our classroom.


The Convention Center had a lot of wonderful art inside and out. 
This was a  beautiful sculpture honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. 

Here are a few more examples of the art at the Convention Center. The building is massive. These tremendous works of art are enormous in size. I'm not sure you can tell from the pictures.

This is an authentic dragon boat hanging above a gathering area.

I think this is a glass sculpture of poppies, I think. 

Not sure what this is. Grape? Olive? Fig?


First, we all gathered in a giant ballroom.




A smart, talented man named George Couros talked to us about how we can make schools better for you. This isn't exactly what he said, but it will give you an idea of what he wanted us to think about.


He also showed us a couple of thoughtful images (click on them to make them larger):



Later, I attended a photo workshop. Many people take pictures everyday. They have what they call 365 projects where they commit to taking at least one picture a day for the whole year.

Some classrooms do it. Mrs. Yollis has one. Our historians do something like this for us.

Sometimes people go out in search of things to photograph, and they look for certain themes. After a brief introduction, the workshop leader took us out on a photo walk of Portland. She told us to pick a theme and start taking pictures. I also learned how to use a site called Flickr. Here is my Flickr "Photostream." My theme was Angles, Shapes, Lines...Function or Design. I hope you like it.



When we returned from the walk, there was a drawing, and...


I won us a new camera!
I learned so many other things during my time in Portland, all of which I hope to share with you during the remainder of our journey through 4th grade together. 

Be good humans.
Mr. Pahl


10 comments:

  1. Dear Mr.Pahl,

    I hope your conference in Portland was good. I am also very excited to learn the new things that you learned at your conference.
    From, Devin

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dear Mr. Pahl,
    Did you really won a contest and got a camera? Also Portland looks really cool and I think I’m going to Portland this Spring Break with my family I think.
    From, Cathy

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dear Mr. Pahl,
    That’s awesome that you went to Portland, Oregon to learn some ways to make school better for kids! I am also excited that you got us a new camera; I believe it is an Olympus VG. (I had forgotten to mention that I was looking at the picture that showed the camera in its box.) Also that you found out how to use Flickr. Thanks for reading this.
    From,
    Sophia

    ReplyDelete
  4. Dear Mr.Pahl,
    It seemed like you had a lot of fun and learned a lot about new ways to use technology. I was wondering if the Railroad Bridge and the Industrial Wastelands you saw looked at all like the ones in W ildwood.
    From,
    Phoebe

    ReplyDelete
  5. Dear Mr. Pahl,
    It sounds like you had a blast there! It’s also really cool that you got chosen in the draw and won a new camera! I didn’t know that Portland was based on the actual setting of the book Wildwood, like when you saw that enormous railroad track that it described in the book. That must have been so cool! I’m also curious how you got put in a draw?
    Sincerely,
    Karoline

    ReplyDelete
  6. Dear Mr. Pahl,
    It is very interesting that you went to Oregon! I went to a city that started with a G, I forgot what it is called. But it was up to THE 90”S! it was so hot I wasn’t even running and I had no breath.
    Sincerely,
    Avery

    ReplyDelete
  7. Dear Mr. Pahl,
    I am so jealous that you got a new camera and you got to go to Portland! One day I wish I could go to Portland.
    From, Austin

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wow Mr. Pahl I never knew you won a camera. That is just amazing new!
    Sincerely, Rajveer

    ReplyDelete
  9. Dear Mr. Pahl,
    Wow I think it is amazing that you won a camera. You are so lucky to win the drawing.
    From, Eli

    ReplyDelete
  10. Dear Mr. Pahl,
    Your trip to Portland looks like it was lots of fun. I really liked your photostream. My favorite picture was of a big tower thing that had a shelf with a few drinks on it. It reminded me of Janga. But, all of the pictures rocked too.
    Sincerely, Ella

    ReplyDelete

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