Ryan Harwood

L’eggo my Ego

Sometimes the best laid plans just don’t work out. Sometimes, when you really want to tell someone to quit complaining and just do what you need to do, you really need to just sit still and listen. Sometimes, when you only get to ask two of your three questions, someone gets the wrong idea. And sometimes, you’ve got to see that your idea wasn’t perfect and just make the adjustments.

These are lessons learned in the first month of a new job.

It has been a great learning week as I’ve run into some quite unexpected situations and had to really push myself to step outside of not only my comfort zone, but also my ego. One of my big projects seems to be having the breaks applied and that’s not easy to face. Thankfully, I have an administrator who is patient and understanding. When the news was shared with me, she let me talk it through and listened. In the course of the conversation I went from the frustrated little kid, to ok, this isn’t about me and we can move forward now. I’m slightly disappointed of course, but as I step back and look at the process I’m a part of, I’m thankful for the experience. Now, what I thought was set up in a nice neat package is giving me the opportunity to take it all apart and figure out how to differentiate learning for teachers.

I’m in a position right now to not only effect great change as our school is in a time of transition, but also to gain incredible experience. I’m in on the ground level of improving our technology plan and creating better systems within our school. Its an exciting time, but it is also quite challenging. I’m learning that I need to go into each challenge as a learner and with my ego in check. I’m excited to see each new challenge now as I adjust to this new realisation.

When we realize that we are all part of the ocean and not individual waves we see a power that we have together and how important it is to work for and with one another.

Sometimes you just have to l’eggo that ego.

L'eggo my Ego

These are lessons learned in the first month of a new job.

When we realize that we are all part of the ocean and not individual waves we see a power that we have together and how important it is to work for and with one another.

Sometimes you just have to l’eggo that ego.

A Post From the Bleachers

This week my post comes from the bleachers as I’m on my weekly lunch duty assignment.

One of the things I love about our middle school is the freedom the students have during their lunch. They have multiple areas, all outdoors, where they can purchase and enjoy their lunch, and they are free to hit the library for some quiet or the field to burn off some energy. Its some kind of controlled chaos or sure as there are usually multiple balls and teams on the field at once, but somehow they manage to make it work.

Its been a good week in the world of technology coaching. The focus right now has been primarily on our Google Certified Educator initiative which seems to be going pretty well so far. I actually just sent out a survey today to get a little feedback from the staff so more on that later. (I do love the real time results you get from Google Forms)I’ve averaged about 20 participants a week over the three week period. Not terrible, but not great. That means I’m only reaching about 25% of our staff directly, but I’m counting this as a blended learning model as teachers have the option of coming to my sessions, working directly through the Google Training Center, using the resources I’m creating along the way or some combination of both. I also figure this 25% means I’m hitting that middle group between the early adopters and the ‘not gonna do its’.

I’ve gone back to reading the Art of Coaching as I try to build my skill set and develop this job. It feels like a good place to start. I’m also contemplating a go at ISTE’s Coaching Academy series. I had hoped to start it with the beginning of the new year, but in the midst of running Google Training, the usual start of the year stuff and planning a couple of workshops for AISA’s conference in October, I’m thinking it will have to wait. For now I’m relying on my Twitter friends, personal experience and reading for my professional development.

Alright, lunch is over and its time to get back at it.

From the Couch

This week my reflect and write notification popped up while I was away from the office. Specifically while I was kicked back on my couch. Unfortunately, it isn’t a holiday or a fun personal day, but a sick day for my little one. We had to leave school early today to take her to the doc and get her home. She’s been sleeping for a while now so I’ve been working from the couch next to her. Sick kids in a developing, malaria having country is always a little nerve racking, but she’ll be ok.

