It all started with a question: “What advice do you have for teachers who want to be more innovative?” The hosts from the #12 Day Summit at Birdsville ISD asked Matt Miller, the creator of Ditch That Textbook.
His response was one similar to the one I give teachers when asking them to try something new in the classroom:
Innovation and change doesn’t have to come in great big leaps and bounds. You don’t have to reinvent education to innovate, just be open-minded to try something new. It may not be a success right away, but that’s okay.
As he continued speaking, he described how as teachers we try a new idea and sometimes it’s glorious and other times utter chaos. He compared this process to when Google comes out with a new product, but it’s labeled with the word “beta”, meaning it’s still in a testing state, being tried out by users and being fixed as needed.
Talking with the hosts, one of them commented, “Wouldn’t it be great if we all lived in a beta state?” And a blog was born.
I paused the video and thought about that statement. Don’t I as an Instructional Technology Resource Teacher (ITRT) often feel like I am living in a beta state? Working at both a middle and high school in a 1:1 school district, my job is to stay up to date with technology tools and test them out; finding strategies and helping teachers come up with lesson ideas. I try new things with teachers almost every day, encouraging them and helping them to not stress out if everything doesn’t go right the first time. I teach in a beta state.
What a perfect name for a blog.
And here it is.
Join me for my own beta test on WordPress, a site I have never used before and where I will hopefully post at least once a week, giving you tips, tricks, ideas, and my latest musings.
Ms Priester EDU 