TaskStream Access Code

Here is the Self-Enrollment link to TaskStream.  The access code for this course is:  T7NA7R

Self-Enrollment Instructions

Module 1 Comments

Thank you for posting your assignments on time!  I've thoroughly enjoyed reading all of your posts and have chosen specific parts to highlight.  Please feel free to reply to my comments.

Marlisa:  “Why don't we teach how they learn then? Can you blame students nowadays for not wanting to learn with a chisel and a stone when they might as well have been born with a tablet in their hands? (With all due respect.)”

Mary Jo:  Students have changed.  As teachers, we need to accept the challenge and foster our own creative abilities to meet their needs.  Yes, many students have gadgets and this may lead to fast-paced and immediate expectations on their part.  Thus, it’s our job to teach how they learn best. We must continuously reflect and self-assess to evaluate if our lessons are effective and student learning is taking place. 

Marlisa:  “Therefore, it is essential for leaders of technology to provide teachers with the latest research methods and innovative instruction in order to meet the needs of their students.”

Mary Jo:  Yes, we need effective leaders that will provide the ongoing support, supply the necessary resources and model best practices.  Without these components, many teachers (veteran and beginning) may feel lost and frustrated.

Michael: “ Technology needs are different in every classroom.  Deciding what forms of technology should be introduced is the responsibility of the teacher, but where teaching leadership can help out is being able to spread knowledge of which are the best suited for each classroom.”

Mary Jo:  This is a powerful statement, Michael.  Yes, technology needs are different in every classroom, and this applies to the instructor and the students.  Quite often we see technology purchases and implementation decisions from the “top-down”.  Without a needs assessment for a particular setting, how can we truly decide from an administrative view, what is best?  Money is often spent and then teachers are held accountable for working their magic with little to no training. Teachers must be part of professional development training decisions and technology purchases.

Michael: “ If extra help is out there, should teachers try to learn how to use this technology?” 

Mary Jo:  In my opinion, it’s not a choice.  But, to be successful it cannot be “the one-shot” training and send the participants out the door and wish them good luck. Scheduled support sessions must occur for teachers to validate the importance of the training.

Diana:  “Teacher leaders share their knowledge with other professionals and actively participate in action research.  At times they may be department heads or some other form of official leader in a school but they don’t necessarily have to be.”

Mary Jo:  Diana, your statement of sharing knowledge and actively participating in action-research should remind us that we do not teach on an “island”.  Teachers often stress the importance of cooperative learning in the classroom, but may try to shoulder the responsibility of imparting information in isolation. By surrounding yourself with a support system, this displays the ability to collaborate and network. Throughout my experiences as an educator, I’ve never witnessed a teacher leader that depended on isolation to succeed.

Diana: “ Technology leaders don’t spend all their time in the front of the classroom lecturing and students taking notes.  It’s more activity based, collaborative kind of work.  It’s actually a whole different style of teaching and learning that a traditional classroom.  The students in these classrooms are learning more of the skills that they will need in the real world.”

Mary Jo:  Activity-based lessons and collaborative work are effective research-based strategies for student learning. Students question why particular lessons are taught and the relevancy to” their world”.  When we create authentic learning experiences and seek to understand our students, then we have a better opportunity for student engagement to occur.

Diana: “….let alone finding the money to buy technology for the classrooms.  

Mary Jo:  Thank you!  I recently placed the order for the Kindle Fire devices. My students are thrilled! 

Adam:  “ I see a teacher leader as one who does not take center stage, but rather one who can help other teachers, collaborate for the good to the students, is a wealth of knowledge (especially for novice/beginning teachers), and leads by example through good teaching practices, care for the students, and goes above and beyond the base duties of a teacher.”

Mary Jo:  Yes, I believe the teacher leader qualities you have mentioned are recognized by administrators and colleagues without the teacher taking center stage.  You have focused on the qualities that directly benefit student learning.  In my opinion, if you believe in all students as learners, then a teacher leader is willing (not forced) to participate in professional development opportunities that directly benefits students.

Adam:  “From my perspective, the challenges include lack of resources, pressure from school board offices to push technology use, and lack of training/interest in some senior teachers to use digital resources.”

Mary Jo:  Some of these issues could be solved with proper professional development planning/implementation and training.  A few years ago, I was asked this question:  “Mary Jo, how will you implement the 21^st Century Technology tools and Standards, but don’t tell me that you need more computers to do it?”  I’m sure the look on my face spoke volumes.  I know technology tools are purchased and possibly sit on shelves unused.  Once again, involve teachers in the decision-making process when it pertains to their classroom.

Walesca: “Through this process I learned that good teacher leadership does not mean you have to control everything, but you have to provide the appropriate tools, opportunity to create and continues reinforcement when need. And most important be prepared to jump in at any moment’s notice.”