The week was a good one and I feel like there is a positive energy in our building. I’m learning every day and getting some good feedback from my colleagues. I’ve had moderate attendance at my “Getting Techy” sessions and what I would consider great attendance at our Tech Thursday sessions after school. One of my favorite things to see is that attendance has been a mix of all divisions in the school. Yesterday’s session had at least one teacher from ECC, ES, MS & HS. I think it is important for a school of our size to make sure we create and maintain those connections between divisions. We’ve got between 750 & 800 students which is just small enough to still feel like a genuine community, but we have to put in some work to keep it that way.

I’m enjoying running sessions about Google. I’m definitely not reaching everyone, but those who join my groups have been positive. I also started my Google For Education Certified Trainer course today. I’m looking forward to submitting that application. The new curriculum is much improved. I did not like the tests in the past that covered each tool specifically. It felt like I was back in middle school trying to memorize terms and dates for a history exam. Again, Google has found a way to improve their product that makes sense. The new training is actually based on being a trainer, not just on knowing everything about the different tools. Its practical, user friendly and engaging.

Oh, last week I made some goals to help me with my focus.

I actually made a card to put on my wall as well some to share with colleagues. I didn’t have a whole lot of takers on the cards, but I’m determined to slip in some wellness with my tech tips. We could all do better with taking care of ourselves.

I feel like I’ve got my foot in the door now. I’m figuring out what this is all about. I’m making connections, getting teachers in my sessions and in my office. Next step, I need to get them to invite me into their classes.

Oh, and one more reason I love Google Apps. Helped this teacher with an issue while on my couch watching Glitter Force with my girl who’s already feeling better.😄

Enjoy the weekend.

Priorities, Plants & Plinko days

Here we are on another Friday afternoon. I’ve taken care of an apple for my afternoon snack and I’m ready to reflect.

I’m finding my most difficult challenge to be the part of the job that I also like the most. The constant change of attention that comes from staff stopping by for help, emails for assistance and the tasks that I’ve set myself for each day. I do pretty good first thing in the morning. I knock through some emails and solve the simple problems, set my list of to do for the day and get things rolling.

Then the Plinko game begins. I’m always headed in the right direction, but I feel myself bounced around on the way there. Its just going to be that way I guess and I’ll get used to it. Here’s my plan for smoothing out the road just a little each day.

Only necessary windows open on my screen at a time (I currently have 11 tabs open on my desktop while I should be focused only on my work on this one.)
Limit email checks to a to be determined time frame
Respond to my emails during that window and then close it again
Take time to breathe
De-clutter my desk

I’ll report next week on how I do with these. I’m making myself a little reminder to go on my desk.

Speaking of my desk, my office is coming together quite nicely. I acquired some upgrades this week. I got two standing desks with stools for workstations when colleagues come in for help. I’m hoping this will eliminate the awkwardness of them trying to put their computer down on my cluttered desk. (just added that to my tasks above) So far the feedback from my visitors has been positive on those.

I added some small plants and have a few framed pictures that are queued up for going on the wall. Next up is a fresh coat of paint to cover this fresh coat of dirty white that was applied over the summer. It feels good to be creating a space where not only I feel comfortable working, but also that will be inviting to my colleagues.

This week also marked the official beginning of our quest to have our entire staff become Google Educator Certified. I’ve set up half hour sessions for training that run 4 times during the school day on Monday and Tuesday and a one hour session after school on Thursday. Participation this week was sparse, but it was advertised as a basics introduction to the process. Next week we’ll start working our way through each of the primary GAFE tools with a look at increasing productivity using Gmail. I’m excited about the initiative and think it will provide a positive boost for our staff. I see it as a way to boost confidence among our more challenged users, create a sense of community as we work together and of course, boost the appropriate use of technology in our classrooms.

Getting in the Flow or “The Slow Clap”

My first full week of the school year is complete. So far, I absolutely love what I do. It is completely different everyday, full of puzzles, people and practice. I’m dedicated to looking at this with the beginner’s mind as I go through each day. My colleagues come to me for help and to learn but I want to make sure I’m learning from them as well.
I’ve decided to keep some data about how my time is being spent as I start the year. So far it is about what I expect. There’s a larger portion for parents right now because of open house presentations. That will level off soon enough I’m sure.

