Change Isn’t Always Easy, But You Can’t Keep Using Old Passwords

Today I had to change my password at work. Our passwords expire and must be changed or you get locked out of the system. This password is used for most things I do on a daily basis. I had to sign in everything again, not just on my desktop but my phone, my iPad and my laptop.  It was kind of a pain. I probably lost a total 5 to 10 minutes on this throughout the day. Not only was this annoying, but I had to retrain my fingers to type my password. Sixth months of the same password I never had to think about what I was typing, my fingers just hit the right keys. Now I have to think about it and watch myself type it slowly. And of course, the first time every time I punched in the wrong password. I have to retrain my brain and body all for a silly password.

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So change can be a pain in the butt. It’s not easy. If it had been my choice I would have kept my old password and moved on with my life. The thing is, six months ago I probably would’ve said the same thing about my old password. Actually, I know I would have. But I didn’t get a choice, change had to be made. And in a week my brain will trained to use the new one.

Last week I stopped in a few professional development classes. I mostly went to see what they were learning so when I help teachers with tech, I can have an idea what they are focusing on curriculum-wise. In a science PD they were looking at the engineering strand of the new science standards. Those that know me know how happy this makes me. But while talking to one teacher I over heard another. She was bragging that all of her grades come from daily quizzes. She gives kids quizzes on their homework everyday. And she was bragging about it. Bragging. All while doing an activity that went through the process of planning engineering based lessons. You know, ones that would have offered authentic assessment.  She was like me today and still going back to that old password. Even though the old password doesn’t work anymore, she’s still typing it in. And yes she was also complaining that they never study. Password is invalid.

Later I went to a math PD. Teachers were planning lessons that focused on math concepts. Hands on activities that encouraged math talk, higher level thinking beyond the formulas. Immediately when I walked in, like as I walked through the door, a teacher says “Hey Amanda, not being ugly (southerners say this before saying something mean) but I have no need for GAFE. I’m a math teacher. There is no need for it when I need kids to work problems and that’s too hard in docs.” Totally caught me off guard. I was speechless. Finally looked at him and said that I hoped he was doing more than just having kids work formulas. Then I promised him a list of ways he could use it. But you see, as I walked around the room and looked at the lessons being planned, I could see ways to use GAFE with each one. No it’s not easy to work formulas in Docs, but the formulas are just one part of learning math. I started worrying if the lessons being planned were actually going to be used. I really hope they go back to the schools and use the new passwords instead of keep using the old passwords that we know do not work alone.

Change does suck but you don’t always get a choice. When we see change needs to occur, or when we are told change needs to occur, we need to start taking the steps towards the change instead of resisting. We have experts who are guiding us to make those changes, so take their advice, learn on them for help. The faster we start making the change, the easier the change will be. And one day we will look back and forget the old way. Just like we forget those old passwords we never use anymore.

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