ISTE Standard 5 inspiration: Exhibit leadership by demonstrating a vision of technology infusion, participating in shared decision making and community building, and developing the leadership and technology skills of others.
How can I as someone who wants to show teachers what I use on a daily basis regarding technology do that and develop the leadership and technology skills of others? This issue is one of the roots at which I am going back to school for my doctorate. How do we provide useful, exciting tech professional development that also allows teachers their leadership possibilities?
Using the article I found consolidates the idea of “Technology Teacher Leader” into five steps. The first step is that educational tech leaders should know their instructional strengths. This step alludes to the fact that I am an ELA/SS teacher, and my colleagues would be more willing to listen to me about software that connects with my field of practice. For example, I use Turnitin.com a ton and feel comfortable doing professional development for my fellow teachers on some of its more advanced options and tools. When it comes to the collaborating with administrators, I think this is one of the most difficult steps. Especially if you are new to the school or district because they do have their teacher leaders already set up and you have to go out of your way to prove to them that you can be trusted, and know what you are talking about. I wish teacher interviews were more interactive and relevant to how teaching really is because then I could have demonstrated my skill in a lesson or something instead of being timed and answering perfunctory questions.
The third and fourth step, to establish procedures and prioritize needs understand your school community is where I would look to the ISTE standards and perhaps reach out to the Twitter universe to see how other teacher leaders have successfully established procedures. Because my school is Redmond and we are pretty heavy handed with the Microsoft products it is sometimes hard to vocalize my support for Google and Apple. It is also difficult to suggest anything that isn’t already sanctioned by the district because admin and teachers are so scared of litigious parents and a lackluster support for the union. Especially when teaching teachers, skills training is good, but leadership development is best because this requires an instinct to try new things and explore what is out there. That takes time and support because sometimes we might try something that turns out badly but we still want to support that from our administration.
Moreover, all five points are valuable and informative I enjoyed reading about the fifth step, and how “teaching “how to” skills is a common theme for technology training, but only when instructional applications are made to the curriculum does actual development begin. The role of the technology specialist is part staff development: helping teachers expand their instructional repertoire with technology. With these new skills come the opportunity for encouraging teacher leadership.” And as CollisonK said during our forum discussion, “This is so very true. Given the nature of our job, teacher training can be difficult as teachers can often find the process a bit infantilizing.” It is important to demonstrate implementation and seamless weaving from the technology to the classroom.
Ledesma, Patrick. “Technology Experts in Schools: Teacher Leaders or Technicians?” Education Week. Teacher Week, 23 Oct. 2011. Web. 08 Mar. 2016. http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/leading_from_the_classroom/2011/10/technology_experts_in_schools_teacher_leaders_or_technicians.html
