The Classroom

Well I’ve been busy to say the least.  And I’m VERY sorry I haven’t posted more… I’m looking at 3 partially written posts that I started, but never got back to – they seem pretty out of date now – but I just might dust them off the spruce them up later.  But for now here’s a journal entry I wrote for my 1:1 project community site, but thought I’d share it here…. after all I went through all the work to write it – and I think it raises some good points….

Where to begin… This has been a roller coaster month for me – just so many things to do, papers to fill out, and technologies to master. But I can proudly say that today my students had no problems logging onto the system and using their laptops. And they loved it. They have bought into the idea whole heartedly. These are “their” laptops. They’ve taken ownership, and are extremely pumped to start using these systems in class.

But it wasn’t easy to get to this point – and honestly, I was surprised the kids were as excited as they were. This was our third “launch” of the program – and the first 2 were flaming messes.

No matter what we did, and what troubleshooting measures I took things went wrong. At first only a handful of kids could log on. I didn’t have the correct log in information (my fault on that one – I could have checked their folders on the server for the correct log in names). Next, when we tried again the following week – they couldn’t access the internet, or the appropriate profiles. But now – we’re good to go!

But this brings me to my rant for this week – which I shall title: When tech goes wrong!

The biggest problem with technology is that it frightens most people. And no one wants to be around something that frightens them.

I remember my Jr. High shop teacher – Mr. Porter. He also frightened most people. He was a gruff and stern man, who was quick to discipline, but if you knew how to handle him, and stayed calm, he was one of the greatest men you’ll ever meet. Long after I left Jr. High I still saw and talked with Mr. Porter. However others weren’t so lucky – they got off on the wrong foot with Mr. Porter right way, and ended up disliking him the whole time. Technology is EXACTLY like that.

People are willing to try something new and exciting – but if it doesn’t work the first time, they’re hesitant to try it again. And if they do and it STILL doesn’t work – that’s it. It’s toast. That’s why I was so nervous about all these false starts.

Teachers went away for the summer thinking that when they returned they could start with the technology right away. We altered plans and modified assignments, went to the conference got all hyped up – and then came to school. And nothing was ready. So we replanned and reworked things – and then were told we’re good to go. And we weren’t. Told that problem was fixed – and another popped up. It was frustrating to say the least.

And it’s not anything that could have been for seen. There is no one we can point the finger at and say “you’re to blame”. It’s just the nature of the beast.

I’ve heard “Well the techs should have had it all ready!” The thing is ITS is crazy busy right now with the EDU switch over, all the interactive whiteboards that have entered the system, the WMT project, staff zone, not to mention just the normal start of the year duties. Add to that the fact that there was massive staff movement this year, and everyone wanted their files NOW – there’s just too much for them to have all done by September 1st. You couldn’t pay me to be a tech right now. Our tech called it the “September to Remember”.

If we start playing the blame game we get teachers complaining about the “lazy techs – who hold onto their servers tighter then Gollum to the ring” (my preciousssssssssss), the techs grumbling about “know it all teachers and their unreasonable demands” and no one getting anywhere. Just more frustrations, and the technology not getting used.

Luckily that really wasn’t the case here – but I’ve heard too many stories to know that it’s been happening. Yes we’ve had problems, and frustrations. But, at least at Highlands, we’ve taken the time to take a step back, take a deep breath, and work out the problems calmly, knowing that it can and will work.

And if today’s session was any indication, it does and will continue. And both staff and students couldn’t be more excited.

And now I’ll get off my soapbox.

 My “question” today is why do we give techs such a hard time?  I was talking with Danny about this a few weeks ago (and I’m hoping he’ll weigh in on the conversation) and he had some great insights into the issue.   As teachers we have some crazy (though I think brilliant – but I might be a tad biased) dreams for what we want the technology to do.  We read about some obscure program somewhere and figure it’ll solve all our problems – and then turn to the techs and tell them to make it happen.  As Danny pointed out we don’t think about how this might (or might not) be compatible with other software.  And 9 times out of 10 we don’t care.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard (and possibly said) it’s my system – if I break it, I’ll just pay the tech to fix it.  But do we ever really take the blame?  Or do we just blame the tech for not doing it right in the first place?  The techs have quite a bit to do, and in most cases many schools to do them in.  They’re also mandated to have the systems running 99.99% of the time – which is what everyone wants, but is a hard number to hit with the limited resources of our schools.

I was at a conference this summer, and as a joke one of the presenters characterized techs as lazy, possesive people who only want to make things easy on themselves.  And while most people laughed, only 2 spoke out on behalf of the techs (sorry folks, ashamed to say I was a laugher…).  I took it as  a joke, but then I started to think – stereotypes come from somewhere.  Some people somewhere must actually belive that.

Now I’ve got too many close friends who are techs to believe that, and the more I think about it, the more I admire them.  When things work, we take it as that’s how it should be, and that’s their job – no thanks required.  When they don’t… well they couldn’t get out onto site fast enough, even if they lived in the building.

We need to work together to get the job done right.  We need to be a team.  The best tech I ever worked with listened to my dreams, then worked with me to find the solutions I needed.  He protected the system’s intergrity, but never told me no when I had a suggestion.  I heard a lot of  “can’t do it that way – how about”, but never no.   It’s teamwork that got Highlands laptops up and running – and it’s teamwork that’ll keep school systems running smoothly, while still pushing the limits of educational technology…..