Week #5 in CEDO 656

This week we finished up years 2 and 3 in our change simulation.  It was funny that we had such problems in year 1 since once we started going the simulation became easier and easier. Our team made decisions at a faster rate and the benefits came rolling in. Overall the simulation was fun and highlighted the need for transparent communication when it comes to getting a group to undergo a large systematic change.

We also finished the book “How to Thrive as a Teacher Leader.” By John G Gabriel.  The last chapter was all about how to increase achievement for both teachers and students.  If I had to summarize the chapter in a sentence it would be “Lead from the front”.  A teacher leader must be the one to show WHY a change is useful in order to get their group to go along with it.  This is often lost on some leaders in the educational setting since it means that you are infinitely more vulnerable as a leader than as a member of the group.  You need to put yourself out there if you want to be the one in charge.

Lastly, I would just like to say that all of the group work we have done in this course has been very enlightening. If you have a group of people who are all positive and task focused then your can accomplish great things.  I have been very fortunate to be a part of some great groups and it has been awesome to see the good interactions we have been reading and talking about modeled so successfully.

Week#4 in CEDO 565

This week we ran the first week of a simulation in creating change in a school. We acted as administration trying to effect an unknown change upon a whole district.  We had to use up resources to get the staff on board with our proposed change.  After the simulated end of one year... we had not even begun to figure out what the change is that we are going to get our district to undergo.  I kind of feel like this is the way a lot of administration feels about us teachers.  They have great ideas, why won't us teachers just go along with it already :)  The frustration is good in that it serves a real purpose to show how we need to refine our ideas before presenting them to the larger group.

We also read some articles about the stages of change that will be very useful for next week's simulation.  The simulation that we are doing has the same parts that article: http://www.mcrel.org/toolkit/res/change.asp has and will be useful to use as road map in the coming game.

We also took a look at Motivation in Leadership and all of the different things that can make a department a more cohesive unit.  It featured a couple of good tidbits of advice from hosting socials to keeping observations to short "walkthroughs". It was a nice change of pace since the previous chapters were mostly concerned with conflict resolution.  I like that we now focused on the good things.

Week #3 In CEDO 565

Whoops! This is super late, but in week 3 of CEDO 565 we took a look at "Who Moved my Cheese" a parable about being adaptive to change and being capable of looking at the big picture. I thought that it was an interesting story, but I can see that it has the capability of being misused as a justification for administration for forcing arbitrary changes on a staff. The story does not make any prioritizing for the different topics that come up. This can cause quite a problem if you just keep on flitting from topic to topic and do not have any overall goal for what you are doing. If you want to see the breakdown of topics the powerpoint is available below:

Who Moved My Cheese

View more PowerPoint from Vedanta Mission

We also took a look at systems thinking and how it could be applied to the educational system.  It is a great idea to value the interconnected nature of how students learn. Again, I only have a small reservation about systems thinking (much like my reservation about "Who Moved My Cheese".)  The system provides no mechanism for prioritizing items or learning more background that could be used to gain a deeper understanding.  I kind of liken it to standardized test preparation versus actual learning. With standardized test prep (and systems thinking) you only value that which is applicable to the moment.  With actual learning you need a much deeper understanding about how things work, not just how they are related.  Over all the presentations and videos were great items that spurred some rather deep conversations with my group mates and fellow teachers.

Week #2 in CEDO 565

This week in CEDO 565 we took a look at data and how it can be used in a leadership role. In the book we read two chapters on "Assembling your team" and "Communicating your Leadership". I have been a part of the hiring committee for 4 of the positions in our 10 person department and I can say with certainty that John Gabriel is 100% correct about there needing to be a "fit" for your team. We have had tons of super qualified applicants for my school that have not worked out with the district not because they were not capable, but because they were not the right fit for the multitudes of people that have already established themselves in the district. It is tough realizing that it is nothing personal, it is just the nature of human interaction.

