Clinical Cycle: Post Observation Commentary

Post-Observation: Environment & Tone
The post-observation took place in a sound proof room used for music lessons. It was a small room, but it was one of the few rooms available as there were after-school classes, conferences and meetings occurring in all of the other rooms. While small, the room had the advantage of being completely quiet and no one would distract us while we talked. And while the supervisor was preparing the camera, the teacher enjoyed playing music on the piano. The most significant impact of the size of the room is that the camera, which was an extremely wide-angle HD camera, could not be placed to include both participants fully. Overall, the tone of the conference was collegial and productive. Both participants were relaxed; spoke freely, rarely used transition words such as “umm,” or “ahhh,” and had extensive eye-to-eye contact. The supervisor and teacher were actively engaged in the discussion and excited to discuss the details, especially considering the technical challenges encountered. There are no improvements that I would recommend. While the room size would be considered a deficiency, the opportunity to learn that the teacher plays the piano beautifully and be in a place where we could focus on our conversation without being interrupted was actually an advantage as it helped create an intimate setting and relaxed atmosphere, rather than a deficit.

Post-Observation: Strategies to Improve Instruction
The focus of the conference centered on the success of the teacher’s use of technology as identified in the pre-observation conference. Since the teacher felt unable to handle the introduction of VoiceThread on the first day despite watching the tutorials several times, I was most interested to find out what could have been different to allow the teacher to manage this task. Donna was very honest in her assessment that she was hesitant to use it in front of the classroom since she still was learning the program. I felt that her feelings honestly portrayed the challenge of an experienced teacher faced with presenting something to a class that they are not completely confident in using (they are accustomed to having mastery in a topic when presenting at this point in their careers). This subject holds great interest for me and was the focus of my action research project when I completed a master in Education Media Design and Technology at Full Sail University. I find myself returning to this area of study naturally and consider that I would be interested in pursuing additional studies in the area over time. The strategy to improve instruction focused on how to improve the competency level of the teacher learning the new technology at the same time as the students. Donna revealed that without the generous support from me, it is unlikely she would have attempted to integrate this technology, despite her excitement with the tool. Hearing this from her, the strategy for the supervisor then is to create graduated steps of learning for the teacher, just as we created for the students.
Additionally, we both discussed the “unsuccessful” part of the lesson, as the students were unable to access the VoiceThread site to comment. Continuing the collegial atmosphere set, both of us discarded the notion that the lesson was unsuccessful because in facing the challenge, the students showed great patience and problem-solving behavior, and this part of the lesson was just a small piece in an otherwise well-prepared and appropriate lesson plan.

Post-Observation: Continuum of Behaviors
Throughout the process, the supervisor consistently used the Collaborative approach when considering the continuum of behaviors available. The school, with its Montessori and IB philosophy, naturally encourages this type of approach. Additionally, the teacher and supervisor shared different forms of mastery – the teacher in the classroom and the supervisor with technology literacy. This was the appropriate approach because each participant had a similar level of expertise though in different areas and both were involved in carrying out the decisions and solving the problems. The collaborative approach allowed both the teacher and supervisor to listen to each other, clarify problems seen, reflect on the perception of the problem, exchange possible solutions to the problem and negotiate an acceptable solution.

Appreciation for the Montessori Classroom

As a Montessori school, the room arrangements for all of the classrooms are designed in a manner that encourages self-discovery and are designed to appeal to different ages since the classrooms include students of different grades. At our school, the primary students encompass 3 grades levels (pre-school year 1 and 2 and kindergarten) then there are LE (1st and 2nd grade, ME (3rd and 4th grade), UE (5th and 6th grade) and MS (7th and 8th grade). Also in keeping with Montessori, our classrooms are large, warm and bright with a variety of activities for individual exploration even at the MS level. The arrangements for all grades are designed so that teachers circulate through the rooms regularly rather than teach from the front. Teaching from the front of the room for longer than 10 or 15 minutes even in the Upper School is highly discouraged and most teachers are actively moving about the classroom.

