What Do We Really Believe?

I spent the last week or so in meetings. In my own district I met with administrators to talk about our Tech Plan for the 2016-2017 school year. Outside of my district I met with Tech Integrationists from our area to talk about student tech use for learning.

I walked away from all of these meetings with a stomach ache.

I'm thrilled to be talking about tech for learning and to be adding more student devices each year. I emphatically believe in the power of technology to change education for the better: Communication, Collaboration, Problem Solving, Creativity, Passion Driven Learning, Student Centered Learning. Community Involvement, Solving Real World Problems. . . .

However, I've been at this game for a very long time, and I'm very concerned that we are still asking the same questions:

• How do we buy more stuff?
• What stuff should we buy?
• What will it cost?
• How do we sustain that?
• How do we get teachers on board?
• Should we go 1:1 or keep all our equipment in-house? . . .

In addition, the arguments are also the same year after year:

• We don't use the tech we have effectively.
• Administrators need to understand the changes required not just pay lip service.
• Teachers must buy in and give up what they've always done.
• Teachers must be held accountable.
• We have to continue to support AIW, Standards Based Grading, Standardized Test Analysis, Curriculum Maps, Poverty Issues, English Language Learning. You name the initiatives or concerns in your district.
• We don't have the time or personnel to effectively provide tech integration support.
• Our students don't have reliable Internet service at home.
• Tech becomes a time-waster in an ineffective teacher's classroom. . . .

I take it back. My stomach doesn't hurt. It's my heart.

Why are we still making so many of our tech plans in a spreadsheet as if it's only numbers of devices and dollars and cents that matter? Why are we still saying, "We just don't have the time," when we know that if we believe in the power of technology for learning as our spreadsheets clearly say we do, technology should be a part of every other educational initiative we are working on in our districts - no exceptions.

With all these thoughts swirling around, I ask you:

If we don't have the time or the inclination to really change education, why are we spending all this time and money on technology for students? Why?

Writer's Block

I've taken a very long vacation from writing. I'm not sure why. I'm still full of thoughts. I'm still reading the latest news and research. I'm still fighting the good fight in my schools. I still think education could be transformed for the better if we would just validate as worthwhile the current possibilities for learning - now that we aren't limited to printed pages and resident experts.

However, for some reason I haven't been able to formulate an interesting thought or argument on paper the past few months. It's strange actually. As those of you who know me would testify, I'm not usually at a loss for words.

Anyway, this post marks my return to the written word. It says nothing profound other than sometimes you just have to get off the couch and step outside to get started. Here's to getting back to putting my thoughts on paper. We all need to be reflecting, and blogging is a great way to do that.

Wearing Two Hats is Hard Sometimes

I spent the last 2.5 weeks troubleshooting an ailing school network. The outages in one school morphed into outages at two other buildings after the first outage was fixed. Tests were run; equipment was replaced; outside opinions were enlisted; and eventually the mystery of the very strange network behavior was solved. During that time it was hard to take off the techie hat to wear the student learning hat.

I've always been a huge proponent of educators being in charge of technology in schools, both as integrationists and as techies. It's hard for someone who has spent no time in a classroom to understand the special needs of teachers and students, and those of us who learned the trade of "techie" after being a teacher have some very unique job experiences that just teachers or just techies don't have. On the other hand, after a couple of weeks like I just had - and I even have two technicians and a part time teacher that work with me - I'm more certain than ever that if we want to really integrate technology in the best educational way possible, we better do three things:

1. Hire enough people to support the technology and the education.
2. Make technology a part of every educational conversation and decision that's ever made in the schools. Don't visit the EdTech experts as an after thought after the decisions are made.
3. Provide vast supports for teachers when it comes to technology for learning. It's time-consuming, and it's easy to superficially use technology with students or to avoid its use altogether if you don't have help and support.

Long gone are the days of a computer lab or two in each building where students come for their only technology exposure in school. Instead we have technology scattered everywhere, available for student learning all day long - Literally thousands of devices, programs, apps, users, and varying training needs. I've got my learning/integration hat back on this week - but I sure didn't 90% of the time the two weeks before.

