And away we go!

It's been suggested that I use my experiences (going boldly where no one has gone before) as a high school tech coach for my culminating project in the iMET program. So I decided to start a blog to keep a record of my thoughts and experiences.

We just finished up the seventh week of school and I'm happy to say that three quarters of my teachers have their webpages up. The ten 'holdouts' include 3 teachers who are retiring at mid-year, two new hires, two ROP, two Luddites, and one who can't find the little box to click even though I sent three emails. I'll get most of them on board yet.

In a way, I feel as if I've been so bogged down with inventory, management and maintenance that I haven't really gotten into the role that I want to play: technology CURRICULUM coach. However, to be fair, I need a little distance is necessary to look at what has already been accomplished so far- the webpages that allow for communication and accountability. We also have 7 COWs available to the teachers.  There were only two last year and they tended NOT to include a full class set. There were a lot of maintenance difficulties. For example, when I was doing a digital storytelling project last winter, I only had 15 computers to use for a class of 34 students. It took almost 3 months before we had a full class set again. Thankfully, this year we have a full-time tech liaison, Ron Neubauer, who is keeps our equipment up and running.

Right now, laying a proper foundation is the most important part of my job. I'm shocked to think of how long we've worked without one and am thankful that we haven't 'lost' more equipment than we have in the absence of a comprehensive inventory. Baby steps....I'll get to create curriculum soon.