Having decided to take the leap (with my family), back in October 2011, and leave
St Christopher's School, I found myself becoming a bit of a serial 'decliner'. By the time I accepted this new role, I had declined 4 job offers, including one in August - a mere 3 or so weeks before the start of the new school year.
None of the roles could be compared equally with each other, but we (I) finally accepted the role of IT Director at the
Antwerp International School (AIS).
Hurricance
And what a whirlwind appointment that was. The long and short is that from interview to day 1 of school took 9 days. That included getting the packers in (to empty a house with about 13 years of furniture in it!), which was no mean feat. Well, I say no mean feat, but what I mean is 'Well done, my wife!'
So, AIS is much smaller than St Chris (NOR 450, as opposed to 2100 and 70-odd staff rather than 330) and the climate is, shall we say, more of what I am used to as an Englishman!
The settling process has been a little rocky, probably attributed to the pace of the recruitment and I missed the 3 weeks of orientation and settling in other staff had. The leadership team has been patient with my contribution as I get my head around re-planning Grade 9 and 10 programmes of study and re-visit Grade 11 work with my Grade 12 class, coupled with establishing the learning priorities for this IB class.
Not to mention the small matter of living in a hotel for the first week. And trying to find our way around Belgium after the school day. And finding a house. And moving in. And living in the kitchen for a month as that was the only room with lights. And having no TV, phone or Internet at home for a month. And dealing with government admin. And finding things out by accident. And having our landlord be helpful but by occupying the little free time we have as a family at the weekend. And falling into the trap of only walking between office and classroom at work. And my daughter not settling in as quickly as we'd hoped.
Change. A lot of change. In a short period of time. Almost all unplanned. Now
that's a headache, to say the least!
1:1
However, as an Apple 1:1 school, the journey for AIS, its leadership team, staff and me is to take this current status beyond what might appear to be the purchase of hardware and infrastructure. The school has made a rapid journey in developing its infrastructure, adopting Apple laptops and setting the scene for its learning development. But, what with some 'human hiccups' AIS experienced in the last 12 months - one of which led to my emergency appointment - the school has not yet fully developed the curriculum development and support structures.
And I am keen to start to earn my money at AIS.
That's where this blog comes in.
Reading Around
OK, I clearly have ideas. But I am not an island. Well, at least I don't want to be.
It's our half-term and I have been reading, reading and reading. I have explored, in depth, more resources in the last 3 days than I have in the last 6 months. Most of the resources I have read have been blogs: Tech Integration Bloggers or other intellects who have achieved more, know more and have made a greater impact on technology integration than I have. And I don't see myself as a slouch, either.
Well, all of that ends today. Today, I get my A into G. And I have to thank
Kim Cofino to thank for that. Well, actually, it's Carl the AIS librarian that I need to thank. It was he who alerted me to the outstanding contribution Kim Cofino has been making in various schools ... for years!
I'm getting all bloggy again. For a start, I have not reflected enough in my work recently and this will be my sounding post. Secondly, I need to get 'out there' more. I need to draw on the experiences and expertise of others. That includes expertise we have at AIS, and I can see there's plenty.
So, in fact, this post doesn't actually set the scene at all for our Technology Integration project. Well, maybe it does, but not in the way I thought it would when I first sat down to write this.
