Drape's Takes

The 4th Annual Canyons District Film Festival was held Thursday night at Eastmont Middle School.

Intense. A real heart-pounder, this clip does an outstanding job building tension and suspense while omitting the violence we'd rather not have our younger audience see. As I watched this on the big screen, I think I almost had a heart attach. Made me want to forward every piece of spam I get.

Poster Contest Winner
David Skorut - Hillcrest High

I'm already excited about next year's Festival. The poster below was created by David Skorut (who's quickly becoming a local celebrity) and will be used to advertise the event next year.

Great job students, on-stage talent, and skillful specialists behind the scene! You made this year's Film Festival a complete success!

Several months later, and I'm ready to shift dissertation gears back in to high, but have felt - for some time now - that a change in topic is most likely imminent.

It's not that I've lost interest in the the topic of open professional development, but rather that because the creation of a new school district doesn't happen every day, I feel strongly compelled to evaluate what has taken place as we've experienced the birth of the Canyons School District. The ride has been wild, affected a large number of people, and remains a highly charged, politically vibrant, emotionally taxing controversy to this day.

Over the last few days, I've been able to scratch out an outline for what I hope will actually work; and I'd love to hear what you think:

• Is this dissertation do-able?
• Does the study have merit?
• Is the study too large/small/fast/slow for a dissertation?
• How would you recommend that I control for bias?
  

In 2007, I guess I did a decent enough job at giving thanks publicly for all of the amazing things I have to be grateful for. And while last year I sadly dropped the ball, I hope to pick it up again now and take it a few steps further toward the end zone.

First, I'm breathlessly thankful for the amazing ride its been for me in this past year. I'm thankful for my current job and thankful for the experiences I've been privileged to have. Remember, it was only about a year ago that I was being pulled on-stage with Alan November, taking my turn at inspirational quotes, and sharing the Educator's Guide to the Creative Commons - at the top of my game (?) as a Curriculum Technology Specialist in the Jordan School District. Since then, my district was split and I've shifted gears slightly. It's been an amazing ride, no doubt about it.

Next, I'd like to publicly thank the following people for doing what they do so well:

• My beautiful wife and supportive family. Without them, I'd still be nothing.
  
• The fine folks I used to work with in the Jordan School District. While I've seen much good come about from the split, I miss the friendships we had built up over the years. I hope we can do more in the future to strengthen those relationships.
• The fine folks, supportive administration, and amazing team that I work with now. Building a district from the ground up is an incredible experience I wouldn't recommend to anyone. :)
• The helpful faculty at Utah State University that continue to push me forward with my dissertation. It is coming along, slowly but surely.
  
• Chris Craft, Jeff Utecht, Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach, Robin Ellis, David Jakes, David Warlick, Sue Waters, Steve Hargadon, Doug Johnson, Kevin Honeycutt, Dean Shareski, Joyce Valenza, Chris Lehmann, and Will Richardson - for doing me a solid last July by helping to give my Ed Tech team one of the most spectacular introductions to their positions that I could ever imagine. I did a horrible job in thanking you then, but want you to know how much I appreciate your efforts. The audio for some of our conversations is available below.

• Chris Craft - 07:38
  
• Chris Lehmann - 19:17
  
• David Warlick - 26:25
  
• Doug Johnson - 22:45
  
• Kevin Honeycutt - 17:17
  
• Robin Ellis - 14:52
  
• Sue Waters - 33:01

Here's a quick run-down snapshot of the team we have been developing to serve the technology needs of the Canyon School District.

Canyons School District:

• Formed because of the division of the Jordan School District, near Salt Lake City, Utah
  
• Consists of 29 elementary, 8 middle, 4 high, and number of special schools
• Approximately 33,000 students, 1,700 teachers
  

• Serve as level 1 technical support in the schools. Will be the first point of contact for break-fix technical support issues.
• One Technical Support Specialist per high school, housed in the schools.
• One roaming Secondary Technical Support Team Lead to serve as a coach and a mentor to other support personnel, provide consistency throughout the secondary schools, and to help individual schools where necessary.
  
• One Technical Support Specialist shared among every two middle schools, housed in the schools.
• A team of Technical Support Specialists to service the elementary schools (geek squad approach), at a ratio of just over one Specialist to four schools (including the Elementary Technical Support Team Lead). We anticipate using smart devices to push out job requests to the Support Specialist physically closest to the issues at hand.
  

• Serve in the critical bridging role between the Service and Deployment teams.
• Will provide some level 1 technical support to district office personnel.
  
• Will continue to support the same systems that are currently maintained by the Jordan School District Information Systems Department (and then some). At this point, the number of systems currently sits at 55, with new systems seemingly being added weekly.

• Will inherently provide some level 1 technical support but will focus primarily on assisting teachers and students to utilize technology to teach and to learn. Each member of this team will also provide teacher professional development as it relates to their specific realm.
  
• One Educational Technology Consultant per every secondary school to teach half time, and help teachers with technology the other half.
• Six Educational Technology Specialists to provide ed tech support to elementary teachers at a current ratio of roughly one Specialist per every five schools (with another six Specialists being deferred as future hires = final ratio of roughly 1:2).
• One Extended Technology Specialist (with one deferred) to assist teachers and students with technology in special learning environments (i.e. special education).
• Four Media Technology Specialists to work with on-site Media Assistants in maintaining the Media Centers (collection development, Big 6, etc.) in our elementary schools at a ratio of roughly one Specialist per every 7 schools (with another two Specialist positions being deferred as future hires = final ratio of roughly 1:5).
  
