Some People Will Do Anything for an iPad #summerblog12

I had a great experience earlier this school year. You see, Carol*, a veteran teacher who not too long ago swore off technology but had recently joined the district Tech Committee, agreed to go to a state edtech conference, in early November, with a more tech savvy colleague who had an iPad.

They had a great experience and returned to school jazzed about the possibilities. The day after the conference, November 7, Carol told me how cool some of the iPad apps were. I talked with her for a few minutes and added her to my mental list for iPads in the far future.


Little did I know that Carol had a plan, and I didn't stand a chance.

On November 8, Carol came to see me first thing in the morning. You see, she wanted to forgive me for being slow about getting her an iPad. For some reason, I apologized.

A couple of days later, Crol saw me in the morning and told me that she Dreams About Performance Indicators. What was she talking about? When she wrote it out for me, she underlined the first letters as I have done here and told me to look at it backwards. I-P-A-D. Oh, I see.



On the morning of November 14th, Carol left me this note...

I think that she may have enlisted the help of the parents! Maybe I'll move her a little higher on that mental list for iPads in the future.

Two days later, I experienced the biggest regret of this fantastic first year at Wolcott Elementary School. Carol came to see mere morning. I was ready for anything, I thought. I told that she was on the list to get an iPad when I bought some. Instead of saying thank you and going back to class, Carol broke into a cheer -- like a high school cheerleader, yes that kind of cheer -- all about how great it would be to have an iPad. I didn't record it or even get her to write down the words for me; I will regret that omission forever.

The next day Carol came to me with a story about how having B+ blood really meant that she should have an iPad. Not sure what that meant, but I got the point.

On November 18, Carol appealed to my emotions by telling me that buying her an iPad would be a humanitarian effort because it help to stimulate the economy. By this point, I'd made up my mind that I would have to order an iPad soon.

The final straw that broke my back came on November 22. Carol brought me a dollar bill with this letter attached. It is not a bribe. If you can't read the note, she tells me to buy a lottery ticket and use the winnings to buy her and iPad. Fortunately, she trusted me to use the remaining winnings for the good of the school.

To make it easy for me and to sweeten the deal, Carol also handed me an ad from a tech store with the little gem seen below.

 

 

 

 

 

I was left with more questions than answers at this point. What is a guy supposed to do? How can one lowly principal resist the intense efforts of a very determined teacher? How fast could I get an iPad on Carol's desk? Would she prefer black or white?

So, you can probably guess what happened next. I called the tech guy and asked him to order an iPad for Carol. To my great surprise, he told me he had an extra one in his office. I would merely have to replace it when I ordered more in the future. I drove over to central office and picked up the iPad for Carol. on the Friday of Thanksgiving week, I came into the empty school and left the brand new iPad on Carol's desk.

To say she was happy would be the understatement of the year. I went to a meeting Monday morning so I missed her skipping down the hall singing.

 

Later that week, Kim* said to me, "If I do a cheer for you, do I get an iPad?" Uh-oh.

 

 

N.b. Before the teachers left for the summer, Kim and all the rest, got iPads to use in preparation for a wider deployment this fall.

 

 

*Carol and Kim are the same pseudonyms I used in this post.

 

Posted with Blogsy