One Word: Perspective

Every year I try to start the new year with a word that would be helpful for me. Last year I read Start with Why by Simon Sinek and it has led me to this year's one word: Perspective.

As an educator, reading Mr. Sinek's book made me start looking at the "why's" regarding the things I do and the expectations we place at our school regarding educational technology. I am a big fan of backward planning- starting with the end goal in mind and then working out what it would take to get to the end result wanted. By asking myself "WHY" I am making sure my perspective is correct. My goal is to always ask myself "What's best for the students?" That leads me to my goal of focusing on my perspective this year. 

Sometimes I find myself in meetings and it is only natural that we start thinking about changes from our own perspective. How is this going to impact me or my classroom? It's very easy to start worrying about myself instead of keeping my perspective on the real goal: "Is this what is best for the students?" It's a slippery slope where we can find ourselves making decisions based on cost or ease of use when talking about educational technology. But the bottom line should always be "Is this what is best for our students?" 

Perspective is different based on our individual pasts and training but if I focus on a guiding question that is bigger than my own "camp" then I am both open to the perspectives of others and feel confident about what I believe due to the desire to keep my guiding questions focused on my students and not me. 

As I work towards reminding myself of the needed perspective this year, I hope my focus on others will allow me to see big pictures better. I tend to be someone that gets excited about the potential of educational technology for our students. In my past it would be fair to judge me and say that I tried to lead with technology instead of student needs. I am not that person any longer. I am quite certain that through much reading, research and soul searching I am a better instructional technologist than I have been- I have grown. It is my desire to continue on this path. So my one word for 2018 is Perspective. May I ever be mindful of not allowing the technology to displace the pedagogy nor the pedagogy to displace the person. 

Finding Your School's Meaningful Language

Lately, our school has been revamping, rewriting and rethinking our student/parent handbook. This has led to some really great conversations that have shown the need to open the door for even more conversations...which I feel is always a good thing. The more voices, both horizontally and vertically within, and best practice viewpoints outside your district, the better the chance to get to a place where all can either "agree on" or "agree to disagree and strategize for the common good." I'm thankful for this period of uncomfortableness and for pushback. I'm thankful to be heard and to be in community to listen to other viewpoints.

During this time of decisions within our technology department I am also dealing with a dog in a halo cone due to surgery (innovation that is a disruption to reach a future goal) and a book that is helping me sift through my thoughts on analog behaviors (our desire as a human race to use all our senses and experience realness). Lump that with having the opportunity to hear Heidi Hayes Jacobs speak at Covenant College last week on the essential question of "How can we prepare our learners for their future?" and my mind is working 90 mph at any given moment with the feeling of conflicting ideas surging through me looking for resolution. I'll be honest, I love it.

One of the things I don't do well as an instructional technologist is assuring others that I am not trying to radically change every classroom in the world. I am just so passionate about what I learn about and the future possibilities I see that I come across sometimes as being a techno-fanatic. I can guarantee you that if you don't work hand in hand with me, you probably have thought that, and as much as I have tried to temper that opinion over the last few years, I do get excited when I see tools evolve that can make a difference in education. Right now I am über excited about two things:

• Next generation chromebooks with touchscreen and the ability to run android apps.
• Paper or paper-like options for computer input that is becoming reasonably cost efficient. 

Forgive me, I digress into a potential future blog post but I share that to say, that's how my mind works. You tell me things you want to do and I am looking towards the future of what that will one day look like. I look for streamlining of tasks, blending of current good pedagogy with contemporary technology tools, and creating a culture of future readiness for our students in a world where the job they may work in does not currently exist. I do get passionate about that, sometimes to a fault.  And that is where Heidi Hayes Jacobs put into words what I sometimes fail to communicate when I am talking with teachers. She has a cut the chase type behavior that makes me envious. She very succinctly shared that pedagogy falls into 3 categories: Antiquated, Classical, and Contemporary.

