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Some of you may be wondering, “What is Elson up to these
days?” I am currently working for the Howell Public Schools
in Howell, MI.
“Where is Howell, MI?” On the infamous Michigan
“hand,” Howell would be roughly located on the latitude
line halfway between your knuckles and your wrist, and on the
longitude line between your index and middle fingers.
“What is Elson doing in Howell?” The official title
is “Technical Services / Teacher Training Coordinator,” |
and the work encompasses everything from direct technical
support to staff training to curriculum development to educational
technology integration to industrial / organizational engineering
to infrastructure deployment to database implementation to software
programming, with a smidgen of architectural design just for
variety.
Despite the mélange of activities, I did have the opportunity
to design and implement (with much help) a comprehensive program
to educate teachers in the practical |
use of technology in their classrooms. I’m just now beginning
to see the results of that experiment...
At the same time, even my church affiliations are split between
the Brighton Evangelical Presbyterian Church (truly Reformed—Andrew
and Eric would be so proud) and the Ambassadors fellowship of
the Chinese Bible Church in Farmington Hills.
All in all, I continue to sense that I am the right place
at the right time, even as I ever remain the discontented Pilgrim. |
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When I last spoke about computers in private schools, I observed
that there was a wealth of technology but a poverty of human
resources. Moving to the public arena, I expected the opposite,
with human resource efficiencies of scale at the district, regional,
and state levels.
Ironically, I’ve discovered that although the playing
field seems |
different, the playbook is the same. Public schools seem to
follow the same trend of having the dollars to deploy an infrastructure
(mainly through bond issues), but lacking the human resources
to use and assess that infrastructure in the classroom.
In private schools, teachers are overwhelmed by the variety
of responsibilities. In public schools, |
teachers are overwhelmed by the quantity of responsibility:
the sheer number of students, especially those with special needs.
Even with regional and state level expertise, the primary
gatekeeper remains the classroom teacher.
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“...the playing field seems different,
but the playbook is the same.” |
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If you’re able to read this newsletter, then you’re
also able to see a mysterious program on this CD called “Tribute.exe.”
This is a Macromedia Flash slide show of photographs set to Don
McLean’s American Pie. The photographs are mainly from The
New York Times, The New York Post, CNN.com, and Time magazine
online. Some of the images may be |
disturbing, so consider yourself forewarned.
I know we’ve all been the recipients of hundreds of PowerPoint
presentations along the same theme, some of them extremely high
in calcium, if you will.
Nevertheless, I had selected McLean’s nostalgic classic
be part of this album prior to 9/11. |
But after that day, it seemed to my mind that the message
of that piece, like many other aspects of our lives, had been
changed.
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