Reflections on an Unprecedented School Year

 I'm tired, y'all.

We (educators) always joke about how there's "regular person tired," and then there's "teacher tired" and the two are basically opposite ends of a spectrum. But those of us in education now--especially those of us who have anything to do with providing technology support or other instructional support--we now know that "teacher tired" wasn't the furthest extreme on that spectrum. It was more like the middle. We've figured out that beyond that is "remote teacher tired" and then even further is "teaching in the midst of a pandemic tired" and God help us if the spectrum goes further, because there are days when I just don't know how much more I have to give this career of mine.

I love my job. I love being an educator, and I love even more being someone who supports educators and helps usher them into a place of confidence with technology integration. I love that I can open a teacher's eyes to incredible tools that take their already amazing instruction to new heights of engagement. 

But that's not what my job looks like right now.

Right now, my job is primarily overseeing all of the devices we've received and checked out to our students. I am handling connectivity issues, creating accounts for new students, assembling carts for iPads and Chromebooks so our face-to-face teachers can store devices in their classrooms, submitting work orders for the inevitable student device repairs, taking calls from stressed-out parents who are just trying to do their best to support their children's learning during this time unlike anything we've ever experienced before...and then there's the stuff that is normally part of my job. Stuff like managing our school's website, collecting annual paperwork regarding photo permission, acceptable use policies, making sure teachers all have access to the resources we provide, managing my technology budget, somehow finding time to provide targeted professional development to my teachers, helping to figure out what Battle of the Books and LEGO League look like in the midst of a pandemic, and--oh, right--occasionally teaching a class or two.

Are you tired with me, yet? 

I am SO blessed to have an incredible assistant on board with me this year who is taking care of teaching my classes and planning awesome content for the kiddos. She also keeps me honest and helps me delegate things to her so that my plate isn't quite so full all of the time. 

But the truth of the matter is, in this unprecedented school year--in this unprecedented era (for folks of my generation, at least)--I am tired. I'm tired all the time. I'm doing what I can to try and get good sleep because LORD KNOWS this is a year where being healthy is so much more important than ever before. But I'm exhausted. Between balancing an ever-growing list of expectations (from folks who aren't the ones on the front lines with us), dealing with apathy/skepticism from folks who think the pandemic is overblown, and just trying to be a functional human person--I'm just so tired.

I'm definitely a realist, but I'm a realist who wants to be an optimist, so I have to believe this too shall pass. I have to believe that now is not what will always be, even if it's all I can see when I try to peek down the road and see what's coming. I have to believe that despite humanity showing us the worst of us over the last 8 months or so, the best of us are still out there. We're still striving to move forward in the hope that better days lie ahead--and together, we'll get there. 

In the meantime, I'm counting on the good in us and plenty of coffee to get me through.

Year 12: Let's Set Some Goals

Summer comes and goes faster and faster each year, you know? It's astonishing.

But here I am, about to embark upon my 12th year of teaching and my 7th year as an Instructional Technology Facilitator. This year, as I previously mentioned, I'll be navigating an A/B schedule. I'm thrilled to continue to have some flexibility in my daily schedule, and I'm also excited to be getting back into working with the students in the lab.

Tomorrow is our first official work day, and I'm excited to see my coworkers and get prepped for another awesome year. It's going to be busy and chaotic but I know that it's going to be great, too.

This school year, I have a few goals I'm hoping to accomplish or make progress on.

1. Maximize productivity during my flex time. When I'm not teaching, I really want to be pushing into classrooms or working on PD or doing things that are super constructive and helpful. This year I'll have to budget that time a little more cautiously since there will be less of it, but I want to make sure that I'm getting the most I possibly can out of my flexible schedule times.

2. Innovate more with regards to my lessons in the lab. I have a set of resources and activities that evolves slightly from year to year, but I'd love to get some more innovation into my time with students in the lab. I want to take advantage of the resources we have and plan lessons that push me to think more creatively.

3. Expand my professional online presence using Twitter and also things like this blog. I want to connect more and find online communities I can plug into for inspiration, and I hope to be able to provide some insight and inspiration for others who might connect with me, too. (By the way, you can find me on Twitter @EdTechJunkie509! Please give me a follow if you don't already!)