How about you? Does your school have technology integrationists to support classroom teachers? Or, do you have someone like me who wears both hats?

Let Me Introduce Myself, Fellow Staff Members

Let me introduce myself, fellow staff members. Since I am the District Technology Director who works with all of you on occasion, the vast majority of you think you know me, but you probably don't. Not really. I serve over 350 staff members and over 2400 students, and my duties are so diverse that I spend very little extended time with any of you. I hop from:

• Providing advice through email to a building administrator to
• Providing an outside consultant access to our hourly employee database to
• Climbing a ladder to install a wireless access point in a newly refurbished classroom to
• Visiting on the phone with a vendor you referred to me to
• Inventing and organizing district professional development for teachers to
• Updating our student information system to 
• Checking up on the network health and the state of our backups.

If I spend five minutes with any one of you during my workday, it's considered an extended time. I work when everyone else does to be available for any technology needs that come up during work hours, and when I need to, I work when no one else does, so services aren't interrupted. Furthermore, in case you misunderstand, I do this work willing and happily, because I love my job. It requires many different hats - sometimes changing hats at the drop of a hat.

Let me introduce myself:

I grew up in Sturgis, South Dakota, graduated from high school there, and no, I have never owned a Harley. I attended college at the University of Wyoming, the University of South Dakota, Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa, and Boise State University. I have three younger sisters, an active mom and dad, an amazing teacher husband, and seven grown children. I felt like I won the lottery when I most unexpectedly found out I was pregnant with my triplets. I'm proud to live in the school district I work in. I pull my strength from the out of doors, and I walk for exercise - sometimes a lot! I have three dogs who will scare you if you come to my door and a cat who lives on the second floor. I knit. I write. I read voraciously. I lost my first husband one morning when he got up and dropped dead at 22 years old, and I lost my 10 year old nephew from a freak injury on a football field. I love to go out to eat. My spirit place is the Black Hills of South Dakota. And, in many ways, I think of myself as the luckiest person alive. All lives have ups and downs, but my life has been truly blessed, and I wake up every day anxious to get to work to "do what's best for kids." It's my mission, and I am thankful for the oppotunity to do what I love.

Here are a few other things you might not know:

• When I don't get a job done as quickly as you would like, it's because I was getting someone else's project completed, and trust me, your job is on my list and waking me up at night.
• When your four year old device is showing its age, and it won't be replaced until it reaches the five year mark, it's not because I want you to struggle, it's because that's how the budget works.
• When I recommend a device for student use, I do extensive research; I test the devices; I share the devices with people in the district and ask for input; and I consult with my colleagues who share their district exeriences with the various student devices.
• When I organize professional development for district teachers, whether in small groups or districtwide, I plan carefully to promote what teachers should be doing in classrooms. Every detail has been scrutinized. Why did I use that program? Why did I allow for independent work? Why did I make teachers read research and reflect? Why did I make teachers interact with each other online? Why did I require teachers to have something to share at our next EdTech PD? Sit down and visit with me, and I will explain the answers to all those questions.
• When I tell you that you should be active on Twitter, it's because I can't imagine my life without my regular contact with all the experts who offer me resources, advice, and support. I could not do my job without those contacts, and I know how much better you would be at your job if I could just sell you on social media's benefits for both you and your students.
• When I research a project and provide you with the information, I've deeply researched the project and provided you with the best information that was available to me at the time. When you ask me to do the same project again later, I drop what I'm doing and do the research again, truly hoping that things have changed and that I can provide you this time with the information and solution you want to hear.

See, it's easier to belittle the work of someone you don't know:

• She didn't recommend your favorite device? She didn't do her homework.
• She won't let you put your personal devices on the network? She's a control freak.
• She took charge of EdTech PD and provided participation expectations and guidelines? She's overstepping her authority.
• She won't replace the old computer you talked her into keeping two years ago? She's selfish and mean.
• She writes a blog post that's too close to home? She hates us.

The bottom line is that you and I both want what's best for kids. The expertise I bring to the table is technology, and if we work together, schools and student learning will be better. I guarantee it. I have no hidden motives, no bones to pick with you, and no need for recognition or fame. My only need is the opportunity to provide my EdTech expertise to help drive instructional strategies in classrooms.

