Course Reflection - 21st Century Educational Leadership

This was a fun course because we were able to create different professional development activities, and take on that leadership role for our colleagues. One activity that I found very beneficial was creating a Walk-Through Form. I think that it is important to be able to go into our colleagues classrooms, and learn from them! I love the #observeme movement, and I think it is important to spread this idea out to other educators. My Learning Walk-Through Form focuses on the H.E.A.T. observation rubric that is used to evaluate the level of engagement within a lesson, as well as incorporation of technology. I loved this rubric, and think that it narrows down the focus for the walk-through.

Another assignment that I was asked to complete, was a 4 Day Summer Institute Workshop.  The purpose of my institute workshop is to learn about a variety of ways to integrate technology into the classroom, that match the 4Cs model- collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and creativity.

 

*Image downloaded from David Lee EdTech

I used a TON of activities and ideas that I have learned throughout this entire cohort to plan the 4 days. It was actually a great time for me to reflect on all of the amazing tools, apps, websites, brain breaks, activities, that we have learned during our time in this cohort. I would definitely love to share out some of these ideas with other colleagues that are not getting their technology endorsement with us!

Capstone Project

For our capstone project, we have been given the task to create a professional development opportunity for all of our District 181 colleagues. We are working together with our entire cohort to divvy up the tasks, and create an amazing experience for all. First, we met together and brainstormed our ideas, then narrowed it down to providing a professional development for colleagues to dive into technology within their classrooms. 

One struggle about designing something district-wide, is participation. We have come up with a number of ways to get people involved like stickers and incentives for participating in our challenge, but also recognition via social media and our district newsletter. Another challenge that I think we are all facing right now, is working with such a large group. We all trust each other in this cohort, and know that we will get the job down, however it is hard to all meet, share ideas, etc. due to the size of our group. We have a Google Doc with all of our committees, jobs/tasks, and ideas, but getting everyone to sit down in person will be the challenge. I am hoping we will be able to use more of our class meetings to work on this project.

I have personally been assigned to work with the incentives group! We are going to keep track of the points people earn, and providing the incentives for each step. We will be working together to order stickers, creating digital badges, gift cards, etc. to share out with our colleagues once they reach a certain point in their technology journey. We will also create a Digital Leaderboard, and keep that current. We will be in charge, along with the Promotion Group, in sharing out results along the way!