Chris Scofield

Background

About Chris Scofield

When I started college, way back in the dark ages of 1994, my plan was to be a high school German teacher, with a backup plan of being a math teacher. It only took a year of college before the school dropped the German major. Since I had no desire to leave the school, my path got upended, and my backup plan became my goal. Funny how that works, isn’t it? After graduating with my math and education degree, I started my journey as an educator. I taught math in public school, boarding school, private school, charter school, online school, and community college. I taught every grade level from 4th up through college freshmen. But, after the first ten years, I was no longer enjoying myself. Yes, I was good—very good—at what I did. I’ve lost count of how many students told me I made the math look easy, that the way I explained it made sense to them. My students typically outperformed the rest of the state on the end-of-year state testing. But, on the inside, I was miserable. I was burned out. I decided that I wanted out of teaching math, that I was ready to explore a new challenge: instructional technology. Everywhere I went, I volunteered my time to help teachers with their technology issues, but no matter where I applied for a technology position, the response was always the same. “You know your stuff, but you’re only a math teacher. How can you possibly relate to other disciplines?” Then, after my nineteenth year, and third of teaching math at my current school, the director told me that I was burned out, that I needed to stop teaching math….and that she had created a new position with me in mind. With that, my dream came true. I was an instructional technologist, albeit with a different title. I love working with teachers to solve their problems, to help them brainstorm new ways of integrating technology. I love helping students learn how to do things that they’d never thought of before. I love researching new technologies to see what’s out there and what’s coming soon. I reached the high point of my career—so far—in June 2020, when my colleagues voted me as the school’s Teacher of the Year, in recognition of my technology leadership during the covid-19 pandemic. I don’t know what the future of my career will be. Maybe I’ll end up as a Director of Technology somewhere—an exciting thought, to be sure. Maybe I’ll keep doing what I’m doing until I retire. I guess only the technology gods really know.