Mary Jo: What a great project!  I believe that it is crucial to plan, provide tools and opportunity for a project to be successful.  It took me some time, but I eventually learned that I don’t have to control everything in my classroom. A good leader provides students with opportunities to grow, change course and choose how they want to learn a new concept. 

Walesca:  “So to be a good teacher in leadership with technology you must really be up to date on tech language it’s also important to understand the language that is trending on the different types of social network, student blogs, and email etiquette.”

Mary Jo: Well stated!  I have and will continue to use student blogs and social networking sites with my students.  I carefully model the expectations and possible outcomes before implementing Web 2.0 activities. In my opinion, many teachers give up on these types of activities because they didn’t set guidelines, nor feel comfortable with what’s trending. 

Module 1

What is your general definition of teacher leadership?

My definition of teacher leadership would have to be someone who exhibits leader qualities such as confidence, persuasiveness, ability to communicate, and field expertise. In order for a teacher to take on a leadership position, they need to lead their teaching team and extend their reach into the community. Leaders should be eager to collaborate with their colleagues and work together towards instructional goals and superior lessons.

What examples of teacher leadership have you observed or experienced?

As I reflect on my k12 experience, there were several instances in which I observed teacher leadership. My AP Biology teacher was not much older than I was as a senior in high school, but she showed more teacher leadership qualities than many other veteran teachers I observed. She made an obvious effort to reach every student-no matter their learning style. There was a consistent schedule and procedures for everything that we did in her class, whether it was lab or turning in assignments. I really liked the structure and the fact that she was not lax in her demands.

How is leadership for meaningful technology integration different from other kinds of leadership?

This type of leadership differs from other kinds of leadership in a few ways. First of all, we must be adamant about the need for technology integration in schools today. Meaningful technology integration involves providing students with endless opportunities to learn how to communicate in this increasingly technological world. I think that other leaders might not have to be so adamant or persuasive in their attempts to be a successful leader.

Many teachers did not have the luxury of growing up with a technological gadget constantly in their hands. However, the students that they have are digital natives, these children's lives revolve around their technological world. Therefore, it is essential for leaders of technology to provide teachers with the latest research methods and innovative instruction in order to meet the needs of their students.

From your perspective, what are the benefits and challenges of teacher leadership for technology (for teachers, for students, for schools, for the profession)?

The first challenge that comes to mind would have to be attitude. It is very difficult to successfully integrate technology when school districts or even teachers have a closed mind about the impact that technology has in learning. I have heard teachers complain about how students don't want to learn anything-that they are only interested in their gadgets. Why don't we teach how they learn then? Can you blame students nowadays for not wanting to learn with a chisel and a stone when they might as well have been born with a tablet in their hands? (With all due respect.)

Another challenge that technology leaders face would probably be the budget. The school that I completed one of my undergraduate clinical in had a limited computer supply. However, my host teacher was a leader of technology herself, and took it upon herself to write a grant for 20 computers for her personal classroom. There will always be a limited number of funds-administration will pick and choose who gets what, but it's important to remember that there are other ways of obtaining these resources.

Module 1: Teaching Leadership and Technology in the Contemporary Classroom

Teaching Leadership. 

     This is not a science.  Teaching leadership is not an equation in which very important steps must be followed and if formulas are replicated exactly, educational leadership will emerge.  However, like many other careers, educational leadership is not entirely abstract.  Educational leadership must have form, must have direction, must have goals.  So… what is the answer? What is teaching leadership? 

     Leadership, in any capacity, can take so many different forms.  Add the exponent of teaching into the equation, and as we all know, the process for understanding the problem becomes increasingly different.  However, the best teachers suited for educational leadership might have problems understanding their role, but their behaviors will naturally fall into the various teaching leadership positions.  Teaching leadership is, at a very basic level, understanding what needs to be done to make a better learning environment and possessing the knowledge to create that space.  Being able to make decisions on how to make a learning environment better necessities the knowledge of when the learning environment could be helped and taking action to make it better.  The formation of these decisions can come in many different forms.  Perhaps this is why it is so challenging to define teaching leadership.    

     With a doubt, the best example of teaching leadership I have observed came in the form of an english/theatre teacher.  This person truly embodied the spirit of an educator.  Regardless of who he was around, whether it be teachers or students, he was constantly inspiring and informing.  In his classroom, despite teaching in one of the most impoverished counties in America, his students had an average of 27 on the english section of the ACT.  Without smart boards and very little computer usage, this teacher used tools available to him and taught his students to be excellent readers and thinkers.  Moreover, his impact didn’t stop with students.  Often during his planning period, he would go to other english classes and observe, and sometimes he would interject and teach with the teacher.  As you may suspect, this teacher was very privileged to operate in a space that allowed this sort of behavior, but this is an example of how skilled he truly was.  He was given the freedom to help other teachers and they gladly accepted his advice.  The relationship this teacher had with colleagues, especially new teachers willing to be a sponge to his advice, is what afforded him the ability to offer his advice and thankfully so.  If he would have been in a different school, it is possible that administrators would not have allowed him to do the things he did.  So, I think this is another aspect to the conversation about teaching leadership: all parties must work together to make the best learning  atmosphere.  

