Category Archives: Learning

Teacher Leaders

Posted on by
Reply

How do you know you’re ready to become a teacher leader? Will a trusted colleague tap you on the shoulder and say, “It’s time!”? Do you have to get so frustrated by something that you simply must speak up and work toward a solution? Maybe—but sometimes the signs are subtler. Here are a few things that may signal that you’re on the road to becoming a teacher leader:

Sign #1: You wish you had an impact beyond your classroom.

If you find yourself yearning to take an idea beyond your classroom, you’re probably ready to become a leader.

The first step might be as small as sharing a lesson plan with a colleague down the hall. Then you might spread your expertise further. Perhaps you will blog about how your students are using iPads to work on letter recognition, submit an article to your favorite professional journal, or share your knowledge in topic-focused Twitter chats. Or maybe your next step will be to help “unpack Common Core standards” for your department, or to offer to lead a workshop on bullying.

Whatever path you take, don’t wait to be invited. Act on your interests—you’ll be glad you did.

Sign #2: Colleagues often ask you for advice.

Are you a go-to teacher? You aren’t sure quite why, but your colleagues are beginning to turn to you (yes, YOU!) for advice on how to handle difficult situations. Guess what? You probably have what it takes to lead.

See Sign #1 for some ways to proceed. It’s great that your colleagues come to you for advice, but are there ways to share your expertise with even more educators?

Sign #3: You “think big” about problems.

When others are complaining, you’re imagining solutions. You can see ways that the system can change to help you and your colleagues to better serve students—whether at the school, district, state, or national level.

Maybe your next step is to have frank, open conversations with your principal about solving problems at your school. Maybe you will serve on a district leadership committee, acting as a spokesperson for your grade level at a school board meeting. Or perhaps you’ll become involved with teacher advocacy through your union.

Whatever the case, other teachers are beginning to look to you as someone who can help them move beyond frustration to positive action. You have the potential to extend the impact of your leadership by getting involved in district, state, and even national initiatives to improve teaching and learning.

Sign #4: You want to take new teachers under your wing.

You watch new teachers at your school and think, “Wow, I’ve been there and wished someone would help me out.” You have a keen sense of what kind of preparation teachers need to be successful in the classroom. You’ve probably offered advice and informal support to at least one new teacher.

Your next step might be to volunteer as a cooperating teacher for a preservice college student, or an official mentor to a new teacher in your building. Maybe you will agree to serve on a “walk-through” team, observing teachers and offering helpful feedback. You might even become an instructional coach or take on a hybrid role in which you are adjunct faculty at a local teacher- preparation program.

Whatever the case, you care about the future of the profession. When you begin to invest time and energy in new teachers or preservice teachers, it’s a sure sign that you’re becoming a leader.

Sign #5: You always want to know more!

You are afflicted with lifelong learning. What you know about the profession isn’t enough—you are eager to dig deeper into pedagogical strategies and/or your content area. You read. A lot.

Perhaps you’ve already taken one next step: enrolling in a master’s program. Or maybe you’ve already developed a Personal Learning Network of teachers across the country who regularly exchange ideas and help each other improve. And you might also be pursuing the rewarding but challenging experience of seeking National Board Certification. So many avenues for learning!

So …

When you find yourself writing, advising, listening, collaborating, networking, seeking knowledge, reflecting, be aware. These are traits of leadership. Know, too, that there is no one “correct” path to becoming a teacher leader. I encourage you to check out the Teacher Leader Model Standards, which highlight a range of ways for teacher leaders to improve schools.

The right next step for you will depend on your own strengths, ambitions, and circumstances. But I can promise you this: When you go beyond what is expected, when you act on your desire to develop and learn, you won’t regret it.

By Marsha Ratzel
Published Online: February 21, 2012
www.edweek.org

LORAX – Unless Someone Cares!

Posted on by
Reply

I loved THE LORAX MOVIE!   I am very aware of the meaning of the book; however, there is a lot of things one can take from the movie/story.  Let’s start with the basics…the characters (symbolism) in the story.

The Lorax – Spokesman for the environment, “I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues.”

Grickle Grass – represents the thistled mess we will be left with if we do not care for what we have been given.