There are no individual desks anywhere in our school either in the lower or upper school so that students are always collaborating and sharing desk space. I work in the Upper School, which encompasses the UE and MS classes. The English classroom is spacious and includes a book center where students love to sit to work or find a book and where class discussions are often held. The Science room is unique because the desks are designed for lab experiments for 2 students, but often these desks are pulled together to form larger tables and the addition of a small zoo is in keeping with the Montessori environment. Students and teachers use a large conference table at the back often for conferences or group work.

Teacher’s desks are found in each upper classroom though we share space so my desk is in the Science room along with the 2 science teachers even though I don’t teach that nor do my classes meet in the Science room. In the Lower School, there are no teacher’s desks, which is traditional in a Montessori classroom. Teachers use the same tables that the children use to do any work needed. In the Upper School, this was the practice at the beginning, but then it was just too hard for teachers to be organized since we all taught in different rooms so now we all have desks.

There has been a significant investment in technology over the past few years and every ME, UE and MS classroom has a SmartBoard and then each student in ME, UE and MS has their own laptop, as do all teachers. As such, there is little need for classroom desktop computers and this year, I don’t think there is any set-up. New this year is an iPad cart, which can be used by the whole school, but is primarily designed to add technology to the Primary and LE students who have no computer access (computers have not been encouraged for the very young in Montessori).

While the classrooms are ready and could be easily adapted for anyone with special needs (there is an elevator in the building), we do not have any students with special needs at the school.

Overall, the classrooms are a joy to teach in and not the norm. As such, I thought I would reflect on a very different classroom set-up at the public high school in town where I did my Action Research project for my Master’s a few years ago.

At the time, I was heavily influenced by the ideas of Michael Wesch and his video entitled “A Portal to Media Literacy,” and wanted students to collaborate despite the very traditional room seating arrangement (typical of all the classrooms at the high school). So the students took the individual desks, which started out all aligned to the front of the room for the teacher to lecture, and had them create small groupings (see photo). It made the room all messy – I loved it! More importantly, the students worked together in groups and they loved it.

If I were observing a classroom, I’d want to see a set-up like the school I’m at now that encourages cooperative learning whether it was in a Montessori environment or not. I’d like to see a classroom that is not focused on the teacher at the front of the room and has flexibility to allow students to find what works for them such as put on headphones or sit on a rug or comfortable chair. If they are not productive, it is the teacher’s job to help them find ways to focus but the goal is that the students discover how they learn best.

References
University of Kansas, (2002). The Montessori method: The path.Retrieved from: http://circleofinclusion.org/english/approaches/montessori.html

Wesch, Michael. (2008). A Portal to media literacy. Retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4yApagnr0s

A Personal Reflection: Finding My Voice

What you learned about effective leadership and how your ideas have evolved.
How these particular issues and/or ideas affect your ability to become a more effective leader. What personal and professional values you bring to your school's administration that will help you be an effective leader.
How issues in educational technology will impact your ability as an educational leader in your school and community.
Any additional information you need to continue your growth as an effective leader.

When I first learned about this course through my membership with ISTE, I immediately knew I wanted to be here and dedicated the time and energy to preparing a reflective application. I don’t think I could describe why I wanted this – the words that would accurately back up the feeling remained hidden. When we met in Philadelphia at the ISTE conference, I felt excited but extremely nervous as the definite newcomer to education surrounded by a cohort of experienced professionals. I didn’t doubt my ability, but I did wonder if my tendency to jump first and then ask if I should’ve done so was at play again. And jumping into another intensive year – was I mad? I had lost a year of my life getting my first master’s (36 credits in one year) and then worked myself to the bone trying to prove myself over the past year.

If there is one aspect I learned from this course is that my gut was right, yet again. I do belong here in this program at JHU, I belong in education, and, I belong in leadership. Over the past 8 weeks, I have spent time with the professionals I was in awe of at ISTE, and learned that while I don’t have their experience, I bring fresh ideas and creative energy plus a deep passion for learning and commitment to the task. In the area of effective leadership, I have real practical knowledge in the field from my 20 years working at the Academy of Achievement that helped me form original thoughts and add perspective to the discussion. I didn’t have all the answers, but I held my own in the conversation and enjoyed learning from the experience and perspectives of my classmates. Knowing that I belong, as a future leader in education is the most important impact from the course. I learned that I have a voice and that I can be an effective agent for change. I’ve been praised before for my leadership when I was a PTA President, but I don’t think I ever believed it. Now, I can define the type of leader I admire and would envision myself becoming using descriptive words that eluded me 8 weeks ago.