I think those are some pretty decent goals going into the 2019-2020 school year, and I'm honestly hoping to be more present and communicative about my progress with them. What goals are you setting for this coming school year? What do you hope to achieve?

Setting goals and being reflective is so critical to our professional development, and if you haven't already tried this exercise of naming a few goals you have for the school year to come, I encourage you to do so!

I'm off to enjoy my last weeknight evening before work days commence tomorrow--good luck, and I'm sure we'll talk more soon!

-Marlee
 

Reflections on a Busy School Year + Summer Excitement

This school year has been a blur, friends. It’s been one of the most interesting years I’ve had as a Technology Facilitator for a variety of reasons, but the biggest one was that I was given the opportunity to experience a fully flexible schedule through the inclusion of a Teacher Assistant who taught my classes in the lab.

This meant I was free to push into classrooms, to develop and implement PD during the school day, to serve in whatever capacity I was needed to serve...it was a great and busy year. Some highlights:

-I created an appointment calendar and had a handful of teachers sign up for me to push into their classrooms, where I was able to offer targeted support in direct ways that met my teachers’ varied needs. 

-I offered my first PD that was available during teachers’ planning periods, and while the group who participated was small, they were engaged! We had some great discussion and reflection around a variety of topics and I really enjoyed the format of our time together.

-I was readily available to teachers as they needed me, whether it was for a simple tech issue or an implementation question.

-I was able to spend time researching, learning, and developing new tools for my school, like my own Potty PD series, which I got from an idea on Teacher Twitter during the school year. I’ll create a post where I talk more about those, but just know that I’ve had so much fun designing posters that deliver little tidbits of information to a, well, captive audience.  

Next school year will be a bit different, as my Teacher Assistant’s position has unfortunately lost funding. We’ll be implementing a new schedule that will have both my Media Coordinator and me on a partially-flexible schedule, which is just super exciting for both of us. While I’ve enjoyed my flexible schedule this year, it’s left me feeling a bit disconnected from students, so I’m looking forward to getting more time with them next year. I’m also beyond stoked that my Media Coordinator will have a partially flexible schedule, too. We’re already starting to brainstorm about how we can work together on things more next year with regards to our classes. It’s going to be great.

But right now, we’re in the height of end-of-school-year-mania. Our world is confined to deadlines and paperwork and counting devices and books and feeling like there’s no way we can finish. We’ll finish just fine, of course. But it never feels like we will. 

This summer, I’m looking forward to getting a bit of extra work in. I’ll be working an extra few days for my principal after the school year wraps up to prep some things for next school year. And then, at the end of the month...I’m going to ISTE! 

Y’all. I’m so stinking excited about going to Philadelphia with a bunch of my colleagues and experiencing my first ever ISTE Convention. It’s going to be so much fun! I’m definitely planning to write and maybe even vlog a bit while I’m there. I’m hoping to come back full of ideas and ready to rock a new school year. 

I’ll be spending July at school helping out and working during Summer Reading Camp, which will give me time to work on some other odds and ends around the school. Overall, I’m just looking forward to closing out another successful year, and preparing for the best one yet. 

Life is good, friends. I’m going to try to write more about that, okay? 

I’ll be back soon—until then, hang in there if you’re almost done with the school year like I am. We’re so close! 

-Marlee

Learning to "Be Internet Awesome!" with Google

Happy Hump Day, y'all!

I wanted to take a moment to talk about an awesome new Internet Safety curriculum guide recently released by Google in conjunction with a number of organizations, including iKeepSafe, ConnectSafely, and the Family Online Safety Institute.

The title of this curriculum resource is Be Internet Awesome, and their mission (as stated on their website) is:

To make the most of the Internet, kids need to be prepared to make smart decisions. Be Internet Awesome teaches kids the fundamentals of digital citizenship and safety so they can explore the online world with confidence.

I just started using this program this week with my older students in the lab (3rd-5th graders), and we're all really enjoying it.  It provides me with content that I can work into my Google Classroom with my students, like the assignment pictured below (click to enlarge) that I developed by using part of an activity page included in the free Curriculum Guide.

My assignment used the information about Tyler to stimulate some discussion about our digital footprints. 

