Technology in Education: Notes from the Closet

In June 2024 I presented the lessons I learned from coaching at the ISTELive Conference in Denver. I first wrote about this topic when I left my role as a school-based coach in 2018. EdTech K-12 Magazine asked me to write an article for their online publication. The text below is from the online article , published August 14, 2024. 10 Lessons Learned from 10 Years of Coaching K–12 Educators Water the flowers, not the rocks. By Nicole Zumpano Nicole Zumpano spent a decade as an instructional technology coach in  Chicago Public Schools . She has left her mark on education as a teacher, coach, director and adjunct instructor.  The role of instructional coach is a complicated position in education. It requires flexibility, self-reflection and a thick skin. Instructional coaches often work with the entire faculty of a school building — or, in some cases, an entire district. Just as  teachers modify instruction each year  when new students enter their classrooms, coaches ...

This post was originally written for the ISTE Community Leader's July 2022 edition . Happy summer break, coaches! I hope you have had an opportunity to reflect, refresh, and reset. As a director of a coaching program and former technology coach, I know that the work never truly stops; it just looks different for a few summer months each year. As you are reflecting and preparing, here are five tips and things to consider to make this next school year the best. Revisit Coaching Data . Did you conduct an end-of-year survey of your teachers? If so, revisit that data. What do your stakeholders think worked best? Are there professional development topics they want to learn more about? District initiatives you know of that need additional support? Whether your data is formal or informal, it is still essential and should drive your work. If you want to improve data collection this next school year, now is the time to prepare. I created a crowdsourced document of potential survey questions...

Last month during my IL Ed Tech Coaches meeting a coach inquired about anyone having a document that reflected when teachers should seek help from them vs. the school's IT help desk. No one recalled having seen such a document so we brainstormed instances where this would occur. I took the responses and made them into an easy-to-read infographic . I also shared the infographic on ISTE's community forum so my PLN could use it. The feedback was lively! It's featured below.  Original ISTE Post: In a recent educational technology coaches meeting one of the participants asked the group if we recalled seeing any documents that would explain to teachers when to go to their coach vs the IT help desk. We crowdsourced a list of instances and I created an infographic to reflect this. You can view it here: https://bit.ly/coachorhelpdesk What else would you include? Responses: I think this is a helpful visual aid and pretty spot on. I'm not sure how to incorporate it, but I think i...

Mark McCrindle, a social researcher, and futurist states that Gen Z students will have 18 jobs over 6 different careers in their lifetime. This statistic used to shock me as I am of a different generation. For me, I've had one career: education. Within this field I've had 3 distinct jobs: teacher (both K-8 and adults), technology coach, and Regional Educational Technology Coordinator . Today, I begin job #4: Director of Instructional Technology Coaching. When I moved out of Chicago Public Schools after 25 years I stepped into a newly created role as a RETC. I loved the role and the variety of work, peers, colleagues, and topics I was able to explore. With all of this variety, I found myself continuing to gravitate toward coaches. After all, I had spent the previous 10 years as a technology coach. I hosted, attended, and co-facilitated coaching meetings around the Chicagoland area. During the school closures from COVID-19, I began hosting coaching meetings online. I created doc...

This June I wrapped up ten years of instructional technology coaching. Soon (tomorrow, in fact) I will begin a new journey in my career where I will still utilize my coaching skills but in a different capacity. This new opportunity has caused me to reflect on lessons learned throughout my time as a school-based coach. If you are a coach or aspire to be one following are ten tips I've learned during my ten years in the role. Be a model . Practice what you preach! If you want your teachers to join Twitter make sure you are already there. If they would like to try a new tool or lesson familiarize yourself with it first in order to lend additional support. Be honest . If you don't know something, say so. As a coach, your faculty will look to you as an expert. There have been several times throughout my career that I've said, "I don't know that tool/concept/strategy but let me see what I can find out about it." If you are a former classroom teacher, remind peo...