Last week I had the honor to work with educational leaders and teachers from Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Missouri. Our goal was to examine the role of technology leadership in and out of the classroom and to better understand how technology can enhance learning. It was a unique opportunity for me because normally when I do professional development like this I work with one group or the other. However, over the course of 2 days I was able to meet with just leaders, just teachers then bring them together to facilitate conversations and provide guidance so they can continue to grow.
There were four main areas of focus for our work:
Key Indicators of Highly Effective Technology Use-I’ve been working for nearly 5 years, in my former role as a Director of Instructional Technology and now as a consultant for schools and districts across the country, on how leadership can better understand highly effective, high quality technology use. However, it’s not just leaders. If teachers can plan lessons that use technology appropriately, they can make their jobs not only easier but gain more depth in learning from their students. If both leaders can see and teachers can use technology to create new knowledge and products for a global audience or provide choice in what technology students use, than the learning that takes place has the potential to be more high quality and more impactful.
A Deep Examination Of The ISTE Standards-What came as a surprise to most of the participants was the existence of the ISTE Standards. During our time together we did an in-depth look at what the standards mean. But more importantly, we embarked on a period of self reflection. Since I had both leaders and teachers from the same schools and districts together we were able to look at what standards they were meeting. Moreover, they had to be able to show how they were meeting them (just as we would want from our students). Then we looked at the barriers they faced in meeting the standards and how they could overcome them. We used the collective wisdom of the room to come up with action plans they could continue to work on for the rest of the school year.
Tech-Savvy Administrators and Tech-Savvy Teachers-One of the more important things I have found in my work with leaders and teachers and their ability to understand high quality technology use is if they aren’t modeling effective use for their students or each other, it makes it difficult to know how to use it with students, or evaluate its use on a walkthrough. For leaders we looked at technology through their lens. How can they use technology in their role (the same technologies they might see in the classroom) to build stronger School:Home Relationships or be more productive. This builds on the work found in my book The Tech-Savvy Administrator. For educators, we looked at the 6 Areas of Development for Tech-Savvy Teachers. Better understanding the use of technology in areas like collaboration, formative assessment and reflection can go along way to understanding more fully how to embrace the higher quality implementation of technology in the classroom for learning that students deserve.
Distributed Leadership-In order to grow leadership both from the front office and the classroom there has to be an understanding of true distributed leadership. Both leaders and educators have to understand that everyone is both an expert and novice. Or that everyone has to know the vision, buy into the vision and share that vision often. Or, like just in the classroom, assessing what is working and what isn’t (formative assessment) and reflection should be a routine part of the process.
But don’t take my word on all this. Here is a great write up from the local paper:
Educators Learn About Leadership, Technology
Or here is a spot from the local news:
Are you interested in having your educational leaders or teachers enhance their leadership ability, better understand high-quality, highly effective technology use or in helping them be more Tech-Savvy? Maybe it’s something else? Get in touch with me and let’s plan some awesome PD!
There were four main areas of focus for our work:
Key Indicators of Highly Effective Technology Use-I’ve been working for nearly 5 years, in my former role as a Director of Instructional Technology and now as a consultant for schools and districts across the country, on how leadership can better understand highly effective, high quality technology use. However, it’s not just leaders. If teachers can plan lessons that use technology appropriately, they can make their jobs not only easier but gain more depth in learning from their students. If both leaders can see and teachers can use technology to create new knowledge and products for a global audience or provide choice in what technology students use, than the learning that takes place has the potential to be more high quality and more impactful.
A Deep Examination Of The ISTE Standards-What came as a surprise to most of the participants was the existence of the ISTE Standards. During our time together we did an in-depth look at what the standards mean. But more importantly, we embarked on a period of self reflection. Since I had both leaders and teachers from the same schools and districts together we were able to look at what standards they were meeting. Moreover, they had to be able to show how they were meeting them (just as we would want from our students). Then we looked at the barriers they faced in meeting the standards and how they could overcome them. We used the collective wisdom of the room to come up with action plans they could continue to work on for the rest of the school year.
Tech-Savvy Administrators and Tech-Savvy Teachers-One of the more important things I have found in my work with leaders and teachers and their ability to understand high quality technology use is if they aren’t modeling effective use for their students or each other, it makes it difficult to know how to use it with students, or evaluate its use on a walkthrough. For leaders we looked at technology through their lens. How can they use technology in their role (the same technologies they might see in the classroom) to build stronger School:Home Relationships or be more productive. This builds on the work found in my book The Tech-Savvy Administrator. For educators, we looked at the 6 Areas of Development for Tech-Savvy Teachers. Better understanding the use of technology in areas like collaboration, formative assessment and reflection can go along way to understanding more fully how to embrace the higher quality implementation of technology in the classroom for learning that students deserve.
Distributed Leadership-In order to grow leadership both from the front office and the classroom there has to be an understanding of true distributed leadership. Both leaders and educators have to understand that everyone is both an expert and novice. Or that everyone has to know the vision, buy into the vision and share that vision often. Or, like just in the classroom, assessing what is working and what isn’t (formative assessment) and reflection should be a routine part of the process.
But don’t take my word on all this. Here is a great write up from the local paper:
Educators Learn About Leadership, Technology
Or here is a spot from the local news:
Are you interested in having your educational leaders or teachers enhance their leadership ability, better understand high-quality, highly effective technology use or in helping them be more Tech-Savvy? Maybe it’s something else? Get in touch with me and let’s plan some awesome PD!
