This year’s TRETC Conference was held at Bethel Park High School on November 3rd and 4th.  I shared TouchCast at a pre-conference session and a regular session and invited former students to assist with The Red Chair sitwithme.org project.

I always enjoy sharing TouchCast and all of its features and NEW features.  Having a pre-conference session allowed for attendees to have more time to really explore this FREE interactive media app.  See TouchCast.com for more info and read my earlier posts. My regular session was also lots of fun and I loved having former students there to help.

One of the highlights at TRETC for me was hosting the Red Chair again. This was the second time that the Red Chair was at the Three Rivers Educational Technology Conference TRETC, but there was no shortage of educators who were happy to “sit to take a stand” for women in ED TECH. Teachers, vendors, consultants, and administrators wrote their thoughts, shared a hashtag or held a photo frame in front of a green screen where they could choose their choice of a tech related background.  My former Student Tech Team members who are now High School students continuing their interests in Technology worked to help raise awareness for women in tech.. Sarah Scalise of Seton La Salle Catholic, Tom Wildenhain of Central Catholic, Christian Romano of Central Catholic, and Greydon Tomkowitz of Bethel Park High School (the host school) did an outstanding job promoting the RED CHAIR and documenting the event.

Students with the Red Chair at TRETC 2015

Keynote speaker, Mandela Schumacher-Hodge, former public school teacher, education policy researcher, PhD candidate, and Founder of The Startup Couch was one of many attendees who happily sat in the Red Chair.  When asked if she would like to sit in the RED CHAIR, Mandela gave an enthusiastic, “Yes!”  Mandela thoughtfully wrote the following on the sign she held for her photo in the Red Chair,  “I am diverse and I am an asset #WomenForTech @MandelaSH.”  We were inspired by her keynote presentation at the conference and honored that she took the time to sit in the Red Chair for the sitwithme project. You can see Mandela’s photo, the display, and the all those who joined the fun as they sat in the RED Chair at the Conference.

Red Chair at TRETC 2015 – Teachers at Region Ed Tech Conference sit in the Red Chair to support awareness for Careers in Tech for women. http://get-puppet.com/v/_SK6vFg5nzU?autoplay=true

Album of photos https://goo.gl/photos/nZNUpsL8hLT11tHq8