As another school year begins across the country, here are questions we, as educators, need to ask ourselves.Will this be the year?
Will this be the year we utilize 21st century tools like Twitter, blogs, wikis and Google. Or will we continue to live in the last century, hindering our students progress in real world skills?
Will we incorporate the 4 C's of the 21st Century, Collaboration, Conversation, Communication and Creativity? Or will we emphasize rote memorization, lecture and standardized multiple choice tests?
Will this be the year we finally create a professional learning network of like minded educators from around the world? Or will we close the door again and be satisfied for what we learn from the teacher's lounge?
Will this be the year we transform our classroom to a student centered culture of learning? Or will we remain teacher centered, limiting the student's learning to just what we know?
Will this be the year we actually begin teaching our children the responsible and ethical use of technology? Or will we continue to make excuses such as a lack of time, too difficult and it's not safe?
Finally, will we adopt professional learning as an integral part of our plan for success? Or will we show up, go through the motions and say wait till next year?
Hopefully this will be the year, the tipping point, where we venture out and accept the challenges of 21st century education.
Showing posts with label Ed Tech. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ed Tech. Show all posts
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Insights for 21st century leadership
This post is my annual contribution to Scott McLeod's Leadership Day Challenge.
Through my 35 years in education, I have worked with a number of effective school leaders.(Some really ineffective ones too but that's for another post.) My current position as an ed tech consultant, allows me to work with multiple schools, teaching teachers about integrating tech into their classroom and collaborating with school leaders about the challenges they face. There are several noticeable similarities among effective 21st century leaders.
Successful 21st century leadership revolves around the four C's : Conversation, Communication, Collaboration and Creativity.
Conversation- There is no hesitancy among effective leaders to discuss educational matters that deal with what is best for the students. Leaders and teachers are able to rationalize why they do things a certain way. If the answer is" that's the way its always been done" more conversation is needed. 21st century leaders have those conversations frequently.
Communication- Effective 21st century leaders are excellent communicators. They utilize whatever means necessary to spread their vision. They blog, they tweet, they have a Facebook page. They communicate their message to their clientele whether it be parents, teachers, students or others through multiple modes and are comfortable in doing so. With poor communicators, there is sometimes a vacuum of information access which leads to misinformation. Effective leaders fill that vacuum with their own vision.
Collaboration- Effective21st century leaders not only work together with their teachers, they seek out and collaborate with like minded professionals, their peers. The smartest person in the room is the room. The best way to come up with a great idea is to sift through a dozen good ideas. There is no hesitancy to reach out to peers or teachers to solve problems. They believe in team.
Creativity- Effective 21st century leaders find a way. They think outside the box. They are not afraid to fail, reflect on their experience and move on to solving the problem. They aren't bogged down by 20th century rhetoric or policies. They seek to solve 21st century problems with unique and innovative thought from this century. They embrace innovation and in effect, stifle adequacy.
The most effective leaders have high levels of expertise with all four components. They may not have mastered the skills but they are part of the learning cycle. They are continuing to grow.
The wealth of resources currently available to leaders is mind boggling and it keeps expanding. As educators, we need to take advantage of these opportunities and cultivate a culture of effective 21st century leaders.
Through my 35 years in education, I have worked with a number of effective school leaders.(Some really ineffective ones too but that's for another post.) My current position as an ed tech consultant, allows me to work with multiple schools, teaching teachers about integrating tech into their classroom and collaborating with school leaders about the challenges they face. There are several noticeable similarities among effective 21st century leaders.
Successful 21st century leadership revolves around the four C's : Conversation, Communication, Collaboration and Creativity.
Conversation- There is no hesitancy among effective leaders to discuss educational matters that deal with what is best for the students. Leaders and teachers are able to rationalize why they do things a certain way. If the answer is" that's the way its always been done" more conversation is needed. 21st century leaders have those conversations frequently.
Communication- Effective 21st century leaders are excellent communicators. They utilize whatever means necessary to spread their vision. They blog, they tweet, they have a Facebook page. They communicate their message to their clientele whether it be parents, teachers, students or others through multiple modes and are comfortable in doing so. With poor communicators, there is sometimes a vacuum of information access which leads to misinformation. Effective leaders fill that vacuum with their own vision.
Collaboration- Effective21st century leaders not only work together with their teachers, they seek out and collaborate with like minded professionals, their peers. The smartest person in the room is the room. The best way to come up with a great idea is to sift through a dozen good ideas. There is no hesitancy to reach out to peers or teachers to solve problems. They believe in team.
Creativity- Effective 21st century leaders find a way. They think outside the box. They are not afraid to fail, reflect on their experience and move on to solving the problem. They aren't bogged down by 20th century rhetoric or policies. They seek to solve 21st century problems with unique and innovative thought from this century. They embrace innovation and in effect, stifle adequacy.
