How many of you knew that I started at my current, first and only job as a student teacher in 1993?
I was a student at Montclair State University and planning on becoming a third grade teacher. I had previously been studying fine arts and going for my BFA, but all things change and so did my major. During this time I did however purchase my first computer Apple computer, a Macintosh LCII, and was dabbling in some graphic design and web design.
In the fall of 1993 I started one of my two student teaching assignments at Montclair Kimberley Academy’s lower school (Brookside) in a third grade classroom. During this time the school was investing heavily in putting in a new network which was to include a large number of Apple computers on a Novell network.
The network manager knew Novell, but not Macs and my time with my LCII and being a poor college student who needed to figure out how to use and network computers to get what I needed done so a career began. I was able to help get the MKA network off the ground and for the following year was offered a job as the primary school technology teacher.
A so a career began…
Over these 25 years I have been able to influence and help shape much of what the school technology program looks like both in and out of the classroom, but as I begin my 25th year at the school the breadth and depth of the things I am focusing on has changed greatly and I am beginning to think back to all that has happened, the ups and down and the those time where I have felt most successful in my job.
Those times largely been when I have been the most collaborative either in working with or sharing with others. These collaborative efforts have come in many forms both in an out of school.
The work done in school with colleagues has been the first and best example of what has led to those feelings and opportunities to succeed. I am fortunate that my school is a highly collaborative and supportive place to work and I have had the opportunity to learn and share with many both in and outside of my department.
Social media has played a large part in these collaborative efforts. I have managed to development many strong and personal relationships with people who I first met online and have had help guide e in my professional life. They are now amongst some of the best relationships I have (@cuevash, @schneiderb, @vvrotny, @_JRamsden – just a few).
These relationships and collaborative efforts have always left me with a feeling of wanting to share and give back. As we (MKA) worked to launch our 1:1 learning program we took time to attend numerous conference and visit a number of schools. Once we got our program off the ground we opened our doors to host numerous visit so that people could learn from us and those we learned as well.
It was this desire to give back that led me to start blogging and sharing what is was we were doing at my school, the things that I was personally interested in and simply dumping out the things that were floating around in my head online in the hopes that others would be able to learn from or help contribute to in the collaborative efforts that have largely defined how best I worked.
This led to work with both edSocialMedia and Educational Collaborators where I was able to share and collaborate more with people outside of my school on a more personal level. It opened doors to the time I served with the New Jersey Educational Computing Cooperative (NJECC) as an advisor, working with NJAIS (New Jersey Association of Independent Schools) and most recently ATLIS (Association of Technology Leaders in Independent Schools).
As I start my 25th year I am taking time to reflect and take all of this in. I think about all of the things that have come before me and those things yet to come and learning from what has worked for me in the past and trying to get back to old habits and regiments where I felt like I was doing my best.
So… with what is now about 715+ words on a page I will let you know what are the things that I am thinking about as I begin this year and what you might expect to see from me on this blog in the year to come – one of the habits I plan to get back to.
- Taking a deeper look at our school’s 1:1 learning program. As we will be starting our 10th year in September 2019 we will be examining all aspects of the program for what has worked, what needs tweaking and what needs to change.
- Data management and privacy. The GDPR (general data protection regulations) from the EU got us thinking a lot about data management and how we store and manage our data both in and out of school. The questions around who has access to that data and how we as a school are using different service with our data is a big question. I hope to share more with you here and as a co-host for the ATLIS SIS User Group.
- Cyber Security. This goes largely hand-in-hand with the data management and privacy focus mentioned above. How was are protecting ourselves and education our students, teachers and employees is the first best place to start with all of this and has been a focus of mine for well over a year now.
- Sharing, sharing and more sharing. I plan to be more active than I have been both here on my blog and on social media. If you are on SLACK, in particular the ATLIS SLACK channel I hope to be a better participant and collaborator there.
So as a close in on the end of this post you may be wondering what all of this was about. It is simply a post to say that starting my 25th year of work at the only institution I have ever served has me think back about things and excited to start the next half of my career with a firm grounding on the things that have come before me and with a desire to build on the base I have put down.
