PLN Journey

I have learned so much this semester! I was not aware of the power of Professional Learning Networks until I was assigned to creating one for class. At first I felt overwhelmed because we had to try out so many new tools that I thought I would not be able to manage them all. However it took a bit of time-management skills. What a challenge! In the end, I was glad to see that many of the tools actually made my life easier. Here's a snapshot of each tool I used:

Blogging- I did not know how much fun blogging would be until I created one and started posting weekly. I love to write but hate publishing anything. However, I felt free. Our professor gave us the freedom to choose our own topics. I have to admit that there were some weeks were I had no clue what to write about but in the end I always pulled through. This same power my professor gave me could be given to students. Teenagers have lots to say that is why girls usually get in trouble for talking excessively during class. Why not use that to their advantage? It may be a bit time consuming at first having to let students know what is appropriate to say online and how to say it, but with time they will become terrific writers and be able to respectively share their views on different topics. I believe every Literature class should require students to blog once a week and use that as a writing portfolio.

Feedly-This is a wonderful tool for those who loved reading the newspaper or enjoyed watching the news. I, personally do neither. This is one of the few tools I would not keep as part of my PLN because it required a lot of time to keep up with.

Podcasts- Podcasts are great because you can listen to them on the go. The only downside is that sometimes you may get stuck listening to a podcast that is boring or has no relevance to what you expected. I did learn much from podcasts and would keep them because I was able to hear different people and their awesome ideas while driving or folding laundry!

Twitter- Twitter is a great tool for learning and teaching if used correctly. I loved retweeting and following people who had innovative ideas. it's a whole world of learning! At first, I was worried about being part of Twitter because of how I see our teens using it. they are either bashing others or spill their lives to the world. Boy, was I wrong! There are so many forward-thinkers out there that have taught me so many things!!! Twitter is here to stay!

Delicious- Delicious and I did not click. It is a great tool for social bookmarking site but I was just not really interested in it.

Diigo- This is my favorite tool!!!! I am able to read, annotate, share, save, and highlight information!! How cool is that?! This is a paper-saver! I no longer have to print articles and write all over them. Diigo will stay with me forever!

PD Sessions- Online PD sessions are great because I get to attend while taking my lunch break and I do not have to go anywhere and be stuck in traffic. Some are wonderful others may not be as engaging but they all teach us something new.

Class Wiki-The class wiki was a wonderful tool because it allowed us all to collaborate and learn from each other while giving us the freedom to choose our topics. This would work well in the classroom! Wikis are great collaborative tools that are here to stay!

My favorite part about this journey was meeting new people online who shared my passion for education and learning new things! Thank you to all who helped me learn new things, see things in a different perspective, and helped me become a better leader!

Testing

Testing has become a major issue at all levels. I do not understand why our students need to take 3 and 4 standardized tests in a matter of a couple weeks. Although SLOs may not impact a student's grade many students take it seriously and stress over it. This also places even more pressure on teachers because they are not allowed to incentivize students to do well on it since it only counts towards a teacher's evaluation, not the student's performance.

I totally understand that NCLB was approved in order to hold teachers accountable; however it may be getting out of hand. Overemphasizing testing is only causing students to have panic attacks, for teachers to teach to the test, students to hate school if they score low, and undermining the quality of work teachers are doing on a daily basis. How about moving towards the use of multiple indicators that truly reflects student achievement rather than one test that overstresses everyone?

According to an article on NPR Ed, by Anya Kamenetz, "districts showed students taking an average of 113 standardized tests between pre-K and grade 12, with 11th grade the most tested". All these tests are taking valuable time away instructional time. The only glimmer of change I have seen thus far is the approval of House Bill 91, which eliminates the Georgia High School Graduation Tests. We need to do something about giving students duplicate tests.

"Testing: How Much Is It Too Much?"

How will I handle diversity?

The first step of growing an inclusive culture at our schools in regards to race, class, and gender is to lead by example. I will definitely involve the community to help me organize activities that represent different cultures.

To start off I would require an ongoing virtual training for all faculty and staff... not the usual boring one where a lady stands in front of the camera, delivers information, and is concluded by a five-question quiz to verify participation. No! I would partner up with other schools around the world and assign each department a pen pal. They would have to communicate weekly via Skype or Google hangouts and build a professional relationship, where both parties learn from each other.

New technologies can help me bridge the generational gap by again, including others. Students have the ability to take an app or game and become experts from one day to another. Why not use that to our advantage? Students can be the ones leading technology trainings and teach us the ins and outs. Our passion for education and their passion for technology can then merge and help us close that gap. We need to be humble though and show students that educators are life-long learners and have no pride in letting them teach us.

What do you think? Do you have any ideas?

Screencast

This week I worked on a PowerPoint for one of my classes and although I thought I was an expert in that program I was glad to realize I had much to learn. Our professor provided us different articles and websites that gave us a clear description of what PowerPoint presentations should and should not look like. I used to include transitions and animations for the sake of aesthetics; however I learn those are not always needed if they become a distraction. I also learned about "Kanso", which is the concept of beauty, visual elegance, and grace are acquired through simplicity. many times less is more! It is impossible to cram every bit of information into a slide otherwise it will become so clogged that one's audience may get confused and lose interest in what one has to say.

