Week 2: CEDO 565 Leadership & Planning

This week we addressed several important topics in our text How to Thrive as a Teacher Leader, by J.G. Gabriel. One of the topics of discussion was related to whether or not teacher leaders should be involved in the interview process. In many traditional school settings, and even in businesses, it is typical for the highest level personnell or someone in HR to conduct the interview, while those who will be working with the applicant on the ground level have no input. Over the past couple of years, I have made it a practice to include my site supervisors in the interview process because they have questions for new applicants that are more particular to the type of supervisor they are (their professional expectations and areas of focus on the job) as well as insight as to the expectations at the specific site that has the opening. We have found that by including our "teacher leaders" during interviews has had a positive impact in the way the new hire feels, because they have a clearly defined "go to" person right from the start; and the team receiving the new hire feels a sense of ownership in the decision.

This week also provided me with a first taste of a data retreat. I investigated a specific school on the WINSS website to learn detailed information regarding test results and how the school stacked up to the proficiency expectations for the 2011-2012 school year.  While I was not surprised by the dismal results of the school, or the district for that matter, it is frustrating that the district is getting away with that low level of performance without more intervention. I found the exercise to be challenging, but extremely valuable. I am used to conducting data analysis within my own organization using my own databases, but by accessing the data available online through Wisconsin DPI, I was able to gain a much better picture of how things are looking for Milwaukee as compared to other districts. Very eye-opening.

Week 1: CEDO 565 Leadership & Planning

I have been in a formal leadership position in my company for a number of years now, but even having that experience I know I have a lot of room for growth. This week we were introduced to the first chapter of our text How to Thrive as a Teacher Leader by J.G. Gabriel where he describes the different types of leaders in a school setting. As I reflected on the types of formal and informal leadership roles, I find that I wear many of those hats and need to work on developing more teacher leaders within my staff.

We also watched Patrick Awuah's TED Talk, which was eye-opening and inspriational. Mr. Awuah is an amazing story teller with an important message: Leaders are not born, they need to learn and develop leadership skills if they are going to be effective and promote positive change. I think this is a concept many people miss when promoting staff members, whether in a school or corporate environment. In order for someone to step up in a leadership role and be effective, there needs to be training and support along the way. I know that I have had to learn a lot about leadership along the way through trial and error. I've had to learn the hard way how to provide flexible direction and listen to my co-workers and staff when rolling out new processes and systems. Certain people do have certain leadership qualities that help guide them to those types of roles, but natural ability to lead can only take you so far. In order to be an effective leader, it is critical to learn and develop the skills to do so.

CEDo555 Portfolio Week 4: Putting into Practice

While I had set up the basic structure of my portfolio a few weeks ago, I spent the past week gathering artifacts to add some depth and dimension to my work. I chose to use the NETS-Administrator standards as my framework for that section of my portfolio due to the nature of my work and the fact that I am not a classroom teacher. As I was gathering my artifacts to demonstrate my use of these standards, I found that very little I created in my coursework actually made sense; but I discovered that I was able to easily locate examples of work I created in my real-life applications that were a direct result of what I learned in the cohort. I am happy with what I have come up with, I just hope that the fact I didn't use my course artifacts for this section won't count against me.

I am looking forward to putting together the next section of my portfolio related to the courses we experienced and the projects I completed along the way. There were so many opportunities to get creative and showcase abilities, so I am looking forward to that process of reflecting upon and presenting my work.

CEDO555: Professional Portfolio Experience Week 2

It's week two of this class and we are working on creating the outline of our professional portfolio, as well as developing a personal-professional vision/mission statement. Sounds simple, right? I wish that were the case!

Part of my problem is that I tend to over think this kind of activity. I have always had trouble truly understanding and owning the idea of vision and mission statements. We have those where I work, along with a set of Guiding Principles that we go through every time we meet as a Leadership Team. I find the principles to be an excellent framework for facilitating a discussion about what's been happening since our last meeting as related to our list. We end up having truly valuable discussions about topics that might not come up if we merely followed an agenda created by one or two people. We don't talk about the vision/mission regularly, and to be honest, it sounds so "pie-in-the-sky" that I have a hard time connecting to it. I hope that by the time I complete this course, I will have a better understanding and appreciation of what these statements mean and can possibly contribute to our company statements when the time comes to revisit/revise.

