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| Image: 'lonely tree in the snow' http://www.flickr.com/photos/33760598@N03/3276510637 |
Now don’t get me wrong, I have plenty of opportunities to collaborate with other teachers, plan with content groups, and discuss lesson plans. I have a thriving online community of learners with whom I interact daily through Twitter and other social networks. Despite these many opportunities for interaction with teachers and other colleagues, I have considered them as resources rather than team members. That designation on my part is deserved, as “resource” is the role these colleagues fulfill. They have never graduated to being a part of a “team” with me, as ultimately the success or failure of my classroom and my students is up to me.
Challenging
This course taught me first and foremost the importance of a good team. Early on in the course as I was writing the EL Assessment portion about Vision it focused on what I would do. My thoughts on vision focused almost entirely on my actions and goals in terms of reaching the community. My use of the word “I” was frequently and clearly my focal point. Points were justifiably deducted due to my self-centered focus. The loss of points served as a catalyst for me to rethink my notion of teacher as sole tree in a barren landscape. The task of articulating vision was the most challenging for me. Up until now I have found myself as subject to someone else’s vision. Moving into the JHU ISTE program provided me the first opportunity to engage in thinking about casting my own (collaboratively created) vision.
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| Image: 'Spring has Sprung' http://www.flickr.com/photos/44124348109@N01/446371768 |
My shift in thinking came from course experience with Team ALEC. From day one, I found these ladies to be excellent in demeanor, pleasant to interact with, and capable of high caliber work. The ladies of Team ALEC proved over and over that teamwork can be worthwhile. I have been forced to work in “teams” in many an online course over the years. Most often, the experience has been abysmal. Typically there is one person that does the major portion of the work while the others simply tag along or make tepid excuses about their lives. Team ALEC showed that determination and desire for success can lead to productive teamwork. Working with these ladies - coupled with the shift in thinking from “I” to “we” got me thinking about a model for leadership success.
A concept that I found particularly interesting was the notion of Leadership as Stewardship by Sergiovanni, as detailed in Chapter 6 of the Jossey Bass reader. Initially as I was reading I sketched an upside-down pyramid as a model for leadership. Nothing new here, but then I formalized it and imagined that I tasked with taking over the school at which I am currently employed (and the school with which I am by default the most familiar). The model I sketched looks like the pyramid to the left.
The Issues and My Ability
A portion of this assignment asks how these particular issues and/or ideas affect my ability to become a more effective leader. I’d like to answer this portion slightly differently, in that I want to focus on the practical applications of these new thoughts. First, when I become a leader I will make sure that it’s no longer just about me. While the big decisions may ultimately rest on my shoulders, the community, school, and others should know that decisions are made as a team. Second, I am no longer quite so averse to teamwork. On a more technological front, my deep love for the collaborative system that is Google Docs is solidified. Our use of Google Docs as Team ALEC has been exemplary. I will continue to use Google Docs in my work and will press forward to ensure wider adoption of such a collaborative platform.
Values
There are certain values I “bring to the table” that will inform my work as an administrator. The first value that is important in my work as an administrator is the value of servanthood. I place a high value on serving others. I am highly active in my local church and believe that I’ve been placed on this earth to serve. Until now, I’ve been tasked with serving my students and their families. As I move into administration the people whom I serve will increase in number and my mission will change to include serving my faculty and staff.
I also possess technological expertise. I am well versed in a variety of technological platforms and am familiar with the different affordances these technologies offer. As such, I can effectively lead my faculty and staff through the choppy waters of new technology. In addition, I can help avoid “fads”, which are so often popular in districts. By saving money through the prudent avoidance of fads, monies can be effectively leveraged into technologies that have a greater chance of positively impacting student achievement.
Issues in Ed Tech
There are many issues in educational technology that will impact my work in administration. One issue that will be prevalent in the next few years is the pressure to initiate a 1:1 program (ratio of student to device). Many schools/districts are going 1:1 with iPads, Google Chromebooks, or other devices. In doing so, they are offering students the chance to work with a device all day that is integrated into the curriculum. The proliferation of these programs is significant, and the pressure to implement 1:1 is great, and I will most certainly feel this pressure when I move into administration.
Complementary to the 1:1 pressures is the argument that students should be allowed to bring personal devices to school and use them for school purposes. This so-called BYOT (Bring Your Own Technology) or BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) program allows students to use devices with which they are already familiar. With both a 1:1 program and a BYOT/BYOD program come the immense pressure to correlate the use of these devices to a possible increase in MAP/PASS scores (at least in this geographic region).
These are but a few of the pressing issues in educational technology. There are many others, such as
- pressure to allow a more college-like system of choosing classes
- pressure to allow students to bring their own devices to school
- pressure to continue to increase MAP/PASS scores and to use technology to try and accomplish this goal
- pressure to implement STEM curriculum using technology (robotics, programming, etc)
- and more.
Information needed for my growth
Information is not what I need, I need access to information. When I was in graduate school, I could easily access relevant educational technology journals. These peer-reviewed publications offered me the ability to read the latest in research, opinions, and seek out further articles to read. Since graduating, I no longer have access to these journals, and my learning (as far as peer-reviewed research goes) has ceased. This is disappointing. Rather than encourage my school to fund journal subscription access, I would prefer that academia writ large embrace open access. Open access frees knowledge from the caged tyranny of the journal publishers.
