Greetings From Our President
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Hello Everyone!
Happy New Year Everyone!
Where does the time go? It seems that this year, more than any other year of my educational career, the time is flying by! I can’t believe it is the middle of March and Springtime already. I still have so much left to do this school year! Not surprisingly, everyone I talk with tells me they feel the same. There is just so much more to do and so little time to get it done.
Across the country, we are all feeling a little overwhelmed by teacher and administrator evaluation, SBAC and PARCC assessments, curricula alignment to the common core, and making sure that technology is in place for the new online assessments. I feel like a juggler frantically trying to keep a dozen plates spinning while tossing balls in the air. I have come to the conclusion that there just aren’t enough hours in the day to do the job and do it well. Under this new system of accountability, it is impossible for school administrators to effectively manage their schools, serve as the instructional leader, and evaluate teachers – three fulltime jobs! I don’t know about you, but I so-o-o-o-o-o need a clone! Probably 2 or 3!
Recently in my state, Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy, called for a slow-down and flexibility for the teacher evaluation system. [Sigh of Relief] Likewise, as I spend hours inputting transcribed observation scripts into our online data warehouse system, the Pollyanna in me is hopeful that the bugs will be fixed soon (technology is great when it works - LOL). It takes hours to navigate and use this system to store teacher and administrator observation and evaluation artifacts. As most people know, it is difficult to fly the plane as the plane is being built!
Which leads me to the conclusion that never before have administrators been so isolated from each other because we have compliantly hunkered down in our school bunkers to fly the plane. Yet, at the same time, we have never needed each other more! We must find ways to stay connected through the use of technology to help each other work smarter. We have to reclaim our professional lives, our personal lives, and even our Second Lives! Poor Roxie (my avatar) has been missing-in-action from learning with and from avatar friends and colleagues in virtual worlds much of this year. We, Roxie and Rosie, have not felt this isolated from colleagues and friends since BI (before Internet).
This is why SIGAdmin is finding ways to make sure that ISTE administrators can stay connected to each other. We are committed to helping members use technology to learn with and from each other virtually, without wasting precious time traveling to get together.
One such tool that we plan to explore is using twitter for chat and to share news, tools, ideas, and tips with each other in the twitterverse. SIGAdmin recently hosted a webinar on Tweeting with Patrick Larkin. See the archive link on page 3 and follow #sigadmin for links and resources.