As far as creating the outline for my portfolio goes, I feel pretty comfortable with using Google Sites and tried to remember that I can always edit what I've started--nothing is written in stone. I think letting go of my inner perfectionist in this instance helped me complete this assignment without too much stress...I look forward to adding content and letting my work tell the story about me as a professional in the business of education.

CEDO555: Professional Portfolio Experience Week 1

This week we were formally introduced to the topic of creating a professional portfolio of our work throughout this cohort. There are different types of portfolios, determined by the purpose or the message that is being conveyed. We reviewed professional portfolios that are posted online, which was helpful in visualizing different interpretations of an electronic professional portfolio. A resource I would like to come back to in the future is the Carnegie Collection of e-portfolios for the variety of educators represented and the structure of the portfolios.

I think my portfolio for this masters program will serve a few purposes; to reflect on the process, to provide examples of the work I've created and to show that I can identify how it all connects to the standards. While coming up with examples of work and reflecting on the process should be pretty natural, I am nervous about connecting it all to the standards. I believe that once I get started and know I'm on the right track, I will be fine...I'm just feeling a bit overwhelmed in the moment! I think once I develop the structure and list the categories to be included, finding examples of work represent the topics should fall into place.

CEDO 550 Week 6

1.	My students are gaining 21st century skills by . . .
	Using technology to create as well as research, collaborating in small and large groups, using higher order thinking skills.

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	2.	I understand the Virtual Schools Legislation in Wisconsin and am concerned/excited about . . .
		I am excited about the potential for students who do not excel in the traditional classroom, or who do not have the resources within their district, to be able to have the option and opportunity to have their needs met through an online program. I am also happy to hear the outcomes of the audit because it supports the idea that online/virtual classrooms are effective and an valuable resource to our students.

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	3.	My district involvement in online learning includes . . .
		From what I could see, it is somewhat limited although I would venture to guess that there is more blended learning going on in today's classrooms without them being identified as "online learning programs."

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	4.	During the module I was excited to learn about . . .
		the Learning to Change video. I found it quite eye-opening and enjoyed getting the perspectives of the panel of highly regarded professionals in the field of education. I think the potential benefits of online learning go beyond what we know up to this point and I look forward to staying informed and learning more about virtual learning as more ideas are revealed.

Week 5: CEDO 550 Reflection

	1. My experience with online communities has been …
	Overall, positive. For example, my experience with the cohort I've been participating in for the past year and a half has been very positive. I've met some interesting people and have had an opportunity to gain some new perspectives from the participants in the program. Because we are able to interact outside of the set class time through the use of discussion boards and small group meetings, I feel like I have gotten to know everyone in my class a lot better than I have ever gotten to know (an entire group of people) in my undergrad traditional setting.

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	2.	I believe the biggest benefit of collaborative groups is …
		Gaining new perspectives and coming up with something better than one can do alone. My experience has been that I come in with an idea based on what I have done and what I've learned over the years, but after talking things through with the group I come out with a much richer result due to everyone contributing to the process.

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	3.	I believe the greatest challenge is/would be …
		If the participants could not come to a consensus. Part of working in a collaborative group means being flexible and open to others' opinions. Consensus does not always mean 100% agreement, but if you agree to consent to the final product then you need to support the decision to go that route. I think that is more difficult for participants not used to working in a collaborative setting.

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	4.	My thoughts regarding the social development and socialization issues are …
		Just like most everything, the way we address social development and socialization needs to reflect today's world. Traditional schools need to actually teach socialization, rather than simply look at it as a by-product of students sharing a physical space. We can't expect kids to just know how to get along and act appropriately without those skills being taught to them. The online setting, because it is so new, does spend time addressing appropriate interaction and teaching students how to "get along" in that format. The fact that many biases or prejudices that can develop in a traditional setting are taken out of the equation of an online classroom (because students can't see each other), relationships are developed around what each student can contribute to the group. I don't think either setting is perfect, but it seems that more learning can happen in an online setting because of the emphasis on learning, developing and applying effective communication skills.