I loved Jess' post from yesterday. Was she reading my mind? She is so right about waiting for an "aha" moment, how that may not come, and how that isn't really important. So, here was one of those little moments of realization for me last week:
On Friday the Head of School Search Committee met with RG175, the search consultants who had been fact-finding visit for two days. They were sharing their observations about the many strengths of Waynflete (and they really glowed about them), as well as what they saw as a few of our biggest challenges. One of the challenges that they saw, and I know they saw it because I pointed it out to them, as I'm sure many did, was that technologically, we may not need to get ahead of the curve, but we need to work our way closer to the crest of the wave. Several of the members of the committee nodded at this observation, but others took issue. The consultant asked one of the dissenters, "well, who are the leaders on campus who are making implementation happen and energizing others?" The committee member said, "Well, Tom is one." I happened to be sipping an iced tea, and I almost spit it out! "Believe me," I thought, "if I am a leader in this area, we are all in trouble!" It was interesting to me, because I assume that the comment came from the fact that this person knew I was in TLC (and probably didn't know that I was at least a week late on my responsibility to post on this blog!) So, here's what I wanted to communicate to my fellow members of TLC: that we are perceived to be leaders in our school community in technology implementation, and that whether we feel that way or not, others do. We don't need to be so critical of the limitations of our efforts and can just recognize that others are looking to us. That gives us a lot of influence. I know I need to remind myself of that periodically, so I'm reminding you too!
That is a great reminder Tom- we are definitely looked at as leaders, which is hard to remember as we bumble along the path of discovery. My wish is that more of our colleagues were coming to EdCamp (unless they haven't registered yet)...EdCamp feels like a big moment of leadership; we have created an opportunity for our entire faculty (and so many others!) to their feet wet on the technology front. I sort of wish it were mandatory! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for this post Tom. It is an interesting question that you bring up - Are we behind the "wave" technologically? and is this a concern? I certainly think we are (as I know many of you think so too), but I'm not sure we as a school find it a "challenge" at the moment. But is that because we are not thinking about it in that way? I think this search along with the strategic plan will help put this into focus. But I think it is up to us , TLC, to help spread the word by making changes (big and small) in our classrooms. I know it's not the easiest way to affect change but it's what we can do now. Tom, I am glad you can bring your voice to the search committee.
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