Reflections on a Presentation Gone Awry

Recently I gave a presentation to the teachers at Algonquin that did not go as well as I would have liked.  I am the Instructional Technology Teacher and the technology that I was using to help deliver my content did not work.  Why am I blogging about this you might ask...
So after the presentation I was disappointed and wished it had gone better.  I spent a lot of time rehearsing my delivery of the content and preparing for one of the few opportunities I have all year to speak to the whole faculty.  Obviously I wanted to make a good impression, model effective use of instructional technology, and provide teachers with some helpful resources.  What I unintentionally modeled is the fact that technology is not one hundred percent reliable and even the people who you think know how to use technology have trouble.  Did I get flustered? Yes. Was it distracting to my audience that my laptop and projector were not cooperating?  Yes. Will I ever use technology again?  Yes!

My presentation was not an epic failure but it was not that great either.  As I reflect on the experience I think it is important for me to figure out how to learn from my mistakes.  What I am now realizing is that I should have practiced with the new projector that I was using as well as practice reciting the content.  We all make mistakes, but do we all take the time to thoroughly learn from our mistakes?  It is crucial that we encourage our students to value the whole process of learning, to analyze mistakes and figure out how to not make them the next time.  So giving kids time to reflect on their learning and their mistakes is key.  As a former math teacher I don't think I did this enough.  No matter the subject, students should spend some time reflecting and writing about their learning process, maybe even blogging about it.

So I wanted to blog to reflect on my mistakes and my learning as well as discuss the importance of teaching students to do the same.  I know that sounds cliche and I know that you have heard it many times but I encourage you to read the following blogs that I linked to below and think about mistakes and failure in a new way.   Hunter Maats and Katie O'Brien write about a "Fresh Take on Mistakes" in their blog entitled Teaching Kids to Embrace their Mistakes.  Click here to read in full.  Here is a link to another great blog written by Tania De Jong called Embracing Failure! FAIL = First Attempt in Learning.  I also want to tell you that you will probably make mistakes when using technology in your class, but you will learn from those mistakes.  You have to take risks.  This whole blogging thing is risky for me and I have definitely stepped way out of my comfort zone to do this but I learning and enjoying the process!