I will endeavor to write about this later but… the key as I see it is strong, consistent curriculum documentation that can be relied upon. Let me give it a think and will write about this later.

Andy

I would like to hear your thoughts on the most effective school model or system to creating those pathways and channels. For example, do you plan with teachers on a regular basis and team teach? How much integration is done in the classroom? Are teachers present for all technology classes you offer?

I have heard the old “work themselves out of a job” comment before and have used it myself. As I more further down the road on this implementation process, I am beginning to realize that it is probably not accurate though. Ultimately, a strong integrator actually ends up making themselves indispensable by creating pathways and channels for collaboration and resource building.

Your point is spot on. Our job is not to do any of those things I describe…but they do take up about 40% of my time…they are the little things that keep the technology running day to day. They are the little things that the Tech Office and local staff don’t see as big things, but to teachers…in the middle of a lesson…they aren’t just big they’re HUGE!

Take the podcasts I talk about in that post that the 5th graders are now creating. I did a 1 hour session with the kids…and teacher…back in November. Kim has gone in helped the teachers create step by step procedures for creating a podcast and now…they do it on their own. In fact neither Kim nor I have been helping those teachers for almost two weeks now. We’ve done our job, we taught both kids and teachers and they are on their way.

That…that right there is our job. That’s what is in our job description moving teachers to be independent users of technology. That’s when we know we’ve done our job well and we move on to the next project, the next teacher, the next student.

I love your point about being there to “teach ourselves” I think that’s often overlooked in our jobs. As an example Dennis Harter just today had to teach himself how to create and upload a text file to youtube to make subtitles on a move. He had to teach himself before he could teach the French teacher to teach the kids how to do it as they are putting French subtitles on YouTube videos that they get permission for. A perfect example of what people in the jobs you mention above do everyday.

So I’ll second your shout out. To those Teachers of Teachers who are lucky enough to work in schools who have admin who understand what their job really is.