Walk a Mile in This

Those of you who know me or follow me on twitter may refuse to walk a mile in my shoes.  Steve, Gianni, Jessica and Antonio might be adorable, but they are NOT boots that were made for walking.

But consider it metaphorically, if you will.

I have had the unique opportunity to be both a classroom teacher and a technology... person. And allow me to cry for help:

To the techs:  Please understand you can't know the horror of planning a lesson and having it fail miserably.  We tout risk-taking, but really, as classroom teachers, in from of 32 teenagers, or tweens, or children, we want there to be a low possibility of risk.  As low as possible.  Preferably no risk.  At all.

And we do not understand your acronyms.  We do not know the difference between VGA and HDMI; we barely know the difference between the blue cord and the yellow cord*.  And we can't trouble shoot in high stress situations because, like a newbie in the field, we forget everything we ever learned when things go wrong.  We are focused on instructional time and test scores (right or wrong) (ok, wrong).

We have a million things on our minds (150 of them are students), and we tackle you in the hallway because you make us remember we need you.  You don't have to give in, but remember you don't answer to a slew of administrators, students, parents, grandparents, community members, on the daily.

This is what I beg of you: don't forget me and please forgive me.  I will try again.  I will try to learn.  I will freak out every time it doesn't work.

To the teachers: Please understand you can not know the stress we are under.  You have 150 students; we have thousands.  Plus teachers.  Plus administrators.  We want our kids to be able to use tech.  We want it to work.  We kick ourselves when decisions are made that do not benefit teachers and we really do have you in mind. But we have 800 teacher/admin devices, 7000+ student devices, plus all of the behind-the-scenes stuff that makes it work.

I know you worry about the one tech you have in your building; but we have to worry about the 61 teachers in yours.  And the 40 in the other.  and the 22.  and the 34.  and the 37. And the students with broken devices.  And the teachers who have crowd-funded new tech and want to use it now. Right now.  (Thanks, eCoaches).

You know when your kids take a test and then the next passing period they asked if you have it graded?  That feeling is the same feeling we get when you stop us to ask if we have looked at your device yet.

I am sorry about all of the acronyms and the computer talk.  We know that all teachers are everywhere with your understanding and we don't want you to think we think you are unintelligent.

This is what I beg of you: be patient; we really are working hard, after hours, and on the weekends, like you.  And for the love of everything that is holy, do not call your tech unless you have restarted your device and unplugged and reconnected whatever the ailment is.  Troubleshoot. Learn to fish.  That will help us help you.

(*this is a tech joke; there is no difference between the blue cord and the yellow cord.)