Reflection #2 Why Social Media Matters

     In his presentation Educational Technology Update for Future Principals in WA State, presenter Dennis Small highlighted a key finding from a survey of educational technology; 99.96% of Washignton classrooms are connected to the internet.  If almost every classroom is connected, why does it still feel so disconnected? Author’s of Why Social Media Matters: Communication in the Digital Age, Porter and Carnes profoundly state “New technology allows us to say more and reach more people in a shorter span of time and with less effort.”  Yet why is social media still an untapped resource for connecting to our stakeholders?  Technology has changed the way we get information; from the way we get news, communicate and explore.  I am learning that social media helps you build community and a sense of ownership among your stakeholders. So where do we start?

      Porter and Carnes suggest to “start asking stakeholders what they want and need to know, what services would be useful, and whom they would like to hear from, and once you ask, use their answers.”  It would be futile to dive into social media without finding out what the stakeholders need; think pre-assessment.  Next, as a digital leader it will be to promote my vision and provide support to facilitate it.  This begins with a shared feeling of responsibility for creating and embracing change.  Part of this change will be to demonstrate how social media can be a powerful tool for meaningful communication between school leaders and staff, parents, and community members.

     To get the most out of social media to truly harness its power, school leaders can remember to foster a healthy online presence focused on what we want our stakeholders to build our brand.  But there should be more than simply providing information and meaningless posts.  Porter and Carnes caution, “Instead of just pouring out facts, we must also engage our stakeholders by asking their opinions, arousing their curiosity, directing their efforts, and helping to inform their decisions concerning their children’s education.”  As a digital leader, I have to break the habit of a passive social media presence.  We are often careful what we ask for, but in this care, often neglect strong dialogue with our parents and communities.  Porter and Carnes remind that we “…send messages only the stakeholders’ left brains- their analytic side.  We neglect the right side of the brain-the emotional side.”  Sending messages to the ‘left side’ is safe, and avoids conflict, but I maintain that change can rise from conflict.

     I am excited to use social media to engage in meaningful dialogue that bridges the gap between schools and homes.  As I develop my ability to use it in my school will grow from my ability to lead this change in my community.  Leading this change will require a lot of hard work, modeling and support in the beginning, but these efforts will be paid in the strong relationships that are formed as a result.  The true measure will be when the culture of the school not only embraces social media, but is ignited by innovation focused on student achievement.

Assignment 5: You down with PLN?

     Becoming a successful digital leader will require me to break a few bad habits.  To develop my PLN, I must practice what I preach.  Teachers need to see that I am using technology in multiple ways.  Creating a culture starts with modeling what the digital norm should be.  We all know technology rapidly evolves and NETS A standard 3d. echoes this idea; digital leaders must stay current in the latest trends to ensure teachers and students the benefit of access.  I will dedicate time every day to use social media to develop my PLN; not just tweeting but also collaborating with other digital leaders through social media.  The engine of a PLN is social media. Reaching out through Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, forums, and discussion boards. These are the same tools your students use (or aspire to use) to communicate with each other. Staying connected with other innovators is inspiring to me, and the ability to be open to new ideas will help feed this collaboration. 

     Sometimes it is more effective to tell me what I shouldn’t do, than what I should. In 10 Things School Leaders Do to Kill a Teacher's Enthusiasm for Technology, author John Robinson offered a list of ‘don’ts’ for digital leaders.  I particularly connected with the following tips: 1. Mandate the use of technologies or specific programs. Mandating specific devices, technologies, and software will kill an educator's enthusiasm quickly.  7. Fail to be enthusiastic about technology use themselves and 10. Use test scores as the only measure of successful technology implementation. Robinson cautions that this is a real killer of anyone's enthusiasm for technology and that everything we do and do well cannot be connected to a "higher test score." Test scores provide valuable information but they are not the only measure of effectiveness. School leaders who always want to know, "Will it increase test scores" aren't really interested in successful technology infusion and tech implementation anyway.  These reminders help reframe my view of digital leadership; technology is a tool to support, not the catalyst for results.  Facilitating collaborative learning communities, focused on using studying the use of technology will help empower educators to use technology powerfully.

     Part of sustaining a strong digital vision will require me to ensure staff feels supported to use technology to innovate (NETS A 3c.).  This will provide value and ownership for the investment in technology initiatives. In her article 7 Habits of Highly Effective Tech-leading Principals, Jennifer Demski indicates that “…collaboration contributes to a more solid culture that allows the kind of innovation and vision that all of us are really aspiring to. Great ideas are going to bubble up and sometimes the smartest thing a principal can do is provide support for a teacher with a good idea and then get out of their way and let them do it."  

