When you finally have your group of kids and have begun to train them in the art of #GAFE, #appletools, #iPads, #chromebooks, and #edtech in general, you (at the same time usually) need to begin building into their communication skills and have them establish trust with their community.

Communicating and working with teachers:
I have found that working with and training other teachers requires a certain type of communication skill. It's almost as if teachers themselves need a special brand of communication so that they feel empowered but not marginalized. Since the students are going to be working directly with teachers, they need to learn how to communicate well with them so that teachers will be able to learn and take ideas from the student techs.

#1 Be on time to appointments and be reliable:
The first rule I teach students is to be on time when establishing appointments and do what you say you are going to do. If you are going to show up at lunch at 12:30 to talk to a teacher about a project, be there at that time and fulfill your responsibility.

#2 Be prepared:
Teach students to take thorough notes before, during, and after so that they can have ideas going in, talk about the teachers needs, and have notes afterward so that they can do the project thoroughly.

#2 Active listening:
Teach students to be active listeners to a teacher so that they understand needs well.
A good phrase to teach students is to say: "What I hear you explaining is that you would like to........" so that the teacher can be reaffirmed that the student heard what the teacher wants.

#3 Constructive criticism:
Teach students to listen to criticism through lenses and a filter so that they can improve. Sometimes when doing a project they may not get it right and the teacher they are helping will want or need to give feedback.
Not many like criticism and few people know how to relate criticism well. Students should learn:
#1 Criticism is not usually an attack on their character
#2 It is an opportunity for improvement

A few useful phrases to teach students are things like: "Thank you for giving me this information." "I will take what you are saying and work on those issues." "I appreciate you allowing me to help you on this project. Thank you for the input."

​Part 3 coming soon!

This year I have the privilege to begin a program for student techs that fix tech problems, train teachers and students on technology use, and get the opportunity to be leaders on their campus for some of the most important things in our life.

Gathering your students:
When you start your program, kids will come to you. They will want to be a part of a program that allows them to explore technology and how to use it in different ways for different classes. I have students from all sorts of backgrounds, but they all have one thing in common: they love technology. Some come in because they like video, some because they like gaming, some because they like working on computers in general. Each student brings in their own interest and then you can work with them to mold those interests into awesome skills to share with others.

Let them explore:
Students may naturally lean to doing gaming, but when you present them with different software and tools, they will find things they think are cool and applicable. Let them! Let them learn about these tools, but have them go many steps further: Have them train you and train their class members on how to use it and how it applies to classroom learning.
Training is an every day experience in my class. Students are constantly exploring new tools and how to use them and in turn teach the class how to use them as well. It works out really well because they get play time, they teach others, and we get play time with the new tools as well.

Have them write:
Writing is a key component to success in running a student help desk. Students blog each week. They vary what they write about and alternate between personal and tech blogs. Students are given a general theme to write about and then they share and write about life. The tech blogs are for them to write about and share the technology they are learning about and any new tools they have used within the past week (this includes games.)

Next week, part 2: Building into the kids their communication kids and establishing trust with their community.