IT’s got to work the first day

With only a little more than five days until school starts I am starting to feel really stressed about how much remains to finish. We have been very blessed to be able to update some outdated equipment and begin to accumulate a mobile tablet lab. But all of this wonderfulness needs to be installed and configured and made ready for August 21. Today it seemed that fate was conspiring to keep me from accomplishing much… My trusty boot disk died in the middle of ghosting the classroom computers. Late registering students stopped in for Star Reading and Math assessments. Teachers and staff needed email accounts set up and passwords reset. And I have planning and set-up yet to finish for my sixth grade class. I feel great pressure to finish up the technologist role and spend more time in my teacher role. But the technology part must be done right. All of the technology has to flat-out-just-work on the first day of school. There is a real energy among the teachers to make technology a real part of their classes this year. I am desperate that I not impede their enthusiasm with unreliable technology at the beginning of the school year.