Tinkerings

It was announced Friday afternoon that I had been chosen to be the Technology Program Coordinator (for lack of a better name at this point) for secondary schools in Bradley County Schools.  I have been pretty vocal over the last couple of years that the secondary schools were being left out when it came to tech coaches, so when the position was posted I simply could not, in good conscience, choose to stand idly by.  I had to apply.

The position is still being fleshed out with regard to a job description.  We have four secondary schools in our district.  Each school has a wide range of software, but there are 3 areas that will probably take the bulk of my time: DE Assessment, DE Streaming, and SMART/Promethean Board training.  If it is true that teachers will spend 80% of their time using 20% of the technology available to them, then these three are the right choices.  If you add to that a wide swath of Web 2.0 tools available, my plate is pretty full.

I have enjoyed eight wonderful years at Lake Forest Middle School.  My principal, Ritchie Stevenson, gave me a shot at teaching before I had ever had a class in an education program.  Then, he was kind enough to give me a second year to make up for the first one.  He has done wonders at Lake Forest over the years he has been its principal.

Most of the original team I was on are still at the school, albeit in different positions these days.  We became very close during those first two years.  Gypsy was a great team leader.  Full of life and smiles even on the darkest of days.  I still look forward to the morning hugs to begin my day.

The team I serve with now are absolutely fantastic.  It has been a roller coaster over the last few years as we changed our schedule and added teachers to our group, then changed schedules again and lost half of them.  We are just now back up to an almost full team (although I’m still 9 computer short of a lab).  Lisa, Christy, Karen, and I have kept things together with bailing wire and duct tape sometimes.  I will still be able to chat with them throughout the day over Skype.  Sometimes those chats were the only thing that kept us from crying our way to 3:35.

I don’t know what this job will look like.  I do know this: I savor the challenge.  I know my own personality.  Teaching the same lesson plans for 30 years is not me.  We re-write our lessons from scratch every year.  Its just more fun to live on the edge than in the middle.  Life is more interesting.

I absolutely loved working at Childers Mixing Service, Pathway Press, Christian Purchasing Network, and the Ministry to the Military in Scotland and England.  They were all new jobs every day.  New challenges.  New projects.  I thrive in that environment.  This position offers nothing less than nearly insurmountable odds.

Put me in, Coach!