Truffula Trees -represent agriculture. If we keep clearing the rain forest then we will loose animal populations that will have to travel elsewhere to get their needs met, many will become extinct.  I love these COLORFUL trees.

Onceler – represents big business that is too busy looking at the profit line to take heed to what damage their business is doing.

The Barbaloots (bear-like creatures) – represent the lifeforms  we are disrupting by polluting their environments and destroying their habitats. The barbaloots may even be ourselves.

The Boy – is entrusted with the last Truffula seed and represents the hope of the future. When you make a commitment, you create hope.  When you keep a commitment, you create truste.

So what did I take from the MOVIE?

  1. “UNLESSsomeone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better.  It’s not.”
    1. Who will be the person that cares?  Will it be you?  Will it be me?  How does one show they care?  ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS
    2. Let it Grow, Let it Grow…let the love inside you show… Let It Grow (Song)
  2. TREES
    1. Trees FALL the way they LEAN…Be careful which way YOU LEAN.  This has a powerful meaning as far as leadership and accountability. 
    2. Trees change with the seasons….CHANGE is good….it is a mindshift!
  3. SEEDS
    1. New beginnings and New life
    2. Don’t judge each day by the Harvest you reap but by the seed you Plant
  4. TRUST
    1. “How BAD can it be”…to create trust?
    2. You did good BEAN POLE…when is the last time you did good or told someone they did a good job?

My favorite Quote (from the time I started teaching):

“A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.”   Henry Adam

PLANT the SEED and let it GROW!

Connected Learning Resources and Infographic

Posted on by
Reply

Fresh from the Digital Media & Learning conference in San Francisco are two new web resources, Connected Learning and the Connected Learning Research Network. The work is centered around three learning principles and three design principles:

Learning principles

  • Interest-powered. Interests power the drive to acquire knowledge and expertise. Research shows that learners who are interested in what they are learning, achieve higher order learning outcomes. Connected learning does not just rely on the innate interests of the individual learner, but views interests and passions as something to be actively developed in the context of personalized learning pathways that allow for specialized and diverse identities and interests.
  • Peer-supported. Learning in the context of peer interaction is engaging and participatory. Research shows that among friends and peers, young people fluidly contribute, share, and give feedback to one another, producing powerful learning. Connected learning research demonstrates that peer learning need not be peer-isolated. In the context of interest-driven activity, adult participation is welcomed by young people. Although expertise and roles in peer learning can differ based on age and experience, everyone gives feedback to one another and can contribute and share their knowledge and views.
  • Academically oriented. Educational institutions are centered on the principle that intellectual growth thrives when learning is directed towards academic achievement and excellence. Connected learning recognizes the importance of academic success for intellectual growth and as an avenue towards economic and political opportunity. Peer culture and interest-driven activity needs to be connected to academic subjects, institutions, and credentials for diverse young people to realize these opportunities. Connected learning mines and translates popular peer culture and community-based knowledge for academic relevance.

Design principles

  • Shared purpose. Connected learning environments are populated with adults and peers who share interests and are contributing to a common purpose. Today’s social media and web-based communities provide exceptional opportunities for learners, parents, caring adults, teachers, and peers in diverse and specialized areas of interest to engage in shared projects and inquiry. Cross-generational learning and connection thrives when centered on common interests and goals.
  • Production-centered. Connected learning environments are designed around production, providing tools and opportunities for learners to produce, circulate, curate, and comment on media. Learning that comes from actively creating, making, producing, experimenting, remixing, decoding, and designing, fosters skills and dispositions for lifelong learning and productive contributions to today’s rapidly changing work and political conditions.
  • Openly networked. Connected learning environments are designed around networks that link together institutions and groups across various sectors, including popular culture, educational institutions, home, and interest communities. Learning resources, tools, and materials are abundant, accessible and visible across these settings and available through open, networked platforms and public-interest policies that protect our collective rights to circulate and access knowledge and culture. Learning is most resilient when it is linked and reinforced across settings of home, school, peer culture and community.

Infographic

Below is an infographic made by Dachis Group that highlights these essential components of connected learning. What if every learning environment was centered around these principles?

Dangerously Irrevelant Blog Post