Journal: Snow Day Victories

Well, it turns out that a scant inch of snow is enough to delay my place of work from opening until noon. Since I have a morning class, that means a snow day!

I was of course uneasy about the possibility of my students coming to class to find nobody there, so I called everybody. I also told every single person and voicemail I spoke to that in the future I would not be calling. See the homework blog for more details. I’ll have even more options for them in person tomorrow, but I’m not posting them because they highlight where exactly I work.

Victory #1:

I spent the morning registering for a class for my own professional development as an ESOL teacher. Yay! It starts Monday and will meet weekly all the way through mid-May.

Victory #2:

I also spent time getting my work email to run through Gmail instead. Success! My mistake from Monday was trying to accomplish what I wanted through the college email system instead of through Gmail. Maybe tech support could have pointed me in that direction instead of just saying that my request was “impossible,” but I got there eventually. 🙂

I’m so excited about this change for these reasons:

General annoyance: Gmail’s interface is just better from log-in to reading to sending.
Gmail has a SPAM filter. I see no evidence of one in my work email.
Personal boundaries maintained: I set up a new work Gmail separate from my personal account.
Inbox overflow issue solved: messages will only stay in my work email for a moment before flying to my new, huge work Gmail.
My replies will be faster: I’ve set up filters in my work Gmail that will forward important messages straight to my personal account.
More flexibility for me: I can now email my colleagues from my personal account but have it look like it’s from my work account.

In other words, I’m in charge now, not the email system. It’s a good feeling!

I’m not going to do a complete email victory dance until I’ve seen my set-up in action for a week or two, but I’m very happy with my progress!

Happy snow day to all!

PS – Yesterday: 20 students, engaging grid activity warm-up about the students’ exercise habits, beginning of the Getting In Shape unit, reading charts, talking about the calories that various activities burn. Very fun!

Journal: Campus Email

It was a good class. There were 18 students, even though it was a freezing cold (for Maryland) Monday! We did lots of varied practice around the same grammar point, including writing, talking, and filling in blanks. I was pleased with my planning and execution, and I feel good about my direction for the rest of the week.

I’ve had some ongoing frustrations with my campus email, but today I had a real problem: I got a gmail note from one of my colleagues that her messages to my work email were bouncing back. I cleared out the few offending medium-large (they were by no means huge) messages that I’d received late last week and into the weekend. Since gmail doesn’t have that kind of a bounce-back problem, I decided I’d quick set up email forwarding to run my campus mail through gmail instead. The system said to call tech support to do so. When I called tech support, they said it was impossible.

I don’t believe that forwarding email is actually impossible, so I’m spending today’s post-class time working around the restrictive email system (I’ve got several ideas for at least partial solutions, and am testing one right now). I normally use this time for my lesson reflection, planning, and prep. I guess all of that will have to come later on in the evening sometime.

When I have prohibitively dull tools, I have to stop my real work to sharpen them.

“Tech or Die:” A Response

Dangerously Irrelevant, a technology and education blog, posted a strong opinion that we should not just accept that some teachers eschew digital technology because they are either oblivious to it or choose not to embrace it.

To the post itself, I reply that I agree with the sentiment that digital technology is important to teach. I have to admit that I did not appreciate the slightly over-the-top tone. The conversation in the comments is frank and nuanced though – I highly recommend spending a few minutes reading (and joining) it.

For me, a huge problem with using digital technology in the classroom is Plan B. Specifically, Plan B is extraordinarily difficult. If my pencil breaks, I can sharpen it or use a different pencil. If I suddenly can’t get onto the internet, there aren’t usually options; I don’t generally have a spare router in my purse. I either wing it or use the analog activity that took an additional, unrelated two hours of prep to create “just in case.” (Note: prep time is often uncompensated.*) When you look at it like that, it’s a major drawback to even starting to use digital technology in the classroom, let alone relying on it.

Support for lessons like the one I taught Monday tends to be quite weak, and that’s problematic. Teachers don’t have to go find and haul their own textbooks. They don’t have to change the fluorescent lightbulbs in their classrooms. But they’re apparently supposed to keep their class moving forward while fixing the networking problem** that’s causing hotmail to think that one person is trying to sign up for six email addresses at the same time. It seems out of sync with other expectations.

No, teachers should not be allowed to pretend digital technology doesn’t exist. But education systems and reformers should not pretend that unpredictable SNAFUs don’t happen all the time with digital technology. Steve Jobs of Apple had major technical difficulties while unveiling iPhone 4 a few months ago (scroll down to 1:44 and 2:05). Even in a high-powered professional setting, technical difficulties and the efforts to fix them were noted as being “awkward.” Imagine if Jobs were less savvy, and if he didn’t have a team of experts working with him to fix the problems. “Awkward” would have become “total and prolonged waste of time” – which, incidentally, is the teacher’s nightmare.

