5 Years Later - Making a Change

This afternoon I'm giving a presentation to our K-12 administrators on how I can help their teachers. I know what you're thinking - you're the Instructional Technology Facilitator...so what have you been doing? Completely agree. In the five years that I've had this job, I've slowly started working on more stuff from my office and have been spending less time in the schools. Technology has allowed me to still communicate, present, and assist from the comfort of my office chair. It's a combination of factors, but regardless of the why, it's time for a change. I thought it might be a tough sell to my bosses because they've gotten used to me working on a variety of projects here in the office, but without saying anything to them, they brought the exact same thing up early this month. Outstanding. It's great that we were on the same page. 
When I woke up this morning, I saw Melissa Edwards reply back to her colleague Steven Anderson about his "Be Awesome Today" tweet. For those of you who don't know, Steven posts some great comment (almost, if not) every morning, followed by "Be Awesome Today." It's a great way to start the day. But today's definitely hit home thinking about getting back into the schools.

Good Morning! Meaningful relationships are most often the key to success. Be awesome today!
— Steven W. Anderson (@web20classroom) June 1, 2012

How very true. How you approach a teacher, and the relationship you build with them, can mean the difference between success and failure, regardless of how smart either of you are. As I chatted with my wife about the importance of this afternoon's presentation to changing what I do, I was reminded of when I first started teaching graduate classes a few years ago to our District staff. I remember thinking then how big of a difference those classes could make. That format had done wonders for our reading and writing curriculum, and I think it's been a great relationship starter for me.
I'm added my slides for this afternoon below. I don't know that they'll mean much to anyone not there, but hopefully you'll get an idea of where I'm going with it. It's not that I haven't been helping our teachers, but being a great resource, and providing opportunities for teachers to succeed, means they need to see your face and have you walk hand in hand with them. It's time I do a better job of that.


By the way, ignore the notes on Slide 2. Accidentally copied from a different slide. Same thing on the slide with the two hashtags.
Admin Presentation June 2012