Leadership

Part of being a leader is learning how to be a good manager of people. My new position has placed me in a leadership role, but I do not feel that I am a manager of people. I am learning that another huge part of leadership is listening and watching. This is especially true when you are new to the leadership position. To take on a new leadership role and come out with your guns blazing is not always the best choice. Now, there are situations where such tactics are needed and can be used effectively. But, my new position has called me to take on more of a watching and listening role. I need to discover how my new place of employment works and how the people within the place of employment interact and work. It has been an interesting experience and I've only been at it for 3 months.

The best part so far has been cultivating relationships with my co-workers. I had been at my previous job for four years. So, I haven't had to meet new people and develop new work relationships for awhile. Overall, it has been a fun experience. Our department is very diverse as is the school itself. But, if everyone was the same it would make for a very boring day, week, and school year. The thing that I come back to the most is remembering to laugh and not take things too seriously. Each new day is a chance for new start and a fresh outlook.

I am curious how the people in my department view me, though. I am the second youngest person in the department and probably have the least amount of teaching experience except for the person who is younger than me. This has added to my view of being a watcher and listener rather than a person who swoops in and seeks to make dramatic changes in the first year. I am still interested in how I am viewed. It would have been nice to know what each person was thinking the first time they met me in August. That thought alone makes me laugh because I was quite nervous.

The first 3 months have already put me face to face with some challenging situations. But, I am really enjoying the new position. I have been surprised that I haven't missed being in the classroom. But, that is partly due to the fact that I haven't had any time to sit and reminisce about being in the classroom. The one thing that I have noticed is that the students have no idea who I am. And, that is a very weird feeling because at my previous position I knew quite a few of the students. I hope that aspect changes with time. And, I am aware that I am the one who can make it change.

MTT Classes in General

Looking back over the four MTT classes, I am genuinely amazed at the wide array of technology skills I have acquired and technology programs that I have learned about. I remember dropping a class in summer school during my undergraduate degree because it required me to make several PowerPoint presentations and work a little with Adobe Photoshop. I still don’t know much about Adobe Photoshop, but would gladly play around with it to learn. Dropping that class seems so silly to me now, but I distinctly remember being scared to death by it because I had NEVER made a PowerPoint presentation before. I was 22 when I took that class, how crazy is that?

The only technology class offered in my small private school was computer programming. I passed the class, but learned very little. I was much more interested in the boys that filled the class than I was in learning how to write a program. I remember very clearly not getting my final program to perform a specific task and simply throwing my hands up because “I hated computers.” Then, not six years later, I was teaching BCIS to high school students and assuring them that I could do it they could do it. The journey to Master Technology Teacher has been an interesting one, but well worth the trip.

Culminating Paper

This paper’s topic seems both the easiest and the most difficult to write about. The topic is on the fundamentals of mentoring, coaching, and leadership. I feel too young and inexperienced to write about such things. Obviously, the paper will be based on other peer-reviewed journal articles, but will require my insight as well. Just like my mentoring experience, I am afraid I am too green in the fields of mentoring, coaching, and leadership to provide any worthwhile information. I am looking forward to reading my articles and learning about these fields.

My new position calls for me to act as a mentor, coach, and leader for my department. I am still in a bit of shock that I was even offered this new position. I have only five years of teaching experience and I’m sure there were candidates with more. But, I was told that experience was not the chief attribute they were seeking in the next CTE coordinator. I have discovered that I love to be an encouragement to others and do my best to find the positive in all work situations. But, the idea that I am mentor or coach to these teachers still seems quite foreign and daunting. This feeling is doubled by the fact that half the department is my age or older. In fact, I think only one of the teachers is younger than me. I know this paper will help me greatly and yet it’s been the thing that I’ve saved for last in this class. I do hope to gain quite a bit of insight into each topic because I feel it will assist me greatly in my new position.

Professional Portfolio Collection

Collecting things for my portfolio has been a fascinating task. For some reason, I keep confusing production with artifact. And, it totally freaked me out to collect attestations. However, the attestations were actually the easiest things to collect. I was able to use pieces from my previous PDAS evaluations. And, at my previous position, we were required to keep a binder and one of the tabs was labeled “comments.” This tab stood for both parent contact and any kind of positive remark we received from administration, parents, and fellow faculty members. But, my favorite attestation is actually from my student-teaching days. On my last day of student teaching, one of the classes had a party and all the students signed a card for me. My most treasured comment on that card was from a student in the class who had recoiled from me the first time I walked up to help him and touched his shoulder. In the card, he wrote me a thank you for always helping him and being patient with him. That comment alone is why I have kept the card for six years.

The artifacts have actually been the hardest to collect. It has been hard because I’m not sure what will showcase the MTT classes the best. And, since I am no longer in the classroom I do not have access to student work. I also did not bring any student work with me from my previous position. So, I have had to rely on the MTT classes and my collection of activities from the teacher’s side of things. But, I will admit that being a BCIS teacher has made the task a little easier.