The variety of tasks used to develop this emerging voice allowed enough individual exploration with team and group interaction though I wish we had projects that encouraged using more creative applications. While I was able to adapt one aspect of a team project to a comic, there were few opportunities to do anything other than formal APA writing or group presentations using Google Docs or Presentations except for the introduction in the first week. Of course, this is where my strengths reside and I missed this. I remember the hard work applying Herzberg and McGregor’s theories in the comic strips and the result is that I really learned these concepts. This work, at the highest level in Bloom’s Taxonomy, is what we want our students doing and as such, I feel we need to be doing this as well in this course.

That said, I enjoyed every assignment including the ELA project, where I felt the confidence emerge most dramatically as I used the ideas from our course and paired them with a thoughts discovered independently, ideas used in schools I have experience in, and several completely unique ideas that I believe are sound (and which I might pursue as part of my internship). I loved engaging in the discussions with everyone, but I am especially fond of the strong bonds, both professional and personal, that I’ve developed with my fabulous Team Starblazers. I spent time with each team member in Philadelphia, which helped initiate our positive collaboration and this continued into a lasting bond. The support and respect we provided each other separate from the assignments created a model for an ideal PLC.

The other assignment that was deeply satisfying and important for developing my confidence was the interview reaction paper. When I was conducting the interview with Dr. Freund, I kept saying to myself “yes, I learned that,” as he described situations that reminded me of transformational leadership, importance of the vision and other major concepts. Writing this paper, the first big project, helped me “connect the dots” between actual practice and theory for the first time and it was very satisfying to feel the ideas become real. From that moment, I found it easier to use the words and ideas from the course when talking to other professionals and friends. This is an important component and critical to moving forward as a leader.

While I am new to working in education, I have a long history of very active leadership in the PTA and I know that many ask my opinions on issues or request me to speak at meetings based on this experience. I believe this unique aspect of my experience will be a great asset when I am in a leadership position. Our readings taught us to use our strengths – the experience I’ve had in the PTA helps me to see issues from multiple perspectives and this can be a useful trait to have moving forward.

My main experience in education is in technology so capable of becoming a leader in this area and with the vocabulary for describing what makes an effective leader, I feel capable of excelling in this area.

With years of experience studying and listening to words from Desmond Tutu, Colin Powell, Ellie Wiesel, Julie Andrews and many other great achievers, I could recognize what good leaders do but I didn’t have the words to define it. In my class this year, I plan to start by helping the students define the key words for my class (Media Literacy) and I feel like the past 8 weeks have been a deep exploration into learning the key words that define "effective leadership." As part of this reflection, I went through all of my notes and made a list of the words, repeating as it was written, and created a Wordle using them. Looking at the graphic created, I feel that the large words highlight the most important concepts I assimilated into my practice and plan to use moving forward. This course and the interactions and resources I’ve had in them, have helped shape an idea of myself as an emerging leader able to understand diverse viewpoints, provide creative ideas and new directions, and have confidence that I have a voice that is capable of helping to facilitate change in the world of education.

Wordle by Leslie using important words I used based on my notes from the reading assignments.

Change and School Culture

*Consider your own school's culture. How does your school promote a positive school culture for teaching and learning that is inclusive of all students?
*Based on your understanding of the Marzano reading, how could you apply Marzano's research on first and second order change to improve your present school culture?