The majority of time being spent on ManageBac is no surprise either. With new staff and the transitioning process into the new year there are always some bugs to work out. ManageBac is a great LMS, but it takes a little getting used to and is constantly being improved. It can be challenging for new staff to get comfortable with the system. Especially when you add in getting used to a new school and life in a developing country.

I’m hoping the data can help me not only demonstrate the value in my position to my supervisors, but help me understand how to develop future trainings and workshops. I’ve already adjusted my categories a few times as new things have cropped up throughout the week. I’m sure it will continue to morph. If you’ve ever done anything like this with your work and want to share ideas, I’d love to hear them in the comments.

Finally, I have to share a highlight from the week. (My family does this at the dinner table every night by the way. A great practice to get our kids talking and sharing) There’s a little backstory here before we get to my point. At some point last year, I convinced the high school staff to give me a “slow clap” as I began a presentation because we all need to take ourselves a little less seriously. Anyway, somehow it kind of stuck and was a reoccurring event throughout the year.

Back to the present times.

We had a consultant come in to work with the entire staff on implementing our new vision this week. I volunteered to write for him on the board and a colleague from the HS got the slow clap going. There was some confusion from the lower school, but they joined in and there were smiles and laughter all around as I danced my way to the whiteboard.

I don’t share the scene to brag. In fact, I would usually rather be behind the scenes than in the spotlight. I share it because one of the first steps to becoming a successful coach is building relationships. As I made my way back to my seat and heard the chuckles and saw the smiles on my colleagues faces, I couldn’t help but feel positive about the relationship I’m building with our staff. How others perceive you can be one of those things that is hard to measure. However, moving into this new role with a slow clap under my belt, I’m feeling like I’m off to a good start.

I hope you’re week has been as good as mine.

One of my all time favorite movies. I get a little teary eyed every time.

Getting in the Flow or "The Slow Clap"

Back to the present times.

I hope you’re week has been as good as mine.

One of my all time favorite movies. I get a little teary eyed every time.

Its Been One Week

I made a goal for myself to write a bit this year about my work, so here it goes.

I’m happy to say that, at least from my perspective, our first week at LCS was a fantastic success. There were bugs, lots of them, with our LMS and scheduling, but we worked through them and I think we managed to get them all straightened out. In the midst of it all, our staff remained positive, understanding and energetic. I feel like this year there’s an exceptional feeling of positivity in the air amongst our staff. Its a great way to start the year.

I don’t think it was a typical week for me in this new position, but then again, I’m hoping there won’t be a typical week. That’s one of the things I’m excited about as I head into this uncharted territory of Technology Integration Coach. The week looked something like this:

I worked alongside the IT department to problem solve as we found issues from moving ManageBac, our LMS, into the new year. This also meant serving as a liaison between teachers, admin and IT. Everyone sees the issues in a slightly different way and I worked to help each side prioritise the issues and chipped in as I could in fixing problems. While I’m hoping to move more towards the user side of MB and away from the set up and management, I do enjoy the puzzle of finding why the problems popped up and then trying to work out solutions.

One of the issues of an international school can be a lack of institutional knowledge when it comes to these issues. We’ve had three different people responsible for this transition over the past three years, myself included last year. As the dust settles next week, we’ll sit down and look at how to make the next year smoother.

The rest of my week was spent introducing sixth grade students to MB. For some it was an overwhelming hour of password resets and creation, but in the end they were all successful. It was a good reminder of the vast amount of information these kids are taking in during the first week. I was fried by Friday, and I know they were too.

Finally, I got to step out of my technology role and do a little work with the same students on mindfulness. I love the idea of mindfulness in schools and helping students develop those tools. Our elementary counselor has done a fabulous job laying the foundation for them in the ES and I hope to be able to continue the work over the year. It would not only help the students find some balance in their days, but provide a nice balance for me as well.

