The TWAIN blog

I was up late last night preparing my lesson for today. It felt like that first day of school when you have the first lesson you put together to share with a new group of kids:

1) Did I put enough in it?

2) Will they get the jokes and laugh?

3) What if I run out of time?

4) What if I run out of material?

5) This activity - is it too long? What can make it more interactive?

Then finally going to bed and waking up 30 minutes later with more ideas.

This was the first group presentation I had with the principals and superintendents in my district. I was given 30 minutes. I wanted to be sure I packed it well enough. I wanted to share my own philosophies, direction, and ideas but also to show some of the “cool” stuff.

I packed it well but also left it open for changing and shifting. I like to have some freedom in my presentations.

Last night, I posted it all on Slide Share and my wiki to be sure it would work. And it all did.

By the end of the presentation, I had given it 90 minutes in all. People were taking notes and I could see in their eyes that they were piecing together ideas. I saw smiles. I saw jaws drop twice. There were two wikis made to host discussions between elementary and secondary campuses. Two wikis up and running by the end of the session.

I saw principals text their secretaries and send emails to start checking calendars to get me to them.

I heard my own voice say, “A waste of time and money is me…in my office and not on your campus!” It was a revival of sorts.

Needless to say, it was a good day. A good start to a new year. I am really looking forward to this year. I am passionate about what I do and I can tell that the need is here too. Teachers WANT to do more with technology. They WANT to learn. Same with these principals. They WANT to use the tools. They see HOW to use some of them. But they WANT me to come in and start the conversation. START the ideas flowing.

No technology for technology’s sake. The shift started. The match is lit.

And to me, this is so exciting and only the tip of the iceberg!

I just checked my blog and noticed that I never posted my job change information.

As of July 1, I will be the new Chief Technology Officer for the Kerrville ISD. I am currently in the process of packing my home up for a move to my new place. I have posted pics on my Flickr stream that should be showing up soon on this site.

I am really excited about the new job and role I will be taking on in Kerrville. I have always been routed to one campus in my previous roles. This new job is district-wide and I plan to be mobile for the most part of my job. “Have laptop, will travel!” I told my administrative team that I would prefer to be housed at the campuses rather than at the administration building.

This is also a new position for the district. They have had a tremendous technology support team for years! I met them and I agree. But in the past year, the technology planning committee challenged the administration to find a person to come in and help them learn to use the technology in the classroom. The teachers requested that this job be created so that they could take the learning to the level of application in their classes.

I am going in just the way I like it: without a plan and without a pre-conceived notion of what should be done. I want the teachers there to help me devise the best method for helping them learn and apply technology tools. How can we all learn together? We are all in this Web 2.0 world together and the tools will always be changing. I will be learning along with them and sharing as we work together.

I am really excited about the possibilities and for living in Kerrville. Its a population of about 20,000 which is different than all the other places I have lived. I think this difference is going to be the best thing for me!