FETC Bonus Episode!

Steve, Co-host (00:01)
Welcome to the very first on Under the Hat bonus episode. And this is because also for the first time, Under the Hat was at a large conference. We were at FETC. And so this is all about just having that reflection. Sophie, it was so good to see you in person and being able to, you know, collaborate and work with others in that way.

Sophie, Co-host (00:26)
Yeah, yeah, for those of you who are listening who don't know, Steve and I are literally on opposite ends of the United States from each other. And this was only our fourth time seeing each other in person. So it was definitely, Florida wasn't ready for both of us in the same space. ⁓ So not only was the FETC experience amazing, but being there on behalf of the podcast was amazing. And then just seeing

the humans at FETC and Steve in person was phenomenal, was fantastic. Steve mentioned on another episode that the FETC community, I didn't get a chance then because we had an amazing guest, but this time I underline that a lot. The FETC community is one that is...

Solid fantastic like when you come to FETC you see all these friends you actually have conversations People sit down for lunch and it's not just Like

It's real teachers in real classrooms coming together and talking to each other and getting ideas from each other.

Steve, Co-host (01:39)
Mm-hmm.

Sophie, Co-host (01:42)
So then you have the EduGuardians who come together

and collaborate and get ideas off of each other and support each other and hang out so that you don't feel alone. ⁓ This year, FETC ⁓ coordinated some like meet and greet things. I'm not sure if they've done it before. This seems it was new to me. So they did some meet and greet things with like state affiliations and CAST and the EduGuardians. And so it just gave people an opportunity to meet up with people in their like...

in their space. ⁓ There weren't a whole lot of people there from like West Virginia or California, but there were some states that had a rather large presence and they got to meet other teachers that they wouldn't have met otherwise. So it's like these purposeful human interactions that really resonate with me when you go to FETC.

Steve, Co-host (02:32)
Yeah, it so with events like these like community does not happen by chance and so I can tell they've done a lot of work on like building a community, building those human interactions like and it did give me Q vibes and was like ⁓ this is the Florida version of Q cool and I just appreciated the like it just felt authentic right like it wasn't like

Even the keynotes. ⁓ And Sophie, this is not in our notes, but like the keynotes, I should have written down and let's just talk about it now. Like the keynotes were authentic. Like there was one and I don't think I got to catch it, but like ⁓ it was like a keynote where students were keynoting basically, right? And I loved seeing that. And ⁓ there was a drone show of sort that had like

Sophie, Co-host (03:23)
Yes.

Steve, Co-host (03:30)
kids were it was just I just loved the student literally student centeredness of ⁓ of the conference as well

Sophie, Co-host (03:31)
the students.

yeah the the drone show was i think a group of

students from Colorado is what I heard. We could look this up and correct us if we're wrong. ⁓ But it was, yeah, it was a drone show that students programmed and designed for FETC, which is just, wow, right? These students built this and designed it and did that for FETC. You had students presenting a keynote on main stage. ⁓ That was incredibly powerful. ⁓

Steve, Co-host (03:51)
Ha!

Yeah.

Sophie, Co-host (04:11)
It's just one of the, and then there was like some student presentations. I saw some students in the expo hall exploring with like their chaperones and things. It's just incredibly powerful how the collaboration and the learning and the community happens. And something that is a little trendy, but also just fun is FETC or the last two years at least has had sort of like a thing, which I've loved. So last year,

Steve, Co-host (04:16)
Hmm.

Sophie, Co-host (04:40)
⁓ Taylor Swift was big and so friendship bracelets. were FETC friendship bracelets. Everyone was making friendship bracelets and handing them out and trading them. And it was a huge thing and it was just like another way to connect with people that you wouldn't have necessarily have interacted with. ⁓ And then this year they were pins, like lapel pins, which yes, I love a good lapel pin. And...

Steve, Co-host (04:43)
Hmm.

Sophie, Co-host (05:05)
It was just really cool to even talk to people. Some of them designed them themselves and got them printed. Some of them were like buttons. Some of them were enamel. Some of them were on brand. Some of them were ⁓ sharing a message. And it was just incredibly amazing, like the conversations that get started because of a lapel pin. ⁓

Like, and that's something that FETC just sort of like, they don't have to do that, but they do to add that level of, another level of interaction that if you choose to participate, you have this other opportunity to engage.

