Category: Teaching

Lessons Learned My First 5 Years Of Teaching

It’s always interesting to find out what new teachers learned in their early teaching that affected their later years. Here’s Ask a Tech Teacher contributor, Elaine Vanessa’s, take on that–5 bits of wisdom she acquired while surviving the early teaching years:

My first five years of teaching were the shortest and longest years of my life. I was living the best and the worst time simultaneously. However, it was the most memorable time of my life that I don’t want to forget. Also, those five years made me a well-groomed educator and a better person in my life.

Every teacher has a dream of having a classroom with respectful kids having fun activities and love while learning. It makes teaching easy if kids love to be in the room every day. However, my first years were not like that. As I continued, I got better every year. There was one thing consistent; learning. Below are five lessons that I have learned in my first five years of teaching. I am sharing them in the hope of being a candle in someone’s darkroom.

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Balance the Delivery

Four to six hours in front of a computer for instruction. Unaccounted time for social media and gaming usage. Sounds like too much screen time? Some parents are beginning to see the fatigue in their children. School administrators and teachers are feeling the fatigue, as well as their jobs become increasingly dependent on computer and phone usage. So what gives in the post-pandemic world? 

Years ago, I took the lead in writing a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy for my school site, which was later adopted by my district. At the time, I thought this was a novel approach to address the lack of technology for students. It worked until our site eventually became one of the first sites to roll out a one-to-one policy with Chromebooks. While already aware of the effects smartphones had on students’ attention, I tried to keep a balanced approach to using technology in my classroom. However, being a techie, I continually experimented with new applications and, later, the Canvas LMS. I found that students were happy using the technology, but some would rather complete work pen to paper or do an assessment/project without the technology. 

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teacher appreciation week

How to Thank a Teacher

I found this article in my mailbox the other day, from The Tech Edvocate. This has been such a trying time for parents, students, and our teachers. Check out these great ways to say thank you that anyone can do:

HOW TO SAY THANK YOU TO TEACHERS

No matter what you do for a career or how successful you are, chances are you would not be where you are today if you had not obtained a K-12 education. Without a question, great educators are important. However, in the last year or two, educators around the country have gone on strike and protested for better salaries and working conditions.

Read more…

If none of these resonate with you, check out these ideas on Ask a Tech Teacher:

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Need a New Job? Here’s What You Do

You’ve been teaching for five years and love what you’re doing. You consider yourself darn lucky to be working with colleagues that are friends and a boss who always puts your needs first. Most of the teachers at your school have been there years — even decades — and you have no doubt that, too, will be you. So, you don’t bother to keep your resume up-to-date or expand your teaching skills other than what is required for your position. In short, you found the square hole that fits your square peg.

Until the day that changes. There are dozens of reasons, from new bosses who want to shake things up to your husband gets a job in a different state. The only good news: Your boss told you already, giving you time to job hunt for the new school year. For many schools, if they’re going to make staffing changes, early Spring is when they start looking for the new people. For you as a job hunting educator, this becomes the best time of year to find a job.

Digital portfolio sites

Rather than a two-page printed document that can be lost and serves only one user, a digital portfolio posts your resume online, in an easy-to-understand format. This makes it more available, transparent, robust, and quickly updated. This is the modern resume, tells future bosses you can use technology as a tool, and can give you an edge in a competitive job market. It organizes your qualifications, evidence, and background in one easy-to-reach online location. Interested parties can check it without bothering you and decide if the fit is good. You do nothing — which can save the disappoint of sending out a resume and getting nothing but silence back.

Here are suggestions for digital portfolio sites:

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Tech Teacher Appreciation Week

I posted this article last year, got lots of reads, so am republishing with some updates. I’ve included information about:

  • How tech teachers are different than other teachers
  • Why tech and the teacher who manages it in your school has become more important than ever
  • How to talk to a tech teacher (hint: they’re a little different; heed these suggestions)
  • Gifts tech teachers will love

Tech Teacher Appreciation Week: The First Full Week of May

There’s always been something mystically cerebral about people in technical professions like engineering, science, and mathematics. They talk animatedly about plate tectonics, debate the structure of atoms, even smile at the mention of calculus. The teaching profession has our own version of these nerdy individuals, called technology teachers. In your district, you may refer to them as IT specialists, Coordinators for Instructional Technology, Technology Facilitators, Curriculum Specialists, or something else that infers big brains, quick minds, and the ability to talk to digital devices. School lore probably says they can drop a pin through a straw without touching the sides.

When I started teaching K-8 technology, people like me were stuffed into a corner of the building where all other teachers could avoid us unless they had a computer emergency, pretending that what we did was for “some other educator in an alternate dimension”. Simply talking to us often made a colleague feel like a rock, only dumber. When my fellow teachers did seek me out — always to ask for help and rarely to request training — they’d come to my room, laptop in hand, and follow the noise of my fingers flying across the keyboard. It always amazed them I could make eye contact and say “Hi!” without stopping or slowing my typing.

That reticence to ask for help or request training changed about a decade ago when technology swept across the academic landscape like a firestorm:

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How to Become a Tech Teacher

I know from personal experience that tech teachers are in short supply. It’s not unusual for a school to transfer the PE teacher or 2nd grade teacher into the Tech Teacher job because they can’t find anyone else for that position. ZDNet has a great article addressing the subject:

How to get into tech as a teacher

Tech careers are in high demand. The tech field attracts many career-changing professionals with strong salaries and diverse career paths. And teachers are uniquely positioned to move into tech.

If you’ve wondered how to get into tech as a teacher, you may think the field is intimidating. But while some tech careers require coding skills, many do not. By highlighting your transferable skills and educational strengths, you can move into careers like instructional designer, eLearning developer, training specialist, or technical writer. 

Read on…

More about teaching tech

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