My students really enjoyed guessing what we could assume about Tyler based on his online activity, and I think getting hear a true description of Tyler (found in the curriculum guide alongside this activity) helped to drive home the point of my lesson: our digital footprint tells a story about us to others.  We can help shape that story by sharing things responsibly so that others won't make assumptions about us that are untrue or hurtful.  We also talked about how colleges and employers look at your digital footprint to get a picture of who you are, too.  I love being able to drive home what I'm teaching with real world connections!

In addition to this excellent curriculum guide packed with activities, a really neat game was developed to go along with the lessons.  It's called Interland, and it allows students to play interesting and challenging games that correspond with the various units of the Be Internet Awesome program.

Interland's color-coded worlds correspond directly to the curriculum guide's sections.

My kids can't get enough of this game.  It looks like a real video game and challenges them, all while reinforcing the content we're covering in our lessons.  It's been a real hit this week (we've been exploring Mindful Mountain), and I'm pumped to explore the other worlds alongside of my students.

Being Internet Awesome, as described in the curriculum guide, is broken down into 5 components:

1. Be Internet Smart: Share with Care

2. Be Internet Alert: Don't Fall for Fake

3. Be Internet Strong: Secure Your Secrets

4. Be Internet Kind: It's Cool to Be Kind

5. Be Internet Brave: When in Doubt, Talk It Out

I love how this program breaks down being a good digital citizen into such relatable pieces.  I'm always excited to implement new and exciting materials, and this program is helping to reinvent the same old "Internet Safety Unit" that I've been using for the past few years.  Check it out and see what you might be able to implement!  What are you most intrigued or excited by?  Comment below--I'm excited to hear about what you think.

I'll share more about our adventures using this great new curriculum resource in my computer lab over the next few weeks.  Until then, keep on keeping on! 

Highly Effective Teachers Using Technology

My school isn't one of those "7 Habits" schools.  There are schools in our county where that is the one true gospel, but ours isn't one of them.  I do enjoy reading various things connected to those concepts, though, so when I came across this short blog post  from teachthought about 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teachers Who Use Technology, I was intrigued.  Sylvia Duckworth's work has crossed my path a few times, and I always love the way she uses graphics to organize concepts in ways that make sense, and even more so, make you want to read about them.  Check out the way she summarizes this information:

There's so much to love and take in from this, but I especially love the emphasis on an attitude that embraces change and rolls with the punches.  When I was working on my masters degree in Instructional Technology, one of the recurring noted hurdles to any kind of change with regard to tools, technology, or curriculum was teacher resistance to change.  The more flexible we all become, the better we'll be able to muddle through all of the regularly scheduled chaos of a typical day of school.

Just a thought. Check out, let me know what you think in the comments below.  What traits do you see in yourself?  Which habits do you want to work on strengthening?

I'm considering printing this graphic out and posting it in the lab at school. And maybe in the work room.  And maybe giving copies to my teachers. (Too much? Maybe.)

Have a great day, guys. See you soon!

#FutureReady Instruction & Understanding What Drives Us

(We're going to pretend like it hasn't actually been more than 2 years since I started this blog, k? You with me? Good. Let's continue.)

One of my favorite ways to stay in the loop with new content that relates to the field of Instructional Technology (or Ed Tech) and even just education in general is to subscribe to "professional" publications whenever I can.  The two big ones that I turn to most often are EdTech Magazine and Tech & Learning, both of which offer a physical magazine and an online component.  What I love even more about both of these resources is that they're free!  One thing I hope to do roughly once a week (maybe more, but let's not get ahead of ourselves) is to share some of the resources/articles/etc that I came across that I found worth sharing.  Today I'll be sharing a couple of posts that I came across in an eNewsletter that Tech & Learning sends out.

First up, let's talk about getting #FutureReady in our classrooms.  This short and sweet post from a blog called Recharge Learning touches on the concept of 21st Century Skills, which is a buzz-phrase that's been echoing in the heads of educators for what feels like forever.  The way that this blog post breaks down the concept of what it calls "Future Ready" classrooms is through what they describe as "The 4 C's," which looks like this:

I'm always a fan of simplified strategies that aren't overly or unnecessarily complex, and I like the way it's broken down in Communication, Collaboration, Critical Thinking, and Creativity here.  These are easy to understand concepts.  For more information and strategies in implementing this model, check out this awesome Google Doc that's full of links for you to explore.  Kudos to @WickedEdTech for creating such an excellent resource!

