The People of ECOO 2013

In 2011, I wrote a post about the fantastic people I met at ECOO.
In 2013, I met some more great educators that were new to me.
Another post will highlight some of the "old favourites".

Make new friends but keep the old.
Those are silver and these are gold. (Joseph Parry)

Here are the "silver pals".

Michelle Korda ‏ @KordaKovar

Magdalena Front ‏ @TechMagFront

Mother, wife, book worm, shoeaholic, 

master lip sync-er, lifelong learner, tech teacher at a K-6 school in ON, Canada

Chris Solesa ‏ @ChrisSolesa

These energetic women came to the Thursday Minecraft LAN party. Andrew Forgave - I don't know if I count him as a silver or gold pal, since this was the first time we met in person - showed them his amazing Survival World Minecraft farm and the group of them outlasted us! Liam, Denise, and I returned to our rooms to crash around 12:30 a.m. but they were still going strong until 1:00 a.m.! I also admired the way they strengthened our connection through Twitter and now email. 

Jen Apgar ‏ @JenApgar

Gifted Education- in UGDSB - Teachable Moments-always

I first met Jen on Twitter, after I re-tweeted a post she made quoting mutual friend Liam O'Donnell. I didn't realize that Jen's class was part of our Multi-School server too! Have you ever had that feeling after meeting someone that you fit well together? This was the impression I got from Jen. I didn't immediately recognize her because she shaved her head as part of her school's Terry Fox initiative. I really enjoyed talking to her. She is inspiring, enthusiastic, friendly, and knowledgeable. How she found the energy to supervise the "fun ribbon and badge" table on Thursday and Friday baffles me. 

Jenyi Wu ‏ @mswu

ESL teacher, WRDSB, avid tester of all touch/button based gadgets.

Jenny attended the Connecting the Blocks talk Gaming Edus gave and it could have just ended with that, but she took initiative to chat with me at another session and I decided to talk with her instead of attending the session. It was worth it. Jenyi asked great questions and really prompted me to think about Minecraft more from the parenting side of things. I realize we need more parents that play, and educators that don't just sit with the status quo and push what's possible. Jenyi's comments about parent involvement and cultural identity creation in Minecraft show her insights.

Apologies if I've forgotten any of my new connections!