The following link will take you to my podcast.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
1. Vison and Philosophy Technology
10. Utilizing Web Pages of Utility and Sophistication
Websites are important and vital part of communication. It is a quick and easy place for parents and community members to go to access information use at school phone numbers, closings, teachers emails, sporting events, and even handbooks. It is all a place that can contain links to teacher websites, blogs, and even other help sites. It is important to make sure that your websites are kept current and are user friendly. Below are links to some various school websites. I encourage you to visit them look at the different layouts, consider what seems to work and not work.
9. PowerPoint Substitutes
Ever got to that important meeting only to realize the PowerPoint presentation you prepared is on the computer back at the office? Or arrived at a meeting to discover the technology set up does not open the PowerPoint version you have prepared your document in. It has happened to all of us.
While PowerPoint is a valuable tool, it does has its limitation. If you send that PowerPoint to someone they have to have the PowerPoint application to view it. A PowerPoint is only available on the computer it is saved or the device it is saved to. Try out Prezi this web based presentation application is free for the basic version, and the more complex version is free for educational purpose. The presentation is stored online and is available from any computer that has internet access.
Click this like to view a Prezi:
8. Harnessing Technology
Time and Money that is the bottom line of what so much comes down to in education. The most powerful information that I have gained in this class is a statement by Dr. Jeffery's. In one of our first few classes he said something to the effect of "If you believe that something is important then you have to find the time and money for it." Wow! How true as I think back through my years as a teacher how many times have my administrators pushed some new practice or idea but then did not give us the time or money to be effectively be trained or implemented. It becomes very old very quickly. As a school leader I know that integrating technology is going to be a vital part of ensuring that my school is preparing students for global economy. During this course I have read many articles and books about education, and very single one of them has talked about the important roll that technology plays in increasing student achievement. As a school leader I am going to have to find time and money for professional development to help teachers with this process.
7. Use of Technical Vocabulary & Skills Specfic to the Mission & Vision
Most missions/visions of schools have to with preparing students for life after high school. If we are going to live up to these missions and visions we have to lead our schools to incorporate technology in to our instructional practices. So we has leaders need to know technology. Wagner, spends a lot of time talking about the changes in student willingness to listen to lectures and the importance of incorperating technology into education.
If you are going to lead people you have to be knowledgeable of where you are lead them to. For school leaders this means we have to truly know technology. We have to be able to communicate about technology. To do this we have to know the terms so that we can inquire about technology and have discussions about best practices. Also, as leaders we will be approached by teachers and staff with questions that relate to the terms of technology and we need to be able to answer these questions. If we can not answer questions and our staff have to turn else where to find the answers we will begin to lose credibility.
Leading by example is the most important thing that we can do, so as leaders we have to have the skills to use technology. In the article, "How to Become a Digital Leader", Bill Ferriter talks about that teachers are looking for guidance and support as the utilize technology in their classroom. We as leaders have to provide the support for them. If they don't find it in us they will either seek it else where or even more likely give up. If teachers give up that will quickly up a halt to any goals being accomplished to help schools fulfill their mission or vision.
Ferriter, Bill. “How to Become a Digital Leader.” Educational Leadership, October,
2009. Pgs. 90-91.
Wagner, Tony. The Global Achievement Gap. Basic Books, New York, NY, 2008.
Monday, April 25, 2011
6. Using Cloud and Web 2.0 To Enhance Creditbility
This blog is really connected with the 2nd blog, entitled 3. Technological Integration and Achievement & Productivity. As talked about in the previous entry, students are no longer willing to do work simply because it is assigned. We as school leaders have to help teachers give the work they assign credibility. We have to offer instructional leadership to assist teachers in bringing the web 2.0 and cloud into lessons. If students learning involves using these applications they are more likely to see value in the assignment and do it.
5. Communication: The Role & Impact of Technology
Communication is key to any form of leadership. You must communicate with all stakeholders, if you do not communicate with them they will not value your leadership. Technology allows many ways for school leaders to communicate. I believe that I will use a blog as my main form of communication. This easily allows the stakeholders the opportunity to access the communication at a time and place that is convenient for them, it also allows them to respond and can launch powerful discussions. As an administrator a blog allows me to communicate in a variety of ways, blogs traditionally are written content, however the blogger could make a video of themselves talking about an important issue and post a like to the video in the blog.
School leaders need to be intentional about demonstrating how to use technology as a valid way to communicate. If teachers and staff see how you use technology to communicate with them and others they may see the importance of communication and follow the example that is being set for them. Ultimately, in school leaders who are able to get their staff to communicate will have fewer issues to deal with, because many times when the community gets stirred up, it is because they are not properly informed.
Last but not least, communication sets a good example for students. It is one more way to prepare them for the 21st century work place. Wagner’s 2nd survival skill is to be able to “Collaborate across networks and Lead by influence”, in order to do this students need to be able to communicate. (Wagner, 22) Students will likely be working with colleagues in that are in other states and countries and they need to be able communicate using all kinds of methods of communications.
