CEdO599 Week 4 - My Final Post!!

This is it. My last blog posting for Instructional Technology. I cannot believe all the skills I have learned throughout the last 1 1/2 years. Too many technology skills to name...the many Web 2.0 tools I learned is out of this world! I have applied almost all those tools into my curriculum and also shared them with other teachers in my district. I value all that I have learned in this program, but even more so because Iwas able to share my new knowledge with other staff members!

I believe the Leadership class helped me grow as a person. As the district LMS and Technology Facilitator, I am in a leadership position. However, I've always felt that I'm not as vocal as I should be with my opinions regarding district technology. After taking the Leadership class, I became much more of a vocal advocate and am not afraid of disagreeing with someone on issues that before I would have just gone along with. Also, I am much more aware of what good leadership skills look like and can definitely see that some administrators that I work with could use a leadership refresher course!

Something I wish I knew more about that we didn't really touch on during class is Project-based Learning (PBL). However, this is what my CE project was completely about and now I can say that I have a much better understanding of project-based learning, developing authentic assessments and using technology to integrate PBL skills into curriculum.

Completing this course has been a huge accomplishment for me personally and professionally. I am the only person in my family to obtain at Bachelor's degree, now I can say that about my Master's degree as well! I was afraid that when this class ended, the opportunities for learning new skills would be scarce. But, that is not the case. I have joined many Twitter and RSS feeds that allow me to follow the technology guru's of education and have learned a great deal more digital tools through following these people. The Instruction Technology class may be over, but it has opened to the door to continuous, life-long learning opportunities that I otherwise may have never found. A huge thank-you to Louis Loeffler and all the other professors in the program!!

CEdO599 Weeks 2 & 3

The process of developing my Culminating Project was very challenging. My main goal was too big and I had to shorten it by narrowing my specific objectives, then determining if the objectives would meet the goal. Because I had some pieces already done this summer, I didn't think I would exceed the 30 hour timeframe. Boy, was I wrong! I can definitely say that more than 30 hours was spent in developing the project. Even though I went over my budgeted time, I am happy with the end result and excited to start implementing my project in January.

CEdO599 Week 1

I can't believe it's almost over! I'm going to miss this class...what will I do with my Wednesday nights?? Anyway, my CE project is about developing a coaching program within our district to assist teachers with integrating PBL into their lessons via digital technologies. I started to lay the building blocks last school year, but never got the project up and running, so I decided what better timing than to make this my CE project! Incorporating PBL into our curriculum is part of our district's tech plan and while "PBL" has been buzzing around districts for a while, it's been my experience that many teachers don't know what it is and how to get the essential critical thinking skills into their lessons. I have some experience with PBL and am excited to get other teachers familiar with it and hopefully have more teachers willing to become coaches next year.

CEdO565 Week 6

My definition of leadership has been reinforced by the information learned in the class and the simulation game we participated in. I have a greater understanding for the importance of good leadership skills and how they guide the entire direction of the school. My opinion of leadership potential has not changed as I've experienced first hand how effective good leadership can be in a school atmosphere and how terrible morale and teacher motivation can be as the result of poor leadership. I do agree with the book in regard to "education improving from within". Improvements have to begin at the top in order to filter down to staff and students...only then will change become effective and successful.

CEdO565 Week 5

After analyzing the PDCA model of change, I can definitely see why some of the projects have failed. The committees are excited for the Planning and Doing stages, but need to get a better handle on the Check and Act part of the change. That seems to be where the projects fail...when there are not proper assessments in place for the project or contingency plans when problems arise.

CEdO565 Week 4

This week has really made me take a close look at my leadership skills. I think this is attributed to the fact that I've attended and had to facilitate several meetings since the beginning of the school year. Quite honestly, after reading the book, I can see not only where my leadership skills are lacking, but those of my administrator as well. I can see where poor leadership skills can really affect morale and lead to a negative working environment. As I improve upon my skills, I'm hoping my administrator will as well. Do you think it would be too much of a hint if I put a copy of this book in his mailbox...anonymously of course!

CEDO565 Week 3

What a week of class! I'm really enjoying the board game. It's frustrating, but it really does portray scenarios that we all face in our districts. It took our team a little while to figure out which order to do the activities, but once we got the hang of it, we were really on a roll!

I think the Tune-In article was fantastic. It really identified how many of the new teachers in my district are....and I really liked how the article included ideas on how to work with Millenials. I just wish it would have included ideas on how to work with the Babyboomers! (no offense if you are one!). It's just that many of the babyboomer teachers in my district are extremely hard to work with because they are so resistant to change. They don't take the time to learn new teaching strategies or new technologies because they think "if it's not broken, why fix it". What they don't see is that while they may not think their out-of-date teaching strategies are broken, their students definitely do and they are the ones suffering for their unwillingness to change.