CEDO565 - Final Blog

How has your definition of leadership altered or been reinforced? Your definition of teacher leadership?
My definition of leadership for the most part has really been reinforced by the text and class discussions. I've always believed that anyone can step up to the plate and take charge in some respects and with my involvement in the Leadership Team for the district and the high school quite a few of us (this year we sent 15 staff and 5 administrators) have begun to assert ourselves more in the planning and implementation of ideas.
Has your opinion of your leadership potential changed?
I think that my leadership potential has changed in that I am more able to take a step back from what is occurring in the school and district in order to better accomplish our goals and initiatives. The systems change game really gave me great insight and I've already been scratching out a preliminary social network for the high school staff so I can think about who to approach strategically when I'd like to start talking about implementation of the eportfolio project.
Do you agree with our textbook's assertion about "improving education from within"? If so, what will you do to help?
I do believe that it is within my power (and everyone else's for that matter) to improve education in their own classroom, department, school and district. I think that if we attempt to change the world in one fell swoop, you're bound for disappointment but if we look at small steps and small changes, then the change will help to improve education from within.

CEDO565 - Session Five

So I've spent my last two days and this morning in Madison at the Wisconsin School Leadership Academy and although I'm not wishing summer away, I am recharged for this upcoming fall and really implementing some new initiatives both in my classroom and throughout the high school and district. As I mentioned last post, the change game we've been playing has really opened my eyes to the necessity of paying attention to the political realms when attempting to make change in schools. The conference reinforced many of the topics and ideas that we've been talking about in class lately but first I want to chat about this amazing presenter this morning!
David Warlick presented on the 21st Century classroom and how the millennial as a student must force a change in how we deal with information and that it's more than just using technology. What I loved about his seminar is that he practiced what he was about to preach. The first things he did were to show us how to "KnitterChat" (much like tweeting - its called backchanneling, I'd post the link to our actual transcript but it's not posted yet) about the seminar while he was presenting, then he directed us to his blog, his wiki, and his second life file cabinet before using two Prezis to really begin his talk. This was the second half:

Cracking the 'Native' Information Experience on Prezi

I was shocked at first because he started out showing us the half a dozen ways that we could get "off task" during his presentation. He truly was a facilitator of information and did not require his audience to be staring up at him with their eyes glued as he delivered content to us for 2 hours. Not only that, all through his talk, he showed and demonstrated many tools to illustrate the difference in how students access information in the digital age. DoodleBuzz was one of my favs and he also explained the QR codes that can be printed anywhere so that individuals with smart phones can point the phone at the barcode and automatically receive downloads of the materials - his was linked to all of his presentation handouts. As you can see there was tons of great info and materials.
So how do I apply this information to my instruction? My leadership? First and foremost, I've already begun a discussion with my principal about allowing students to use their cell phones in my classroom. The discussion is necessary as this goes against current school policy, although last fall the policy about digital devices was modified, phones are banned from the classroom. A close colleague and I also began revamping our grading structure and brainstorming new methods for classroom instruction in addition to planning for writing some new curriculum. (See why I can't have the summer go too fast - I've got way too much to do!) I really plan to use some of the strategies from the changes game we played - most notably talking to key individuals and getting them on board for the changes I'd like to see implemented with my portfolio project in the high school. Previously I would have had everything ready for the great "reveal" and then become frustrated when teachers didn't jump at the chance to use something that was all set and ready to go. I've realized it's much more than that - all of the talk about teacher buy-in has started getting through my thick skull. This also lead my colleague and I to want to set up some very informal professional development mini-seminars for any interested teachers to begin a culture of sharing classroom ideas among all high school teachers in a very non-threatening way and without the push of a condescending this-is-the-way-it-should-be mentality. Rather, we'd like to present tools of the trade and allow teachers to pick and choose things they'd like to see, try, modify and steal.
I just figure that I'll need to work 40 hours a week this summer on all of my ideas in order to have them ready to go by September 1st. Hmmmm..... not likely so I'd better get to prioritizing!

CEDO565 - Session Four

So I have to say that after playing the game on Tuesday and completing the Analysis of Change task, I've been reflecting on how difficult change can come about. At the same time, we had our last staff meeting where a new proposal for one of our programs was presented and discussed and I began looking at the process in a very different light. One of the teachers that often sinks ideas he doesn't like, thought that the proposal was a great idea and I thought about the game and how the social interactions play such a lead role.
This has prompted me to rethink how I'm going to work on my culminated experience as it is yet another difference for the teachers to become accustomed to. I'm now planning to spend some additional time polling the teachers and talking to them one on one (especially the key players) so that I can get some support ahead of time before we roll out the trainings during the next school year. Hopefully I can really apply some of the strategies from this class to make the transition easier for the rest of the staff if they experience more buy-in.
I'm also feeling better up to the challenge of continuing the game this coming Tuesday - I have a few strategies I'd like to see if my group would like to try!