Steve, Co-host (05:53)
Yeah, yeah, I and then also like ⁓ maybe you mentioned this like there was a lot of intentional ways that you can Engage with people and talk with people that you wouldn't have otherwise right and like it's like a meet and greet of sort. ⁓ with State affiliations. ⁓ I know that you kind of mentioned that but like underscoring that like just the just making sure that the

teachers are getting taken care of but uh being like former vendors, I also felt like the vendors were getting taken care of right and uh, it looked like they got a lot of traffic a lot of good conversation. Um, the snorkel booth was like Yeah

Sophie, Co-host (06:40)
every time we

went by. ⁓

something that FETC does that I really love after the keynote, like the main keynote, they, it is vendor hall time. So they have like coffee and for like vendor halls and like for the vendor halls and the coffee breaks and stuff. But after the initial keynote at FETC, there is always a high school band that leads everybody into the vendor hall. And it's amazing. It's absolutely, you can see these students are performing and it's a

Steve, Co-host (07:07)
Hmm.

Sophie, Co-host (07:13)
you got student presence there and it's music and it's a band and it's a celebration going into the expo hall and then you have that dedicated time to go and explore and learning the expo hall. There was even a little scavenger hunt card that they gave you to explore the expo hall to ensure that the vendors were getting attention and traction that they deserve and the vendors are showing up with session presentations and more than just trying to sell you something but

Steve, Co-host (07:15)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Sophie, Co-host (07:43)
sharing the love and like, is another cool way to use the tool and the giving you way more opportunities to learn than just in the concurrent sessions.

Steve, Co-host (07:56)
Yeah, love that. I'm gonna give her a big shout because she may not do it on her own. Maybe. ⁓ So Sophie led a speed dating event, which we talked about speed dating in the sense of I just love the structure of it. But Sophie did lead one. I was like in the back just as a cheerleader.

Sophie, Co-host (08:19)
To clarify,

it was a speed learning lab. We were just calling it Speed Day. But it was a speed.

Steve, Co-host (08:25)
so have I been calling it speed dating

incorrectly this whole time? Like was it called something else?

Sophie, Co-host (08:28)
Well, I started

it. It's my fault. I told you that it was speed dating, but it was technically called a speed learning lab and it was like speed dating. It totally is.

Steve, Co-host (08:34)
no, that is your fault. That is your fault. Like that was cemented

in my brain. And then I was like, ⁓ this what it was. ⁓ Yeah. I did love the format and like the purpose of it, right?

Sophie, Co-host (08:47)
Yeah, so the purpose of it and the format of it ⁓ is the Speed Learning Lab had four different sessions. One was like creativity, ⁓ leadership, math, and I don't remember the fourth one. ⁓

And so there are three different time slots and it was 45 minute slots for these speed learning labs that is sort of simulated like speed dating because you get five, the audience members spend five minutes at this table learning from this presenter and then you shift and you go to the next one after five minutes and then you shift and you go to the next one. So you're just bouncing from.

hot take after hot take after hot take of ⁓ innovation and inspiration of what these people have done. And I facilitated the leadership one. Did you want to say anything else about it?

Steve, Co-host (09:42)
I just I just love that like you at other conferences. It's like You're hearing it's like a big room hearing for one person. It's not as The only word that comes to mind is like it's not as intimate right in the sense of like that you're like at us You know fairly small table with one expert or one person that has insight and then it's super hands-on. It's like it's like all the It's like the professional development stuff that

We talk about often that is of quality, it's like, it's a good vehicle to get that done. And seeing that realized was, was cool for me. Um, and for those that are listening, this, this was my very first FETC in person. So it was a little, a lot of like taking it in, evaluating, um, even having like questions for Sophie as we're in the exhibit hall, like, oh, that's cool. And like, you know, just kind of maybe historical context of what has happened in the past.

Sophie, Co-host (10:39)
Yeah, and this was my third or fourth FETC, but most like all of them have been as a vendor. So this was my first time coming in as media and or like an attendee type of vibe. And so we were collecting content in the vendor hall, mainly in the vendor hall. We did also do right outside the expo hall, but it was ⁓ a really different.

Steve, Co-host (11:01)
Hmm.

Sophie, Co-host (11:05)
experience to experience this amazing community on that side. ⁓ And then it was also cool seeing FETC, because I've always loved FETC. It's big enough to give you enough

variety of perspectives and opinions and inspiration and ideas, but it feels still small enough to where you don't feel like, like you have, you can actually have conversations with people like randomly in the hallway. And to see Steve's point of view of it was just a really cool experience because he'd never been there before.

