Today we had our 2018 summer elementary conference. Our theme was “Dive into Deeper Learning” because we wanted to focus on the four principles of deeper learning: learning is anytime/ anywhere, student-owned, authentic and connected, and community supported. Along with this focus, we revealed our newly developed Henrico Learner Profile (HLP) which will prepare our students to be #lifeready. We know that successful graduates demonstrate six traits: Quality Character, Global Citizenship, Creative Thinking, Critical Thinking, Collaboration, and Communication. So each session of our conference included one or more of these elements. Lastly, we wanted to train our teachers how to use the new technologies they would be receiving this Fall: new iPads in grades K-1, new Chromebooks for students in grades 2-5, and new teacher laptops with Windows 10. Since teachers from across the county were taking a day of their vacation to attend this conference, we tried to make it fun and informative. We played games, gave away prizes, invited food trucks, and had a DJ playing music! Our “deeper learning” cruise launched with a Love Boat intro video starring the technology instructors, who are now called Innovative Learning Coaches. Then the teachers attended four sessions, or cruise destinations. Alfonso and I taught sessions on: (1) Windows 10 Tips; (2) Civil Debate in the Classroom; (3) Video & Animation; and (4) Blogging with Google Sites. It was a great day of learning from each other! We look forward to doing it again next summer.