It Doesn’t Go Away

On Mondays, I share a different ed tech quote on our Thompson Classroom social media pages for our staff to consider.

Reactive versus proactive… what would you prefer? Is it dependent on the context?

During December, I find that many of the staff (and students) I work with are SO ready for a break. They are tired and need a change of pace, especially with how busy some schools are this month as they build in many holiday-themed events. For our staff, self-care can be placed on the back-burner and, unfortunately, I feel like most of our staff end up reactively caring for themselves. I am reminded of the saying, “if you don’t factor into time to rest, your body will make you rest”. I, of course, do not want things to get to this level.

On the ed tech side of this mindset, it can be incredibly hard to stay on top of all of the changes and new developments. However, ignoring new software like generative AI, does not mean it does not exist. Unfortunately, this approach ends up with a reactive approach where students may misunderstand how AI fits in with assessments or fail to recognize how AI-generated images can be problematic.

Is there a right answer? Unfortunately, with a plethora of tasks that never seem to be reduced for educators, it is challenging (if not impossible) to be proactive on every level. However, an awareness of how topics impact yourself and your role can help to triage one’s level of priorities.