Other Duties As Assigned

Three months. A seemingly short span of time and yet, a great deal can change in three months. Jordan had clinic today – often an extended appointment involving a full team of doctors. Today our appointment was surprisingly one of the more abridged experiences we’ve had in our nearly two-year venture into the world of cystic fibrosis partly because we lucked into ideal scheduling at the hospital and partly because we walked in with three small children.

Today, our arrival aligned with our doctor’s completion of another CF patient’s appointment, and the girls’ presence typically invites curious faces into the cramped room that we occupy, expediting our priority on the rotation schedule. I am happy to report that the girls were enthusiastically engaged with everyone we encountered, and Jordan only screamed for the first few minutes of his checkup – much less than we anticipated. We had to laugh denoting how healthy his lungs are if he can cry at such extraordinary decibels. (Keep clearing those airway passages, my son).

Check off “attend a clinic rotation” on the CF list of to-dos for the next quarter of the calendar year. In spite of knowing how well Jordan is doing, I still struggle in the days before it is time for clinic again. As my anxiety heightens before Jordan's appointment, I return to the notion that parenting often requires us to assume roles and duties that we never dreamed of when holding a newborn baby for the first time. Walking alongside a child in this world is full of beautiful discoveries that we share as they experience firsts and reach milestones, but being in this world means that beautiful moments are not devoid of heartbreak and heartache.

In life, we do not willingly sign up for the challenges we face. People do not naturally raise their hands, volunteering to endure painful experiences or to assume more work than they can handle, and yet there are moments when we are called to action whether it be to advocate for the health of a child or to support a much larger group of people.

At school, the byline in my instructional coach position that reads “other duties as assigned” continues to apply to the daily agenda that fills my scratched notebook, a notebook that I repeatedly leave in the rooms and on the desks of my colleagues and friends who I am blessed to work with each day. (Thanks for returning it to me each day, friends). Sometimes the list of to-dos feels insurmountable. 

Every day I ask myself, “Am I doing what’s right for kids? Am I doing what’s right for MY kids?” I have come to realize that this is a question that needs to be revisited each day. While my natural instinct is to be planned both at school and in life for the next three months straight, I continue to remember that what we do each day is far more important than where we anticipate we will be in the coming weeks or months. Plans are valuable and essential to our success, but plans should not be written in permanent ink. Plans can and sometimes have to change. Today matters and should be the priority. Instead of wishing or waiting for the holidays to come or the next chapter in life to begin, we should appreciate the here and now. The people and the experiences before us today deserve our attention and love because in that instance, and for that time, we have an opportunity to make the present moment meaningful.

Life is full of unexpected gifts and obstacles that can be used to generate positivity and perpetuate good in this world. I will continue to embrace those experiences. Whether it be an unresolvable tech issue or a daily treatment for my tiniest little guy, I will continue to seek and find meaning.

Thank you, Jordan, for teaching us all to tackle the “other duties” that have been assigned to Team Sukow this week and in this life. Life will continue to ask us to face moments of joy and moments of adversity, but again, I return to the idea that we no matter what we face, Team Sukow will face them together with great fervor and positivity. Everything does not happen for a reason, but we will make reason and meaning together.

What Happens When the Internet Goes Down

The afternoon was going smooth. Everyone in the establishment was working productively, and tasks were being accomplished. Then, unexpectedly, the internet goes down, and pandemonium quickly broke out. 

In that instance, tasks could not be completed, and individuals were unsure of how to complete their jobs. A bit of panic broke out among all present parties about who to contact to ensure the internet would go back up promptly, and business could continue as usual. In a block of three interconnected restaurants that rely on the internet to sync orders and accept payments for said orders, the moment the internet crashes, panic ensures.  

This scenario is what occurred at my parents’ restaurant this past weekend. As a tech-savvy person, I was asked to jump in and attempt to rectify the situation. Implementing educational technology tools, however, is quite different than making sure a register is accepting credit card payments.  

After addressing the outage with Comcast, I realized that the staff needed to create a plan on how to take payments offline, and we needed to act quickly as the Saturday dinner rush was about to begin. Officially, I was out of my element. If we were not using a digital P.O.S. (point-of-sale or more commonly identified as the register), none of this would have happened. Almost all businesses rely on this process currently, so there isn’t an alternative. Fortunately, we were able to take payments offline and created a plan for if this happened in the future. Within an hour and a half, the internet went back online, and the phones started functioning again. 

