Week 3 of 565

Despite having an extremely long break (much appreciated though), there was plenty of work to keep us busy and focused on improving our leadership abilities.  Our first assignment was to watch the short video entitled "Who Moved My Cheese?"  Although the film had a childish feel to it, the message was anything but.  I especially liked the phrase, "What would you do if you weren't afraid?"  This profound statement has merit in both my personal and professional lives, as I often make choices that are swayed by fear.  By asking myself what I would if I wasn't afraid, I can now make a compromise between my usual choices and my ideal choice, given the parameters of my situation.

We also continued our readings in "How to Thrive as a Teacher Leader."  This chapter had us examining conflict resolution.  As a teacher and coach, it was nice to get some ideas on how to properly deal with conflict, essentially making sure that you don't make a situation worse.  As I found this to be the primary thesis of this chapter, I try to constantly remember that students/parents are often set in their version of the truth; being accusatory or blatantly contradicting them will not improve matters.

The remaining work involved viewing videos on change, examining how to use data, and magnifying the strengths and weaknesses of the newest population generation, the Millennial.  Whereas using data and thinking about how to change the status quo directly relate to my profession, I took the most away from the Millennial descriptions.  As I am a member of this particular generation, it was most interesting to see how we are largely viewed as cooperative, always on the move, and in need of praise.  Whereas I view myself as having some of these qualities (but not all); it is most beneficial to see how my elders view me (or at least my work habits).

Week 2 of 565

This week in class, and our homework, we covered several pertinent and interesting topics.  In this week, we continued our readings of "How To Thrive as a Teacher Leader," along with studying data related to our respective school districts.  I was able to apply knowledge that I learned from both of these topics to my personal life.  As chapter three of our reading discussed how to use a passive voice in order to resolve conflict, I was reminded that removing emotion allows logic to prevail.  Whereas I may not be a department head, I used techniques in this book with my students and my players.  In regards to the WINSS data, it was pretty eye opening to be able to see all of the test results that factor into a school's strengths and deficiencies.  I found it particularly interesting to be able to compare data with other conference schools.

Week 1 of 565

As our graduate level coursework nears its end, it is very beneficial that we have a class that covers leadership qualities, allowing us to best utilize the information we have learned, sharing it with others.  At the present, I have experienced leadership in a limited role, in a couple of different capacities.  I currently lead my students every day, coach varsity baseball, and sit on a committee that works on improving the instruction/climate at our school (RTI).

The work that we did for this week was succinct, but taught me a great deal about leadership, along with what type of leader I am.  First, the TED talk from Patrick Awuah was quite intriguing; as this man discussed the type of leadership that could ultimately turn around the fate of Africa.  My biggest take away from this presentation is that a successful leader needs to be ethical, open-minded, and responsible.  The next task we encountered this week was that of filling out a leadership profile.  By filling out the profile, I found that I have a good content knowledge base, communicate well with my peers, but need to tend more attention curriculum development.  We also took several surveys that helped me realize that I am an adaptive assertive leader, who lacks imagination.  Finally, we were to read the first chapter of "How to Thrive as a Teacher Leader."  I found this book to be very direct, explaining how leaders should be professional, anticipatory, and empathetic.

From a personal/professional standpoint, the work from this week has helped me realize that I have certain characteristics that are very beneficial for being a leader (knowledge, logical reasoning skills, and compassion, for example).  However I do need to work on being more imaginative, along with devoting a little bit more time to curriculum development and monitoring.  This was an exciting first week of class, and I'm looking forward to our future thought-provoking lessons/tasks.

Week 4 of 555

Despite the fact that we just had a break, I think it's fair to say that we didn't really have one at all.  As our professor instructed; "continue to work on your projects so things don't pile up on you."  From a personal prospective, I have found it useful (for any class in this cohort) to do a little bit of the required work every day.  This way you're getting the work done, but it doesn't seem overwhelming.  Also, if I procrastinate, I've found that it results in losing valuable time with my family, or late nights that wreck the next day.  Time management is key.  In that same respect, our latest portion of our portfolios that had to be turned in were our professional standards.  I found it beneficial to cut the assignment into two sections.  This way I could focus on how the standards relate to me, along with what artifacts correlate to those standards.  By showing what standards we've covered, we are creating an essential part of any portfolio, which is demonstrating achievement based on a largely recognizable set of criteria.

