I think the purpose of the ITS program is to build capacity. It’s about me helping them get their task done and make their ideas work.
I’ll tell you a story.
Last year when our school went 1:1 we decided to teach each and every student how use Google sites to make a digital portfolio. One day I go and meet with this class of sixth graders and they are sitting in pairs. Each pair is working on something, a topic, to teach their peers in their class. Their teacher calls me their consultant and I go by each group and see what they are planning. I’m their cheerleader and I’ll tell them, “that’s really exciting, you’ll have to share that with me.”
A young man and a young lady had come up with the idea to make a website using Google site because they remember using it when making their digital portfolio. So, six weeks later, I’m sitting at my desk planning and I get an email. They had shared their Google site with me and wanted to know what I thought, and it’s awesome. They remembered I said I was interested in seeing their site. I notice a little something they could change, they could change their YouTube video about Newton’s Laws they inserted so it plays automatically. I fixed one. Their class was meeting then so I ran upstairs to them and said, “Did you see what I did?” And I showed them how I fixed it.
They took what we taught them with their digital portfolio and made it their own. They took it another place and then they shared it with me because I showed interest. They invited me to be a collaborator, and that’s an honor – to be invited.
It was amazing one of them built the site up and the other created animations of Newton’s Law. I had chills up my arms.
What do you do outside of work?
My husband and I like to play heavy card board games. Strategy games with a lot of rules and depth to what you are doing. We have a floor to ceiling bookshelf full of board games. We have a lot that we can play and we play with other people. We like the competition of them, we like the nomadic nature of them and the artwork. We joined the Tidewater Area Gaming Society that meets at the Meyera Oberndorf Library, TAGS, it’s an organization for people who like board games. It’s stimulating intellectually and also has the social aspect of it. We love it.