This week has been a family lesson in how change is challenging, even at the smallest levels. My oldest son has played football for 3 years and was about to begin his senior year on the team this week. Only one problem, he hates football. Yet leaving the team, changing the pattern, was a far more difficult process than imagined (and its not clear yet what the answer is). He knew he wanted to quit and had very good reason, but how to inform the captains (who he also wrestles with), the coach, and most importantly, his father who wants him to play. These were all parameters that were important to consider and respect; and required him to communicate his feelings. My daughter went through a similar process, except she is leaving her dance company for good reasons, doing less dance elsewhere and adding in other activities. Yet, both kids, despite knowing that their decisions were right, felt unsure and scared of the unknown or if they would regret it later. This drama over the past few days, which I needed to spend considerable time on talking to both kids about as they weighed their options, highlighted just how difficult and challenging change can be. Magnify the idea to encompass a school or district and it’s easy to see how difficult it is to support all the stakeholders in the change process.

As I get ready to return to work, I’ve reflected on the challenging year my school had last year managing change. The school was struggling financially just a few years ago and in response, added the IB program and committed to changing the culture from a laid back nurturing Montessori school popular with elementary age parents to an academically rigorous program using IB PYP and MYP (still including Montessori). This qualifies as second order change using numerous factors from Marzano’s (2005) responsibilities of a leader. Specifically, the change to IB affects all 7 of the factors most related to 2nd order change (Marzano, 2005). The curriculum has completely changed as well as the instruction of the material and assessment, how the work is monitored, and how well the teachers are knowledgeable about IB, research and theory behind it.

While this new innovation using IB can provide spectacular results, change of this magnitude impacts several factors negatively including school culture (Marzano, 2005), which for my school has been significant. Last year, there were several directives to incorporate IB requirements without the staff having time to talk about how to do this leading many to be frustrated, which led students to be unsure of what to do. Most of what was asked to implement too many new ideas from the new Approaches to Learning reflection to how to grade using the IB number system, to developing rubrics according to the IB subject guides were overwhelming and implementation suffered, a common occurrence according to Fullan (2007). Part of the problem is that the school decided to change to the IB program and then, within 2 intense years, finished the work to receive their accreditation. Several teachers who were key in creating these documents were burned out and left, resulting in a slew of new hires, like me, without the historical reference for what had happened (SEDL, 2011). The school was eager to change and do it quickly, not understanding fully that change is a process filled with uncertainty (Fullan, nd). Last year was the first year putting the new units in place and the process was challenging resulting in staff frustration because they didn’t feel supported or appreciated and the units being implemented were so rushed in the initial design that they didn’t always succeed when implemented (SEDL, 2011; Fullan, 2007).

While the changes in place are a positive step for the school overall; as a result, the school is on solid financial ground and has already become a more competitive school to be accepted at, I feel that the school needs to slow down the pace of the change process to help staff and students internalize the new ideas from the IB program creating a common language for learning that has meaning for the school (SEDL, 2011). While this large second order changes occur, an improvement in the culture would be affected if the leaders considered improving other factors with first degree changes such as contingent rewards to help staff feel appreciated, focus to keep new ideas to a minimal while the schools adapts to the implementation of IB, and optimizer to keep the tone positive and help teachers strive to learn and implement the new ideas (Marzano, 2005).

Being a Montessori school, what is most impressive about the school culture is the level of acceptance of a wide range of diverse students and staff. This aspect of the school creates a wonderful and supportive environment. Because the school is private, students’ needs are attended to on a very individual basis and additional support for struggling learners is available. However, as the school becomes more competitive, the students accepted to the school are high achieving students driven to succeed and students with learning disabilities will not be accepted as often. This is the case with other exclusive private schools in the community. This change, which is just beginning, will have an impact on the school culture as the population of students change.

I discovered the complicated nature of change with my family this week so I can appreciate the complexity of what is being attempted at my school and as such, challenges and teacher frustration are to be expected, but more can be done to effectively manage the process and allowing for it happen in a way that builds a common vision for the school.


Fullan, M. (Ed.). (2007). The Jossey-Bass reader on educational leadership Second edition. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Fullan, M. (nd). Eight basic lessons of the new paradigm for change [Slides]. United States: Johns Hopkins University.

Marzano, R., Waters, T., McNulty, B. (2005). School leadership that works: from research to results. San Francisco: Alexandria, ASCD.

