Why a Teacher?

Week 8 of the #youredustory blog challenge brings the question "What was the defining moment you decided to be a teacher?"  To me this is an interesting question because I can not think back to one moment - it was more like a series of events.

My mom was a teacher - she retired three years ago - so I grew up with a high school math teacher as a my mother.  I would always be one of the first kids dropped off at school since my mom's school started early and we didn't have anyone else to help out.  She was also the cheer adviser for a long time so I remember going to practices, games and competitions - and even now I know more cheers than I think a grown man should know!

But I don't think anything my mom did made me decide to become an educator - in fact, as a kid I wanted to be a lawyer or chiropractor.  I didn't decide to become a teacher until my third year in college.  I was a Biology major, so I was in classes with all of the pre-med students and the competition was fierce.  I held my own, but I realized then that I did not want to spend another 4 years in school with that type of student.  So I started looking in to the teaching program.

Nice farmer's tan!

At that point I started to think back to my grade school teachers and a few stood out.  There was Mr. Huff in 4th grade who made me "try-out" for the basketball team (I played ever year after and ended up as a high school coach for several years) - I don't really remember him in the classroom, but I loved that he pushed me to do more outside of class.  And many of my high school teachers - Mr. Simpson, Mr. Barbour, Mr. Booth and Mr. Webster.  The first three were also my coaches - basketball and football respectively.  And Mr. Webster was my favorite science teacher (and I eventually became a science teacher).

I can't point back to one moment in time when I said to myself that I was going to become a teacher - but with so many caring educators who took the time to teach me, coach me and mold me in to the person I am today I found my path.  Sometimes I think about all the students that I had pass through my classroom and I wonder what type of seed I may have planted for them?  Hopefully one day they will sit back and think that I had a positive impact on their future - though I may never know!

A Time to Reflect

Week four of the #YourEduStory blog challenge brings a powerful reflection question from @MsVictoriaOlson:

"What is the best thing you do in your classroom/school/district/job?"

This is a great question for all educators to think about - whether you are a classroom teacher, a site admin or at the district office - the things you do each day make a difference in the lives of many children.  I have written about this a little in the past, feeling that my direct impact on students is not what it used to be when I was in the classroom.  In some ways I have less impact but in many other ways I have a much larger impact on many more students.

As for the best thing I do - I would have to say advocating for teachers within the technology department in my district.  As an EdTech Coordinator it is my job to keep what is best for teachers (and students) at the forefront of the decisions made in regard to our technology use and purchases.  This can get somewhat blurry at times because I may know what is ideal, but I also know the realities of budget and time constraints.  

Sure, I'd love to train every teacher in our district and help them use Google Docs in their classroom every week.  But can that be done?  That involves pulling teachers out of their classroom for training, setting a time to follow up, being in their room to help implement things if they want and making myself available for more help as they keep going.  And that doesn't even get in to the question of devices in their room - do they have any, can they get some, will they work when turned on, do the kids know how to use them, are the teachers comfortable letting the students use them, etc.

So I do what I can and work within the confines of what is currently available.  I work with a great educator - @adinasullivan - who is doing the same thing.  She is always working to find new and better ways to help the teachers in our district learn and use technology in their classroom.  We also have three TOSAs (teacher on special assignment) who are getting out in the classroom and showing teachers best practices and helping where they can each day.  So together we are working to shape the vision of technology in our district.

But with the grind of day to day work - meetings, more meetings and a meeting about the last meeting - sometimes that vision gets lost in the fray.  So I am thankful for this week's prompt to help me get back centered and focused on what I can do to help the teachers and students in my district.