Assignment 4: 1 to World Connectedness

         “On Monday, I’m going to eat way better and run 5 miles every day” I often make Monday morning resolutions like this on a Sunday night after a weekend of eating terribly and exercising very little.  Unfortunately, far too often these resolutions to eat better and exercise more often get broken by the middle of the week. Why do I break these resolutions? Failure to implement, from our own Monday morning resolutions to a 1:1 initiative, often stems from a limited vision.

Everybody loves opening that neatly wrapped box and playing with the shiny new toy, think Christmas morning.  A lot of money gets spent every holiday season on the latest and greatest gadgets (FitBit, Kindle, etc.); we buy them because they are sold with promises that align with our resolutions. The same thing could happen in education. 

           In his article Why Schools Must Move Beyond One-to-One Computing, Alan November refers to this concept as “’spray and pray’ mode with one-to- one computing: ‘Spray’ on the technology, and then ‘pray’ that you get an increase in learning.” Failure to successfully implement a 1:1 initiative in a school could would be unfortunate for our 21^st century learners who thrive with immediate access to technology. November cautions, “Unless we break out of this limited vision that one-to-one computing is about the device, we are doomed to waste our resources.”  So how do we, as digital leaders, ensure that we do not waste our resources?

The CCSS provide a framework for technology use as it applies to different content areas which give teachers the flexibility to incorporate a variety of strategies and resources. If we truly want children to be college and career ready, schools must take thoughtful and strategic action to include technology tools in classroom instruction. As a digital leader, I want to empower my teachers to feel that they can make decisions about how to address the Common Core, meet the needs of their students, and provide opportunities to strengthen digital skills. Part of our shared vision should include the belief that students need experience using technology and developing digital skills that can be applied to multiple tasks.  

To support effective instructional practice (NETS A 1.a.) a culture of innovation can only be created by a school leader.  I must remember that it is my job to model desired learning outcomes and promote risk-taking – empowering teachers to feel comfortable to make mistakes as educational technology pioneer, Becky Firth reminded us in class yesterday. I believe digital leadership requires us to utilize faculty meeting and in-service time to model the instructional practices desired from teachers in the classroom. This does not mean a one-time blanket training; rather small chunks of time built into PLC time or staff meetings to share integration ideas.  Teachers are the experts so let's capitalize on it!

Visionary leadership, as is described in NETS A standard 1, requires us to develop and implement “a shared a vision for integration of technology to promote excellence and support transformation throughout the organization.” In his article, 1-to-1 Laptop Initiatives Boost Student Scores, Study Finds, author Michael Keaney urges that we must shift from “teaching kids to remember something to teaching them how to figure something out.”It will be easy to treat an iPad as a “$1,000 pencil” and create digital worksheet activities. As a digital leader, part of my vision will be to shift from a mindset that believes simply putting an iPad in every student’s hands will guarantee immediate results. Supporting this shift, will necessitate a 1:1 initiatives to be embraced and cultivated y the digital leader to ensure they don't fall victim like a Monday morning resolution.

Reflection #1

If you’re like me, you sometimes experience mundane moments in life where events seem to be continually repeated every day.  I had one of these ‘Ground Hog Day’ moments today as I emptied the contents of my backpack: a laptop, iPad, iPhone, and a host of power cords.  In my best Bill Murray impersonation, I unload these digital devices every day, but today I look at them differently; as tools to lead and connect.

As education continues to move further into the digital age, I am learning that it is imperative that school leaders develop a vision for the role that technology will play and establish a strategic plan for implementation. Leading this change, as was reaffirmed in Eric Sheninger’s book Digital Leadership: Changing Paradigms for Changing Times, requires leading with transparency, remembering to model embracement as opposed to buy-in, provide applicable professional development, and support.  As someone who can find it difficult to move from vision to action, I found Sheninger’s 6 Pillars of Digital Leadership (which align perfectly with the NETS-A standards for technology leadership) helpful because they provide the framework to begin the process of transformational change using technological resources.  