Steve, Co-host (11:42)
You're right, it's not, it's, dare I say, the perfect size of like, because it's not small. It does feel, it does feel a notch up from Q. Like it is a, I don't know about Q back in the day, but like it's bigger than Q.

Sophie, Co-host (11:51)
No.

Steve, Co-host (12:03)
No one get offended by that. All my California friends. But it's certainly not bigger. Like it doesn't touch ISTE in terms of scope and size. yeah, like, yeah. So that, that was, I can see how, you know, like no one was getting overwhelmed.

Sophie, Co-host (12:13)
Definitely not.

I definitely feel like the vendor hall at FETC feels doable, if that makes sense. We were able to meander around through all of it twice. ⁓ And I remember my first ISTE.

Steve, Co-host (12:33)
Yeah, because we, yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Sophie, Co-host (12:43)
I was so overwhelmed by everything in that vendor hall that I knew how to get to the vent, my booth, I knew how to get to the bathroom. I knew how to get to the food and get out of there. And that was it. Like the even moving through the room itself was so overwhelming. And I don't get that feeling when I go to FETC ever. And it's not that they're not well attended. They are. They are extremely well attended. They have over 400, I think it was over 450 vendors and

Steve, Co-host (12:59)
Mm-hmm.

Sophie, Co-host (13:11)
um the expo hall everyone was super nice uh i didn't feel everyone was just seemed to be excited to be there even not just the vendors but like the teachers the energy that you get when you're like walking through and the excitement and the like it's just by far i honestly the ftc is my favorite conference to go to because of the people that go

Steve, Co-host (13:43)
And that's the part where I felt like it gave me Q vibes because like, historically I could say the same thing about Q. was like, it's about the people that you just get to know over the years, you know? But then also like new faces and yeah, it was certainly a good vibe. So Sophie, we did a lot of content, you know, in the exhibit hall, around the exhibit hall.

Do you have one and people will be sharing out like some really cool things and we've been posting them on social media. We'll be posting more I don't think we've done them all. I'm actually just like downloaded a few today so what I can post them up today ⁓ What do you do you have one? Or anything that you heard from anyone that we interviewed like what was anything that stood out? You're like that's like in your that's top of mind for you because you're like, ooh, that was something that that resonated

Sophie, Co-host (14:15)
Mm-hmm.

I was about to say, have we done them all? I don't think we've done them all yet.

I think it was Kyle from Waygrounds message about the joy of learning and teaching. It doesn't matter what technology you're using. doesn't matter if it's AI or not. doesn't matter if it's in brick and mortar, ⁓ private, charter, public. The joy that you bring to students and that you get from going to FETC is just...

Steve, Co-host (15:09)
Hmm

Sophie, Co-host (15:12)
just phenomenal. And sometimes we get so caught up in all of the checklists, the must do, the compliance, the standards, the processes of everything ⁓ that we lose some of that joy. ⁓ And one of the reasons why I wanted to make sure that I came to FETC this year, because both of you are not, both of us, both of us are not in the same.

role that we were in when we were going to a lot of conferences outside of our states. ⁓ And so I wanted to make sure that I was coming to FETC this year because of that, the joy, the people, the connections. ⁓ So that one really resonated with me a lot and I'm really glad he decided because he had two options and I'm really glad. Kyle, thank you for choosing that one because I really thank you.

Steve, Co-host (15:43)
Hmm.

Yeah.

Sophie, Co-host (16:10)
What about you Steve? Which one was your biggest aha one?

Steve, Co-host (16:13)
I was like,

if she doesn't ask me, I'm just going to say it anyway. ⁓

Yeah, so and Sophie I don't remember his name ⁓ it's it from what I gathered is like a mentor of yours ⁓ Josh Yes So something that he talked about really stuck with me because it wasn't like a perspective that I've heard ⁓ I think that's why it stood out but like so he kind of talked about like just the technology use of like maybe the negative aspects of it and I'm just like

Sophie, Co-host (16:28)
Josh at Traferra.

Steve, Co-host (16:49)
cell phones and kids getting distracted and like, you know using like air pods in class and like getting over, you know, like but he pointed out a really Important thing of like if they're going somewhere else like they're it's like it's feeling some sort of need and yes I'm going to say it and feeling some sort of bucket. That they're not getting from that teacher from that room from that environment, right and

Sophie, Co-host (17:19)
Mm.

