Like lots of teachers, I found the notion of a summer "off" a foreign
concept and did landscaping, teaching /running summer school,
painting houses, even shaping 40 acres of Christmas trees (they
don't just grow into that perfect cone shape by themselves, you
know). During the school year, coaching and other extra service pay
opportunities made for the long days so many teachers know, but it
was part of the deal we all make when we sign the contract. I don't
have much sympathy for people who complain about teaching salaries,
btw - it's like buying a house by the airport and then complaining
about all the planes taking off and landing. I felt I was compensated
fairly for what I was being asked to do, and always realized that
doing more than that was my choice.
So when I'd reached most of my teaching goals, and an opportunity
came along to wear just one hat in my work life instead of many, I
took it, and I have not been sorry in the nearly ten years since.
Sometimes I miss being in the classroom (not Halloween, Valentine's
Day, or field trips to the opera), but by and large I find this work
challenging and varied enough to be as engaging as working with kids.
I also know that I can find ways to reconnect with kids if I really
feel the need to: co-teach a class, work on a project with a teacher,
sponsor another club (I do two of them now).
The rewards are surely different, however. A lot of what happens in
IT is really only known, understood, or appreciated by a handful of
people, and that can make finding satisfaction more elusive.
The hardest parts of this work are the steep, relentless, mandatory
learning curve and the very narrow margin for error. By the time we
really know something inside and out, it often doesn't matter any
more. And mostly you don't get to pick what to learn about. There
are a lot of things I now know that I wouldn't ever have chosen to
learn (that would be a fun discussion group on the Ning site - I
should start one). And now that a lot of services we provide are
relied upon 24x7x365, the consequences of even very small errors in
complex work can be large. We are accountable to a whole lot of
people who are not especially accountable to us, and palpably so.
This can be wearisome over the long haul. Classrooms and kids are
much more tolerant of mistakes than servers and databases.
I would complain about how slow schools are to change, but that is
house-by-the-airport territory, so I won't.
I'm thankful for a close-knit , very capable IT work group who
supports each other, communicates well, and enjoys one another's
company. I've also been fortunate to work with/for enlightened,
supportive superiors who provide needed resources and trust me to
make decisions. And while it's not really possible to enjoy rich
professional relationships with all the nearly 300 grownups in the
building, our relationship-based support philosophy results in many
rewarding contacts with teachers and staff members. There is much
support in the wider ed tech community as well - some of the finest,
hardest-working, wicked- smart educators I know are ed tech folks who
grin, roll up their sleeves, and keep pushing the digital rock up the
hill every day.
It's neat that we can have conversations like this. Being publicly
personal about our work shows a lot of trust in and appreciation for
one another that's hard to find in other occupations. Best wishes for
a blessed, joyful holiday season to all.
Curt Lieneck
Director of Information Technology
The University of Chicago Laboratory Schools
1362 E. 59th St.
Chicago IL 60637
Voice: 773.834.1863
Fax: 773.702.8480
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