The second part of the project was to create and record presentation on a tool, skill or tip we learned about during class we believe will most help others to be a digital-age leader. Through our presentation we had to teach the main points of that specific tool to our classmates and professor and sell them on its importance and usefulness. I believe the most difficult part of the project was putting it all together. I had to record myself over and over again because on the first try I barely made three minutes, yet one of the requirements was to have between four and five minutes. The second time around I was good on time but kept mispronouncing words so I decided to start all over and really practice before submitting a final recording. Although screencast was fairly simple to use, I personally prefer screencast-o-matic because it was more user friendly. I did like the way one could simply upload the presentation into Jing and be able to share with anyone.

If I were to have to use it in the future, I would use it to teach teachers about Web2.0 tools since I know many teachers do not have the time or energy to attend professional development sessions after school. A simple 5-minute video can be viewed at home before a meeting and be discussed later on at a PLC. I would also use it to help students who have trouble following written instructions... if a visual would help, then this would be the best tool.

I can honestly say that this has been one of my favorite semesters, although definitely not the easiest. I have had to really learn about time management because I have had to turn in assignments using tools and skills I had never learned about!

Unit Recovery

Many educators are for unit recovery because they believe that students should be given several opportunities to learn the material; however there other educators who believe students need to learn to be responsible and if they do not obtain a passing grade on the first try then that should serve as a learning experience. What do you think about schools that offer mid-semester opportunities for students to save their semester by coming in on weekends to revisit material so that they can have a second opportunity of passing their classes?

I personally believe not all students learn at the same pace and that many times educators are not aware of what a child may be going through at home. They may be worried about his/her family getting evicted, not having food on their plate, not being able to afford a coat in the winter, having a sick family member, having to take care of siblings, or even going through depression. Everyone deserves a second chance.

At the 12 week marking period I am planning to offer an opportunity to students in the 50-74% range to revisit material and prove mastery of those standards using Edgenuity. At first, I received a lot of push back from teachers because they felt that power was being taken away from them and others simply did not believe that an online program could be rigorous enough to re-teach the material. In the end I received the needed support and I am very grateful to our department chairs who helped me get teacher buy-in and even met during their PLCs to create recovery units on Edgenuity.

Virtual Teams

I first heard of virtual teams this semester when our professor met with us via Blackboard and assigned us to different teams. I did not know what to think about it at first because I had never been part of one. Well, eight weeks into the semester I can truly say that I am blessed to work with educators who are dedicated, knowledge-hungry, and cooperative. Kerrick Mapson and Vanessa Gonzalez are amazing people to work with because they are always enthusiastic and willing to share their knowledge with me. I have learned a lot from these two awesome colleagues.

In all of my course evaluations I have suggested that we work in at least one project in groups so that we could learn from others with our same aspirations. I guess my prayers have been answered. At first it may be scary working with others not knowing if they are procrastinators or if they are open-minded, but I believe working in teams is something we must all learn to do because they are becoming a "fact of business life", as Michael Watkins put it in "Making Virtual Teams Work: Ten Basic Principles".

I think this would be a great way to create PLCs with teachers and leaders from around the world and see what works for them.

If you get a chance, please watch the 3-minute video on a program that deals with helping companies manage global virtual teams.

Ever thought about Flipping Leadership?

I know you are probably tired of reading articles about flipped classrooms, but have you heard about flipped leadership? Well, get ready... flipped leadership is about doing more with the little time we have. This new technique allows leaders to send out information ahead of time so that teachers not only access it on their own time, but have time to digest information and show up to faculty meetings ready to discuss topics and collaborate with their colleagues or even ask questions. This rarely happens at faculty meetings due to time constraints. Flipped leadership also allows parents and the community to feel part of the school by becoming aware of student gains, events, and even special guest appearances. It's all about engaging all stakeholders. Many times we complain about collective responsibility; however how many times do we inadvertently shun parents, politicians, community leaders, and business owners away?

How many times have we walked into a faculty meeting and watched a five-minute video when we could have done that at home? Well... why not watch it at home and use that time during the faculty meeting to discuss the video?! The same goes for articles. We could use that time to bring up issues in our schools and together come up with solutions. If we want our students to do higher level thinking and use technology as a learning tool then we should start doing it as well.

How many times have you felt the need to skip professional development sessions during pre-planning and just want to sit and collaborate with other educators about lesson plans, classroom management, and strategies that TRULY work? I know I have...plenty of times. Twitter offers us the opportunity to share best practices, obtain wisdom, and get advice from educators who we may never meet, yet share our same passions and struggles. The best part about Twitter is that it allows us to seek professional development opportunities that truly interest us and are relevant to our content area. Through Twitter we will discover blogs, articles, and videos which could have taken us weeks to find! It's like working on the same project with millions of people!Let's be innovative and step out off our comfort zone...flip it!

"5 Reasons You Should Flip Your Leadership"

"Flipped Leadership"