Steve, Co-host (17:20)
So me that really stuck with me, I'm like, wow, like if we look through things through that lens of like.

the behavior shifting because of something that they're not getting, right? And that to me was very powerful.

Sophie, Co-host (17:33)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, that one was great. have ⁓ Josh talking about his dissertation that he wrote. is now Dr. Josh. And he was, Josh was, ⁓ when I was becoming a coach, district coach for the very first time, we went through the technology integration specialist program as a cohort and Josh was leading that. ⁓ And I actually ran into two of my mentors while we were down at FETC ⁓ that helped me.

go through that program and to grow. ⁓ Josh was, Josh was one of them and he's now at Trafera and he now has his doctorate and that was his dissertation, like technology and appropriate use of technology in the classroom and why?

Steve, Co-host (18:05)
Hmm.

Sophie, Co-host (18:22)
⁓ And so he said that and I've read his dissertation because we're going to the same college so it was one of the ones that I like had to analyze his methodology and research design ⁓ and so ⁓ We He went into a classroom that was very a collaborative space and Documented how many times students were on their

Steve, Co-host (18:28)
Hmm.

Sophie, Co-host (18:51)
cell phones or using their devices not on task type of thing. And then he went into another classroom that was not as collaborative, maybe a little bit more traditional like direct learning. And he went and did this multiple times to gather a lot of data. And

Steve, Co-host (18:52)
Mm.

Sophie, Co-host (19:11)
The classroom with like the less collaboration had fewer technology inappropriate use cases. No, I said that the wrong way, didn't I? Less collaboration meant more inappropriate use. More collaboration was less inappropriate use. And it's the like Maslow's ⁓ needs, right? And so like they're filling that ⁓ social interaction need.

Steve, Co-host (19:20)
Hmm.

Yeah.

Sophie, Co-host (19:40)
with either the technology or with their students. So if you give them that social interaction with their classmates, they're not gonna go searching for it to fill that bucket.

Steve, Co-host (19:50)
Yep.

I get it. ⁓ Expect us back at FETC. think like, yeah, I can see how we'll do that again. ⁓

Sophie and I have also discussed possible other conferences. I don't know, like this year, our show is taking a momentum that as of late, it's been different, it's been healthy. We're starting, it kind of filled my bucket, Sophie, just talking with people at FETC, like, yeah, I already listened to your show. And I was like, people listen? It always feels like we're just talking to each other and we don't always get, like we have the data in the backend, but we don't get the full picture of who's listening.

Right? ⁓ so that was cool to hear. ⁓ But yeah. Awesome.

Sophie, Co-host (20:45)
Yeah.

Steve, Co-host (20:48)
Alright friends, well this was cool, like we just wanted to just put this out like our general reflection on FETC. ⁓ And so if we do any other shows for whatever reason ⁓ in 2026, which we may or may not, it kind of depends on, you know, ⁓ family, work balance, stuff of that nature.

Sophie, Co-host (20:52)
You ⁓

If you did go to FUTC, what was your favorite takeaway? So Steve and I sort of talked about ours and we would love it if you, ⁓ wherever you're listening to this or wherever you find us, you gave us, hit us up, let us know. What was yours? What was your favorite thing to take away? I'd love to learn from you guys too. But yeah, if we end up going somewhere else, we'll let you know.

Steve, Co-host (21:17)
Mm.

Sophie, Co-host (21:35)
hopefully a little bit more planned out, at advance than this one was. It was a little bit short notice and it was just like a sporadic, thing, but totally worth it. ⁓ The weather was amazing while we were down there and yeah.

Steve, Co-host (21:41)
Yeah.

Yeah, it was a good time. It was a good time to be in Florida. ⁓ I would not have had fun in June. Like, I probably would have, but like if I was at ISTE, what have you, but like, ⁓ it was just, you know, it was good weather. Awesome. All right. Well, for all of you that have been listening, have been, you know, reaching out to us, ⁓ please, we're still, we still have time to close out the season. So if you do know guests or you want to come on the show, ⁓ please hit us up.

And for those that are listening subscribing doing doing doing all that stuff. We appreciate you But yeah, so until next time friends keep your hats on but your minds

Sophie, Co-host (22:28)
you