Do You Know More Than the Average Bear?

For the past 10 years, I’ve been providing professional development to teachers and administrators.  Currently, I’m the Director of Instructional Technology for Township High School District 113 in the North suburbs of Chicago, IL.   My primary role is to support teachers and students of Deerfield High School with anything related to technology integration.  For the past two years, our primary focus has been on Google Apps for Education and our Chromebook pilot.  Additionally, I’ve led sessions on expanding your professional learning network, integrating iPads, web 2.0,  professional development planning  and open educational resources (OER).    

Prior to becoming an administrator, I was a science teacher.  I was always considered one of the “techie” teachers because I knew how to use Microsoft Word to make a website and I used PowerPoint and HyperStudio as a presentation tool for both my students and me. I’m dating myself, right?  My greatest strength was that I wasn’t afraid to try new things.  More likely, if I was afraid, I didn’t let it stop me.

Throughout this time, I've been learning more and more about technology, curriculum, differentiation… just good teaching.  I'd say I easily learn something new on a weekly basis, if not daily.  That doesn't mean I use something new on a weekly basis, but I often file things away in my mental toolbox, or curate digitally, for later use.  This learning has been exponential.

These days, one of my favorite things to learn about is Google Scripts.  The power and potential of these little programs is only limited by your creativity and imagination.  I am always beaming with joy and pride when I am able to get a new trick to work for me or a colleague.

As a school leader, I like to focus on distributed leadership and building capacity.  So, I’ll often call on teachers or other administrators to step into the lead role for professional development.  Sadly, most of my requests are met with a standard response of "What do I know?” “I don’t know enough,” or  "What could I possibly share?”  I believe that teachers and administrators who are using technology don't always realize how far ahead of others they may be.  They assume that everyone else knows more than they do.  That's just not the case.  

I can tell you that over the past several years, I have inserted myself in situations where I definitely was not the top dog and felt VERY uncomfortable.  Putting myself in these situations, forces me to learn and grow more.  One of these situations was a Google scripting hackathon.  I had NO business there, I didn’t know the first thing about scripts.  As I mentioned previously, they are now one of my favorite tools.

So, I'm asking those of you on the front lines, take that first step into the presenter spotlight.  Put yourself out there.  Feel uncomfortable. Have the confidence to lead others down your path.  You do know more than the average bear.  Time to strut your stuff.  You won't regret it. You won’t look back.