Teacher leadership - the end of my course, the beginning of its application

Feeling of accomplishment now that I have just submitted my final exam and three-part assignment to signal the end of my second course, the theme of teacher leadership.  This course provided some very interesting details about the paradigm shift from top-down leadership to parallel leadership.  This, by its own nature, requires that the instructor venture outside his/her walls of isolation (i.e. their classroom) and engage their colleagues more openly and collaboratively (and by that, it is explained beyond the formalities and obligatory niceties).  As well, that entails a recognition by administrators that educational leadership is a profession; that professions adhere to a set of standards (autonomy is a bad word); that professionals interpret standards into a set of practices (with the goal of student learning); and practices are evaluated for impact.  Amid some gasps and groans, there should be the ability to recognize that this form of leadership is a benefit to the student:  witnessing adults model democratic, participatory forms of engagement they are the beneficiaries of higher teacher morale and student life because their teachers are more centrally involved  in decision making and other forms of leadership.  And by engaging each other we as teachers are learning, and it has been posited that when teachers learn will their students learn, too. 

Teacher Magazine: Study: Video Games Could Hurt Boys’ Schoolwork

Teacher Magazine: Study: Video Games Could Hurt Boys’ Schoolwork

Decisions, decisions, decisions...but never hasty

     I'm sure that some of my colleagues are certain that I have already pre-ordered an Ipad and am impatiently waiting for it to arrive on April 3.  Well, think again.  Although I must admit that I have been eyeing the device with interest and thinking about the educational-in-the-classroom possibilities, the Ipad really hasn't brought me to my knees and responding like one of Pavlov's dogs.  Quite the opposite in fact.  As soon as I saw the leaks on the internet, I began a search for similar products and found these as contenders.  Now, I do admit that when it comes to "shiny" new technologies I can flutter around like the best of them. But in reality, I tend to weigh heavily on the pros and cons.  This goes for both my personal gadgets and the devices I use in class.  My Droid phone is one example (purchased 12/09):  I held out buying an Iphone all this time.  I'm a Mac user but when the Iphone went from being a trendy device to a ubiquitous one, well then the underdog attraction of Mac lost some of its appeal.  So Droid it was and I love it, but not after doing extensive research and of course waiting for my phone provider to give me some sort of discount.  The interactive whiteboard in my classroom is another example.  That device was purchased last year, the technology has been around for some four to six years,, right?  I had to go to conferences, see it in action, ponder on its applications in my classroom with my style of teaching and in the end, yes, I wrote a proposal for one and it got approved.  Some at my school have only heard of my IWB, never having seen it with their own eyes, like some urban legend.  I use it extensively (as do the students) from everything basic (fill-in) to manipulating data to show multiple possible outcomes.
    But back to the Ipad.  The pre-order version is only for wi-fi - red flag.  A lot of us in educational institutions know what a challenge that can be to work with in the classroom.  The later versions will offer wi-fi and 3G.  I'm good with the 3G (don't know how happy IT would be - it's a control thing), but we are fast approaching 4G.  Another reason I'm holding off is that I tend to prefer to incorporate the use of the technology on a personal level first, that is, a level where I feel comfortable and with a certain level of knowledge in its use.  I'm not the type to haul in a classroom set of Ipads and then wonder where's the on/off button with fifteen pairs of eyes looking on.  Finally, perhaps the real reason I'd hold off on an Ipad is that Microsoft has plans to come out with its own tablet device, the Courier.  Now, after looking at the videos and reading the articles, yes, Pavlov has rung the bell.  I think I'm drawn to it because of its Franklin Day Planner qualities of which my generation has fond memories (I had attended the workshop and my Classic One-Page-Per-Day planner never left my side).  That product isn't due out until later this year, plenty of time to do the research, make the comparisons, and find a way to get it into the classroom.

Bloom's Blooming Orange Taxonomy

     At the beginning of the school year, my department chair had asked us to submit a document listing our goals and expectations for professional development.  I mentioned the "Blooming Orange", an updated version of Bloom's taxonomy - very familiar to all of us who studied either elementary or secondary education.  This newer version, created by the people at Learningtoday.com depicts the verbs in a circular form as opposed to a hierarchical list, given that these skills don’t often occur in isolation and are interconnected.  This is how I have used it: instead of beginning at the (old) bottom of the hierarchical level and work up, with this model I have implemented two (or three) verbs opposite each other, much like using a color wheel, to present, teach, and assess information. 

