1. I am learning that to be a leader I need to be proactive. Setting out to be a leader in my school in the area of technology has not been easy. I am a part-time teacher and I don't attend the staff meetings, so then I don't have some of the natural places/times to develop the leadership. However there were things I could do. As I did these, the staff gradually began to acknowledge me as a leader by asking for my help, beginning conversations with me about what technology strategies were working or sites they were finding that were helpful and using the "Issues" folder I created. These were the initial steps I took:
- I pushed my name forward as one of the people to get the administrative password and manual for our new computer lab.
- I told the staff that I was able to help them with getting their classes set up and running. I was then given a few glitches to work out (ie students who couldn't log on) which I was able to fix. As I fixed a few of those, more staff became aware of my capability and have asked me to help me with their issues, as well. (see scraps of paper with names, journal entries)
- I made a "Computer Issues" duotang available on top of the mobile lab, so that teachers had somewhere to write down any problems they were having and I check this on a regular basis. I then fix what issues I can and forward the ones I can't to the IT guys at the district level.
- I am constantly sharing websites I have found or ideas that I am using with my fellow staff. I have written these down on paper napkins during staff lunches, e-mailed them to the staff, and had conversations about them.
2. I am learning that to be a leader I need to work within the "systems" already in place. Initially I had naively thought that the mere fact of putting myself out there with an e-mail stating my availability to help teachers with their computer issues would bring staff wanting my help. It didn't happen. I got a total of 3 responses to my survey/inquiry and none of them wanted or needed my help. Most staff completed ignored this method of approach. I needed to change my approach and so these were the steps I took:
- First thing to do was to work through the principal. He is the designated leader in our school. I talked with him about what I was hoping to do, explained about my LTT class and inquiry, offered my services. He then invited and paid for me to go to a a technology seminar held in Coquitlam. This event was one affirmation of my technology leadership from my principal to the rest of the staff at my school.
- Secondly, my principal suggested I use the communication method with the staff that seems to be the most effective...the black board in the staff room. So I started to write my availability on the board and before I was finished one of the teachers snagged me to help her start her class on the computers. My principal also offered to teach my class while I did this. My journal has a long entry on how effective this was, and to end it all...the teacher then called me "Mrs. Computer" in front of her class. :)
- Thirdly, as much as I find the present district IT system frustrating, it is the system in place and I will not be heard unless I use it. I was hoping that direct communication from me, as my school staff's rep, to the IT would be the way I could get help to fix problems and even learn how to solve some repeating problems (ie computers being locked, etc), so that I didn't need to contact them every time it happens. I got a rather terse response from them stating that I need to write down the issue, submit it to my principal and he would be the one to contact them. And then only would they consider coming out to solve it. To me this is tedious, especially because my principal really would rather not have anything to do with the whole system and would readily sign this responsibility over to me. However, as inefficient as this is, it does eventually work and computers are being fixed, slowly but surely.
3. I am learning to integrate technology in my teaching practice. My goals regarding technology this term had to do with ISTE #5d and LTT program capacity #3. When I wrote about this in my journal, I stated that I would know when I reached these goals by: continuing to debug the system, having conversations re. things I am learning in my LTT course and in the class, and having regular computer times with my own students, trying different things to enhance thir learning. I believe I have reached this goal. I have numerous documentations of where I have helped solve problems with the computers, had conversations with my staff and have tried different things with my class on the computers. We have been working on a unit on bears, and I was able to use a child-friendly search engine to find appropriate websites to find information about polar bears. I used the projector (another first for me) to help my whole class navigate to the same page. We then took notes together about what we were learning. We then spent another class on KidPix, where I had the students draw a picture about one of the facts we learned, and then put that fact on the picture.
4. I am learning through my readings that a technology coordinator is an indispensible leader in the school system.
My readings this semester have been focused on technology leadership within schools. A number of the articles specifically mention the importance the school principal, and other leaders play in having a successful integration of technology throughout the school. I want to be the type of leader that not only debugs the system, but is also leading the staff in thinking about where education needs to be headed in this technological age. How should our lessons look? What are the pedagogical ramifications of technology accessibility? Should our curricululm change? What is important for our children to know to be able to be constructive members in our society. How do we prepare them for jobs that don't even exist now?
Technology leaders wanted: Acknowledging the Leadership Role of a Technology Coordinator by William Sugar and Harold Holloman (TechTrends - November/December 2009, Volume 53, Number 6)
Critical Issue: Technology Leadership: Enhancing Positive Educational Change by Gilbert Valdez Ph.D. (http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/educatrs/leadrshp/le700.htm)
Technology leadership, Technology Integration, and Student Achievment: A Correlation Study in K-12 Public Schools Technology Integration by Judith Keegan Yoho (http://www.lhup.edu.jyoho/psu_website/researchproject.htm )
Technology and School Leadership by Mojgan Afshari, Kamariah Abu Bakar, Wong Su luan, Bahaman Abu Samah and Foo Say Fooi (Technology, Pedagogy and Education, Vol. 18 No. 2, July 20009, 235-248)
The role of 'accomplished teachers' in professional learning communities: uncovering practice and enabling leadership by Ann Lieberman ad Desiree H. Pointer Mace (Teachers and Teaching: theory and practice, Vol. 15, No. 4, August 2009, 459 -470)
No comments:
Post a Comment