Encourage The Heart

                                      Recognize Contributions

There were so many suggestions and ideas in Chapter 10 of Encourage The Heart, it was difficult to pick just one. 
I settled on the value of quality recognition with the "Take Action" of linking recognition and rewards with performance outcomes so that only those who meet or exceed the standards receive them (Kouzes & Posner, 2012, p.298). 
When it comes to technology we should have clear goals/standards that need to be met in the delivery of digital lessons. Teachers that meet or exceed these standards need to be recognized with rewards that enhance their technology skills even more. There are so many rewards that can be offered from electronic devices for the classroom, upgraded laptop, to paid professional development of their choice. Who wouldn't want to win an iPad or better yet a trip to ISTE!!

Remain Humble and Human

I love that Chapter 12 listed Practice, Reflect, Remain Humble and Human and best of all, ended with a message of Love. 

"Being humble is the antidote for hubris." (p. 341) Hubris was considered a character flaw in Greek storytelling and is certainly one today. We all fall prey to self-confidence from time to time, so this reminder was critical. 

My personal Take Action for this one is to continue to read my daily devotional first thing in the morning, which always seems to have the right message for the day ahead and reminds me to not only be humble gentle and patient, but grateful as well. It's amazing how God works that way!!

Here is today's devotional. See how that works!!

Tech Leadership - Taking Action Part II

Enable Others to Act

-Structure Projects 

To Promote Joint Effort

(J. Kouzes & B. Posner, 2012) 

-Joanne M Glantz

Ah yes, another collaboration project. Just what teachers were looking for. We all feel that anxiety when we are tasked with yet another "thing" to do.

This chapter had so many personal, heart touching, goals for fostering collaboration that it was difficult to pick just one.

I did settle on "Structure Projects to Promote Joint Effort" because it sparked the process needed to get teachers sharing technology ideas and experiences across the large campus we work at and not feeling pressured to do one more task.

My idea is to start a Twitter Chat at Madera South High School.  As mentioned, it was difficult to select just one goal so you will see a few others surface as well. We need to create a technology-driven common goal for all teachers and that is to share and support each other with innovative apps that transform a student's learning experience. Being innovative and trying new things is risky and doesn't always work, so we need all the ideas, experience, and support we can foster.

We will begin having a Twitter Chat at noon on Thursdays. It will be promoted through e-mail and the use of #MUSDSecondary. Teachers will be encouraged to just watch as the more Twitter experienced folks take on the challenge. Teachers will then pair up with the active Tweeters and start participating. The chat will take on the Q&A numbered format and the sharing of ideas and fostering a growth mindset will be the theme.

This idea has many other methods to promote and build on, but to keep this blog short I will sum it up here. Goals that this project can foster include, building trust, sharing information about yourself, and reciprocity to mention just a few. To quote from the book, "By supporting norms of reciprocity and structuring projects to reward joint efforts, you enable people to clearly understand that it's in their best interest to cooperate." (p.239).

I see this project as a no pressure approach to foster collaboration and build global communication skills.

MUSD Professional Development - A Progressive Model

Madera Unified Education Technology Support

A Progressive Model

-Joanne Glantz

Madera Unified School District has a very progressive technology support structure. Four years ago the technology department was split into two. Infrastructure and hardware/software installation and support are covered by the Technology Support Department and instructional technology support is covered by the Educational Technology Department. The Ed Tech department is made up of fifteen (15) credentialed teachers that are pulled out of the classroom. We are commonly referred to as TOSA’s (Teachers On Special Assignment).

We collaborate together mostly by elementary group and secondary group. The secondary group was chosen based on subject areas of expertise. We have an English, Math, Social Science, and CTE teacher. We are lacking a Science person but there are plans to hire and this would be the criteria.

This model supports the effective practices mentioned in the video¹, having the true expert next door matching needs and expertise together. We don’t just support the “how to do” the tech, we work with the teachers to integrate it and pull from our collaborative strengths.

One of the areas I see lacking in our department is a more structured approach to our support delivery. We are assigned to school sites and support based on teacher needs. We are extremely busy every day but it seems to be “as needed” rather than planned. To sustain the much-needed integration of technology mentioned in both the video and the articles, we need to structure our support to include integration prior to lesson implementation on a regular basis with modeling, collaborative instruction delivery, and teacher follow-up.

¹[Sunnylands] (2014, Oct. 6),Professional Development - 2014 Educational Technology Summit, [Video file], retreived from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrAq2KnUbUQ

Inspiring Action

A QQTP on:

 "How Great Leaders Inspire Action" -Simon Sinek

QQTP - Quote, Question, Talking Point

This quote cannot be ignored: 

"People don't by what you do; they buy why you do it." It could be added to the title of the video.

Additional powerful quotes:

"Inspired leaders and organization....think, act, and communicate from the inside out."

"The goal isn't to do business with everybody who needs what you have; the goal is to do business with people who believe what you believe."

"Hire people who believe what you believe."

"He [Martin Luther King] did not go around telling people what needed to change in America; he told people what he believed."

"We follow those who lead not because we have to, but because we want to."

Questions:

• What happens when we have a leader we don't believe in?
• What happens when our organizations beliefs change due to change in leadership?
• How do we motivate students to believe in us as teacher-leaders?

Talking Points:

• Golden Circle: You know what you do. You know how you do it. Do you know why?
• The Law of diffusion innovation - innovators; early adopters; early majority; late majority; lagers. Where is your classroom in this curve?
• Think, act, and communicate differently.