The status quo no longer suffices: An open letter to the Ames (IA) School Board

http://www.dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2010/03/the-status-quo-no-longer-suffices-an-open-letter-to-the-ames-ia-school-board.html

A link to a letter written to the The Ames (IA) Community School District   McLeod, J.D., Ph.D., is an Associate Professor and Coordinator of the Educational Administration program at Iowa State University. He also is the Director of the UCEA Center for the Advanced Study of Technology Leadership in Education (CASTLE), the nation's only center dedicated to the technology needs of school administrators, and was a co-creator of the wildly popular video, Did You Know? (Shift Happens).




And a link to an on-point video:

21st century teaching for 21st century learning

"Building a Better Teacher" (NYTimes)

Article from NYTimes Sunday 3/7/10

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/magazine/07Teachers-t.html?scp=1&sq=building%20a%20better%20teacher&st=cse

Self-esteem, self-destruction: Lighten up on overparenting kids

This article appeared in Friday's (3/10) Albuquerque Journal editorial page titled, "Lighten up on Overparenting kids" http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20100304/GPG0706/3040634/George-F.-Will- column-Self-esteem-self-destruction

An open letter to educators

Doing research for an article on student learning and educational response in the Information Age and a cohort sent this to me.

Intriguing commentary:




and you may have had a reaction of some sort. Dan Brown responds:

my mind wanders: understanding what we don't know

Some thoughts I had as I was preparing to leave on our two week spring holiday on Friday 3/12/10

my mind wanders: understanding what we don't know

In the right hands of a person with experience and knowledge to offer guidance, digital instruction can be a wonderful opportunity to enhance student learning. In the wrong hands it can be difficult to process and admire. To those unfamiliar with its potential to foster curiosity and learning, it has the ability to generate resentment, hostility and be a downright affront on their very nature of keeping things unchanged. When a lesson that incorporates this technology is implemented there may be those that hope it will not work, or that it falls flat, or that students react unfavorably and just may even serve as saboteurs. Technology is a tool and like most tools, it can be used productively or destructively. Likewise, their products can be used for thesame purposes. The skilled teacher, like the skilled carpenter, matches the tool to the task in order to accomplish an important purpose. At the same time as we consider our own uses of technology, we need to focus on our students and their need to use technology effectively.

Sure, we can all ferret out the negative element about anything if we put our mind to it. For some people, it is their natural reaction to lambaste something which exists outside their circle of knowledge or have very little practice on the subject. Do we call the study of the female nude titillating or wonderful examples of classical art? Why does society view Michelangelo’s "David" as a great sculpture, but act shocked when we view Titian's "Venus of Urbino " from the same time period? Film throughout its rather short existence has found itself in the crosshairs of censorship and condemnation (All Quiet on the Western Front, Birth of a Nation, The Last Temptation of Christ) only later to be accepted as critical visual works that represent society in a true light (take a look at what educators can do with movies: http://www.edutopia.org/reading-film-story-movies). Libraries across the nation (ours included) take part in Banned Books Week, the annual event celebrating the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment. Most of us are old enough to have seen the banning of books like Catcher in the Rye, Of Mice and Men, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Forever, A Clockwork Orange, and more recently And Tango Makes Three (penguins?) and Captain Underpants. Intellectual freedom—the freedom to access information and express ideas, even if the information and ideas might be considered unorthodox or unpopular—provides the foundation for Banned Books Week. Fortunately, while some books were banned or restricted, in a majority of cases the books were not banned, all thanks to the efforts of librarians, teachers, and members of the community to keep the books in the library collections.

Similarly, intellectual freedom, while precious and vital to teaching, coupled with technology is where we are in the 21st century. Our school community trusts inherently that we as professionals are competent in implementing this particular tool like we would any other in the classroom. We give the guidance for enrichment. No doubt, our responsibility is to serve as the filter, much like when we assign a certain book, show a particular film in class, or invite a speaker into our classroom. Hysterical fanatics may have ripped out the page with the text in question; thrown themselves in front of the screen to block out the scenes or turned off the sound. To do such an act with the technology would mean much simpler acts: just turn off the power or cut the cable line.

Favorably, most in our profession know that in order to educate, we must first educate ourselves about the world that we live in and not shut it out. As a facilitator for learner we jeopardize our mission when we become anachronisms and do not represent positive and current role models. We as teachers have an advantage - we work most closely with the consumers of the world of today, our students. These consumers, in our hands, are the producers of tomorrow. Are we as educators taking advantage of this close relationship?

