Willingness To Try

This week we are completing our district-wide Digital-Age Leadership Academy II. The academy included all of our campus administrators, district directors, coaches, and librarians.  It has been a great summer of training and my co-presenter Renee Smith-Faulkner (@faulknerr) and I have grown as much as the academy team has.  We have taken a great step in supporting and empowering a group of digitally connected leaders within our school district.

I have been most impressed with the willingness of this team to try new things, to step into uncharted waters and to willingly create a platform for others to use as a resource.

My personal learning journey this week was in hosting my first tweet chat @#CISDEdChat.  It did take great courage on my part to step away from viewing what others were contributing on twitter and lead my district in a great collaborative session.  As a former coach I am guilty of wanting success the first time I try something and sometimes that keeps me from stepping out into areas I am not the expert.  As I reflect I have to pause and remember this is what learning is about, trying! So my advice to my fellow educators is to try - after all that's what being a learner is all about.  

I am encouraged and inspired by the power of the WILLINGNESS within the administrative team in CISD. We are committed to giving attention to the details and I am excited to see the returns from this commitment.  I encourage you to find us on the web at castleberryisd.net and follow us on our journey towards digital excellence.

Professional Growth Has No Boundaries...When You are Connected

What if we were able to make learning accessible whenever, wherever and whatever we wanted?  This was such a foreign concept  to me until I was invited to attend the 2012 TCEA conference in Austin, Texas.  I was surrounded by the most connected (literally) professional educators I had ever encountered.  The flow of information was off the chart. 

Eric Sheninger’s Digital Leadership Chapter 8 speaks about our digital collaborative growth as educational administrators. Traditional professional development opportunities are not always held at a convenient time or location – but a professional who is able to grow their connected Professional Learning Network (PLN) is not bound by walls, time, or the opportunity to learn.  The PLN allows us to reach beyond our campus, district, across states, and even into foreign countries to learn from other professional educators who have a passion for learning, just as we do.

Research shows that collaboration is a valuable learning practice and we master that within the walls of our schools.  Although a great practice, Sheninger states that this type of collaboration is often seen as closed when it is compared to a connected educator who is able to engage others through social networking.  The greatest point he makes in the chapter is that an educator who is connected through the use of PLNs is able to engage in both consumption and publication (p.119).

I can hear you asking, so when do I have time to grow my PLN........Yes, time is a valuable resource to any professional and the chapter states the value of using your PLN as a learning resource allows you to collaborate, communicate, acquire resources, elicit feedback, get support, and share ideas and information (p. 119) when it is convenient for you.

21^st Century schools require a connected leader. Sheninger's suggest several social sties that will connect you with endless learning possibilities.   My favorite is Twitter, I learn from people from all walks of life and I enjoy that the information is current to my profession.  I have grown to become a connected learner and in turn a connect leader.  My hope is that you make it a priority in your day. After all, our kids are counting on you to be the digital leader of their school.