“I’m Good Enough, I’m Smart Enough…”

I’ve always been a big fan of Saturday Night Live; some seasons more than others; some cast members more than others. My blog title comes from a character named Stuart Smalley. Stuart had a talk show called “Daily Affirmations with Stuart Smalley.” At the beginning and end of every episode, Stuart would turn and look into a mirror and say, “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me.” My friends and I enjoyed watching Saturday Night Live together, and of course, certain catchphrases stood out to us and we would repeat them often just for laughs. Stuart’s catchphrase has stayed with me all these years and he still makes me chuckle. The clip below is a great one with Michael Jordan. Stuart’s mantra is what I thought of when I began to write this blog about my project.

Over the course of my last quarter of school, I have been working on a practicum in which I was assigned to come up with a project that would allow me to put into practice my coaching skills. It was not difficult for me to decide what to use for my project: SMART Boards. Our school recently purchased several and as the technology integration leader for our school, I was part of the initial few teachers to receive one of the boards and also receive some training on how to use the board. Because a plan was put in place to purchase more boards over the next few years, I thought this would be a great opportunity for me to make this SMART Board initiative my project. Honestly, it came at the perfect time!

I set to work by first taking the next year’s professional development plan and inputting a tech integration plan for the new boards by starting with some refresher training for the first few teachers I trained with, and then the teachers who would be the next recipients of the equipment. Below is a page from that document (with some information removed for privacy concerns):

Thinking ahead, I knew that it would be important to take some time to train the trainer, so I logged into SMART’s website (here) and went through several modules. SMART has made some changes to its training and has created an “ambassador” program that has multiple levels: bronze, silver, gold, and innovator. During my upcoming summer break, I will be applying to become an ambassador. One other necessary task I knew was important for this project was a post-professional development survey. I created this using Google Forms. Below is a sample of the survey:

Once I know my teaching schedule for the upcoming year, I will build in time for observations to put on the coaching hat and work with teachers on how best to use their SMART Board during class. I look forward to the opportunity to come alongside other educators and see them excel with technology as our school takes on this new device that many schools have been using for years. To quote Stuart Smalley, “And that’s–okay. Because I’m good enough, I’m SMART enough, and doggone it, people like me!”