Our families want to know that we are preparing their child for the world of tomorrow, a world where the ability of writing a strong argument, the ability to relate the aspects of our human history must co-exist, if not converge, with the integration of technology in the 21st century. Our employers demand it and our economy's existence depends on it. As teachers, we serve on the front line of this endeavor. We need to be those ‘right’ hands. How can we expect a student to accept that technology is worthwhile for learning or producing if they don't see it being implemented in at least some of their classes?

I invite you to visit the web sites listed below. Some have articles written by educators and the others are created samples of the uses of technology in certain subject areas. Some are student produced and a few are teacher-generated. Some share just a few images and/or words. In others, the author inundates the space with thoughts and visuals, sometimes even sound. What I see when I read these is the opportunity for so much learning and expression to occur, but perhaps most of all, I realize that one wonderful useof this particular technology tool (blogging, specifically 'glogging') is that it can give a voice to what could have otherwise been a silent voice in a classroom. So many educators and students use digital instruction, one can be part of the solution or stay on the fringes while casting an obtuse shadow.

I share a quote by Technology Integration Facilitator, K.L. Evans:

"As this technologically driven world moves forward, the need to adapt the role of the educator, as well as meet the demands of the future, are imperative. In going from old school to new school, the majority of educators are modifying their baseline teaching approach by facilitating learning, instead of simply dispensing knowledge.

Today, technology in the classroom is an instrument utilized to deliver instruction/information to accommodate all learning styles. This said, technology has opened the door to a wealth of information that has the capabilities to enhance the educational structure we offer to our students. Most of our students are entering the classroom with a wealth of pre-exposed knowledge to technology and are aware of what the internet has to offer. As educators, it is essential for us to evolve with this generation and with the evolution of technology into our daily lives."

Welcome to the Dovewhisper (2007). K.L. Evans. Retrieved March 10, 2010 from Welcome to DoveWhisper.com

Website: http://www.dovewhisper.com/index.htm

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Why use technology in the English classroom?

http://www.montanaheritageproject.org/index.php/MichaelUmphrey/why_use_technology/

An Ethical Argument for Using Emerging Technologies to Promote the Participation of Women in ICT

http://bibliotecavirtual.clacso.org.ar/ar/libros/raec/ethicomp5/docs/htm_papers/63Wardle,%20Caroline%20E.htm

Integrating Technology into the Language Arts Classroom

http://www.glencoe.com/sec/teachingtoday/subject/int_tech_lit_la.phtml

50 Ways to Anchor Technology in your classroom

http://sites.google.com/site/anchortechnologytomorrow/home/50-ways-to-anchor-technology

Why not try GlogsterEDU?

http://edu.glogster.com/

How to use Glogster

http://www.scribd.com/doc/14750322/how-to-use-Glogster

Glogster Samples

ENGLISH/WRITING ASSIGNMENTS

http://anne1964.glogster.com/Start-of-Smarty/

http://inyoungc.glogster.com/I-am-poem/

(especially like the last line)

http://pookeypam.glogster.com/I-had-a-thought/

http://libbey.glogster.com/canterbury-tales/

http://afeveryoucantsweatout.glogster.com/The-Raven-by-Edgar-Allen-Poe-Not-full-poem-beacuse-not-enough-room/

http://cook4chs.glogster.com/ScarletLETTERinProgress/

http://obadiah.glogster.com/Seamus-Heaney/

http://cathieezy.glogster.com/Voltaire/

http://lilmisssunshine101.glogster.com/English-Project/

http://h2oficus.glogster.com/English-III-Transcendentalism-Project/

http://chrissyb.glogster.com/walt-whitman-/

http://cass57.glogster.com/william-yeats-9240/

http://orangy.glogster.com/Night-Poem/

HISTORY

http://apst495ru.glogster.com/history/

http://brinabina.glogster.com/History-project-/

http://oliver12.glogster.com/elizabethanera/

http://rdalton119.glogster.com/the-written-word/

CLASS WEBSITES AND NEWS

http://mackrellr.glogster.com/WhyUseGlogster/

(professor from MIT)

http://pagesage.glogster.com/storytellers/

RESEARCH PROJECTS

http://ladylia.glogster.com/NO-FUR/

POSTING ASSIGNMENTS

http://amitybeane.glogster.com/spanish3-001/

http://janeec14.glogster.com/CI/