Maybe, just maybe, we should get to know each other, so we can trust each other. Disagreements we have do not need to be relationship breakers - if we have a relationship. Come to my office for a visit. Let's have lunch sometime. When you participate in EdTech PD, engage me in conversation. Get to know me, and let me get to know you. I am an open book, and . . . I'm going out on a limb here . . . I think we're going to like each other.

Let's get to know each other. I know our school will be better for the relationship we build.

Ask Forgiveness?

I've been trying to catch up with work today before teachers are back in the district this week and Toby Keith's song "Get Got" came up in my playlist. There's a line in there that catches my attention every time I hear it:

"Ask forgiveness, not permission."

See, the reason it catches my attention is because I've heard colleagues say it, and it bothers me just as much when I hear it from them as it does when I hear it in this song.

While I try very hard not to make a move without first asking what's best for kids, and while I sometimes I think I'm right when others are wrong when it comes to how to answer that question - The thing that grates on my nerves is the audacity of purposely doing something in a school that, had you asked permission, you most likely would have been turned down for.

To me it flies against every lesson I've learned about collaboration, about shared leadership, about group decision-making, and about respect for others. What it says to me is:

"I am right, and anyone else who disagrees with me is wrong."

Yep, I really hate it when I hear that line.

Teachers, Just Do It!

Whenever I go to these conferences, I contemplate my journey to being a District Technology Director. From a BS in Psychology and Communication; to a return to school later to finish the hours I needed to teach; to ten years in high school classrooms teaching English, speech, and computer classes; to enough frustration in my computer lab that I taught myself to fix computers and run a basic network.

With the exception of one week long workshop on Novell networking of all things and a few conferences with snippets of learning here and there, no one has offered me PD on how to be a computer teacher, to integrate technology, or to do the tasks of a Technology Director. Many years ago I saw a need in my students, in my classroom, and in my school; and I looked for the personal opportunities to learn what I needed to know.

My point is that I just don't understand teachers who use the excuse that they've never been given enough professional development to integrate technology effectively. Really? With social media and access to the Internet, there is just no excuse for not learning what you need to know to integrate technology. None!

I don't have a special EdTech gene that magically got me here. I'm just a teacher who saw the value of technology for learning and who saw the value of Twitter and other social media for networking with those who know way more than I do. Paraphrasing what Kevin Honeycutt said yesterday: I am smart, but all of you together are brilliant - One firefly is a speck of light, but a jar full of fireflies will light up the night.

I just don't buy the no PD argument. Nor do I buy the "I don't have time" argument. If you have the needs of your students at the forefront of your thinking, then you will learn this stuff and do it. The resources are at your fingertips.

Contemplate deep down what your expectations are for your students. Then contemplate your own learning journey - your own behavior. Are you taking responsibility for and modeling lifelong learning, or are you waiting for someone else to hold your hand and choose your direction for you?

You are the educational expert. Learn what you need to know. You can do it. I did. Get your students connecting globally, solving real world problems, creating, and publishing. Do it today!

And by the way, if you need my help, SLCSD teachers, all you need to do is ask.

Hack Education Unconference

I had the most amazing educational experience all day yesterday at the annual Hack Education unconference. Those who attend come together and build a day of learning based on what they want to know. Then everyone splits off to the group discussions of choice. There are no presentations, just educators sharing and caring about the best way to educate our children.

Here's the agenda we built:

http://wiki.isteunplugged.com/2015_HackEd_Schedule

Please note that what you don't see are iPad Apps or Google Classroom or BYOD. What you see are urgent issues facing education, pedagogy questions, and deep reflective topics. I saw laughter and tears. I saw reminders that it was time to move on to the next session when participants were so wrapped up in the conversation that they found it hard to stop. And, I saw small groups of people branch off to talk about topics that had evolved from initial conversations.

This, my friends, is what curiosity, solving real work problems, collaboration, and dedication looks like.

My question is, "How do we bring this thirst to know to our students?"

What an amazing, caring, dedicated, group of educators. If we would put them in charge of educational decisions rather than law makers, our schools would truly be transformed.