Wagner, Tony. The Global Achievement Gap. Basic Books, New York, NY, 2008.
4. Online learning & Research
Online Learning and Research, there are two aspects that I want to look at as I prepare to be a future school leader. The first aspect is how I can use online learning and research to do my work as a leader in a much more effective way. Administrators have a lot of responsibility and need to work smart to get everything. I want to stay on top of the latest research and practices in education. To do this I want to an RSS feed. An RSS feed will allow me to list websites that I find valuable and it will notify me when they post new information. This information is crucial for me to be an instructional leader, I need to keep up on blogs and websites that share now other schools are integrating technology into their classroom. There are also classes that I can take online to expand my knowledge. By using application and online learning I will be leading by example.
Wagner refers students today as “Net Gen Students” and he says that students who are online become very proficient at in what John Seely Brown call “information navigation”. (Wagner, 179) Brown believes that literacy in the 21st century may be “navigation”. (Wagner, 179) What would literacy look like then, students would be able to “know how to navigate through confusing, complex information spaces and feel comfortable doing so.” (Wagner, 179) As a school leader, a goal will be to prepare students for the workforce in the 2ast century and that means producing “literate” students. Therefore I will need to makes sure to facilitate discussions amongst my staff about integrating navigation into our curriculum. Do students know how to evaluate whether a information is valid? Do they know how to locate that information and then can they use it to solve problems.
Wagner, Tony. The Global Achievement Gap. Basic Books, New York, NY, 2008.
3. Technological Leadership to Increase Achievement & Productivity
In chapter 5 of Wagner’s book the Global Achievement Gap he talks about how students are differently motivated than they were 20 years. Students are no longer content to sit and listen to lecture and do long reading assignment. The world they live, a world where info is readily available and everything is involves be entertained, is transforming education. Wagner says “ The use of the Internet and other digital technology has transformed both what young people learn today and how they learn.” I agree very strongly with Wagner, and if education is going to truly be reformed school leaders have to learn to embrace technology. As a future school administrator I want to lead my staff by example by using the technological applications myself.
Technology is constantly changing this means that in order to fully integrate technology into the classroom time and money have to be set aside to train staff, and it cannot be a one day training it has be ongoing, informative and valuable. If we has school leaders find the time and money to invest in training in instructional methods that integrate technology we will see a higher return in student achievement and productivity. Wagner cites that students today will refuse to do assignments that involve long reading passages or lengthy directions. (Wagner, 178) This only makes since when we live in a world of instant gratification. If students are going to achieve and be productive we have to shift gears away from lectures, reading and long assignments, for more meaningful activities.
Wagner, Tony. The Global Achievement Gap. Basic Books, New York, NY, 2008.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
2. Technology Integration and Achievement of Future Goals
Bill Ferriter makes some very startling claims in his article How to Become a Digital Learner. The first one is that "few teachers look to administrators when selecting instructional practices worth pursuing.” (Ferriter, 90) He talks about surveys take in North Carolina (the state that he resides in) to support this. In these surveys only 45% of teachers viewed their principal as their main source of instructional leadership. (Ferriter, 90) He believes that technology is quickly over taking the principals roles in influencing teaching and learning. At first I disagreed, but then the more I reflected on this I realized that it might be true. Ideas and practices in education are constantly changing, there is so much to keep up with, one person would have a hard time effectively keeping up with that. Technology overs some pretty effective tools to do that, such as a RSS (Real simple syndication). A RSS basically can be set up to watch websites that you find valuable, then the website post new information if alerts you. What an amazing time saver.
As an administrator you have many responsibilities discipline, parent meeting, administrations meeting, teacher evaluation, state mandated reports to be filed, etc. If you are trying to keep up on new practices in teaching all by yourself you will fail, your teachers will be ahead of you and ultimately begin to give your ideas less and less creditability. Administrators need to embrace technology and tools like RSS to keep up on teaching trends and practices that can help them to reach goals they have set. RSS can also assist you in keep up with changes in education and thus helping you to set realistic and effective goals for the future.
Also, Educational Leaders need to embrace technology that teachers and staff already have such as blogs, wikis, RSS feeds, and even social networking as a way to learn. It seems as so many administration still view these things as waste of time and having no educational value, but that is so wrong. Conversation that students are having with one another and their teacher through blogs or social networking are absolutely astounding. I have a friend who teaches high school government and she has set up a Facebook page that is only open to students in her government class, but they have the most amazing discussion on there. The other night I stopped by her house at about 7:30 and she was having a group chat with about 15 of her students about some news story that had been covered that night. These kids were choosing to get on there and a chat and talk about government. It was amazing. Administrators much begin to embrace this type of learning if they want to achieve future goals that they have set.
The learning environment in classrooms today is not what it was when most administrators were teaching. Technology is the key to staying up to date on new practice and educational expectations of both government agencies and future employers. Technology is also the key to engaging students in the learning process.
Some free RSS are:
Ferriter, Bill. “How to Become a Digital Learner.” Eduationtional Leadership. August 2009, p. 90 -91.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)