If you follow my newsletters, you know I love a good story about how we are immersed in technology whether we like it or not! Many of you may remember hearing about my Grandfather's 100th birthday in October or my Christmas break. Well, here's another great story for the technology collection!

My son is a sophomore taking a military history class. His final project is a report based on an interview with a veteran. Shortly after being assigned the project, Xylyx came to me and asked if he could interview his Great Grandfather, who served in the Army during World War II for the project. Naturally, I absolutely LOVED this idea and told him I would make arrangements for that to happen! Well, I was driving home from work, preparing for a WebEx training I was going to be doing and the lightbulb went on - What if I set up a WebEx interview between Xylyx and Grandpa and RECORDED IT!!! I spoke with my dad and my aunt, who were with Grandpa in Florida and they enthusiastically accepted this proposal!

I called my dad and sent the link for the WebEx to my aunt's email. My aunt clicked the link and....nothing. GAH! They have pretty limited WiFi so they turned off any other device they had at the condo that might interfere with our connection. Still nothing. My aunt is using a Mac and was trying to connect through Firefox so I suggested she try another browser. Aunt Mo opened Safari and BOOM! There we were, hanging out together!!

Xylyx had questions prepared and spent about 45 minutes talking to his Great Grandpa about his experiences in World War II. It was the most amazing school project I've ever helped my kids with and now I have this priceless video of my grandfather storytelling with my son. I can almost guarantee Xylyx will be the only student interviewing a World War II veteran and I encouraged him to share the video with his teacher and fellow students if he liked.

As always, the reason I share this (other than, much like my grandfather, I love to share stories) is the technology involved and the skills used to make something like this happen! WebEx was recently added to every staff member at Gilbert Public Schools. A little creative thinking and I was using this tool to have a "meeting" with my grandfather! Think of the possibilities in the classroom! We all know people that have great stories to share with our students. When it's not possible to bring them into the classroom, have a virtual meeting with them! If they are in different time zones or can't dedicate an entire day (I'm thinking high school) have one meeting at their convenience and record it to be shared with other classes! Technology doesn't always work as expected but my family persevered and did some troubleshooting to make it happen! Four generations spanning 84 years had to use cell phones, laptops with video and audio enabled, 3 different browsers (Firefox, Safari and Google), email, WebEx and Wifi. We used our phones for the call, to take pictures and to send the pictures to each other (and of course post it to social media!). I downloaded the video, uploaded it to my Google Drive and shared it with the family. Once again, we were immersed in technology and didn't think twice about everything involved in this 45 minute interview.

The technological skills we are exposing our students to are going to have impacts far beyond what we can ever imagine. The technology they are learning now will be completely obsolete when they are talking to their grandchildren. How are we preparing them for a lifetime of tech?

You know, I really love the luxury of having 2 weeks off! As someone who's been in education for quite a while, I sometimes take it for granted that the rest of the universe doesn't all share this luxury. I love sleeping in and cooking breakfast for the fam every day. I enjoy sitting in my sweatpants with my favorite people and pets binge watching Netflix and Amazon Prime. I even enjoyed Christmas shopping this year since I came up with the BRILLIANT idea to have the 4 kids make Christmas lists, not for themselves but for each of their siblings!! They had the greatest ideas and most of my items shipped in 2 days! I got to spend time being creative and made Christmas gifts for my Michigan family. I connected with family and friends scrolling through social media. Honestly, aside from checking my email once in awhile I hardly thought about work at all!

So, get to the point Abele.... because I know you're going to make one! Yep, I am! Although I hardly thought about work, I was COMPLETELY immersed in technology. I didn't even mean to be but I was! Collectively, I believe our family performed 10,000 Google searches - best tamale recipe, Star Wars movie tickets, how cold is it in Michigan, how to make a T-Shirt blanket, how to paint a peacock, GTA cheats. Don't even get me started on Pinterest!!

I created the COOLEST gifts with a laser engraver using my grandmas' recipes (check them out below!). In order to do so, we had to assemble the laser using videos and directions in a shared Google Folder (from China). Then we had to download the software and figure out how to use it. The recipes came as scanned documents attached to an email from 2000 miles away then I opened them in an editing program to clean them up before sending them to the engraver. Scan - save - attach to email - send - receive - open attachment - save - open document in editing program - edit document - save as compatible file for laser engraver - attach laser engraver to computer - open document - adjust size - START. That lovely recipe went through 5 different programs before it transformed from the food stained recipe card in Grandma's handwriting to a wooden cutting board heirloom.

My point is (you knew I'd get to it sooner or later) even those that say they "hate technology and it hates me" actually do LOVE it! People just don't like it when it's frustrating. It's frustrating when we don't know how to use it. We don't know how to use it because we weren't taught... WE WEREN'T TAUGHT!!! This is why it's important to immerse our students in relevant, skill based technology! Exposing students to multiple applications in a structured environment will reduce their frustration as they enter high school, college and the workforce! Technology is an incredible tool and will continue its growth into our everyday existence! How are you helping to prepare your students for those experiences!?!

Ok, so this week is going to get personal. Hang in there though, I'll connect it to Bold School! This week's teacher feature is not an actual teacher, though he's been one of my most influential teachers. He is my grandfather! I had the privilege of going home to Detroit over the weekend to celebrate his 100th birthday! Wrap your head around this with me.... 100 years on this planet! Grandpa was born at the end of World War 1. He spent his youth delivering papers, working as a soda jerk during prohibition, knew where the Speak Easys were in Detroit. He was a butcher, served in World War 2, retired from the Detroit Fire Department as the Battalion Chief and has been an amazing husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, uncle, brother, friend, neighbor, human. I spent the day listening to great stories about him and feel so fortunate to have been born into such an incredible family!

So, what does this have to do with technology, TIE-Land, Bold School? I'm glad you asked! Grandpa's milestone had me reflecting on things. He was born in the same year that the radio was introduced, there were horse drawn buggies on the streets and a computer was definitely not something he learned to use in elementary school! Yet, he knows how to use modern technology. Nearly everything my grandfather learned in school is changed or irrelevant. No one had been to the moon, there was no common core, 100 years of history has been added. Yet, he has always been a productive member of society. He has a smartphone, a computer and knows how to take a selfie. What grandpa is rich in is morals, values and integrity. He is always adapting and has created meaningful relationships with people. Grandpa learned 2 things - how to learn, and how to connect with people. Neither of these skills are tested on the AZ Merit, though if there were a test I'm certain he'd get an A+.

Think about yourself! You've learned more after graduation than any one teacher could have ever taught you. What's important was learning HOW to learn and learning how to develop RELATIONSHIPS with people! Obviously it's necessary to have some form of measurement of the effectiveness of education as a whole, but regardless what we teach, students will forget the things that aren't important to them and excel at the things they love. Let them! Expose them to everything but let them love what they love! Teach them to be good humans because that's what people will remember about them 100 years from now! Help them develop a love for learning, problem solving and critical thinking. When they are looking at a math problem and ask "when will I ever use this" be honest and say "maybe never, but what it is teaching you is perseverance and you will use that every day for the rest of your life!"

What you do every day is so incredibly important. Unfortunately, most of it can not be measured on a standardized test. The good news is, 100 years from now people will remember the incredible teachers NOT from the tests they prepared them for but rather for the amazing humans they prepared their students to become!