Who is your superhero?
As the ISTE Ed Tech Coaches Network prepares for the conclave of superheroes at the Ed Tech Coaching Playground: Coaches save the day! event at ISTE next month, I have been thinking about all the people who “save the day” for teachers and students. May is a time to reflect back on the school year and say thanks to those who ward off evil on our behalf, supporting our students’ success. These are the unsung superheroes who selflessly strike out to fend off the evil forces of pernicious policies, traumatizing technophobia, ferocious web filters, glitch goonies, or logistical lunacy. Their capes are invisible and their superpowers oft unrecognized. Your superhero may be colleague, student, supervisor, principal, parent, best friend, custodian, tech guy, or even a complete stranger.
For most teachers — and for me– there are many superheroes who save the day:
The parent who takes care of the rest of the kids during a field trip emergency.
The colleague who volunteers to plan the team day events.
The kid who crawls under the table and finds the unplugged projector cable adapter amid the spaghetti.
The supervisor with a sense of humor about your crazy ideas.
The principal who allows you try a whole new way of teaching.
The kid who shows you how the tool works.
The stranger at ISTE who offers up a power strip for your dying device.
The other stranger at ISTE who pops out a hotspot when the wifi drops to tortoise pace.
The colleague who gives up her laptop cart days so your kids can finish their projects.
The MySciLife teacher-ambassadors who collaborate and problem solve their way through two years using a mismatched platform (another story…).
The very-much-veteran teacher who comes to a school board meeting to tell her superhero impact story, a tale of how her entire view of technology AND teaching changed because of an ed tech coach (thereby preserving the coaching program!).
The teacher who writes into the TeachersFirst webmaster account simply to wish the TeachersFirst team a Happy Mother’s Day!
The stranger in the Walmart checkout line who asks a question about the school stuff in your cart… and sparks a whole new idea in your head for Monday’s class!
We each have our superheroes. Don’t let them go unrecognized.
Photo Credit: JD Hancock via Compfight cc
