This last several days I have been at the ASCD Summer Conference at The Gaylord Texan in Grapevine, Texas. It has been a very good conference over-all. On the Saturday of the conference I went to a presentation on something called TPACK which is a new way to understand, plan for, and assess curriculum-based technology instruction. Basically it helps give the teachers a way to find appropriate technology tools to support what they are teaching after they plan what to teach. There are two basic questions that teachers are encouraged to ask before they choose the technology they will use with the lesson. The first questions is, what are you wanting to teach? The second question is, what are the curriculum goals? Figure this out first and then find the materials, the technology, that will most clearly help with the teaching of the lesson(s). This material was developed at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia by Judi Harris and Mark Hofer. Go to http://actvitytypes.wm.edu/ and find all of the activity type charts for the different areas of the curriculum that will help you start making smarter technological pedagogical decisions. They can also be found at #how2tpack. Check it out. And oh, BYOD teachers, this is what we will be using this year to help plan out even better BYOD lessons.
Hope your summer is going great! TJJ
Saturday, June 28, 2014
Monday, June 16, 2014
Reflecting on the ISTE National Educational Technology Standards for Administrators
Boy do I have a lot to learn about being and educational technology leader.
On a scale of 1-5 in relation to NETS*A this is how I have currently rated myself.
1) Visionary Leadership I am a 2 (beginning)
2) In digital-age learning culture I am at 2.5 (we are working hard at creating a digital age learning culture at CE)
3) Excellence in Professional Practice I am 2.5 because we are promoting and facilitating the use of technology practices on the campus.
4) Systemic Improvement I am at a 2 because we are looking for people who are tech savvy and are striving to maximize technology use and media-rich resources on our campus.
5) Digital Citizenship I am at 2.5 - because we are promoting appropriate use and are supplying equitable access to digital tools and resources.
I have along way to go. But that is ok. Everyone has to start somewhere. I now have standards that I can strive to meet and to measure my growth. I will begin to focus mostly on the local level of my school, but want to expand to a more global level of influence as time goes on.
On a scale of 1-5 in relation to NETS*A this is how I have currently rated myself.
1) Visionary Leadership I am a 2 (beginning)
2) In digital-age learning culture I am at 2.5 (we are working hard at creating a digital age learning culture at CE)
3) Excellence in Professional Practice I am 2.5 because we are promoting and facilitating the use of technology practices on the campus.
4) Systemic Improvement I am at a 2 because we are looking for people who are tech savvy and are striving to maximize technology use and media-rich resources on our campus.
5) Digital Citizenship I am at 2.5 - because we are promoting appropriate use and are supplying equitable access to digital tools and resources.
I have along way to go. But that is ok. Everyone has to start somewhere. I now have standards that I can strive to meet and to measure my growth. I will begin to focus mostly on the local level of my school, but want to expand to a more global level of influence as time goes on.
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
Issues, Problems, Crisis
I was talking with a friend of mine the other day about how he became the leader that he is today. During the course of our conversation he shared about three different types of leaders. The first type of leaders are people who are visionary and look way out into the future. The second type of leaders are the ones who see with more limited vision and see down the road only far enough to keep them from getting in trouble with their superiors. The third type of leaders are those who are near-sighted and only have time to react to one situation after another, after another. He shared with me that the visionary leaders deal mainly with issues. Because they are looking down the road they see what is coming up and make effective plans that will keep the issues from becoming problems. The limited vision leaders are still somewhat effective, but they are constantly dealing with problems. They are finding themselves having to make hurried decisions and creating plans or taking steps that are not completely thought through. They are skilled at steering away from crisis, but it does begin to wear them down after a while. The near-sighted leaders work in crisis mode a lot of the time because the problems were not addressed soon enough. These near-sighted leaders rarely plan and quickly burn out because they live in a reactive panic mode all the time. My friend shared with me that you only ever want to live in the area of issues so that the problems and the crisis rarely occur. I, for one, truly desire to be not only that type of leader, but that is how I desire to live my entire life. So here it is put in very simple terms; look down the road of life and identify as many issues as you can and begin to plan how you will address them. By doing this you will avoid problems, and surely avert many a crisis. This is really not only for leaders, it is for anyone who wants to live an exceptional life.
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