The other article I'd like to mention today comes from actual Principal and speaker/author George Couros.  I came across it on the site Connected Principals, and it's called "Child-Driven and Data-Driven; Can you be both?"  In it, Couros explores the conflicting concepts of being child-driven versus being data-driven, which is most definitely a familiar conflict experienced by all educators.  We want to encourage our children to reach their fullest potential, and to honor whatever that may be, but we also feel pressure from all sides to achieve a certain level of success on tests, and sometimes the push to hit those particular goals comes at the cost of staying centered on our students.  My favorite quote from the article was this:

"...when we do things to validate the adults that hurt kids, our focus is on the wrong place."

Talk about a gut punch.  I encourage you to take a look at the full article and give it some consideration.

So that's going to be it for this post.  If you take a look at either resource mentioned, leave a comment below with your reactions, questions, comments, or concerns.  I invite anyone with a vested interest in our students' success (which is everybody, by the way) to be a part of this conversation.

Happy Hump Day, y'all.  See you back here again soon! (I promise.)

An Introduction to Instructional Technology (and my job as an ITF)

When people talk about the term Instructional Technology, often people are left wondering what that is, exactly.  I'd like to break down my understanding of it, along with a brief explanation of my responsibilities as an Instructional Technology Facilitator (ITF).

Instructional technology literally refers to any device or technology service that is used for instructional reasons.  It's probably best explained by giving examples, so here are some of the instructional technology resources available to teachers at the elementary school where I work:

• SmartBoards/Projectors
• Document Cameras
• iPads
• iPod Touches
• Laptops (Apple and Dell)
• Desktop Computers
• Computer Carts

Each of my teachers has access to all or most of the devices listed above, and they are encouraged to incorporate them into their instruction in organic and meaningful ways.  Other things I'd consider falling under the umbrella of instructional technology are services like various websites our school subscribes to (BrainPOP, Learning Farm, and Big Universe are a few favorites).  I add these under the same category because they facilitate instruction and they generally require the use of one of the devices listed above.

I'm fortunate to work in a technology-rich school district.  We spend our technology money wisely and aim to keep as much technology available to our teachers as possible.  (Please don't mistake this as a sign that we are an affluent area; my school is a Title I school with more than 70% of our kids on free and reduced lunch.  We are simply a rural district that knows how to utilize the state and federal assistance we're given.)

As an ITF, my responsibilities fall into a few different areas.  It's worth noting that different schools in my district treat my position in different ways at their sites.  A lot is dependent upon the funding (or lack thereof).  Here's how I'd break down my major responsibilities as an ITF at my school:

• I teach classes to all students (K-5) in the computer lab.  I see each class for one 45-minute session each week.  I cover topics like Internet safety, cyberbullying, and other skills covered by the NC Information and Technology Essential Standards. I also do my best to integrate content that's grade level specific into my classes, like doing research projects that tie to Social Studies or Science standards.
• I am a resource for the teachers (and administrators) at my school.  I offer one-on-one support as needed and work with teachers to help ensure that the equipment they have access to is being used as innovatively and effectively as possible.  (In the past, I had a TA to cover my classes 1-2 days a week, but our budget didn't allow for this position to be kept this year, so I no longer have time where I'm not teaching unless my classes are canceled altogether.)
• I lead professional development sessions for the staff on topics relating to technology policies and procedures for the county, along with other technology related topics, like using Google Applications or other resource training.
• I manage the technology for our building--I trouble shoot what I can, and have a technician who handles the more intricate technology issues that I'm unable to solve alone.  He serves our school along with 3 others and rotates through our sites each week.

I also serve on other committees and help with other things throughout the school, so it's safe to say I'm kept good and busy in this job.  I like the fact that I still get interaction with the kids, but I also really enjoy getting to work with the staff.  It's a new facet of this job (outside of managing the technology) that I have discovered that I really like doing.

I think that'll do for now.  I'm going to be working on adding entries to this blog on a fairly regular basis, but I thought it was important to properly define what I'm about and what my job entails.

I'll be back soon with more Instructional Technology (and other stuff).