Mentor Interview

Sitting on an all black contemporary bar stool in a sauna like computer lab of a local Downtown school, Howard Chan sits as he always does: leaning back in his chair his legs wide apart, eyes straight ahead. Sometimes, he suddenly leans forward to emphasize a point, and he has a strange but angelic glow to him.

Mr. Chan is the Director of Educational Technology at KIPP Adelante Prepartory Academy. He currently teaches all the programs in the BET Design Center and maintains/supports the school technology infrastructure. Mr. Chan also provides training for teachers and advises instructional technology leaders on a national scale.

Prior to joining KIPP Adelante, Mr. Chan was the technology coordinator and classroom teacher for the Evergreen School District in San Jose. Before transitioning to a teaching career, Mr. Chan spent seven years in the engineering industry working for various high tech firms in the Silicon Valley. Mr. Chan’s educational background includes a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Santa Clara University, and a multiple subjects teaching credential and M.A. in Cross-Cultural Education from National University.

NM: What subject do you teach at Kipp?

HC: I teach 5^th through 8^th grade, I teach business course, engineering course, and technology here at the school.

NM: How did you discover the Kipp school system?

HC: I used EDJOIN it’s a website for me to find jobs in San Diego. I was living in the Bay Area looking for jobs in San Diego and Kipp looked like a great fit for me and checked out the website and followed through.

NM: How many years have you been teaching here?

HC: I’ve been teaching at Kipp for three years now, teaching in general six years.

NM: Where else have you been a teacher at?

HC: I taught in San Jose, Cambrian school district in the Bay Area.

NM: So I here that you educate teachers and other adults about technology, are they harder to teach than students?

HC: Yes, Adults are harder to teach than students. Absolutely.

NM: Where do you teach them?

HC: So we have professional development days every two weeks and we meet once a month as a technology group to get some get professional development in technology integration.

NM: What is the hardest part of your job?

HC: Hardest part of my job is balancing work and personal life.

NM: I’ve seen a picture with you and our California Governor (Arnold Schwarzenegger) how was it like meeting him?

HC: When I first met him he really looks like a wax doll, he had a lot of make up on. Because he was doing his speech live that day. He’s a nice guy, intimidating, big fella and actually nice guy and asked some pretty good questions when he came to my lab.

NM: So I follow you on twitter and your tweets are very informational. So how do you use it?

HC: Most people today associate twitter to a personal, entertainment application. Where I use it as a professional tool and my tweets are professional and I connect with other educational technology, professionals, engineers, IT professionals, and other technologists who tweet about related to technology, IT, edtech, and other instructional technologies. It allows you to connect with a bigger network of people who have expertise in knowledge, resource, and experience with integrating technology in the classroom it helps me grow.

NM: So if you post a question do people reply to you?

HC: If you build enough of a network and you reciprocate information with each other, people tend to reply to you and you build a reputation on twitter. Being a guy that helps others and people tend to help you back.

NM: What accomplishment in your career to date are you most proud of?

HC: Marrying a loving wife and having two beautiful daughters.

NM: What are you most passionate about?

HC: Passionate about making a difference in this world.

NM: Have you had other jobs rather than teaching?

HC: Yes, here I’m the IT operations director I support the infrastructure here and make sure everything is running. I also the chair of the information technology for the Kipp network of 92 schools so I advise other people on how to use technology in the classroom.

NM: What accomplishment in your career to date are you most proud of?

HC: Marrying a loving wife and having two beautiful daughters.

NM: Was there a teacher that inspired you to become a teacher?

HC: I come from a family of educators. My sister, mom, and grandpa are educators. They are my inspiration.