Don't be a Techretary.

Something I learned when I first became a TOSA is to not let people turn you into a secretary. Often in meetings I would be asked to make the Google Doc because “You can do it faster” or “You just know what to do.” While at first I didn’t mind, because I was apart of the meeting and the work needed to be done, it came to a point where my expertise wasn’t appreciated, but expected. Instead of being apart of the collaboration group, I was on the outside making docs and forms while others talked about content or pedagogy. I was trying to show people why the position was valuable; I was funded via LCAP at the time. However, what I now realize is by doing things for other people I may have been seen as valuable, but it wasn’t for the right reasons. Whatever our TOSA position is center around we can’t be the ‘doers.’ It’s an old adage but a good one, we need to teach people to fish.

So what do we do if people are asking us to organize inboxes, run data protocol on spreadsheet or install printers? That is a difficult question, one I don’t have the final answer to but here are some ideas to get you started.

• Close read your job description. While we all have the ‘other duties as assigned’ nonsense that’s one line out of let’s estimate 100 of actual duties. If we look at this from a math standpoint 1/100 versus 99/100, what will matter more your evaluation and boss?
• Speaking of your boss show him your annotated job description and have a conversation about your findings. There may be a district strategic plan that influences what aspects you need to focus on the most out of that 99/100 and your supervisor is the right person to help you figure that out.
• When asked to do something like the aforementioned, don’t actually do it for the requestor.
• If you’re in a face to face situation tell them the steps but make them do the pointing and clicking. This has been difficult for me personally, but whenever possible don’t point to the button on the screen and don’t move the mouse for the person. Give the person the opportunity to create their ‘tech muscle memory.’
• If you in a remote location send the requestor a screencast, Captivate or screenshot tutorial. It’s more than likely this request will come up again, so save your future self sometime and create a library of solutions. It’s also nice for people to have resources to look back to.
• Collaboration is key to combating ‘this is just another thing.’
• In my last district the Secondary TOSAs had the task of hosting professional learning events for their content but there weren’t enough days for us all to have separate events. What seemed like a problem became an opportunity for awesome. By working together we create a professional learning event centered on the new CA ELA/ELD standards that included implications for all subjects and was hosted using EdTech tools. In the process of creating this event we were able to learn from each other. I now know more about the ELA/ELD framework and they know more about how to use EdTech, it’s a win win.
• Get out of the office as much as possible. If people can’t find you, you can’t be a techretary.
• I miss students, so whenever I can get out of the office to interact I do. Also by being out of the office and seeing what is happening in the classroom it informs TOSA practice.
• If while at a site someone asks me to install a printer, as much as the teacher may not like it, I have to enforce the work order system of IT. I phrase it to teachers as ‘the work order is like a classroom management process you wouldn’t want someone disrupting yours, so I can’t do that to IT.’
• Being in classrooms is also a great way to show teachers what is possible. Recently we had some Chromebooks that weren’t enrolled in our domain. Instead of calling for reinforcements, we asked the teacher if we could borrow the class to enroll the devices. She didn’t think the students could do it, but we reassured her so she let us guest teach for about ten minutes. At the end of it all the devices were enrolled perfectly by the third graders, they felt empowered and the teacher saw a new capacity in her students.

My #GAFESummit Story So Far

I still remember my first #GAFESummit at New Technology High School in January 2014. At the time, I was just about half way through my Educational Technology Masters program at Boise State University, a relatively new teacher, and a lone wolf techie at my school site. I was fortunate to see Jamie Casap & Molly Schroeder speak at the event, and on the plane ride home I remember thinking to myself “I want to help others like they do.”

I’ve now been to 7 GAFE Summits and that internal desire hasn’t changed. I am often asked “You know so much about technology, why do you still go to these things?” First, I thank the asker for thinking I know ‘so much,’ but then I reply with “regardless of what I think I know, it’s technology. It’s always changing; there’s always something new to learn.” GAFE Summits make continually learning fun and exciting; no matter your ability level, an EdTechTeam summit is a great place to learn because you get to practice, meet amazing people, collaborate with them, and try new things.

In May of 2015 at the San Bernardino summit, I was able to present alongside people I’ve looked up to and followed on Twitter for years. During my first presentation at the summit, someone asked a question and I didn’t know the answer. Internally I froze, but I quickly channeled my inner googleyness and said ‘I don’t know, but let’s try it together and find out.”

