cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by Paolo Camera

Sitting in on a session today with administrators across the province discussing system and school changes, I saw this Will Richardson post pop up in my Twitter feed.  At the same time that we are talking about how to help educators move forward, I read this:

It’s always interesting to me how many people in education, once they start waking up to the big shifts that are afoot, immediately jump to the “ok, so how do we change our schools?” question without addressing the “How do we change ourselves?” question first. It’s as if they’re looking to buy the off-the-shelf “EduChange” software program and install it on top of their current school operating system. They don’t like to be told that there is no program to buy, no system upgrade to run, and that the only way they’re going to start doing anything really differently is if they decide to reflect on their own learning first.

Interestingly enough, I jumped into this “connected learning” environment when my brother Alec and I met Will for supper one night.  They pushed me to share more, especially as a school administrator,  so I decided to jump in.  I have never looked back.

Speaking with many educators now, they often discuss how schools are not changing and I have asked them, “How are you sharing your learning with them so that you are embodying what you want to see in the classroom?”  The “time” idea comes up a lot in the answers, but if improving learning is the goal, it is not going to come easy; time will have to be invested.

Unintentionally, I started this blog a couple of years back not as a way to share my thoughts, but to actually learn how to create an online portfolio so I could work with our students to learn how to do the same.  I thought that if I was going to ask my teachers to build a portfolio with kids, I better know it myself.  Through blogging though, I have learned so much about myself and with others, and I see it as time well spent. It is WAY easier to encourage others to do it now when I can tell them where my URL is so that they can look at the work that I have done.

Because of blogging, tweeting, etc., I often get labeled as a “techie”,  yet I see it a lot differently.  Yes I am somewhat comfortable with a lot of technology, but most importantly, I am comfortable learning technology and actually have learned to appreciate the problem solving process.  There does not seem to be a day that goes by where I am not trying to solve an issue or fix something (I still have a CD stuck in my iMac but I am going to get it one of these days!), yet I have learned to have patience and work through my problems.  Last night, I spent two hours (not kidding), trying to figure out the easiest way to set up a widget for people to subscribe by email to our school division blog site.  I would love to say I was smiling the whole time, but the reality of it was that I was continuously frustrated by something that seemed SO simple.  When I finally figured it out, the utter joy of that moment was utterly awesome.  To actually struggle with something and then finally achieve success is a fantastic feeling, one that I hope our kids go through over and over again.

I have watched many educators work with students and tell them to be patient, work through their problems, try different methods, etc., and then watch them say something like, “I don’t get technology” right after.  Do we think that kids walk into schools “getting” science or math?  We encourage them to  struggle, work their way through it, guide them, and push them to be better.

We need to continuously (and openly) learn to struggle, work our way through things, and push ourselves to be better as well.