There’s never enough time for K-12 professionals, whether you’re a teacher, principal, or, in my case, a (former) technology director. That feels especially true around the holidays as the end of the year looms. Though holiday break always comes welcome and well-deserved, having that much time away from your everyday responsibilities undoubtedly knocks you out of your rhythm.
If you’re like me, the new year always feels like the right time to set (and reset) the course for upcoming technology plans. However, with the long break prior, it is hard to feel prepared to hit the ground at full stride on January 1st.
That’s why I wanted to share my pre-holiday break to-do list that, hopefully, can set you up for success when school commences in the new year.
Communicate
You probably have a list of actions that you like to have done before the break, and within a school, some of those things require cooperation from your end technology users. From something as small as reminding students and staff to power off their devices before the holiday to as labor-intensive as collecting broken devices and to ship off for repair, people will forget. After all, they have a lot on their minds this time of year.
Over-communicate your expectations with students and staff, both in frequency and detail. Guide the process you desire people to follow.
Celebrate
A quote from one of my favorite Edu-heroes is, “celebrate that which you want to perpetuate!” Look for key areas of success from the past year: what worked great, went smoothly, positively impacted students and teachers, or was just plain fun?
Here are some things worth celebrating! Maybe you:
- Provided really engaging professional development that helped teachers leverage their classroom technology tools better this year
- Saw an increase in technology adoption and utilization
- Got interactive panels installed in record time
- Had a smooth technology roll-out with little to no hiccups.
- Were able to reclaim some of your budget through clever repair tactics.
- Navigated federal funding and made the impossible possible.
Whatever your successes were, remember the celebrate them and celebrate the people at your school who helped make it happen. You can go big with awards and prizes(Who doesn’t love a Starbucks gift card), or sometimes a simple celebratory email is best.
Hello Amazing Huskies!
Thank you for an incredible start to the 2022-23 school year. We have had an incredible first few months. Our 3rd grade team adopted a new curriculum, we accomplished over 1000 hours of PD on collaboration in our PLC’s, and we continue to see amazing success in our 1:1 initiative. Please remember to follow the attached guide for shutting down your classroom/office tech and have a wonderful and restful break! GO HUSKIES!!!
Reflect
The end of the year is the perfect time to take a critical look back to see what worked and what didn’t.
What did we learn in the first half of the school year that we can improve on in the second?
Start by reflecting back to your goals and purpose. Did you accomplish those goals? If so, what worked well that you should replicate in the future? If not, what got in the way and how do you overcome that in other projects?
Data is super important here. I am a big believer in the saying, “If you can’t measure it you can’t improve it.” For me, I always looked at things like:
- Software utilization (Were teachers and students making good use of the software being paid for and provided?)
- Breakage rates (What percentage of my device fleet was coming back broken throughout the semester?)
- Student safety/wellbeing stats (Did we see a lot of incidents of potential student harm come up on our monitoring software? Were we able to address them appropriately as a school?)
It’s also important to think about whether you were collecting the right data. Your data should directly inform you about how you performed towards achieving your goals. They ensure that you are able to effectively look back on your goals and say, “Yes we did it!” or “We have some work to do.”
If you don’t have the right data, start thinking of ways to collect it in the future.
Plan
As you know, being a tech director, the second half of the school year is busy, busy, busy. Not only are you solving problems with your existing tech ecosystem, but you are looking ahead to making major purchases for the upcoming year. Ask yourself:
- What are your top 3 focuses for the second half of the year?
- Who are the key partners I need to accomplish this goal?
- Who are the teachers and staff that I need to get buy-in from?
- Whose help do I need to employ for upcoming projects?
- Who is my vendor partner for any purchases, repairs, or consultations? Do I trust this partner to work with me to accomplish my goals?
I also suggest a little short-term planning to help you get back into the swing of things. Map out your first three weeks back to school so you can come back from break ready to go.
These first few weeks are a great time to set up demos of technology you’re making decisions on next year.
Why are demos so important? According to the article, “What’s Next for 1:1 Devices: Strategies for Maximizing Purchases and Learning Outcomes,” put out by THE Journal, getting teacher input on technology purchases ahead of time can greatly affect its efficacy in the classroom. The article called out a survey done by Logitech that found that one in five K–12 leaders said that getting teacher input and feedback prior to purchase “could increase the potential of ed tech to enhance learning in their districts or schools”.
So get those demos set up!
Here’s a list of free demos and trials available at Trafera right now:
Interactive Flat Panels
- Promethean:
- Newline:
Software and Licenses
Rest
This is the hardest, yet most important step: Get some rest! Remember that having sustainable and long-lasting technology processes is a marathon not a sprint.
Enjoy your break! You have earned it.