The most effective leaders have high levels of expertise with all four components. They may not have mastered the skills but they are part of the learning cycle. They are continuing to grow.
The wealth of resources currently available to leaders is mind boggling and it keeps expanding. As educators, we need to take advantage of these opportunities and cultivate a culture of effective 21st century leaders.
Monday, July 30, 2012
Transforming teaching and attitudes
*This is also cross posted at http://www.dyknow.com/edtech/transforming-teaching-and-attitudes/
as part of the Back to School Ed Tech series.
Sometimes those of us in the ed tech community tend to think about transformative education coming from the top, those schools with 1:1 or BYOD programs already in place. However, this year as I collaborated with several schools through professional learning classes and seminars, I realized transformation can occur even in the beginning stages of incorporating technology.
There are vast differences that still exist between schools in the area of educational technology. I've worked with schools ready to implement 1:1 with a clear vision and plan for the future and other schools whose vision was less clear due to monetary restrictions or other hindrances. Despite the disparity, there are similarities between the groups. What is best for the student is still of utmost importance. It's the main reason most of us chose this profession, we care! Most teachers realize we are in the 21st century and our pedagogy should revolve around skills such as Conversation, Communication, Collaboration and Creativity.
What stood out to me most though were the attitudes before and after the introduction of new tools . Both groups had teachers totally on board with technology, ready to grow and also a group of resistors, stuck in the 20th century and hesitant to change. However, once the web tools were demonstrated as a way to help the teachers, most realized the potential to bring about better engagement with their students.
Whether it was in a technology rich environment with Smart Boards and wireless or a school with one computer in each classroom, the reaction was the same, "show us more." We can't believe how easy this is." Web tools such as blogs, wikis or even something like Screencast-O-Matic or Prezi produced excitement for transforming not only their classroom culture but also their attitudes towards better 21st century methods.
An elementary teacher from a school with limited technology resources, loved that a blog could help her facilitate communication with her parents. An English teacher from the same school, saw wikis as a way to enhance collaboration among her students. On the other end of the spectrum, History teachers from a school initiating a 1:1 program in 2013, were excited to learn about about Google docs and forms as a way of creating student writing portfolios and moving from teacher centered to a student centered classroom..
These teachers are beginning the process of changing their attitudes and moving their classrooms into the 21st century. The journey of transforming teaching is a process and there will be more challenges in the future. These teachers are part of my PLN now and I look forward to supporting them as they begin to realign their teaching strategies. The transformation won't occur immediately, once school begins "life comes at you fast" but if we continue to collaborate, the classroom culture will be transformed.
as part of the Back to School Ed Tech series.
Sometimes those of us in the ed tech community tend to think about transformative education coming from the top, those schools with 1:1 or BYOD programs already in place. However, this year as I collaborated with several schools through professional learning classes and seminars, I realized transformation can occur even in the beginning stages of incorporating technology.
There are vast differences that still exist between schools in the area of educational technology. I've worked with schools ready to implement 1:1 with a clear vision and plan for the future and other schools whose vision was less clear due to monetary restrictions or other hindrances. Despite the disparity, there are similarities between the groups. What is best for the student is still of utmost importance. It's the main reason most of us chose this profession, we care! Most teachers realize we are in the 21st century and our pedagogy should revolve around skills such as Conversation, Communication, Collaboration and Creativity.
What stood out to me most though were the attitudes before and after the introduction of new tools . Both groups had teachers totally on board with technology, ready to grow and also a group of resistors, stuck in the 20th century and hesitant to change. However, once the web tools were demonstrated as a way to help the teachers, most realized the potential to bring about better engagement with their students.
Whether it was in a technology rich environment with Smart Boards and wireless or a school with one computer in each classroom, the reaction was the same, "show us more." We can't believe how easy this is." Web tools such as blogs, wikis or even something like Screencast-O-Matic or Prezi produced excitement for transforming not only their classroom culture but also their attitudes towards better 21st century methods.
An elementary teacher from a school with limited technology resources, loved that a blog could help her facilitate communication with her parents. An English teacher from the same school, saw wikis as a way to enhance collaboration among her students. On the other end of the spectrum, History teachers from a school initiating a 1:1 program in 2013, were excited to learn about about Google docs and forms as a way of creating student writing portfolios and moving from teacher centered to a student centered classroom..
These teachers are beginning the process of changing their attitudes and moving their classrooms into the 21st century. The journey of transforming teaching is a process and there will be more challenges in the future. These teachers are part of my PLN now and I look forward to supporting them as they begin to realign their teaching strategies. The transformation won't occur immediately, once school begins "life comes at you fast" but if we continue to collaborate, the classroom culture will be transformed.
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