Southwest Educational Development Library (SEDL). (2001). School context: Bridge or barrier to change: School culture. Retrieved on August 22, 2011 from: http://www.sedl.org/change/school/culture.html

A Personal Leadership Assessment

One note before the reader continues… fulfilling a leadership assessment when I’m not actually a principal is very difficult for me to do because for the most part, I’m unwilling to accept any meaning from something I haven’t actually done. As such, I go into this thinking that I can’t believe any of the results because I’m being asked to pretend and that goes against everything But I also love to learn more about me so onwards.

In the first part of the assignment, I examined each of the 21 Responsibilities of the School Leader (Marzano, 2005). In framing this self-evaluation, I thought of how I acted in various leadership capacities (school or otherwise). This self-assessment was easier to answer because the scale registered our answers as weak (1) to strong (5) – qualities I could easily relate to. I easily answered the questions by listing a 1 or 2 for the areas that I did not connect with personally. My weakest areas were in curriculum and monitoring – evidence of my lack of experience in education. On the other hand, I’m always willing to buck the tide and change things so these areas were easy to register as a 4 or 5. In general, those without a strong connection received a 3 indicating that I viewed it as important but couldn’t authentically recall any personal experience that would lead me to judge it otherwise, I left it in the middle. This process for evaluation was the same with my completion of the balanced leadership profile.

Turning to the second part of the assignment, I completed the balanced leadership profile “pretending” to be a principal at my school but I submitted an accurate school improvement initiative that I plan to pursue in the upcoming year, “Implement a comprehensive technology integration and assessment plan using the NETS for students and develop technology integration skills in staff using the NETS for teachers.” The tug-of-war between pretending and experience constantly got in the way as I completed the survey. I connected to many of the questions in the context of myself as a leader instigating change according to my initiative, but struggled and failed to be able to connect to what I thought on many of the points. Since I have a very poor view of our current school leadership, I couldn’t differentiate between what was actually happening at the school and me “pretending” to be the head of the school so while some of the results show accurate trends, others are not fully formed.

Looking now at the data, there is a strong correlation between most of the numbers in my self-assessment versus the balanced leadership assessment. Where there are changes of 1.0 or more, the change reflects confusion of how I perceive myself as a leader. The largest differentiation in the numbers was in Involvement in Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment (rated 2.0 on the weakness scale and 3.67 on balanced leadership assessment). While I believe to be weak in this area, I have been actively involved in subject curriculum to help from a technology point of view and I did a lot of research on helping to develop units last year. In this case, the balanced leadership score is more accurate than my self-assessment.

Here is the list of my top 7 strengths:
1. Optimize (4.75)
2. 2. Visibility (4.33)
3. Change Agent (4.0)
4. Communication (4.0)
5. Flexibility (4.0)
6. Involvement in Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment (3.67)
7. Ideals/beliefs (3.5)
In looking again at the description of what these responsibilities entail, I believe these accurately represent what I am best at now as well as historically in different life or career roles. I was quite surprised by the accuracy. In looking at these top strengths to Marzano’s (2005) correlation with student achievement, most of them fall towards the lower end with the exception of Flexibility and Change Agent.

Here is my list of top 7 weaknesses (well really top 11 because 5 – 11 is a tie):
1. Knowledge of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment (1.25
2. Monitor/evaluate (2.25)
3. Discipline (2.25)
4. Situational Awareness (2.80)
5. Contingent Rewards (3.0)
6. Focus (3.0)
7. Intellectual Stimulation (3.0)
8. Order (3.0)
9. Outreach (3.0)
10. Relationships (3.0)
11. Resources (3.0)
This list is more difficult to interpret because some of the responsibilities account for a lack of experience so I can’t reflect on its importance in an authentic manner (#1-3 in particular). Several others (#5, 6, 7, 9, 11) are quite important to me, but I must have doubted my responses because I couldn’t connect to a personal experience. Many of these responsibilities on this list correlate highly on Marzano’s scale especially Situational Awareness, Discipline and Outreach with a .27 to .33 correlation.

This exercise highlights my weaknesses in terms of experience in the field of education and shows my overall strengths at being a force for change. While many responsibilities I have strengths in are towards the lower end of correlation for student achievement (Marzano, 2005), I believe I have the capacity and interest in developing these areas while continuing to develop my ability to think forward.