CEDO565 - Session Three

While all of the activities for session three have made lots of sense to me and I can see utilizing pieces of information here and there, the piece that resonated the strongest was Gabriel's insight and idea in Chapter 4. Just last year, I joined the Leadership Team - a group of teachers from all levels and discipline in the district - and although anyone can "join", this past fall we were characterized as administration's puppets. Members were told that we were put in place to do administration's bidding. It has taken all of my power not to engage in the quarrel as that's where all of the energy will end up going rather than on making things better for students. I feel that I will be able to start applying some of these practices and suggestions to garner more respect as a teacher leader in my building.For example, Gabriel's suggestions of redirecting questions of the dissenters and giving them other tasks to engage their time will help immensely as we plan other initiatives for the high school in particular.
And while I've been previously aware of the generational gaps in education, it had always been presented to me in terms of Millenials as students and now as parents rather than as peers, colleagues or coworkers. The Tune In article presented the information in regards to what it means to schools which was a new perspective to me. I can apply this information as a look at the mentoring program in the school district and how teachers interact with each other.

CEDO565 Session Two

Wow, I've been hearing for ages now, "data driven decisions" and how important they are to our field. What I rarely heard was how to get ahold of that data and how to use it. In lecture this week, it was brought up that a mountain of data without any analysis and application is still just a mountain of data. I feel that way all the time - like I can get my hands on good data but I simply don't know how to put it all together in a meaningful way in order to make better decisions both in leadership for the school/district and in my classroom. I feel like I can navigate pretty well around WINNS and will be able to pull the data together and I'm anxious for the group session we're having on Sunday to talk about how to put the data to use. I've never been on a data retreat and so am a bit anxious to begin the virtual one and to see how that relates.
With all of the talk of what I haven't done with data, I do need to mention that I do use informal data collection to drive decisions in my classroom all the time whether it be a quick survey on student expectations or a reflective evaluation geared towards the staff to gain feedback of the implementation of a particular program or event.

CEDO565 - Session One

So, as I was going through some of the leadership profiles and assessments, I couldn't help but think back to college and completing the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator. My organized persona loves filling out the assessments, tabulating the answers and then arriving at an "answer", reading the descriptions and thinking to myself, "Hmm.... very interesting." The other thought that struck me immediately was how different my husband and I would be reflected in the leadership qualities and virtues. Sure enough - after all I did make him do the profiles too - where ever his abilities were high, mine were low and vice versa. I must admit, it did take a bit of figuring out as the qualities and virtues assessments from ASCD didn't explain the results, rather they just gave a label. I did go to google books and was able to read excerpts from the text the assessments came from and that helped a great deal.
Ultimately, the profiles didn't really tell me anything I didn't know about myself, but they did change my view of the qualities and abilities that I showed strength and weakness in. For example, I already knew that I was organized, pretty creative and always have more ideas than I can possibly follow through on, but looking at it through the lens of educational leadership gave me new perspective. It helps to explain why I struggle with getting my peers on board with ideas because I'm not terribly strong at building/maintaining personal relationships with my peers in general as I have only a very small group of individuals with whom I share that personal relationship. The Balanced Leadership Profile was extremely helpful at getting me to view the characteristics in a leadership light as it allowed me to answer questions with a specific initiative in mind and the 7-4-3 report was the one that really turned on the light bulb for me!
As far as the text is concerned, I initially was wondering how big the schools are to have teacher leaders to fill all of the descriptions mentioned and then I took a step back and realized that's not the premise (thank god!). I understand that the groundwork is being laid in the text to set up the reader for the "thriving as a leader" part, but I can't help but want to flip forward in the book and get to the good stuff... I think if I spend some time discussing with my group on the roles and qualities presented in chapter one then I'll be able to get a better handle. (Right now it's a bit dry and not very dynamic compared to other texts we've used like Digital Storytelling and Presentation Zen :)
I currently act as a leader in my school by actively participating on the district leadership team. This group has been building in an effort to take more ownership in school and district events. I am a representative for the high school and we work to plan staff development opportunities as well as set building and district goals. It's the third year since the team was developed and it will be my second year. I really like the team because the membership is dynamic and growing every year. I'm also a member a number of committees like our Alumni Hall of Fame, Technology Committee and Building Improvement committee. All of these require my time and energy to get players to the table to discuss initiatives and improvements.
I think that reflecting back on my weaknesses, one of my favorite leadership roles was to engage the entire high school staff in a secret addition to the homecoming talent competition. I organized and helped to teach the choreography of the "Evolution of Dance" to the staff and we performed in front of the school. It was probably my best example of connecting to my peers in a manner unrelated to the "regular" school business.

CEDO555 Blog Post Three

Oh my, has it been a week! I barely got my artifacts aligned to my standards and in the meantime have been thinking a lot about my project proposal but not actually writing anything down yet, so I really need to tie myself to the computer and not let up until my proposal is done. On a personal note, this weekend was my seven year old daughter's dance recital - so much fun but a big time commitment. My mother came up as well and we were having a great time outlining my proposal as I could bounce ideas off of her. The interesting part was being able to show her some of the tools I'm talking about. For example, I was thinking about how to complete and keep the project information organized and I was debating whether or not I wanted a Ning type network (you all did hear that Ning is going completely pay-for-use right? If you've got info on a Ning, you need to pull the content before it gets dumped...) or a website based tool like Google Sites. So at 11pm Friday night, we're online and I'm showing her these tools and others that we've been using. She wants to be included in the outcome of my project as it will include Web 2.0 tools and how to use them for the "general public". Lots of fun and at 1am we decided to call it a night.
The other part of the class that I'm still working on is the alignment of artifacts to the different classes we took. I have chosen at least one assignment from each of the classes but need to do the footwork and document my reflections and get the links made active. A lot to do, but most of the groundwork is laid and I just need to follow through and see it to the end.