Presenting at a GAFE Summit is invigorating. Not only do I get to practice my craft but I get to learn with the people that attend my sessions. Now instead of being afraid of questions I crave them. I want to app smash and test things live in front of other educators. I want to model not knowing and being willing to try. I know it is scary at first, I’ve been there, but I hope I can help others and show them it doesn’t have to be that way forever.

I’ve presented at 5 of the 7 summits I’ve attended. Each presentation, each summit has its own personality and potential for awesome. People think I’m crazy, but I can’t be away from the type of energy for long. A successful summit is when I’ve learned with the participants and being able to bring that knowledge and energy back to the teachers I work with as a Staff Development Specialist is an amazing gift the GAFE Summit provides.

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By they way, if you’re free the weekend of November 21st Temecula is hosting their first GAFE Summit and I’ll be there! Come hang out and enjoy the learning.

#OneNewThing

The EdTechTeam recently hosted a contest that inspired teachers to Tweet about #OneNewThing they tired in their classroom. It’s been great fun watching the hashtag as people share the successes as they try new things.

Although I didn’t post it on Twitter specifically, my Monday night was a giant #OneNewThing. I’ve been a #TOSAChat a participant in many chats but recently the @TosaChat team asked me to help out and be a guest moderator. I instantly accepted and then thought ‘what have I gotten myself into.’ Lucky for me TOSAChat is an organized group that I was able to jump in easily. Together we decided to talk about blended learning in the classroom.

On Monday night at about 7pm I was sitting in my living room with a Frappuccino, because how can you talk about blended learning without a blended beverage, and boy was I nervous. Everyone had reassured me that things were going to go great, but I was taking on the role of moderator, something I never thought I’d be asked to do. Maybe I’m too self-critical, the result of being an only child perhaps, but I didn’t want to let anyone down. I’ve come to respect so many people I tweet with, them putting their trust in me was a big honor.

Lucky for me, as soon as 8pm hit and the chat got started, I didn’t have time to worry or doubt myself. As the people started tweeting I got caught up in the flurry of laughs, good ideas and probing questions. It’s truly amazing the things that can be discussed in 140 characters.

Here’s an example of some of the tweets from Monday night.

You can read the full chat here with our Storify.

As cliché as it sounds, everyone should have the courage to try #OneNewThing, it could be in the classroom or in life in general. I can't guarantee how it’s going to go but even if it doesn’t work out the feeling you get when you push yourself to try something new is exhilarating. During the chat I had no idea if I was doing a good job or not but I was having fun and learning from others. To me, those are the most important parts of #OneNewThing: having fun and learning. If you do that, I don’t care what problem happens, you’ve won.

Once the chat ended, I was fortunate to see all the Twitter love in my notifications. I have an amazing PLN and I’m so happy to be a part of it. Thanks to everyone that took part in #TOSAChat this week and big thanks to the @TOSAChat team that believed in me. 

If you're interested in learning more about #TOSAChat click here.

Blogging is Hard

So I'm not going to lie, blogging is hard.

I've tried and failed at hosting a blog at least three times now. My first blog was a travel journal during my study abroad trip to England. I wrote recaps of my day for my family. While there, I didn’t have a phone so I opted to blog instead of email. I thought it would be fun, but it wasn’t. This attempt failed because I wasn't writing what I wanted.

My next blog was an ad hoc class website back in the days before Google Classroom. This failed because I tried to do too much too soon. I wanted everything to be perfect, especially since students were looking at it. The desire for perfection was my own downfall and something I've been trying to let go of, although I still cringe every time I post a tweet and something is spelled wrong.

The last and most successful blog was a Tumblr blog that is best described as a stream of consciousness. For about six months, I enjoyed writing it and there are a couple of posts I’m really proud of but as my life got more complicated, my inspiration to write fizzled out. Sometimes I want to pick this blog back up and start again, but then I freeze because I don’t know what to write.

So here we are again, writing blog post number one. I’ve tossed the idea around of starting an EdTech blog for some time now and to be honest if it wasn’t for #CE15 I probably wouldn’t be doing this. There are so many people out there blogging about EdTech I’m not sure if I have anything new to add to the conversation, but we’ll see. Lucky for me, I have an amazing Twitter PLN to support me in this revisited venture. The #TOSAChat network is a great group of Instructional Coaches/ Teachers on Special Assignment that are kind and encouraging. Special thanks to +Geri Coats my TOSA Chat #CE15 blogging partner, for helping me with this post.

Speaking of #TOSAChat, tonight I’ll be their first guest moderator at 8pm PST, as we discuss #BlendedLearning.