While I was called into action in a situation that I am certainly not an expert in, I was gifted with a fresh perspective. The feelings I was experiencing reflect how some teachers and students may feel when a new technology tool or program is introduced. I now understand how digital immigrants might feel, I was out of my element, the situation was out of my control, and I was unsure how to rectify the situation. At the restaurant, the tools that I take for granted (the register) were hindering my ability to function, and I was beyond frustrated.

My response at this moment must be how some teachers and students feel when they are less confident in navigating a digital world. I had an epiphany. I have walked in the shoes of the apprehensive technology users. 

How do we effectively implement technology? How do we reasonably make a contingency plan for when that technology fails? How do we find the balance between instructional strategies that require tech and require low or even no-tech? 

1. The first step is to realize that it is not about the tech. Often, we focus on the tools and less on what those tools could do for our students and our lessons. Flipgrid is a fantastic tool that can be used in a variety of ways, including redefining how often students have opportunities to talk to each other and give each other feedback. This tool provides countless opportunities for each student to give their thoughts and voice ideas. But when we say, " I want to use Flipgrid," we need to understand how and why before we focus on what. It is the same with any tool, whether it be as pervasive as an entire management system or as simple as a quick polling tool. We need to focus on the how and the why because ultimately, the what will evolve and change as technology tends to do at a rapid pace. 
2. Instead of planning lessons around technology, plan lessons and units using the UBD or "understanding by design" method. Technology should never be infused into a lesson for the sake of using technology. It is merely a tool that can and will evolve, and using technology does not guarantee that learning objects are met. As such, using UBD or backward design can help make incorporating educational technology purposeful and valuable. Backward design means starting with the end goal or learning outcome and working back to discover how and what students will be working to achieve that goal. With an overarching end-goal, this process challenges teachers to avoid being caught up in the minutia of picking a text, a lab activity, or any learning activity. Instead, UPD challenges teachers to consider holistic skills that could be honed using any content-specific text or activity. Ultimately, we as teachers are working toward helping students master learning objectives not necessarily become expert in our favorite books or labs. Not that there is anything wrong with loving what we teach; in fact, that is what makes great teachers great. We can sell our content like nobody's business, but backward design helps us to focus on creating well-rounded learners. The what is still crucial, but starting with the why allows us to create more paths to help students arrive at their final destination, which might create some great backup plans if the internet just so happens to fail at the least convenient time. 
3. Once we know what we want students to be able to do, we can begin to create pathways to reach the end goal. Every student is unique and different, so to should our teaching. As blended and online learning moves into our schools, the strategies used to teach in these types of learning environments can be applied to all classrooms in a variety of ways. Using station rotation or mastery pathways can help students acquire specific skills in the time and manner that works best for them. For example, if I was teaching a grammar lesson, I would use the pre-test to determine what specific skills students need support with, include some direct instruction and full-group practice. After everyone received a little review, I would then break students into groups based on skill-level and work directly with students who were in need of the direct assistance. While I was working with some students, I would allow other students to complete other work or apply their skills in an enriching way. Technology tools enable me to implement this practice in my classroom. Having a clear end-goal ensures that every student will reach the target, but again, they do not need to do it in the same manner or even time-frame. 
4. When two paths diverge in a tech-centric world, allow students to take either path or create one themselves. Using backward design with tech tools will permit me to empower students to drive their learning. Some students need more traditional instruction and practice. Others will soar with a little guidance and the room to move forward. Tech tools allow us as educators to ask the questions, "How might we," and more importantly, "How might they?" It is okay to take many paths to reach a destination. We can challenge students to decide which way to go and even let them march off the beaten path on occasion. 
5. When all else fails, pen and paper always work. When the internet goes down, the sky isn't falling. Unless you cannot take payments for services rendered, traversing a few minutes off-schedule cannot hurt students. While it may require some adjusted lesson plans, providing students with time to write, reflect, and evaluate their learning is critical. Instead of completing an online assessment or task, have students create their own assessment or review games. Have them write a creative story from the perspective of a character. Play the eraser game that students rave about in their math classes at my school (I'm still not quite sure I understand the rules, but it involves math puzzles!). Heck, you might even allow them to have a meaningful conversation with their neighbors.

When the internet goes down, it is not have to be the end of the world. We do not need to use technology every day and for every lesson. Instead, we need to focus on the end result. Just like the reviews of a restaurant, it's almost always about presentation and the process and less about how it was made in the kitchen. Think about the final product, plan for a little bit of chaos to happen now and then, and you are sure to have a room full of happy customers.