Post NTAC 13 Reflection

The New Tech Network Annual Conference (NTAC) is where I come to recharge my battery, eat a few brains, and fill my sea bag. And everyone looks like these folks to the left:

When Day One arrives, each year, I am allowed to take a much-needed break from the hectic pace of teacher trainings and conferences. Places where I find myself on both sides of the dais. 

It feels like I’m heading home to my brothers and sisters who have adopted me over the years. There are hugs, handshakes, and smiles everywhere. It is truly a perfect setting to refresh and recharge.

And some (many? most?) of these people, who I am hugging and shaking hands with, are incredibly SMART! Oh-my-god type smart. So I get to spend a couple of days immersing myself in their knowledge and eating their brains. Yum! There will be so much knowledge flowing that I will be drunk with the stuff and my head will throb from my failed data relief valve. (It’s NOLA, I had to use the food and drink visual.)

Much of what I hear and learn will be in the form of ideas for my own teaching practice, practices that I will be sharing with my teachers, and practices that I will suggest be included in our district professional development. I barely have room for the myriad concepts I find myself stuffing into my professional sea bag. But I will persevere. And come July 2014, I’ll be back to plug in once more.

Everyone Knows New Orleans

Cafe Du Monde

I just finished up my first 24 hours in New Orleans and I'm getting ready for the New Tech Network's annual conference ( NTAC 13 ) to start tomorrow morning.

When I knew I was coming I started looking at some guides to the city and I started asking my twitter folks, who live in the area, where I should go while I was here.

My first objective was to find a place to eat that would handle a business-type client, that gave a real New Orleans feel, and was open on Mondays.

The two gentlemen I asked were quick to respond and gave me some specific and varied possibilities. And, combined with some Yelp.com reviews, persuaded me to make a reservation at Tujaques.

Now, I have lived in this area in the past and I always liked Tujaques. And, it has been around since, virtually, forever. So I made reservations even though I ended up getting more and more recommendations that steered me towards "better" restaurants or "more modern" restaurants.

And that's the point of this post. In the end I must have had recommendations for 20 different restaurants.  There were even recommendations for a few others, "but I'd have to drive a little."  New Orleans does not have a dearth of places to eat. And everyone has their favorites.

So when you come here - because, eventually, everyone comes here - you should ask people for recommendations. But you should realize that there's a better restaurant than the one you're eating at in the next block over.

     The following is a sampling of restaurants recommended to me with a link to their Yelp.com info:

Central Grocery
Court of Two Sisters
Camellia Grill
Brigtsen's
Red Fish Grill
Muriel's at Jackson Square
Luke's
Drago's
Elizabeth's
Mother's
Brennan's
Borgne
Cochon
Bon Ton Cafe
Tommy's
Dickie B's Steak House