BFTP: What money can't buy (in life and tech department)

Here's a post that may help counteract the negativity we see in the news so much today. Not that anyone needs any positive thoughts!

Frank Sonnenberg's book Follow Your Conscience lists 50 things money can't buy. They are:

1. Respect
2. Well-adjusted kids
3. Work-life balance
4. Natural beauty
5. Manners
6. Common sense
7. A clear conscience
8. Purpose in life
9. Integrity
10. Good friends
11. A long life
12. Close-knit family
13. An open mind
14. A worry-free day
15. Trust
16. A new beginning
17. Clean arteries
18. A great idea
19. An honest politician
20. Peace of mind
21. A good hair day
22. Patience
23. Luck
24. A good epitaph
25. Happy memories
26. Time to relax
27. A strong work ethic
28. A positive attitude
29. A happy home
30. Everything you may want
31. Good karma
32. Appreciation of the simple things
33. True love
34. A new shot at a missed opportunity
35. Peace in the world
36. A golden anniversary
37. Talent
38. A second chance in life
39. Quality time with your kids
40. Wisdom
41. Happiness
42. Humility
43. A good reputation
44. A 25-hour day
45. Relationship with your kids
46. Youth
47. Class
48. Justice
49. A proper perspective
50. Selflessness

While I sometimes wish that I had enough money to actually try and buy happiness, I have to admit the things that I appreciate most can't be put on the Visa card.

And this extends to work.

School budgets are often very, very tight. Which perhaps is not always be a bad thing for technology departments. Without the time spent on acquisition of new "stuff," might we focus on some things that money can't buy in our technology program? Here are some freebies I value:

1. A long-term tech plan with user input and buy-in.
2. District-wide standards for classroom tech, building tech, teacher tech use, and student tech skills.
3. District leaders who "get" how technology can improve education.
4. Collaboration with curriculum and teaching and learning department.
5. A technology department that is truly a team.
6. A zero-based budget that reflects replacement and upgrades.
7. A focus on user experiences by everyone in the tech department.
8. Good communications and relationships with building administrators.
9. A carefully selected, promoted, and wisely used district-wide LMS.
10. A plan to replace textbooks with e-resources.
11. A re-envisioned role and purpose for the library program (and librarians).
12. Public support for technology initiatives, parent and public understandings.
13. Developing a standard "procedures and practices" manual for the tech department.
14. Formal training plan for technology department employees.
15. A practical management strategy for iPads, Chromebooks, and other devices.
16. A policy of figuring out what we want to accomplish with technology before we buy it.
17. A work environment of respect, open conversation, and cooperation - a place where one looks forward to coming to work.
18. A transparent decision-making process.
19. Recognition of teachers who surpass the imagination of even the tech integration specialists in their work with students.
20. Oh, and a tech director with the personal reputation for service, approachability, and student-focus.

I was always happy to have a budget that put more technology in more kids' hands, more training for all our staff, and better online resources for everyone to use.

But I also was glad I had ime to focus on those things that didn't cost a nickel - only energy, focus, and determination. 

What do you value in your technology department that just can't be bought?

Original post 12/21/14

Guardian of the sacred rolls

I've learned a number of things since the rise of the pandemic:

• What not to flush down the toilet.
• That liquor stores are considered "essential services" but public libraries are not.
• How many times I touch my face.
• How little experience even professional broadcasters have in using home video cameras and how to set them up so as not to look like Frankenstein's monster.
• How much I take the ability to travel, go to movies, and eat at restaurants for granted.
• That my mother has hoarded toilet paper since experiencing shortages as a child during WWII.
• How to stream the local news on my computer.
• How frustrating parents having their children at home can be.
• That spring can never come soon enough

But the thing that probably amazes me the most is just how much humor toilet paper can invoke. Every day for what seems like the last month, I've seen or heard at least two new toilet paper jokes a day.

Just this morning I was named "Guardian of the Sacred Rolls' by fellow volunteers who were shopping and packing groceries for delivery to home-bound folks. The Cub grocery store which has long collaborated with the Help At Your Door non-profit had set aside a couple dozen 12-packs of toilet paper knowing it would be on many a list and in short supply. Both the volunteers and the staff of Cubs were concerned that if regular shoppers saw this treasure-load, they may become, uh, irrational. So I was appointed the protector of all things tissue. Happily, I did not have to use force in order secure our customers' double ply since my ju jitsu skills are rather rusty. 

I don't believe I have a particularly scatologically-bent set of friends and family. Of all of my social network, I probably enjoy a good fart joke more than any of them. I generally associate humor regarding bodily functions as peaking at around age four. (My children and grandchildren found it less and less amusing to pull my finger as they grew older.) And it seems I am somewhat accurate in my observations. In "Why children find 'poo' so hilarious - and how adults should tackle it" The Conversation, 2/2/17, Justin Williams writes: 

 ...children find things funny when they are stretching their cognitive abilities. Incongruity is a key quality of amusement and that has to be pitched at the right level and in the right context for the recipient to be tickled. Evidence shows that once the cognitive level has been passed, the subject loses its potency.

