Alright, alright, so I’m only 31! But there are times when I feel as though just a few years in the classroom is enough to experience a lifetime worth of “life lessons”. It’s only a shame that we don’t have just as much time outside of the classroom each day to explore, contemplate, and apply what we’ve learned while in the classroom.
To that end, I do have a bit more time out of the classroom now that I’m the Educational Technology Coordinator for my district. Having been in the district for 4 years (7 years total teaching), apparently there are enough people that trust I can effectively lead/inspire/facilitate the direction of educators in my district. Do I have all the skills to successfully perform the job? Probably not…yet! But I know I’ll learn and grow quickly.
Case in point, I had an absolutely miserable experience earlier in the week with a brief 45 minute training session in my district. I had sat down with the administrator in one of the buildings to go over what he wanted me to impart to his staff. We produced a nice short list, and despite my best efforts to comply, the simple step of trying to get drivers downloaded to all of the teacher’s laptops tripped me up, taking far too long (score one fault on my part). I then proceeded to go through the list, covering the technological tools that I thought would be the most important, but not getting to the last point, which after the fact I learned was the most important one in the eyes of the administrator (score another fault on my part). To experience the double whammy of poor technological execution, and failing to deliver what the administrator had asked of me, left me feeling quite humbled. While the subsequent group of teachers I worked with went must better, I’m left wondering how I could have made such a simple mistake.
Following up will be key in this new position, not just on the details, but with the individuals who were left confused after my first train wreck of a session. I can repair the poor image and presentation skills, but more importantly, I’ll be better prepared going forward, especially being embarrassed over the one issues I’m supposed to the expert about; technology. I know this day was going to happen, when I begin to stumble over small technological issues that I once was able to handle with ease; apparently my residency in the land of digital natives has been revoked, and replaced with just a travel visa.
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Thanks for sharing, Ben. I’ve had days like this as well. Technology gets the best of even the geekiest person!
Hey Ben, I know what you mean. Sometimes we just have to slow down gain our bearings in this evolving technological society. Tech can be a blessing and a curse simultaneously.
Ben, being of the technological set myself I know the feeling of trying to impress on the new job. Sometimes I believe that fate takes hold, and despite our best efforts leaves us a mess at the end of the day wondering if we quite possibly chose the wrong profession.
I say, stick with it! We are all still students whether we are in a classroom or not. We are students of life!
I fully intend to make amends to all of the teachers I confused, even if it takes me all year, one at a time 🙂 I’m not one to stay discouraged for too long, and with this new job comes lots of interesting challenges and opportunities, but the kind words everyone offers is a big help 🙂