I know who I am and how I work because I have spent a significant amount of time over the past 20 years analyzing almost everything in my life. What I know if that I’m a deep thinker and need to consider theories and ideas for a long time before internalizing them and finding true meaning. What is important about this exercise for me is that it has started this process.

Click on the image below to see the chart larger.

Marzano, R., Waters, T., & Eaker, R. (2005). School leadership that works: From research to results. San Francisco:ASCD.

Transformational Leadership in Practice

Learning about the history of leadership studies and how recent history has affected school systems today brought a new perspective to my understanding of educational leadership and specifically the potential impact of transformational leadership. Especially interesting were studies in the 1970s by Burns and Bass that showed success in a variety of organizations from private corporations to the military, colleges and families where leadership considered the personal goals of colleagues, employees or other family members (Leithwood, 2007). For me, this type of historical importance grounds the study of leadership and connects it in a way that I haven’t experienced so far.

The description I preferred from the readings was Leithwood’s (2007) three categories of practice, which include:
1.Setting Directions (vision, goals, high expectations)
2.Developing People (intellectual challenge, modeling, individual support)
3.Redesigning the Organization (collaborative culture, fostering participation, community involvement)

Besides the use of an active verb that energizes the action happening to the noun, I appreciate the simple and direct language. This list encompasses the ideas in Bass’s version of transformational leadership (Leithwood, 2007), but in language that removes the theoretical language. To me, it makes it feel more real and accessible. I could easily imagine a leader speaking to employees or community members about “Setting Directions” far more than announcing “Inspirational Leadership.”

The one trait of Bass’s list not included in this list is “charisma.” (Leithwood, 2007) I was glad to see this show up on a list for leadership, as I do believe that the personality of those in charge has an effect especially in combination with transformational leadership. While I believe those without a charismatic personality can make changes with the right leadership, the addition of this element helps greatly and can urge others to change. I’ve watched this happen with leaders in our school, town and nationally.

Once trust is developed using the model of transformational leadership, the key for encouraging a flourishing learning environment is enabling others to be challenged and use their unique qualities for the purpose of solving problems while also staying focused on the vision for the organization. Because I like to get out of theory and into real examples, look at the history of how the Flipped Classroom came into being. Bergmann (2011) shared this story recently in his blog. While he doesn’t speak of what type of leadership he had at his school, I imagine that a school that supported this type of initiative would be transformational in nature. Bergman describes how the idea came around to solve a problem that he was having with students missing classes and then needing to use his time to make up the missed learning. While looking at a technology magazine, the ideas co-founder, Aaron Sams read about software that allowed him to record PowerPoint presentations. This was in 2007, near the emergence of YouTube, and the two used the tools to record and upload their lessons. They didn’t expect that so many students, not only in their own classroom, but other teachers and students around the world would also use their lessons.

This, for me, is a perfect example of enabling teachers to have the space to solve problems for themselves and then using this to share with others (a key piece for me). Now, the Flipped Classroom is well known and popular (it certainly was at ISTE) and a legitimate model for education. This type of innovation couldn’t happen without a positive school culture that encouraged innovation, problem-solving and allowed teachers to take up the role of being leaders.

Transformational leadership can have a lasting impact on how principals create a culture of innovation and lead to integrate technology in the instruction. Certainly, the idea of the Flipped Classroom exhibits how integrating technology was used creatively to solve a real problem. But there is little in this story about how actively the principal or administrator encouraged this. However, a story by Chris Wejr (2011) shows beautifully how a transformational leader can impacts the way a school is led. This example also shows this leadership as it applies to technology integration.

