The week of pre-planning

So for 7 years I worked in IT and now I am a teacher. Here is what has carried over.

Patience - nothing is ever really done on time in the software IT world. Sure, we meet our Enterprise Release date, but we bust our butts to get there. And on the release where we don't frantically push towards the end, it's just b/c we spent a LOT of time up front convincing others that we couldn't handle any more. As a new teacher, I don't have a clue of the way it's supposed to go. So when systems aren't generating the correct reports, that's ok. When the two IT people in the building are not answering your emails... it's b/c there are two of them and 175 of you.


Prioritization - Again, it my previous life, it was all about meeting the date with a TESTED product. Keyword: Tested. Not thoroughly tested, not bug-free, but tested to a point of confidence that the QA, Developer, Project Leader, etc could say with certainty that the software could go into production without "blowing up" anything else. In order to get to that point, you have to prioritize. In teaching it is the same way. The teachers I work with tend towards the more visually organized side. Since I am new, I tend towards doing stuff that I can easily change ... stuff that may not be the prettiest, but (hopefully) is effective. My room will not be complete... it's a work in progress... I'm ok with that. What I am not ok with is not having a clue who is in my class b/c I didn't get a chance to print my roster.

Computer Organization - Ok... seriously, if I get one more printed out memo on some kind of colored paper, I might scream. Seriously!?!?!? My goal is to teach these people how to use the calender in Outlook... meeting requests.... basic stuff. I can hardly keep up with where I put my pen, please don't expect me to keep the purple piece of paper.

Meetings - When you are new, meetings are necessary. In IT, meetings are essential to keep the project on track. There is nothing worse than not having a meeting and then finding out two weeks before staging that something wasn't tested. In teaching, meetings are also necessary. Because the teacher's are so organized they really value your time. So meetings are short and to the point. Granted you obtain 4 new copies of something that was printed on colored paper, but still at least the meeting wasn't overkill.

Flexibility - Problems arise, "opportunities" happen. Being able to go with the flow goes a long way.

Eeeeee