I have not written a blog post since November of 2016. This is for many reasons but mostly, I was incredibly discouraged by what my professional life had come to. In my mind, I spent 2 years getting a Masters, finally got the job I thought I wanted, and then was informed that my talents and services were no longer needed. That was exactly how I felt. At the time, I was one of 7 Instructional Technology Coordinators (ITCs) serving a large urban school district with over 30,000 students, 5,000 employees and more than 60 school buildings. In February, all 7 of us were informed that our positions had been eliminated due to budget cuts. They decided to rehire 3 ITCs but if we wanted to be considered for our own positions, we would have to re-apply and re-interview, as if our previous contributions meant nothing! I was angry and swore to myself I would not reapply for it. However, after a few weeks and many conversations with my wife, we decided I would humble myself and reapply. So I RE-applied, RE-interviewed and was RE-jected! To add insult to injury, my wife's position (in the same district) was excessed. We were both without jobs and things were looking bleak, but we have and always will trust the Universe and we know that everything happens for a reason! So we put our bad luck aside and what did we do? Took a road trip of course!
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I did not leave teaching because I disliked teaching. On the contrary, sharing one of my passions with eager and untainted minds was exciting and incredibly rewarding. Students experiencing the relevance of Chemistry and Forensic Science to their daily lives was something I felt fortunate to see on a daily basis and it gave me tremendous hope for our future. No, I left teaching because I had an opportunity to pursue a different passion that I felt could impact students in content areas where I was not an expert. That was to help other teachers who were experts in their fields to maximize the use of technology to truly personalize the learning experience for every single student in my school. I started working with other teachers on this exact goal more than 7 years ago in North Carolina and I have continued doing this in the roles I have had since moving to Iowa. In every interview I have been to for an Instructional Technology role, I have always had to answer some variation of this question: "How do you coach a resistant or disinterested teacher?" The very first time I encountered this question, I had a really stupid answer, something along the lines of, "Well you just have to make them interested!" Yea, brilliant answer Melanie! However, after not getting this job (big surprise!) I sat down, did some research, and really thought about this question and reflected on the teachers I had supported with technology in the past. Sure, you can overanalyze the type of resistance they are expressing (aggressive, passive-aggressive, passive) but does it really matter in the end? To me, the most important thing you have to have in order to start that conversation, is a relationship. You have to build trust and rapport with someone before they will be interested in what you have to say! Once you have this, there are a number of ways you can approach this conversation.
As I was sitting in on the district Building Technology Specialist training today, I was reminded of the years I spent in a similar role. Teachers would come to me with questions about district logins, software they were using, Promethean Boards, teacher/student laptops, laptop carts, testing accommodations, digital data tracking, the student information system, creating a website and the list goes on and on. Now add in issues that were out of my control, like the network being down, missing cords, finding a great online resource that is blocked by the district, knowing how to fix an issue but not having the permissions to do so, etc.
This is the daily life of a school-based technology support person!
June 20, 2016 represents two very important celebrations in the United States and one rare event:
You might be wondering where I am going with this post so let me just dive right in.
Far too often, we hear disheartening tales of people being bullied online, sharing too much information on social media, copying and pasting information from the internet, or having their identity stolen by someone they have never met. We see these issues dramatized in movies and shrug them off once the movie is over. The real impact is not felt immediately and only when you see them appear in the news do you take a step back and reflect. Just as we consider someone who obeys the law, accepts diversity, contributes to society and stands up for others as a good citizen, the same characteristics define who they are as a digital citizen. We have to set the foundation for the future! Why not start with copyright?! Here is a rundown of how to identify if you are misusing materials, some myths about copyright, when it is ok to use it in the classroom and how to just play it safe with Creative Commons licensing! Happy reading!
I was recently listening to a podcast and heard about a student who was truly brilliant but failing all of his classes because he didn't see them as worthwhile or relevant. He said, "I don't have time to write that blog post because I'm busy making my own chemical compound." It reminded me of a time when I was about 10 or 11 years old, and I would hear teachers and classmates constantly complain about pens that were dried out because the cap would be left off or it wouldn't be "unclicked." I personally always preferred pencils, but I could not stand to hear people complain about the easily preventable problem of dried out pens! As any teacher could probably attest to, kids have an unrelenting desire to interact with each other. In the recent past, this would have mostly been observed as physical interactions, such as talking when the teacher wasn't looking, playing on playgrounds, passing notes in class, going to the bathroom in pairs and others! Increasingly, however, the opportunities for physical interactions are fewer and kids are choosing to interact more through digital means, such as text messaging, social media and gaming. A unique opportunity is presented to teachers as a result of this drive to digitally communicate, and that is that students are highly motivated and already have a fluency with digital tools that is often well beyond the expertise of the teacher. With the willingness and existing capacity to use these tools as a part of the curriculum, there is no more a need for convincing, only for ideas and opportunities to allow this student expression, collaboration and communication within an educational environment. Images such as the one here are becoming more and more prevalent in social media, on food products, product packaging, business cards, museums and so much more. At this point, most people will probably at least recognize them, even if they don't know what to do with it or have never used one before. So what do you do with a QR code? Now that is a question with an infinite number of answers! I am a huge fan of the possibilities in education but know that integrating a new tool or strategy can be intimidating at first. So I outlined just a few simple ideas that can help you get started. One of the topics I covered when I taught forensic science was cryptography, which is the use of codes and ciphers to protect secrets and also something I have always found extremely fascinating. Some of my students were equally captivated by the thrill of “breaking” different codes and ciphers to solve imaginary crimes and they took a more mathematical/scientific approach in my class, seeing the patterns, and eager to challenge their peers with their own designs and stories.
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AuthorI am a lifelong learner and educator who strives to innovate and reflect on my own practice every day. Archives
January 2019
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