This past week I received my first email from a student. I know this may sound like no big deal to many of you, but this was truly revolutionary to me. The student simply stated he had heard about a new student technology assistance team we were starting and he wanted to know how to get involved. A very simple request but it had a profound impact on me.
As a principal, I do my best to get to know the students. I enjoy the time I get to converse with students in the morning and in between classes. I love talking with students and encouraging them through a sincere greeting and a smile. I relish the moments when I get to spend a few extra minutes with a student and they share with me a story about something happening in their life. I am conditioned like Pavlov's dogs to rush out to the halls when I hear the bell ring so I can catch a few moments of interaction with the students. However, this one student email completely changed my thought process and made me think I may be missing a key opportunity with my students.
Being in a 1:1 school, I have talked numerous times to our staff about the various ways they can use technology to enhance student learning. We have talked about 24/7 student access and I have witnessed countless incidents of teachers using technology tools to leverage learning opportunities beyond the classroom. As a principal I do my best to model the use of technology to enhance communication and learning for our staff. I believe I need to be a lead learner and to not ask anything of our staff I would not be willing to do myself. Between school blogs, a school Facebook page, Twitter posts and collaboration, and Google sites for professional development and building communication, I am continually trying to model the power of technology for our staff. Which is why I can't believe I missed it. After receiving my first email from a student I began to ask myself:
- Why have I limited myself to using these web 2.0 tools to communicate and collaborate with staff?
- Why haven't I leveraged these tools to make myself more open to students?
- What possible opportunities have I been missing to communicate with students beyond the halls?
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