Do You Put Ketchup on Your Hot Dog?

 One of the most divisive conversations you can have with anyone who lives in or near Chicago involves ketchup and hot dogs. Die hard Chicago hot dog eaters will have plenty to say to you (and about you haha!) if it is discovered that you put ketchup on your hot dogs. This practice is best kept hidden away if you're a ketchup eater.

What does this have to do with ed tech? Well, it's a bit of a reach, but I'm going to try to make the connection!

A big part of my job is to support the teachers with their use of technology tools. I know that one of the biggest obstacles to using technology in the classroom is simply time -- time to learn how to use something from the teacher and student perspective, time to see how it fits with your curriculum, time to develop resources, and time to teach kids. The fact that I don't have a classroom of kids frees up some of that time for me to do the legwork for you, and it is one of the things I love most about the work I do -- getting to find and try new things, then help bring them to life in your classrooms!

Here's where the "controversy" kicks in. I never seem to be able to find agreement on the best way to share new tools with teachers -- offering trainings before school, after school, or during the school day seems to elicit and ketchup-on-hot-dogs type of disagreement on when that kind of training should take place. Some people feel like it belongs outside the school day, some think it belongs in the school day, some say summer is a great time, some say summer is the worst time. So I am going to ask for your help on varied types of professional development/training offerings. Here's a form I would love for you to complete when you have time to help me help you -- and as a thank you, each person who completes this form will have their name put into a drawing for a Portillo's gift card so you can have a hot dog and eat it any way you want!