Thoughts By Jen

I am blessed (and I mean that in total honesty) to work at a job that encourages me to learn.   I work at a small Christian PreS through 12th grade campus in the tech support but when the campus is working well, and all my work is done, I can put on my headphones and wander around the internet looking for online opportunities.

I am blessed (and I mean that in total honesty) that I really have no huge obligations.  No husband, kids — so I have the luxury of going where I want to pretty much when I want to.  Which means, I am able to travel a great deal to conferences — both local and a bit farther away.

Because of this — I am blessed (and I mean that in total honesty) to hear a great many people share MANY MANY ideas, solutions, and also criticisms.

Flipped Classrooms, Bloom’s Taxonomy, iPad Solutions, BYOD, BYOT, Common Core Standards, NETS*S Standards, Why we should….blog, podcast, build a PLN, friend on facebook/not friend on facebook, skyping, projects, student voices, the teacher as a coach, etc etc etc.

I have edcamped, CUEd, ISTEd, ICEd, DENed, TechForum’d, webinared, twitter chats, twitter newspapers, flipboard, zite, and more.  I have seen powerpoints, keynotes, prezis, pinterests, wikis, slideshares, google docs, handouts, and more.  There are enough cons to contradict all the pros…..spoken very articulately with data (statistics) to back up their thoughts.

But what I am not seeing is…..
SILENCE.
REFLECTION.
CONSIDERATION.
REFRAIN.
THOUGHT.

I hear a lot — A LOT — of “this is what I think.”

I hear a lot — A LOT — of “this is what you need to do.”

I hear a lot — A LOT — of “look at me look at me.”

and I know — I KNOW — that we all have great ideas…..but what if we took time just to be silent,  to listen, and realize (ever so often) that we don’t really need to speak.

That in our silence, we might hear others.

Just my thoughts today,
Jen

The title today is from a tweet shared with me from my admin @camstevens76 after our Tech Team meeting this afternoon.

For the last year — perhaps a bit more — we are have been working on a Tech Plan for our campus.

I am learning many things — probably the most important is that
“if we were all in agreement, we would not need this committee!”   — grins

We are 10 educators who really want the best for our students, out teachers, our campus – but see a variety of ways to get there with several varying solutions.   Sometimes it gets heated, sometimes it gets quiet.   Sometimes there is deep understanding and other times there is confusion.

But the bottom line is — we are in total agreement that we really want the best for our students –  our teachers — our campus.

After struggling to write a tech plan as a group, this summer I was enlisted to write the tech plan myself and then as a group we would edit it.   I enjoyed that freedom — yet with great freedom comes great responsibility.   Knowing my campus well, as I do…..I was able to use the tech plan to call attention to some areas I thought we could improve on, yet also call attention to what we were/are doing quite well.  In other words — I took literary license to stir the pot. 

For me, there is a strong desire for our campus to be one that other private Christian schools look to as a leader in technology.   We are already being noticed for our Digital Citizenship curriculum (http://cmcstech.pbworks.com/w/page/27795591/FrontPage) as well as our PreSchool ipad initiative.   Right now we have several other ideas that are brewing and the tech plan really will help these ideas come to a full boil!

So, in all the conversation yesterday — as my tech plan was being scrutinized (which is a good thing because 1 person can never be the vision for an entire campus) — and as I tried hard NOT to become too emotional when a few of my ideas were questioned or dismissed  — there was a moment that I had to detach and just listen as we made changes, suggestions, and discarded several parts of the plan.

As I sat on the couch last night — angry at myself for how I had responded one time (big knee jerk), disappointed that I had not been more vocal or articulate several times, and replaying several key points…….

I suddenly remembered one part of the conversation that had slipped by almost unnoticed, but so utterly important.   Debbie said “I really really like Goal #5…..and I responded “yes, I was pretty pleased with that one too.”   and other chimed in that they liked it as well……….

Goal #5:  Establish a New Teacher “Welcome to Tech at Calvary” plan

Strategies:

1. Each new staff member will receive orientation by the technology coordinator to be provided with necessary account information and passwords for computer login, email, attendance and grading software, voice mail and phone protocols
2. Each new staff member will also be assigned a mentor teacher who will assist them in becoming familiar with the software resources and hardware tools available in their building to enhance teaching and learning.

and I realized, that yet again, what I do the best…..is encourage, to support, and to assist.

And with all the things that were dismissed, rewritten, or put aside — the one thing most important to me — was recognized, appreciated, and accepted.

We are convening next week again to continue working on this tech plan……
and if you have a tech plan — especially if you are a private Christian school with a tech plan — I would appreciate seeing your document.

As Cam said “this is a small step for man, one giant leap for CMCS!”.

I am glad I am along for the ride.

Jen

This past week, I was following the tweets of the “Titanic” at https://twitter.com/#!/titanicrealtime

When I saw this:

and then the twitter feed stopped.

I kept refreshing my page, waiting for an update…..when suddenly it occurred to me, if this was true (meaning twitters had happened during the Titanic sinking) the communication would have ceased.  And possibly silenced…..unless someone had planned ahead.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Which caused me to wonder……..

Do you have a plan for your “message” to continue on…..if you were silenced?
(whether this be by moving to a new job/location or other possibilities?)

Are you working with someone(s) else that could and would carry on if you were no longer the one carrying the message?

If you are the only person with “vision” on your campus, hopes, goals, thoughts, expectations, plans, etc for assisting your campus to become a campus of opportunities….what will happen when you are no longer there?

I encourage you to start looking for people to partner with, to share goals, thoughts, hopes, plans, etc with…..

So in the case that you might be silenced……communication continues.

Just my thoughts today
Jen