Plain and simple, Sheninger reminds us that the outdated twentieth-century model for education that prepared students for an industrialized work force no longer fits the needs of society or, more important, that of our learners.  This book does an excellent job of reaffirming my notion that we can no longer take a Ground Hog Day approach to education.  To develop my ability as a digital leader, I must develop a plan for change that incorporates the ‘big ideas’ needed to take schools from ambiguity to relevancy.  I feel challenged to be a digital leader who is advocates for change that will transform schools into a dynamic institutions filled with learning opportunities that fit the needs of today’s learners. 

A strong theme in Eric Sheninger’s book Digital Leadership: Changing Paradigms for Changing Times is connectivity. Reading this book reminds us that we cannot lead with a Ground Hog approach because a paradigm shift is taking place in education as a result of increased connectivity and access to information. Technology has positively changed education forever and I feel there is an urgent need for schools to respond appropriately. As a developing digital leader, I am learning that although we may not know exactly how technology will continue to drive the changes that will impact on the learning experiences of school communities, I do know that schools must be prepared to accommodate those needs by utilizing the opportunities for connectivity that come with the emerging technology. Being a successful digital leader means using technology that will resonate with all stakeholders and set the stage for increases in student achievement.  So, the next time you unload your backpack, take an inventory of the tools and their endless possibilities that can used to connect to your twenty-first century stakeholders.

Technology and Project Based Learning

Assignment #3 Culture

We hear the word branding all the time and believe it is concept only useful for corporations, athletes and marketing executives, not schools and educators. When I used to think of branding I immediately envisioned fictional agents Jerry Maguire and Ari Gold from the HBO series Entourage. Both slick branding professionals focused on making enormous amounts of money at the expense of those closest to them.  Because of this negative association, I never felt the concept of branding applied to me nor did I think it had a function in educational leadership.  After reading the following three articles, my understanding of branding has done a complete 180 degree turn.

In Megan Brio’s 5 Steps to Empowering The Brand You, I feel empowered to self-reflect on who I am personally and professionally.  She maintains that “your brand should start with you and stay true to you.”  This is a big leap for me personally, because in all settings I tend to put myself low on the priority list. This may make me a good team member, but doesn’t help develop my leadership brand as much as capitalizing on my strengths, identifying weaknesses and reminding myself that no one is good at everything. A piece of advice from this article that I will utilize as I develop my leadership brand is the concept of not over/under selling yourself.  Brio maintains that confidence is important, but this confidence should be backed up with results.  I subscribe to the theory that if I work hard, the results will speak volumes for me. Unfortunately, I am learning that this may be underselling my accomplishments.  The next chapter in my leadership journey will include sharing my successes and accomplishment with the leaders in my school district because as Brio states in this article, “Don’t hide your light under a talent, let it shine!” 

Tom Peters, author of The Brand Called You, echoes the concept of finding ways to promote your personal brand.  He refers to branding as being the CEO of Me Inc “…which requires you to act selfishly to grow yourself, to promote yourself, to get the market to reward yourself.”  I have always absorbed criticism and deflected praise which, I am learning, can stall a career.  If my brand isn’t promoted, I will have no reputational power. In order to become the CEO of Me Inc. I want to be, I will stretch myself with Peters’ recommendation that “There are power trips that are worth taking — and that you can take without appearing to be a self-absorbed, self-aggrandizing megalomaniacal jerk.”  As I grow into my brand of a successful digital leader, I know I am going to remember to take power trips that are value-added. brag about what I’m proud of and take credit for success.

 I want to promote culture, transparency and risk-taking to advance my school's brand.  This will be how we  use technology that reaches beyond an app that is used periodically in a math class;   Students deserve to learn with technology as a tool for success.  This means providing and embracing adequate access to technology.  This does not mean an outdated computer that takes 10 minutes to "warm up" and sounds like there is a jet engine inside.  Before I can sustain a digital age culture, it must first include relevant and innovative technology.   As an educational leader, I believe technology should be more dynamic and valuable for all stakeholders. Parents always ask their children what happened at school only to receive a blank "nothing" from their child. Social media should be utilized to brag about the magic that is happening every day so parents can fill this gap. Using concepts from both articles and the NETS A standards will help shape how others view me as a professional and my school as a brand. 

Powerful Formal Assessments for Math

This is an amazing resource for gathering formative assessment ideas for math.  Often I get comfortable using the curriculum's formative assesments, but adding something like "My Favorite No" helps share ownership in misconceptions and is more engaging for students.  Do you have any highly engaging formative assessment ideas for math? Tweets by MathCoachCorner