     One of the many different types of leadership comes in the form of integrating meaningful technology.  While teaching in the 21st century, the amount of technology teaching components has existed like never before.  The amount of websites and software and hardware and all sorts of other teaching tools available can be quite overwhelming.  Moreover, as times change and more technology enters the classroom, so does the level of knowledge needed of exactly which pieces of technology are entirely imperative for the classroom.  This, like most forms of leadership, will not be easy or simple.  Technology needs are different in every classroom.  Deciding what forms of technology should be introduced is the responsibility of the teacher, but where teaching leadership can help out is being able to spread knowledge of which are the best suited for each classroom.  This knowledge must be acquired, therefore it is the duty of educational leaders to actively seek this knowledge.  This means independent research, attending available workshops, or possibly subscribing to various publications on the subject.  Although wonderful teachers were able to teach the subject matter without having modern technology in years past, students will only continue to be exposed to more technology and it is the responsibility for educational leaders to become well versed in what works and what doesn’t. 

     From my perspective, benefiting the student sand creating a better learning environment should always be what’s important.  With that being said, students can learn so much from emerging forms of technology.  This doesn’t have to stop at the subject matter.  Many forms of educational technology can provide lessons on ethical uses of of social networking, how to create and use their own educational technology, and so much more.  Wonderful teaching tools exist to better the classroom and further student’s knowledge of technology.  Simply put, students need to know how to use technology and know how to use it responsibly.  Our students will only continue to use technology more.  Teaching responsible and ethical technological behaviors can and should exist in 21st century classrooms.  

     With any new technology, there are going to be challenges.  Although technology can benefit the classroom in such a big way, there are going to be challenges associated with implementing such different teaching tools.  Challenges can come in many different ways and students and teachers are dealing with new problems of technology like never before.  On a very basic level, it is a challenge for teachers to juggle the previous workload and try to learn a completely new set of skills.  If extra help is out there, should teachers try to learn how to use this technology? Although this simple question, there can be many barriers in learning new technology.  What can also be challenging is sifting through the thousands of websites and brochures to find exactly what works.  This will be another role for the educational leader: applying their professional experience to technology and learning what works and what doesn’t.

     Although there seems to be many challenges, technology in the classroom can provide tools to teach the subject matter like never before.  Understanding new technology and how it can be used will help students to learn and teachers to use every wonderful resource available to them.  There are many teaching tools that can explain the subject matter, while also teaching the proper way to use technology.  

Module One Discussion

I think that a teacher leader is someone who engages with other teachers, administrators and parents and strives to keep the lines of communications open.  They reflect constantly on their work and are experts in instruction.  Teacher leaders share their knowledge with other professionals and actively participate in action research.  At times they may be department heads or some other form of official leader in a school but they don’t necessarily have to be.

Over the years I have had several teachers who would fall in the category of teacher leader.  The one that stands out the most was my high school senior English teacher.  This teacher was actively involved in everything in school from the PTA to being an assistant principal, to volunteering as the drama coach.  Mr. Whiting had been at the school a long time and all the younger teachers always came to him when they had questions or problems.  He was truly an amazing teacher and his class was the one class that the students were excited to go to every day.  In his classes, he was always doing some kind of project that at the time we really didn’t see the need for, but now it would be termed as action research. 

Leadership for meaningful technology integration is different than traditional teacher leadership.  Technology leaders must take the time to learn the new technology that’s out there and be willing to show students and other teachers how to use it and to implement it into their lessons.  Technology leaders don’t spend all their time in the front of the classroom lecturing and students taking notes.  It’s more activity based, collaborative kind of work.  It’s actually a whole different style of teaching and learning that a traditional classroom.  The students in these classrooms are learning more of the skills that they will need in the real world.

The benefits of teacher leadership for technology are unlimited.  The students learn technology that they will be able to apply and use when they leave the classroom in all aspects of their daily lives.  It will also encourage them to continue learning to use the new technologies as they develop. Students will learn new ways to problem solve.  It benefits the schools because these teachers write grants for their classrooms and the schools and they help to teach the other teachers and administrators how to implement technology into their roles. 

I would think that the biggest challenges would be funding.  Schools sometimes have trouble getting the money to buy what is considered absolutely necessary let alone finding the money to buy technology for the classrooms.  Another challenge could be administrators that don’t like change.  If they think the old traditional ways of teaching are all that’s necessary then they could make it difficult for teachers that are interested in trying new things.

