Hacking

The past two months have been a whirl wind.  August and September run together in one big foggy blur.  I’ve had one moment of clarity in the last two months and it came it came at about 10PM the night before opening in-service.  I was charged with speaking to everyone about pedagogy.  I knew there were a few basic things I needed to say but I really hate being boring.  I couldn’t find the video I wanted to show, I couldn’t get my thoughts organized.  I had been trying to get this thing together for a month and it was still a mess.  Being that I am not in the habit of waiting until the last minute to get this type of thing together I was pretty nervous too.    Then, with the help of Google and some desperate search criteria that I no longer remember I found this post by Christian Long. 

He talks about Hacking Pedagogy.  Great idea.  Teachers need to pick pedagogy apart and put it back together.  This idea fits very nicely with Backward Designed Curriculum that our district is pushing this year.  Reflect. Rethink. Revise.  And there I had it – a short and hopefully memorable talk about how we become better educators.  Thanks, Mr. Long.  You saved me!

So I gave my speech which I hope was a least a little bit enjoyable as it was the last 5 that morning.   Then, the entire network went down, it took us all day to isolate the problem and I haven’t been back out of the fog yet.  This morning, a greatly needed vacation day, got me thinking that perhaps my problem is that I need start doing a little hacking of my own.  It’s easy to talk about what needs to be done when you are telling it to someone else.  So, what is it that’s keeping me from getting a clear picture of what I need to be doing and move my focus from plugs and wires back to education and implementation?   

I think the answer may be an easy one.  What I am missing is time for hacking.  From the time I walk into the building in the morning till the time I leave at night I am constantly busy.  Don’t get me wrong,  I LIKE being busy but I need to take a little time each day to keep myself in the loop.  I need to read.  I need write out goals to keep myself focused.  Maybe I need to put something on the bulletin board in my office and eat lunch every once in a while too.  I also need to take the initiative to change the conversations I’m having with people.  I understand that it’s frustrating when your printer isn’t working – and we’ll get to it.  However, the real reason we are here is to educate kids.  Let’s talk about how we can do that better than we have ever done it.