Wejr is an elementary school principal in Agassiz, British Columbia, Canada who blogged recently about a project at his school called“FedEx Prep” based on ideas from Daniel Pink’s book Drive. The idea was to increase innovation by offering something that all teachers need – time. He told his staff at the beginning of the year that he would provide extra prep time per week for 6 weeks to do anything they wanted as long as they would deliver their ideas in the end. Out of 16 teachers, 3 applied for the opportunity of which 2 decided to use their time to explore technology and one wanted to spend time discovering how to embed their garden in the curriculum. One teacher wanted to get her student’s blogging – at the time none of the students in the school had ever blogged. She spent the time researching what to do, taking the time to find out good topics to write on, how best to integrate it, and then helped her kids set up their blogs. The students were so excited about blogging that they spoke to other teachers about how they loved it, so by the end of the year, 4 of the 5 classes were blogging. The other teacher who spent time learning about technology researched and implemented tools like Glogster, ComicLife, VoiceThread and Flickr then showcased her students’ work to the Board of Education. She was promoted and will be in charge next year of transforming their library and modernizing the role of teacher-librarian.

This wonderful example of transformational leadership started with an idea from the leader who cared deeply about his staff and understood what they needed to thrive. He gave the teachers an opportunity to expand their learning and enabling them to innovate and problem solve.

If I were a leader in a school, I would like to use this FedEx Prep idea as it seems like a way to scale up independent learning in technology by giving the teacher time to explore and integrate effectively. For me, the problem of scaling up learning in technology is real. I am one person doing technology integration. Imagine the effect if we enabled many others to become technology integrators as well.


References
Bergmann, J. (2011, May 5). The history of the flipped class: How the flipped class was born. Retrieved July 25, 2011 from http://blendedclassroom.blogspot.com/2011/05/history-of-flipped-class.html

Leithwood, K.A. (2007). Transformation school leadership in a transactional world. In Jossey-Bass reader on educational leadership (pp. 183-196). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

The Transformational Leadership Project. (2007). The transformational leadership report. Retrieved July 25, 2011 from transformationalleadership.net/products/products.php

Wejr, Chris. (2011, July 13). FedEx prep: A reflection. In Connected Principals. Retrieved July 25, 2011 from http://www.connectedprincipals.com/archives/4034

New Beginnings... What to Expect from the JHU-ISTE program

1. What are your expectations for this program? What do you hope to accomplish?
2. Now that you have a good sense of the types of online activities and the rhythms of an active participant, what steps will you take to be successful in this program?
3. Where do you still need additional support to be successful?

It wasn’t that long ago that I was a new student at Full Sail University ready to embark on a yearlong program that would change my life. I believe that all along, through my life as a designer and event producer, what I have excelled at is educating others and often seeing things in ways others did not, in part because I brought a unique combination of life experiences to the table.

As an educator, I have spent significant amounts of time keeping abreast of leadership and technology issues while bringing innovative ideas to the classroom. From this and from a personal sense of what I want, I would expect that I leave this program with the capacity to enter a leadership position in a school district in the area of technology. To accomplish this, I need to spend time learning about the formal management of school systems, go in-depth on the issues, and discover my position on these issues. I also need to push my knowledge base further and use all of the creativity I have to find ways to share this to improve the technology education for all teachers in a district.

Since I was enrolled in a very rigorous online academic program at Full Sail Online (FSO) until last July, I feel that I well prepared to enter the JHU program and be successful. FSO had a fantastic user interface with a dashboard of “what to do” that is similar to JHU. For me, this “checklist” is the key piece to managing my time well as this gives me an overview of what I need to do. Beginning each week reviewing this and noting what projects need to get done in which order is one step to being successful for me. Of course, trying to get it done early is always the goal, but it isn’t always possible. Just expect that so it doesn’t cause stress.

Another important component for me will be to start the reading assignments early. I have trouble remembering what is in a book unless I take copious notes while reading. But this takes a lot more time so I will need to pay attention to the way reading assignments are structured, especially with texts that harder for me to read (small type). I can only do this in small chunks.

My additional support for being successful will come from my children, just as it did the last time. They got used to mom staying up late and leaving me alone when I had to get a project done. They got frustrated at times and just wanted me around, but I think they see how happy I am. They are just older now and I think they will be my support and of course, my inspiration.

Welcome to my blog

This week begins another journey of learning. Just 2 years ago, I embarked on a journey in education and my life has been forever altered - for the better. As a designer and event producer, I felt there was something else missing, something that mattered that I wasn't doing. And the answer is that I needed to be in the world of education. So here I am, beginning a new learning mission at Johns Hopkins University. Let's go!