I am so fortunate that I get to go back to the best educational technology conference in the Pacific Northwest, the Northwest Council for Computer Education or NCCE’s 2026 conference! My first year at NCCE was 2014, I’ve been to NCCE 12 times, and this is going to be my eighth time presenting!
I have gotten to go so many times because for many years my school district paid for us on the district instructional technology team to go. When that didn’t happen, I used my professional development funds to go, and this year the Washington Education Association (WEA) is paying for our STEM cadre and AI training team to go. It really helps when I don’t have to fork out money to attend, as professionals we should not have to pay for our own professional development so it’s amazing when our school, district, or organizations we work for can pay for us.
This year I hit the jackpot of accepted proposals and invitations to present! I’m also excited for the best part, connecting with like-minded educators and educators who are part of my social media PLC that I only get to meet face-to-face at this conference (since it’s the only one, I’ve gotten to go to).
Tammie Schrader, with whom I’ve been developing and presenting workshops with for years, is going to present a few workshops with me again this year. We put together a proposal for our Minecraft Education Build Competitions using esports worlds that can be used in any subject or content area for any grade level to bring a high level of engagement to any topic. We asked to present it again because we presented it last year and wanted to share it with more people. It was waitlisted and just last week we were asked if we could still present it, so we said heck yeah!
Here are the sessions (50 mins) and workshops (1 hr 50 mins):
Trading Card Creation Station! – The one and only Alyssa Farmer Faubs Faubion, one of the OG Eduguardians will be at NCCE26! I get to meet her, which is super cool and we get to promote the trading cards movement, and I might just get to trade cards physically with anyone who gets their cards made by conference time!
Wednesday, February 25, 8:00 to 9:50 am – Minecraft Build Challenges for Any Classroom (Resource) Tammie and I
Wednesday, February 25, 10:00 to 11:50 am – Do You Want to Play a Game (Tammie’s workshop that I get to help with because I enjoy learning from her.)
Wednesday, February 25, 1:00 to 5 pm – NOT ME but I get to attend Holly Clark’s Shaking Up Learning with AI: A Hands-On Summit for Today’s Classrooms!
Thursday, February 26, 8:00 to 8:50 am – I get to host another Latinx Affinity Session for Latinx/Hispanic Educators! (Resource)
Thursday, February 26, 10:00 to 10:50am – I get to hang out with Nick Provenzano at the SchoolAI booth sharing how I use SchoolAI with Nick!
Thursday, February 26, 1:00 to 1:50 pm – Look Up and Talk: Curiosity and Conversation in the Classroom where I get to share Curipod along with Rebecca Worden from Curipod! (Resource)
Thursday, February 26, 3:00 to 3:50 pm – The Starship Equinox Gamified Missions in Math & Science (Resource)
Friday, February 27, 11:00 to 12:50 pm – Make Your Own Trading Cards (To keep the Eduguardian movement going! Resource) Tammie and I
In addition to all of the above exciting sessions and workshops I have a list of all the ones I want to attend when I’m not presenting! This is going to be the best NCCE yet.