Sadly, teachers don’t usually have a team of experts dedicated to just their classroom. They and/or their tech support are generally not able to rapidly fix problems. Rapidly switching to a similar digital alternative is also generally impossible. In my experience the other choice has been to move to a non-digital activity while the tech problem is resolved or given up on.

Add to that situation the typically outdated equipment and rampant understaffing schools of all kinds face, and we are just not setting up teachers for smooth or successful tech-based lessons. No wonder so many want to avoid it. There’s a great potential for a huge mess, we will almost always face the mess without adequate (or sometimes any) help, and we will be held accountable by our students and our managers for the learning that is not happening while the computers unfreeze.

Is this enough reason to just not “do” digital technology in the classroom? No. It has a lot to offer, and as I said Wednesday, I think it’s worth the headache. But we need real, constant, broad support, not just “should.”

* I know that students come first, but one reason we have trouble recruiting exceptionally talented folks to be teachers is that we don’t respect teachers’ time and skill with an adequate paycheck.

**Really, the teacher would probably not have the permissions to fix the networking problem. The way I see it, (s)he would have two choices:
1) wait for the overworked tech staffer to get to it and go analog in the meantime, or
2) hack into the system to fix it her-/himself, risking termination and imprisonment but keeping the class on task.
OK maybe that’s a little overly-dramatic, but the point is that there is a LOT outside a teacher’s control even when the teacher is a serious computer expert.

Tech Confession and the Purpose of a Teaspoon

Confession: I manage my volunteer mailing list on a Word document.

It’s true. Even though I enjoy Excel formulas and mail merges, have harsh words for presenters who don’t know the ins and outs of PowerPoint, have actually built more than one relational database, and love to find the optimal information tool for a given task. I am that person, and I copy and paste my mailing list from a Word document.

It didn’t used to be this way. In my old job at the main office, my Outlook contacts list was a well-organized-frequently-mail-merged thing of beauty. But when I got to my new job at the learning center a little over a year ago, I only had Outlook Webmail. Managing contacts solely with webmail is pretty much impossible. Word was there, I used it, and it worked. Months later, my nonprofit helped me install real, actual Outlook Anywhere on the learning center’s laptop (I’m unable to install anything on the main computer, which is library property). And months after that, I have yet to rework my emailing system.

Three thoughts on this:

My Word document of contacts actually meets about 80% of my current needs quite efficiently. Can I justify spending time reworking it?
Just because you’re not optimally using a given technology tool doesn’t mean you’re a moron.
It’s extremely difficult and time-consuming to work around the technology constraints we so often face on the job (and what do they really accomplish, anyway?). I understand why many people just throw their hands up and move on.

Spoon theory by scribbletaylor on Flickr

And now to the teaspoon:

This type of situation leads me to think broadly about the fact that people need more than initial training and ongoing Q and A to work effectively with digital technology; we need support in the form of quality tools. Even the people who “get” digital technology are severely hampered by slow, outdated, and/or limiting applications and hardware. When we have to figure out how to make our antiquated or locked-down equipment be good enough “in our spare time,” it either just doesn’t happen or it happens at the expense of the rest of our jobs.

I wish that the demands put on educators, especially in this age of obsession with computer-based and distance learning, could be accompanied by thoughts like, “Do they have the tools to accomplish this well?” or even better, “We should ask them what tools they need to facilitate these desired outcomes and then follow through.”

If all I have is a teaspoon and you’re surprised I’m not hammering nails with it, there’s a problem and it’s not with me.

Lessons from Clothing Donations

notice the restless bag of clothes by revecca on Flickr — 'notice the restless bag of clothes' by revecca on Flickr

I have had bags of clothes sitting in my apartment waiting for me to donate them for something like a year. Maybe longer. And last week, I finally donated them.

It was one of those unfortunate tasks that was neither important nor urgent but that would take more than a few minutes. So I just sort of stopped seeing the bags of clothes being slowly shredded by my cats. When I did occasionally notice them, it was never a good time to dive into such a big project (?) so I left them for “later.”

Lessons learned:

After “later” feels great!
I had to re-bag the clothes, add additional items to be donated, load my car, figure out where to take them, and physically donate. It all took about 80 minutes. Not bad at all.
The Epilepsy Foundation of Minnesota has done a great job with their website. I was especially impressed that they responded directly to a recent news story about clothing donations right in their clothing donations section – way to anticipate my question and answer it!
My apartment looks a lot bigger and I can now see my closet floor. If I’d taken a moment to weigh the relative annoyance of 80 minutes of donating vs. a year with more clutter, I would have decluttered a year ago.

