This is my first August as an Instructional Technology TOA and my colleagues and I are off the hook busy.  It’s common for me to start my day at the district office before heading off to 1 or 2 school sites.  My district has recently given all students, faculty and staff Google accounts, which means I field a lot of different questions and requests daily. Some I know how to respond to immediately while others require research prior to answering.

Customer service is a top priority.  As a department, the director, coordinators, office staff and the 4 instructional techs work together to provide a positive customer service experience for all our teachers and staff.  Which is why, I never go anywhere without these 4 items.  They keep me organized and efficient.

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The red binder holds my yearly planner where all appointments are recorded.  I also record my appointments on an on-line calendar. However, if I’m walking across campus and a teacher asks if I’m open next Monday, there’s not enough time to open up my computer. Instead, I grab my red binder and access my weekly and monthly schedule within seconds.

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Any technical procedure that I’d have to complete unexpectedly or on the fly are stored in my orange binder. I’ve typed out the steps and stored them in a folder on my computer, but the hard copy saves precious time when at sites.

The blue composition book holds:

• Questions that I have to follow up on
• Comments that I have to relay back to the department
• Requests made
• Trouble shooting steps taken when working out a problem
• Technical steps that I have to write up, store in a folder, then put in my orange binder
• Interesting pieces of information that I want to learn more about, etc…

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When I flip back through the pages of my composition book to address the questions, comments and requests, the follow up happens through my computer. The research, the emails, the scheduling – all of it done on my computer.

As the stickers suggest, Google and Desmos are 2 programs I promote.  My district has gone Google, therefore I became Google Educator Level 1 certified. I spend a considerable part of my day either training teachers on Google apps and/or learning how the apps can best be utilized in the classroom.

I’m also a Desmos fellow. Desmos is a dynamic graphing calculator program that allows students to interact with math.  One can find the calculator at Desmos.com.  For me, I spend time on teacher.desmos.com creating activities for teachers from kindergarten to high school.

I love my job.  It’s fast paced and each day brings a different adventure.  If I didn’t have my red yearly planner, orange binder, blue composition book and computer, I would not provide the positive customer service experience my department prides itself on!