• In the end, the coveted "Social Media Specialist" position has been merged with the "Distance Learning Specialist" position to form the Media Technology and Distance Learning Team Lead. After all, shouldn't every librarian/media coordinator/specialist be a "Social Media Specialist" in today's landscape? I certainly think so. Our students are using social media to learn without us. Why shouldn't we, as educators, be expected to understand what they're experiencing in order to best help them use such technologies effectively? This person will also work to coordinate many facets within of our district's Ed Net/Concurrent Enrollment programs.
  

I was scolded today by one of the Media Specialists in my old district for having "too much technology" and "not enough library" in the description of the Media Technology Specialist positions that we opened today.

Yup.

That's exactly what I was talking about when I worried about bringing aboard all of our current media coordinators. Sorry, but at this point, some librarians still don't understand that:

Arne Duncan:

If all we do is invest in the status quo, then we've missed this once-in-a-lifetime historic opportunity to give our children the education they desperately need and deserve.

With so many high-caliber people finally digging in (acquiesce?) to the utility of Twitter, I'm finding myself approach such widespread new-found enthusiasm with mixed emotion. On the one hand, I'm grateful that people are finally realizing what we've been saying for years: Twitter can be an extremely powerful tool/experience. On the other hand, I feel somewhat dismayed that it has taken so long for folks to catch on. Regardless, I'm excited for the direction now being taken by leaders in my new district.

In yesterday's Between the Lines, my Superintendent publicly admitted that he's willing to give Twitter a try:

Canyons [School District] also may be able to use such communication tools to foster learning, civil public discourse and more active participation in classrooms and communities. Our staff is investigating several technologies as opportunities for engagement, including blogging, Twitter, mass text messages and e-mails. That’s also part of the reason (curiosity, I’ll admit, is another) that I’m checking out Twitter. If we are going to understand how these tools might be used in positive ways to improve student achievement or public dialogue, we must be willing to try them out and learn about them ourselves. As for my experience, so far so good.

• Why don't more school administrators use Twitter (what costs/risks are involved)?
• Does your district administration currently utilize Twitter or other social networking technologies?
• If not, what would it take to change their minds?

• Twitter Set Theory
• Edublogger Etiquette & Twitter Self Promotion
• My Twitterversary and the Future of Writing
  

Amid all the economic turmoil that's plagued our world, we're actually hiring in the Canyons School District. Right now, because we're building a district from the ground up, my department has posted team lead positions in a variety of flavors:

• Advanced Network Engineer - Team Lead
• Advanced Systems Engineer - Team Lead (Microsoft)
  
• Advanced Systems Engineer - Team Lead (non-Microsoft)
• Educational Technology Team Leader
• Technical Support - Elementary Team Leader
  
• Technical Support - Secondary Team Leader
  
• Technology Services Help Desk - Team Leader

It's been nearly two weeks now since I began my adventures with the Canyons School District. Here's my take on the whole deal:

• The enthusiasm and energy and excitement for the positive and potential changes that can and have taken place is absolutely electric. Palpable. Contagious. Amazing.
• Dr. Doty, the Canyons District Superintendent, is very sharp. I don't say that to suck up, but absolutely believe that he is the perfect person for the job. I continue to be impressed by his vision and attitude toward education and the people that make it all happen.
• I couldn't be happier with my current position and the team with whom I am privileged to work. I am truly humbled by the trust that I've been given and absolutely amazed at the knowledge possessed by those with whom I'm able to rub shoulders every day.
  
• Hiring people is an extremely daunting task. As I've sat in on several job interviews now, I'm touched by the enormity of the task. As people apply for these positions, they enter the interview uncertain of their future, nervous, and vulnerable. Trust me, I know, because I was just in their shoes. And while my heart goes out to every applicant, I'm often saddened by the fact that we must sometimes limit our selection to only one. Incredibly difficult, to say the least.
• Scooters are fun to ride, even when wearing a tie. (They've become the preferred mode of transportation throughout our old-school-converted-into-a-district-office-that-definitely-doesn't-feel-like-a-district-office-and-that's-definitely-a-very-good-thing.)
• I'm excited to continue the welcoming process. In our department last week, we have had the privilege of welcoming aboard two excellent part-time techs and the very capable Director of Technology Deployment. In the very near future, we will continue to advertise additional positions. To give you an idea of what we're in for, the skeleton of our technology department is pictured below. My team is on the right, with Technical Support personnel under me largely being housed in the schools, and the Help Desk and Educational Technology teams working district-wide. Many, if not all of the Team Lead positions pictured here will most likely be opening next week (check here often if you're interested in applying, as positions are typically open for only five days).

Click to enlarge.

• Eventually coming down the pike will be a number of other positions, whose fate will largely be determined by the hit we will be forced to take due to impending state-wide budget cuts. Among the positions that I hope to eventually hire are Educational Technology Specialists (Teaching & Learning Resource Specialists?), Media Technology Specialists, Help Desk personnel, Technical Support personnel, and maybe even a Social Media Specialist.
  

I turned this letter in to my supervisor today.

February 4, 2009

To Whom It May Concern:

In my ten years with the Jordan School District, I have learned a tremendous amount from the wonderful people with whom I’ve been able to associate. It has truly been an honor and a pleasure.

Therefore, it is with humility and thankfulness for all of the opportunities and trust that I’ve been thus far given that I must now announce my intent to resign from the Jordan School District in order to pursue employment with the Canyons School District as their Director of Technology Services. To say that my emotions about this transition are mixed would be an understatement but as we move forward in the coming months, I sincerely hope that ours will continue to be a working relationship – dedicated to improving the learning experience of the students we serve.

Sincerely,

Darren Draper