The other key quality is the social tension that gives rise to humour... Humour can thereby be understood as a critical aspect of social play. As well as its role in social bonding, play is something that we all must do in order to practise a range of skills, which will be required for survival and reproductive success. 

So has the pandemic caused a little regression in all of us because we are stretching our cognitive abilities and practicing new skills? Or do we still just like a good laugh about something that we subconsciously know is naughty? 

I'll sign off with one...

BFTP: Benefit of the doubt

I thought of this old post when I saw a lady wheeling a cart crammed full of toilet paper and Mountain Dew down the aisle of the grocery store last week. I caught myself not following my own advice below...

_______________________________________________________________

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.

Plato

I once walked out of a hotel and I saw this SUV parked in a compact car parking spot:

 

The note taped to the hood read:

We've all had thoughts similar (well, I have anyway). Where does this dork get off parking in a spot reserved for a smaller car? That person strolling into the mall - why does he/she merit a handicapped license plate?* Is that person in the grocery store just ahead of me really buying a steak with food stamps? Why does the kid wearing $100 sneakers qualify for a reduced price school lunch? Isn't that paper too good not to be plagiarized? The light is green already - get off your damn cell phone!

But as I thought about the note on the car above, I could easily imagine a dozen reasons a person might squeeze a big vehicle into a small spot in order to be close to the door. Sick kid? Bad foot? Late for important meeting? Big load to carry into the hotel? Great-grandma came along? Only spot in the ramp left? Permission from management?

Or it could just be cussed laziness. Point is, why should we assume bad intentions? Why not assume good reasons?

Seems we do this as a species a lot, especially with kids and the less affluent. Presume guilt instead of innocence. Forget Hanlon's Razor (Never attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by stupidity) when somebody screws up. 

Lighten up. Presume innocence, stupidity, or as often as not, a rational explanation. You'll be happier with the human race - and yourself.

* This comment was left on the original post:

This one I take to heart. I can walk into a mall sometimes just like anyone else. However, I have a handicap tag. I look "normal" and perfectly capable of walking. Today at the grocery store, someone mentioned to someone else that it was "ridiculous that anyone could get one of those tags these days." "Anyone can't." And while I may look like there is nothing wrong with me, that 30 minute trip to the grocery can often take me 4 hours to get over. I have syringomyelia. I don't always look handicapped, but trust me, I always feel it. You can read about my SM here... http://propensitytodiscuss.wordpress.com/2014/06/03/syringomyelia/

Thank you so much for acknowledging that sometimes what we see is not always the full story. Walking into a mall may be OK, but the pain from too much time there is almost unbearable. Thank you for acknowledging that sometimes it is best to give the benefit of the doubt.

                                                                                                                 Original post November 10, 2014

We've all had thoughts similar (well, I have anyway). Where does this dork get off parking in a spot reserved for a smaller car? That person strolling into the mall - why does he/she merit a handicapped license plate?* Is that person in the grocery store just ahead of me really buying a steak with food stamps? Why does the kid wearing $100 sneakers qualify for a reduced price school lunch? Isn't that paper too good not to be plagiarized? The light is green already - get off your damn cell phone!

But as I thought about the note on the car above, I could easily imagine a dozen reasons a person might squeeze a big vehicle into a small spot in order to be close to the door. Sick kid? Bad foot? Late for important meeting? Big load to carry into the hotel? Great-grandma came along? Only spot in the ramp left? Permission from management?

Or it could just be cussed laziness. Point is, why should we assume bad intentions? Why not assume good reasons?

Seems we do this as a species a lot, especially with kids and the less affluent. Presume guilt instead of innocence. Forget Hanlon's Razor (Never attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by stupidity) when somebody screws up. 

Lighten up. Presume innocence, stupidity, or as often as not, a rational explanation. You'll be happier with the human race - and yourself.

* This comment was left on the original post:

This one I take to heart. I can walk into a mall sometimes just like anyone else. However, I have a handicap tag. I look "normal" and perfectly capable of walking. Today at the grocery store, someone mentioned to someone else that it was "ridiculous that anyone could get one of those tags these days." "Anyone can't." And while I may look like there is nothing wrong with me, that 30 minute trip to the grocery can often take me 4 hours to get over. I have syringomyelia. I don't always look handicapped, but trust me, I always feel it. You can read about my SM here... http://propensitytodiscuss.wordpress.com/2014/06/03/syringomyelia/

Thank you so much for acknowledging that sometimes what we see is not always the full story. Walking into a mall may be OK, but the pain from too much time there is almost unbearable. Thank you for acknowledging that sometimes it is best to give the benefit of the doubt.

                                                                                                                 Original post November 10, 2014