The productions have been the second easiest piece to collect. I have relied almost totally on the MTT coursework for these items. It was fun to make a podcast and to use Camtasia to record a tutorial for BCIS. Technology today makes certain things so easy!

Professional Portfolio Collaboration 1

The process of putting together my professional portfolio as a website has been fun. It has been fun because I have been working collaboratively with my younger brother. My brother is almost seven years my junior. And, it is difficult for me to think of him as an adult even though he turned 21 years old this past February. However, he is much more learned at using an Apple than I am. He has assisted me in making my documents PDF files and moving between screens at light speed. We have spent several hours together working on my portfolio and it is probably one of the first times that I have been able to really see him as an adult.

He is currently working toward a sound engineering certificate at Media Tech Institute in Las Colinas. He plans to start being a disc jockey if he can gain entry to the clubs in downtown Dallas. It has been very eye-opening to work with him on my portfolio because we have been more like partners in a project than our traditional brother-sister roles. He knows how to work his Mac like the back of his hand, but oddly enough had never used iweb until I came over to work on my project. So, it has been a learning experience for both of us. I have used iweb before and because of that have been able to show him a few things with it. I’m thankful for this assignment mostly because it has given time me time with my kid brother; who as it turns out is no longer a kid.

Exercise 9.5 Preparing for the Application of Learning

Briefly describe an educational program you recently attended.
PEIMS & CTE training at the ESC Region XI service center: the training was geared to assist CTE Directors and counselors on how to code CTE students for state funding and Achieve Texas guidelines.

Complete an individual plan, as outlined in the following chart, specifying how you will apply what you learned.


List knowledge; skills; problem-solving and finding capabilities; and/or attitudes, values, feelings learned: How to code CTE students for state funding purpose (V1, V2, V3); How to code CTE students in alignment with the Achieve Texas model (0, 1, 2, 3); Preparation for the changes with CTE that will take place in 2010-2011

Specify when, where, and how you want to apply what you have learned: Currently applying what I learned as I check every student coded and enrolled in a CTE course at the high school

Name people who could offer assistance, support: Previous CTE Director; High School Counselor; ESC Region XI CTE Specialist; Other CTE Coordinators in the area; PEIMS coordinator for the district


List other resources that might be helpful (such as books, training programs). Specify how you will know you are successfully using the new knowledge; skills; problem-finding or –solving capabilities; and/or values and attitudes: Handout provided in the training; PEIMS website; TEA website

I will know I am using the new knowledge successfully when I show the coding changes that need to be made to the PEIMS coordinator and she agrees with my suggested changes. I will also know that I am using the new knowledge successfully when I am able to catch those students who are coded incorrectly and make the necessary changes.

Specify a time frame: 2009-2010 school year

Exercise 9.4 Completing and Instructional Plan

Using material from Exercises 9.1, 9.2, and 9.3, develop an instructional plan for a session for which you serve as the instructor.

Title: Using Technology to Enhance Student Learning and Engagement

Date and Time: August 19, 2009 8am, 9:30am, 12:30pm, 2pm

Learning Objectives: The participants will be able to…
1. Utilize surveymonkey.com as pre-assessments and to enhance student learning and engagement within the classroom.

2. Utilize GoogleDocs to enhance student collaboration, learning, and engagement within the classroom.

3. Utilize a jeopardy template in PowerPoint to develop engaging review sessions for the classroom.

4. Utilize www.edublogs.org to enhance student writing, journaling, learning, and engagement within the classroom.

Content Heading
1. Develop surveys online to use for pre-assessments of student knowledge

2. Employ GoogleDocs for student collaboration with projects

3. Develop a jeopardy game template to use for engaging reviews before assessments

4. Make use of blogging to improve student expression, writing skills, and preparation for state testing

Key Points to Emphasize
1. The ease of creating surveys with surveymonkey. The major features available in surveymonkey. The different types of questions that can be created in surveymonkey.

2. Document, Presentation, Spreadsheet, Form, Folder, Upload feature-Share feature

3. Create a jeopardy game template that participants can use over and over again in PowerPoint.

4. Blogging, Themes, Embedding, Managing student blogs, Import & Export abilities-Resources, discussions, and suggestions for educators

Instructional Techniques
For each activity, the following instructional techniques will be used:
-Teacher demonstration with learners working at individual computer stations
-Detailed handouts for extra support
-Q & A as the session progresses

Estimated Time: Each section will last approximately 20 minutes

Assessment Plan: pre-survey to determine direction of the session; post-session survey to evaluate effectiveness of session

Instructional resources and equipment needed:

For Instructor – computer connected to digital projector & pull down screen for demonstration

For Participants – computer lab for individual computer use

Room Arrangement Needed: Computer lab