Last week, a colleague lamented to me about how overwhelmed he was with trying to integrate tech into his classroom. More specifically, he said, was how overwhelmed he felt trying to “keep up.” He wanted to start a blog, but didn’t know how. He wanted to update his wiki (which had begun beautifully) but was having difficulty embedding items into it and his attempts at finding a solution had left him frustrated because he didn’t know where to turn. He expressed an overall fatigue about how difficult it was to “do all these things” and teach his regular classes; yet he genuinely wanted to use all these tools because he sincerely felt they were useful for his students and their parents.
He is not alone.
Within 5 minutes, another colleague (from a different department) joined our conversation and before I knew it, questions were pouring out all over the table. Generally, both teachers felt they wanted to “do all this stuff” but didn’t know where to start. My response: Start small.*
“But what is ’small’?” they asked.
“How do I know where to start?” they continued.
I spent 20 minutes with them, during which I showed them a couple of different blog platforms, a few “key” edutech bloggers they might want to follow, and some great wiki examples. I (hopefully) calmed their fears a bit and allayed concerns about being so far behind in the edutech world. It was a great little mini-session, and not an unusual one, I might add. However, the conversation was a genesis for this very blog post because I hope very much that educators in their position don’t get overwhelmed and stop altogether!
My 5 Tips for Starting Small:
- Remember: you can’t do it all. You just can’t.
- Choose one thing to do differently. When you feel comfortable with that one thing, choose one more thing. (Give each “thing” at least 2 weeks, incidentally. Psychologists already know that it takes 21 days for the brain to be rewired into thinking something is a habit.)
- Read 3 or 4 blogs / websites of other educators you admire who are using tech in ways you want to. Note: I actually advise against reading some of those “big names” regularly when you are just starting your edutech journey. Why? Because they can be overwhelming! Remember, those Big Guys (and Gals) have been doing this for a while, and they often generally assume that their audience is up-to-date on the latest and greatest trends. Beginners usually aren’t. I instead advise finding someone to regularly follow who seems just ahead of you, not miles ahead. Success will feel more attainable that way. (Personal example: I am still continually overwhelmed and amazed by Wes Fryer – though I love what he does I often feel like I’ll never get there. However, I began my journey following people whose names are perhaps not as well known, but were doing things I thought were pretty dang cool. And I daresay their names are becoming “bigger”!)
- Choose a platform to reflect and share on your process. A blog, Twitter, Plurk, the Classroom 2.0 Ning – these are all easy places to start.
- Keep doing it! And when you get discouraged, read Tip #1 again!