I love the wording of this. Much to my chagrin, this is what I've been trying to say but I often fill the void with too many words or with too strong of words regarding contemporary. There are things that are outdated or unneeded that we need to cut in our classrooms, there are things that are enduring/essential or well done in our classroom that do not need to be done away with, and there are things that are being created or learned that we need to create in the spaces of our classrooms. Three distinct categories of pedagogy that allow us to sort, filter, and critically look at options, opportunities, growth, AND stability. 

Words matter. As we discussed these 3 words this week, we realized that defining words are important for a sense of cohesiveness. Classical doesn't mean "classical education practices" in this case. We can't allow educational buzzwords to derail us from having a growth mindset. It is my desire to become better at defining words I use and asking others about their words. Assumptions cause us to posture around each other with no moving forward. Creating a culture of safety both horizontally and vertically in a district allows people to feel comfortable to share their views, concerns, and goals. It also allows us all to get to a place where we realize that all disciplines bring value to the conversation of how to best teach students. Feeling valued doesn't mean always getting our way but that you are respected for what you bring to the table. 

As we move forward to both define what our goals are for a graduating student from our school system, we must also realize that expectations from each curricular discipline looks different due to standards, best practice, and prior experiences. Finding meaningful language helps define the culture, expectations, and future of both the educator and student subcultures within a district. Finding how to mold that language based on input from a variety within the constituency creates common vision and buy-in to best answer that essential question Heidi Hayes Jacobs started with:  "How can we prepare our learners for their future?"

When an Edutechie's mind won't shut down...

Can being a connected educator be a bad thing? Hear me out. Every year at this time of year I find myself in an edufunk. What's an edufunk? It's that moment when you realize that some of the goals you had for the school year are not going to come to fruition. It's when you feel like you have been swimming upstream and you are just weary. It happened last March for me and now again this year. So I find myself reflecting.

I consider myself a hard core connected educator- like if I did tattoos, it might claim that on my forearm. Just kidding, but you get my love for connection. Being a connected educator helps me grow professionally, vet ideas for the future, reflect and evolve to better myself. Just like with all information on the internet, the amount of good stuff I see happening in schools or new ideas I see is overwhelming at times. The upside for me is that I can share the things I learn about with MANY different teachers. I'm not trying new things on the same students over and over.

I believe there is value in the tried and true. Many of our students need consistency in learning because constant change throws them into a state of disruption. Some kids just don't like change. I have a daughter like that. I am someone that loves surprises and I thrive on change and the unexpected, she melts down. For a while (much longer than I would like to admit) I saw this as a limitation for her and tried to change her. I now realize it takes all types to make the world go round. I push for new/different opportunities and she thrives in sameness.

I think it is good for her to be pushed out of her comfort zone some, but it is also good for me to find the balance in routine. This is where I think some teachers are pushing the innovation envelope too far. We, as educators, should always be trying new things to better meet the needs of our students but we also need consistency to know what works and what doesn't.

There is such a great wealth of teaching ideas and strategies out there for us on social media but we have a responsibility to curate that information. Some educators "ooo" and "ahh" over every new idea they see. I think owning a few new concepts and ideas yearly is a better direction for innovation. What are your goals?

• Do you want your students to be more connected to the outside world? Perhaps blogging, mystery Skype, or contacting an author/skilled subject matter expert while teaching the skill of business letters and email etiquette would be a good thing to take on.
• Do you want your students to create ways to share their learning other than a test? Perhaps give your students opportunities to do a slide share, podcast, or video and grade them based on a rubric. 
• Do you want your students to learn how to do research on a subject matter and curate information? Try these search education plans https://www.google.com/intl/en-us/insidesearch/searcheducation/ or teach them how to use https://www.instagrok.com. Show them databases that your school has access to that will help them find quality information.
• Do you want more opportunities to consume reading and videos for learning? Try accessing OER options like www.ck12.org, khan academy, youtube, https://www.gutenberg.org and SAS Curriculum Pathways. 

