We Were On a Break

So in my last post on this blog, just shy of two years ago, I let the world know that I was trying a new adventure in the world of school communications.

I enjoyed my tenure as a communications specialist very much and had opportunities to do things I never thought I'd do, like coordinate interviews and news coverage with the media, help publicize a bond election, and interact with community groups interested in supporting our schools. I gathered information on district events and tried to keep our district and community informed on what was happening in our schools. The most fun part of the job was when we got to feature the amazing things our students and teachers were doing. I also facilitated public information requests. Boy, was that an eye opener!

It wasn't all fun all the time, of course. No job is. But even the challenges were learning experiences.

I served as a communications specialist from January 2015 to July 2016. And then circumstances came together to move me back into educational technology. Since August 2016, I've been focusing mostly on three elementary schools in my district, working as their digital learning coach. As we are moving into Chromebooks and Google Apps and blended learning in our district, I'm having a great time exploring new approaches to enhancing learning with technology. And the best part of the job is working directly with teachers and students. Elementary schools are full of curious learners and smiles and hugs. I'm blessed to do what I do!

For a year and a half, edtech and I were on a break. I can't speak for edtech, but I know the break was good for me! I got to experience what it feels like to be a novice in your field. I won't lie; being a novice was scary at times. But it was also rewarding to be mentored by experienced colleagues and refreshing to experience growing in new ways.

Now that edtech and I are back together, I have felt a new energy for what I'm doing. Absence does make the heart grow fonder! And I have different perspectives on what the big stuff vs. the small stuff is. I think I'm more effective at what I do and more cognizant of how each part of a school system functions for the benefit of the learners.

I'm glad I had the opportunity to take a break. I'm even more glad that I'm back!



**************************************************************************************** All original work in this post by Sandy Kendell is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Please see specifics on my re-use policy in the right-hand column of my blog before re-posting/re-using any of my blog content.

The One Where Sandy Takes a New Job

This is it. The blog post where I talk about taking a new job. And it isn't in educational technology.

Back in January, I wrote about an opportunity I had to fill a gap while my district was looking for a new communications director. That opportunity eventually led to an offer to work under the newly hired director as a communications specialist. I accepted the position and have been working in and learning my new position for the past eight weeks.

Although not an opportunity I was directly seeking, it came along at a good time for me. I'd been experiencing a "stuck-in-a-rut" feeling for at least the past year in my previous position, as the responsibilities of it kept me in my office the majority of the time, away from the schools and classrooms where the action I love takes place.

By contrast, my short six weeks of filling in on the communications front in the fall had invigorated me. I was energized by getting out on campuses to cover events and interfacing with teachers and staff to bring the great things happening in our schools to the attention of the public. It helped, too, that I received positive feedback about my efforts from fellow staff members. And when a couple of colleagues mentioned I seemed more upbeat than I had in a long time, it did make me start to wonder if it was time for me to take new steps in my professional life.

I am not a believer in coincidence. I prefer to call it "Godincidence," when the One who is watching over me and knows my heart far better than I do orchestrates circumstances to open a door I didn't even know I needed to have open, I'd be a fool not to walk through.

I know without a doubt that I made the right decision for this time and place. I am still struggling with one thing - not calling myself a teacher. Over the past few weeks I've met tons of new people and when they ask me what I do, I stumble a bit. Not because I don't know. But because with all my heart I am a teacher. It's the way God wired me.

When I was talking about this with a good friend recently, he reminded me I am still teaching. I'm teaching people about what's going on in their schools. And I went on to reflect on the fact that I will be mentoring colleagues, and maybe even students, in communication and the importance of sharing their ideas and learning and accomplishments online and establishing a positive digital presence.

I've also been discouraged with the way educators and public education have been portrayed by politicians and in the press in recent years. Now I am officially part of the group of professionals whose job it is to publicize the learning that takes place in our schools every day.

So for this season of my professional life, however long it may last, when I'm asked what I do, I will answer that I'm a Communications Specialist for a K-12 public school district in Texas, but my hard-wired vocation of Teacher will always be the driving force behind that official title. Always.



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All original work in this post by Sandy Kendell is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Please see specifics on my re-use policy in the right-hand column of my blog before re-posting/re-using any of my blog content.

Your Kid's Future Depends On Their Online Behavior Now

Photo by Paul Hocksenar
Used Under a Creative Commons License

Whether you are a parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, pastor, educator, or any other adult who has a vested interest in or cares about a child, teen, or young adult, I hope your care extends to what the young people in your life are doing online.

Do you understand how much of their future could be depending on the things they are posting right now on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, Vine, or pick-whatever-social-media-tool is popular today? Do they understand it?

Based on what I see kids in my own community posting on Twitter, I think there's a huge lack of understanding out there.

I've read stories and talked about them over and over and over, but I don't think my retelling of such tales has any impact. At least, not as much as the original tales themselves should have.

So, I started collecting the stories, including direct interviews of and original Tweets posted by those who may hold the future opportunities of kids just like the ones you care for in their hands. You'll see many examples relating to athletes, but there are non-athlete examples as well.

Maybe seeing these stories will convince you as a caring adult to not bury your head in the sand and ignore the online behavior of the kids your care about. Or maybe showing these original examples to the kids you care about will help you educate them and get their attention. I don't know. But having this resource can't hurt.

I am using an online tool called Storify to curate these stories, and I will continue adding to the list. So feel free to bookmark or favorite or pin this post and revisit it on occasion.

And please, do more than just save it to your list of resources. Use the information here to educate yourself and others that the online actions of immature young people can slam shut doors of future opportunity for them. Use the information to convince yourself that you aren't being nosy or intrusive or overbearing when you take an interest in what the kids in your life are doing online and offer them advice and guidance. If you're an educator, come up with ways to integrate this topic into your classroom, even if it's just an occasional informal discussion. If you're a parent, use it as a reason to set clear expectations for online behavior early on with your tweens.

Here's hoping for a bright future for all of the kids we love and care for...

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 All original work in this post by Sandy Kendell is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Please see specifics on my re-use policy in the right-hand column of my blog before re-posting/re-using any of my blog content.