From teacher to technology director

Aufderheide

reflects on

varied career

experiences after 31 years

By KREMENA TODOROVA

Journal Staff Writer

First in a series

NEW ULM -- Independent School District 88 Technology Director Jim Aufderheide is retiring on June 30, following 31 years with the local public school system.

On Wednesday, Aufderheide reflected on his varied experiences with the district -- parts of a career that was almost evenly split among three assignments: teaching English and coaching debate; working as a media specialist at the Junior High; and managing technology across the district.

"It has been a marvelous experience," Aufderheide said. "I got to do all sorts of different things ... and enjoy a varied, exciting career, filled with opportunities for growth and change."

"I've been blessed ... I've been put in places that I enjoy..."

A New Ulm native -- and a graduate of the same school system that served as a setting for his professional experiences -- Aufderheide joined the staff at New Ulm Public Schools in 1973.

Having just completed shorter teaching assignments in Boise, Idaho, and St. Cloud, he moved back to his home town, in part lured by the opportunity to take over from his own former high-school debate coach.

Aufderheide became English teacher and debate coach at the Senior High School.

"I loved being in the classroom and being the debate coach," he said. "I had the opportunity to impact kids directly, to see them learn and grow."

As part of his first assignment, he coached a team that competed at a state speech tournament.

"It was a great time; they were a great bunch of kids," he said, somewhat wistfully, as he remembered his experiences with the team.

About ten years later, when another staff member moved into the technology director's position, Aufderheide took over as media specialist and computer coordinator at the Junior High School.

The position gave him the chance, while still working with kids, to also work with teachers and be an educational resource.

In 1993, his colleagues at the Junior High recognized his work, naming him Teacher of the Year.

During the last third of his career, he assumed the position of technology director, which expanded his scope, allowing him to work with kids and staff in all five school buildings, as well as staff from other districts, in staff development programs.

When looking back, Aufderheide finds good memories in all three assignments -- from being snowed in (and having a ball) with the debate team during the 1975 "Storm of the Century," to being bombarded with eggs during a student's speech on the subject of magic, to transforming the district's board room into a computer-operated broadcast studio.

"My best memories all deal with people," he notes. "They have to do with staff and kids in all five buildings."

When trying to evaluate his most obvious impact, Aufderheide singles out his tenure as technology director.

"I feel I have made more of a difference than I ever imagined," he notes, in his resignation letter. And also, during our interview,

"When I took the job, we weren't using the Internet, teachers had no computers on their desks (we only had computers in the labs) and technology wasn't embedded in the curriculum...

"Since then, we've networked the whole school district, every teacher has a computer, all have e-mail. ... Technology is part of the curriculum -- when we develop or review a course, we report on how technology is used. What a wonderful time to be involved in technology."

Aufderheide stressed that the incorporation of technology is a result of the effort of "a phenomenal team."

"We are gifted here," he says, referring to teaching and non-licensed staff who are "looking for new ways to use technology, ready to try something new."

Despite of being viewed as "the computer guy," Aufderheide sees himself primarily as a teacher.

"I still think I am a teacher -- whether it's teaching kids, or working with teachers or non-licensed staff," he says, looking back on heart-warming occasions of being stopped at the grocery store, or recognized by a former student in another town.

"It's most important to me."