Technology definitely can add some depth to your lessons but there is a need to be intentional in it's use. Pedagogy before technology best meets needs.

The REAL Digital Divide

I never intended to be on a controversial bandwagon. I didn't mean to teach anything someone could be vehemently opposed to. For years, I naively didn't even imagine that my "helpful tech tips" to fellow co-workers would be seen as anything but useful nuggets to be stored away for future readiness. And then the veil was lifted, the sands started shifting, the rolling of eyes began, and I started tiptoeing.

What in the world did I do, you ask? I went from being the mild-mannered, silo'd computer teacher to harking the benefits of technology integration in all classes and curriculums. I went from "that sweet teacher down in the elementary school that teaches our students really cool computer skills" to "that tech coach that's trying to change the way we've taught."

I'll be honest, it took me 2 1/2 years before I even realized seeing me walk down the hallway made some people feel uneasy. I was that naive. I truly and totally thought every single teacher would see the merits of technology in the classroom, that they would agree with me that it had the ability to revolutionize learning  as we know it. To me, it was a no brainer so when I tell you I was shocked that people were offended by my offering of technology coaching in the classroom this would be a dramatic understatement. 

You hear a lot about the digital divide in education these days- the haves and the have nots. You hear about how the lack of connectivity for some poor and rural students is causing a digital divide in today's world of education and I believe that is true.

 But there is also another digital divide- educators that are adopters/adaptors of educational technology and those that see no use for trendy technology in the classroom to disrupt pedagogy (and of course whenever there are two camps of opposing views, there are those on the spectrum).

Those along the spectrum are the ones I work to show the benefits of how technology can streamline their classroom or add another dimension to their teaching. Those spectrum educators are fun to work with because I love the challenge of helping them. Those early adopters are the ones I say "hey, I heard about this idea, are you ready to take it to the next level?" They are the ones that keep me on my toes and make me research and push myself to never be satisfied with where I am as an instructional technologist. 

But then there are the "naysayers." Some blatantly spit the word "technology" every chance they get, some are more subversive in their approach but regardless of what the technique is, the digital divide happens and the the abyss gets larger and deeper between each camp as the school year progresses. Feelings get hurt, pride gets ruffled, and real meaningful dialogue from both camps happens as well. With any divisive subject (toilet paper dispensed from top or bottom? Pepperoni or cheese? White after Labor Day or not?) things can be learned from both parties if those involved are willing to be open minded in discussions.

I'm not making this stuff up, it's that time a year when my fellow educational technology professionals are lamenting the same things I am. A school year is almost over and sometimes we still feel like we are banging our heads against the wall regarding those we feel are entrenched against what we are striving to do. I hear the angst, disappointment, and struggles in their voices  as we sit around licking our wounds and pulling up each other's boot straps to take on the end of this school year. 

I've learned a lot this year. I feel like I think about educational technology almost to an obsessive degree. Because of this, I have learned better ways to be more diplomatic with the hesitant educators. I've watched lightbulbs go on when I've done a better job explaining the WHY and HOW of technology integration this year. I've gotten a better grasp on it myself- I'm a more confident implementer- I'm much better at adjusting a lesson midstream than I was in the previous two years. I've failed forward- daily. 

I try not to take the anti-technology camp's comments as personal. I find joy in the little successes and share those successes as I can. I work everyday not to become biased and jaded towards others so that it won't affect any opportunity I might have to help them in the future.

As I said, I never intended to ever teach a controversial subject. I never intended to have to justify what I teach on a weekly basis, but not all crusaders choose their path. This blog post comes from a Twitter chat comment I made to someone really discouraged last night with the negativity and refusal to use technology in her school district that she's been dealing with all year. My comment to her (which has become my goal for this school year) was "Be the difference. Be so good at what you do you can't be ignored." It's not an original quote for sure, but it empowers me daily.

For all of you out there on each side of this digital divide fence, if we are all truly striving to be our best and keep our schools "student-centered", I think we will find our happy place for everyone involved. Let's play nice.