The topic of discussion during our class time dealt with the significance of standards in education.  I thought it was fairly interesting how things such as politics and the almighty dollar can muddle an otherwise simple concept:  Teach the students worthwhile content.  From my professional educator's prospective, that's what I want to know; "what should I teach them?" With different local governments and test vendors vying for power and acceptance, it really isn't all too surprising that it took the United States this long to adapt the Common Core Standards.  However, now that it is largely accepted, I feel the education system in our country can finally start working together to decide what is important for our students to learn.

Week 2 of Class 555

During this week's lesson, we've started to take some of the information that we've gathered, and applied it to the initial construction stages of our own portfolios.  As I was deciding which categories that I would have for my own, I noticed that although I had initially selected portfolios that were educationally relevant, they needed a little bit of tweeking for my purposes.  For example, as this portfolio is not designed for an active job search, I may not have as many categories dedicated to resumes, work experiences, or references (although, having a resume posted on the site wouldn't hurt anything, as you never know what will happen in life).  This portfolio, which will showcase my technological artifacts, goals,etc., is an excellent professional example of what I stand for as an educator.

We also took a look at mission and vision statements that best exemplify our personal/professional viewpoints.  Whereas the vision focuses more on the professional, concrete desirable outcome, a mission statement is more personal, describing a general, yet specific philosophy that an educator should try to follow.  As I've always tried to improve as a teacher, an example of my personal mission has always been to "get better every year."  Now, I know that I have to retool this mission, making it more appropriate for my portfolio, but I still firmly that believe that at the root of my mission should be a desire to continue to become a more well-rounded educator.

How Have I Used ePortfolios?

The most extensive work that I (and realistically the school district that I teach at) have done from a personal/professional standpoint with ePortfolios is the preparation of my Professional Development Plan.  As renewing your teacher's license in Wisconsin no longer requires the simple accumulation of credits, I have had establish certain goals that I wish to attain as an educator.  I have also had to provide proof of completing these goals, in the form of an ePortfolio.  This has been a long five year process of gathering information, implementing strategies into my classroom, and then tying it all together.  Much like this class, I have had to collect artifacts and state how they have proven fulfillment of my goals (I assume that this time around it will be picking artifacts that verify standards).  I have thoroughly enjoyed the online format, helping me contain all of my information in a convenient location.  This also allowed me the added perk of being able to email my PDP to review team without having to "snail mail" a copy, wasting valuable time.  For anyone who is not familiar with Wisconsin's PDP, here's a link to the website that I use to house my online portfolio that should answer some questions you may have about how it is run:  https://qei.wisconsin.edu/index.cfm

My second example is mainly personal.  As I have been trying to figure out how to create a website for my high school baseball team, I have been looking at others, deciding which format best suits our needs.  As a baseball website is essentially an online portfolio for the accomplishments of my team, I see many similarities.

I look forward to using my knowledge from this portfolio to increase the effectiveness of my Graduate School Portfolio.  It's hard to believe that we're this close to the end, to be talking about a final, cumulative piece!

Final Post for Online Facilitation

This class has been quite a great experience, and I'm sad to see it end (I'm not sad, or apologizing for the three week break however).  I've learned many valuable skills that I can relay to my students, along with becoming better educated in online learning (just in general).

From this class, I have learned how to deal with teaching in an online setting, along with figuring out the 21st century skills that will make my students successful.  Such skills include, but are not limited to collaboration, synthezing information, and effecient use of current technology. 

As far as becoming better educated about online learning, taking a look at the Virtual School's Legislation (which is what I was most excited about learning in this module) was a great way to familiarize myself with the rules/regulations that govern the online schools of Wisconsin.  However, as I look at this legislation, I can't help but feel like it's a tad on the restrictive side.  Although, as this efficient means of educating isn't going anywhere, I have complete faith that the legislation will adapt properly in the near future.

When it comes to my district's involvement with online learning, we do offer a lit bit.  Our students have the option to take online classes if there is a schedule conflict, but few take advantage of it.  I think as we continue to expand our computer labs and course loads, more students will be taking advantage of this 21st century learning tool.

Overall, this was a great class that helped me gain a lot of experience with how to conduct an online class.  Thanks for everything Ken and Greg!