I’m looking forward to seeing what next week brings. I’ve already got a parent meeting at 7:30 Monday morning to talk about parental controls on a Mac and I get to promote our Google Educator Certification initiative Monday afternoon. Seems like a pretty good set of bookends to start the week.

Tranisition

Another year in the books. I’ve now got thirteen years of teaching under my belt and it feels good. It seems like so long ago that I sat in the office of Jackson Middle School on a snow day to interview for my first teaching job. Little did I know as my references were called with me still in the room and the job was offered on the spot to start in two weeks, that it was my first step in a career that would lead me across the ocean. I’m thankful for that kickstart into teaching. Surviving a mid-march start in a classroom that had already seen at least two teachers come and go helped prepare me for anything that came my way.

Now these thirteen years later, I’ve graded my last projects and entered my last set of comments, at least for awhile. When I return from an adventure filled summer, I’ll be a Technology Coach. I’m excited to make the transition to full time after two years of balancing the classroom and coaching responsibilities.

I’ve got lots of plans and even more to learn. I’m queuing up to take the ISTE Coaching Academy Series when I return from summer and I’m reading everything I can get my hands on. Of course I’m open to suggestions and shared articles any time if you’ve got them.

So as I close up shop for the summer, I’m challenging myself to actually use this blog over the course of the next year to share and reflect on the adventures of a new tech coach in Ghana.

Until then, I’m planning on enjoying the summer, I hope you do too.

Surfing Safari

As I submit my final project, I’m still working on the unit in the classroom. For various reasons, the timing just didn’t quite work out, but we are about 92.7% finished. Throughout the unit, the ideas have swelled, broken, and reformed. They continue to come in waves. I have so many ideas of where this project could go and how it could grow in the future. The fun part is, most of those who are involved do too. Its been a great experience.

The definite changes that will be coming along in the future are creating more roles for the students in developing the structure of the project. I think it would be great to have students involved in the scheduling of interviews, the creation of the website, cataloging interviews, promoting the project and creating some sort of celebration at the end to showcase what they’ve created. There’s a lot of potential there for differentiation and even passion projects. Students could be involved in design projects, logistics, all sorts of things.

Ironically, the biggest issue we faced un this project was the technology. Thankfully, not on the instructional side. The students’ involvement and use of technology was great. The structure of the project, the timing, participation all of that was easy. It was dealing with the files that were created in a way that allows for longevity that has given us the most headaches. As of the time I’m typing this we still have an error message appearing when the files are accessed in Chrome (it seems to be ok in Safari). Images work fine, but if you click on an audio file on the map below, you’ll probably get a warning from Chrome. Its safe though. I promise.

On the other hand, this has provided a learning experience as well. I’ve been able to have discussions with students about the handling of files, naming protocols, all kinds of issues I didn’t expect. As you might notice, the map is still a work in progress as students update and format their pins. This is a result of files being created, needing to be renamed and relocated. We’re working through it. At the suggestion of students, once the map is completely updated, it will be split into two maps one highlighting the student’s work around their communities and one for the interviews and where students call home.

I could ramble on and on about this project and what I’d like to see happen with it. I honestly think it could become an entire semester of work, but I won’t go there. My video and some resources are below.

Below I’ve attached:

my original unit planner

and our working document for tasks for this project.

I have to say I’m quite happy to get this project wrapped up. I have thoroughly enjoyed my COETAIL experience and the challenges it presented. However, I must admit to be happy closing this chapter of my own learning. I’d forgotten how demanding it can be to take classes while teaching classes. Throw in moving over to a new job and raising a couple of kids while still trying to find some time for playing with my friends and its exhausting. But I’m truly thankful for the learning and connections I’ve made throughout the course.

Let’s go surfing now…