The factor that started me tackling this silly little project with its surprisingly large impact on my living space was a conversation that became a plan. Those things are powerful.

Please Close Your Laptop

I have to go to bed soon, but I wanted to quick note a challenge that I faced in my diligent note-taking that surprised me.

I was at a presentation at which laptops were provided because part of the agenda was to have us explore a particular online course. I decided to just use that computer for my notes instead of the one I brought.

So I popped it open and started myself a word document. I happily took notes for a few minutes, then we did an interactive activity. When we came back and were regrouping, I opened up the laptop to get ready to take more notes. The presenter came over and very kindly and with no edge at all asked me to keep it closed because they were going to start again.

When I said I was using it to take notes, she thought for a beat or two and then said ok. I kept it closed anyway though. I thought that despite whatever assumptions she had made about what I was doing on the computer that she treated me with respect, and the best way I could think to repay that respect was to not be on the computer while she was talking.

But as a result, my notes are less detailed and much less accessible to me. I’ll need to spend some time keying them in.

Is this a common phenomenon? And how do you feel when you’re presenting to people while they are actively using laptops?

Traditional Libraries and ABE

Many thanks to The Centered Librarian for pointing out this article by William H. Wisner in the Christian Science Monitor.

Wisner basically talks about the changing role of the Reference Librarian from facilitator of patiently research to that person who changes the printer paper. The article focuses on the idea that libraries are being dumbed-down by the switch in focus from knowledge to information. I noticed that he also equates additional noise with additional technological distractions.

I need to sit on this article for a bit and think more about it. He makes many points, some I agree with, some I disagree with, and some I hadn’t thought about before.

After my first quick read, my big question is this: where, in a traditional library focused on scholarship and reverent silence, would my little GED and English classes fit in, and what would this signify about the roles of the traditional library and my students?

My Return, and What Makes Me Happy

Hello! I’m back. I’m not sure what exactly I’ll be doing, but that’s no longer stopping me.

I’m up to a few things that are exciting to me.

First up, I’m addressing the fact that my computer is over 5 years old and I don’t want a new one. As I type I’m testing out Mozy.com‘s free 2GB file back-up. I currently don’t back up my home-use computer, which is stupid, particularly when it’s already so old. It’s nice to finally move from “I should do something about that” to “I’m on it.” Inspired by a Lifehacker link to ChrisWrites about slow Macs, I also downloaded Onyx, a utility that does Mac system cleanups. And I’m considering investing $60 in additional memory (Chris links to Crucial.com, which awesomely helps you figure out what kind of memory your computer takes, even if it’s a Mac).

Also in the realm of being a wannabe tech geek, my organization started up a “Tech Vision” committee a couple months ago and asked me to be on it. It’s fascinating to me. One of our goals is to get technology vision into the strategic plan – an exciting move in the right direction! Another is to map out our current tech uses, from fax machines to Web 2.0 sites to databases and beyond. I’m gently pushing for this map to be electronic (with live links, etc.) and not just on paper. It’s a huge task, but I think it’s good for us because we’re having an all-agency conversation (through delegates, but it’s a start), and because I think it’s great foundational work for a website overhaul in the future.

I’m also excited about the Spring (it hit 80 in the Twin Cities yesterday!), and making summer plans, and closing out my first program year at the learning center, and the Sharing the Power conference tomorrow. I’d love to write more about them and add photos to this post, but I just burned my hand cooking and typing isn’t going so well for me at the moment.

Signing off to run my hand under more cool water!

Need… tabbed… browsing…

First day on the new job! It was awesome. I’m getting all situated, getting to know my new on- and off-site coworkers, and figuring out what all is in my office.

The only thing I have to say that’s not glowing is about the security on my office computer. I do not have the authority to change my toolbars or to download a new web browser. Not having a quick-launch toolbar and being without tabbed browsing are already driving me nuts!

I guess my rhetorical question is why we bother imposing this type of limitation on people’s computers. How does it benefit anyone to have me on an outdated browser and unable to customize my desktop? I feel like I’m back at airport security, taking off my shoes and separating my baggie of liquids and gels for closer inspection; I’m going through a security charade that makes no impact on anyone’s actual safety.

I’m hoping I can request a couple of work-arounds – everyone over at the library I’ve met so far has been amazing.

Also, I think the fact that my only complaints are so minor and specific is a great sign for how awesome it’s going to be to work there!

Learning to Teach English

Musings and Activities

Tag: nptech