A Day in the Life

I was hired as a technology facilitator. That means I should be spending my time helping teachers integrate technology into their curriculum. Sometimes that requires training teachers how to set up their default printer, sometimes it requires revising the school website so it is easier to navigate for parents, teachers and students. I know eventually I will get to do more of the “fun stuff;” showing teachers how to find appropriate sources of information for a lesson or a unit, bringing a cart of laptops into a classroom and co-teaching a lesson on a new Web 2.0 tool, even helping a teacher create a classroom set of blogs for their students. But, as we enter the third full week of school, I find myself preoccupied with something that I really wasn’t hired to do. Yes, administering the NWEA test is part of my job description, but it is supposed to be a very small part. Unfortunately, for the last 3 weeks, it has been an overwhelming part. Don’t get me wrong, I am not unhappy with my job. I think I have the best job in the world. But if I find testing taking me away from what I am “supposed” to be doing, I can only imagine how disruptive this testing is for the classroom teachers.