TaskStream Code

I will post the TaskStream access code when I receive the code for this course.  Thank you for your patience.

Module 1 - Teacher Tech Leadership

What is your general definition of teacher leadership?
I view teacher leadership as essential to the successful teaching framework. Teachers must be able to communicate and collaborate while maintaining their base teaching skills and developing new skills to meet the growing needs of our students. A teacher leader is a facilitator, one who may not always know the answer, but can guide other teachers to discovering new and exciting teaching methods. I see a teacher leader as one who does not take center stage, but rather one who can help other teachers, collaborate for the good to the students, is a wealth of knowledge (especially for novice/beginning teachers), and leads by example through good teaching practices, care for the students, and goes above and beyond the base duties of a teacher.

What examples of teacher leadership have you observed or experienced?
In my school, HCALC, half of the teachers are new (only 2-3 years experience) and the remainder have banked at least 20 years experience teaching in public schools. These more experienced teachers were always checking in on the new teachers to make sure they had all of the resources, materials, and confidence they needed to get the job done. Our senior teachers willingly became teacher-mentors to the new teachers and worked closely to ensure that the teacher and the student were both serviced as best as possible. The teachers in my teaching team are ready to help one-another and introduce new technologies and methods and share their successes and failures openly, which are signs of leadership.

How is leadership for meaningful technology integration different from other kinds of leadership?
Teaching and physical materials have been used for hundreds of years in America. As the senior teachers on my team attempt to use new media and technology, the novice teachers (digital natives) offer their aid and experience to make the transition smooth. Integrating technology in the classroom has a lot to do with "leading by example." If a senior teacher steps into my room and sees that my students are performing research for an upcoming environmental science laboratory and that the students do know how to navigate the web and record new information, then perhaps the senior (non-digital native) teacher will be more inclined to introduce technology into their own classroom. Technology integration leadership is different, because of the reliance on resources is an issue in many classrooms.


From your perspective, what are the benefits and the challenges of teacher leadership for technology (for teachers, for students, for schools, for the profession)?
From my perspective, the challenges include lack of resources, pressure from school board offices to push technology use, and lack of training/interest in some senior teachers to use digital resources. Current students are digital natives, and as such, they can easily use in-class technology to goof-off, circumnavigate assignments, and misuse the technology when they should be learning. Many schools have only one or two computer labs and most classrooms only have a handful of PCs at their disposal, which makes whole-class technology experiences difficult. Benefits of teacher technology leadership include the sharing of ideas and experiences with peers, the ability to troubleshoot issues with other technology users, and team-teaching technology and traditional study practices by sharing digital resources across classrooms. By leading technology in teaching, we can better understand and address issues in our students' lives and in the community.

Course Google Site

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Resource Sharing

http://www.americaspromise.org/News-and-Events/News-and-Features/2014-News/January/Digital-Learning-Day.aspx

Cut and paste.

Module 1 Defining Teaching Leadership

What is your general definition of teacher leadership?

The way I define teacher leadership is a person who can challenge me to learn while providing empowerment. This is a person who believes that we are teachable at any age, cost or circumstance. Teacher Leadership is a role assumed by people who are not afraid to step out of their comfort zone and not afraid to Challenge or be challenged.

 What examples of teacher leadership have you observed or experienced?

My experience with teacher leadership has been working with a group of student on a project that was going to be presented at the CADCA Conference in DC. My kids wanted to do a digital story about being above the influence, this project was going to be created by them, and my role was just to provide guidance, support and technology. This was to be Youth Led Adult Guided. I set some guidelines and we concluded on the program we would use and began creating our product. It was hard for me to let go and let the kids take ownership over the project but the outcome was amazing. Through this process I learned that good teacher leadership does not mean you have to control everything, but you have to provide the appropriate tools, opportunity to create and continues reinforcement when need. And most important be prepared to jump in at any moment’s notice.

 How is leadership for meaningful technology integration different from other kinds of leadership?

It is different because you must take into account the form in which you are communicating. There is no physical property to conversion only written language so when conveying messages, assignments or any type of communication we must pay close attention on how we integrate language and expression. So to be a good teacher in leadership with technology you must really be up to date on tech language it’s also important to understand the language that is trending on the different types of social network, student blogs, and email etiquette.

From your perspective, what are the benefits and the challenges of teacher leadership for technology (for teachers, for students, for schools, for the profession)?

From my perspective as an educator my challenges funding, training and resources this is to just name a few. I think that for students I would imagine is being able to access internet and understanding how and what are programs available to them for writing papers, or completing projects. For our schools update internet access that is fast, easy to access and available all the time (crash proof). For the profession keeping up with the demand.

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