The "virtual data retreat" that we embarked on I took a look at the WKCE data for my district in reading, science and math. My district is very fortunate since it is over performing for its socioeconomic indicators. I can tell you with certainty it is because of good teachers teaching motivated students that have parents who are active in their child's education. The trifecta of student achievement is at work in my district and I am happy to be a part of it. We spend almost $200 more per student than the surrounding districts, and my district has ridiculously high property taxes to support such spending since the tax base is firmly blue collar. Yet, parents in my district have defeated every "tax payer alliance" or "citizens for fiscal responsibility" measure that has come to a vote. The community's dedication to education is unwavering. I am truly lucky to be where I am.

Week #1 in CEDO 565 - Leadership and Planning

There is light at the end of the tunnel!  CEDO 565 is the second to last class in the ME-IT at Cardinal Stritch and we'll be done by mid June (if all goes according to plan).  I have to say that I have thoroughly enjoyed the masters program and have found it much more topical than other programs I have been a part of.  Speaking of topicality, I just found out last week that I was being tapped to become the new science department head at my school. CEDO 565 couldn't have come at a better time as I am a little freaked out about the idea of leadership where there is no formal power.  Our text book, How to Thrive as a Teacher Leader by John Gabriel, gives numerous examples in the first chapter of positions of authority that hold no formal power.  It also gives a few hints about what skills are needed to be successful in these situations. Lets hope that I can crib enough information from both the book and the class to be successful at my new position.

We have also done some leadership inventories as well as looked at a TED Talk about the future of Africa and how important education is to transforming life there.  It is a very powerful lecture and if you'd like to see it take a look below. It is well worth your time.

Weeks 3 & 4 in CEDO 555

This week we are putting together the foundations of our portfolios.  It has been amazing to look back on all of the stuff we have done.  It has been a great year and a half so far and I look forward to the next couple of steps in completing the course and portfolio.

In order to organize the portfolio we were asked to evaluate and choose a set of standards to base our portfolio around.  For me I choose the NETS*T from ISTE. ISTE is the International Society for Technology in Education and the NETS*T are the National Education Technology Standards for Teachers.  These five standards give a great baseline that I can use to better guide my work on the portfolio.  You can read all about these standards at http://www.iste.org/standards.aspx

We have also been working on a pretty cool project to get our students into creating portfolios with technology.  I chose to create a project for my AP Physics students to create a portfolio that works with their reviewing of class material and provides them with proof that they learned college level physics in my class. It seems like such a win win, that I am a little embarrassed that I did not think of it before this point.  Thank fully we had this course to push me in the right direction. It will be fun to see the project in action next year.

Week #2 in CEDO 555

This week we are goal setting and laying the foundation for what our portfolios will look like.  I started putting together my digital portfolio at https://sites.google.com/a/wolfmail.stritch.edu/wilkinson-professional-portfolio/ Over the next few weeks I'll be putting together a portfolio of all of the work I've done in this masters program. I'm really looking forward to looking back on the last year and a half and see how much we have learned.

Here are the mission and vision statements I will be using for my portfolio (so far)

Personal Mission Statement

To stretch the school day for my students using technology so that students get personalized, targeted instruction that best meets their abilities and interests. I will do this by creating a web 2.0 site to structure my courses around. The complete overhaul of my 4 different classes will take approximately 4 years and will be done in collaboration with my fellow physics teacher, John Kozicke.

Vision Statement

A “flipped” student centered classroom using moodle

Imagine that it is the start of the 2016 – 2017 school year and you decide to step into my classroom. The students are working in small groups around the room.  Each group is working on a different aspect of the homework and are preparing to present their findings. Some students are using their iPads and laptops to double check the electronic text book for definitions. The text book is an electronic copy of course work and has been formatted in both ePub and PDF so some students are using PDF markup software to do their work electronically.  Other students are using the course website to listen to the lecture they were assigned online. These lectures have been made by me and use the skills and thoughts found at http://vodcasting.ning.com/ where I am a regular poster.  Another group of students are working on the class moodle website on the dynamic problems that change per user based upon skill level. I am working with all of the groups to coordinate the work and answer any questions that may arise. The course is completely student centered and meets the students where they are.