_Driving Forward While Looking Backward
by Jennifer L. Tiggs
Mastering the art of writing papers. While that is the mantra adopted by some graduate students, I can enthusiastically say that has not been mine. The experience in Michigan State University College of Education's Online MA in Education Program has not just been about reading and writing papers. In times past, that idea may have been frowned upon: feeling that writing papers is not a priority for a graduate student. However, the program has impacted me in more ways than simply requiring that I write papers to exhibit what I have learned. It has offered several classes that have impacted my life on many levels: my teaching practices, my leadership abilities and my capabilities with using technology. Admitting all have been significant, here I will share some of the most noteworthy among the classes that I have taken.
Mastering the art of writing papers. While that is the mantra adopted by some graduate students, I can enthusiastically say that has not been mine. The experience in Michigan State University College of Education's Online MA in Education Program has not just been about reading and writing papers. In times past, that idea may have been frowned upon: feeling that writing papers is not a priority for a graduate student. However, the program has impacted me in more ways than simply requiring that I write papers to exhibit what I have learned. It has offered several classes that have impacted my life on many levels: my teaching practices, my leadership abilities and my capabilities with using technology. Admitting all have been significant, here I will share some of the most noteworthy among the classes that I have taken.
Looking, Lending, Lifting & Learning: Leading
"...the great leader is he who the people say, 'We did it ourselves.'" -Peter M. Senge
Perhaps what is most important to me about EAD 801, Leadership and Organizational Development is that it reinforced ideas that I held previously. At the same time, the course introduced me to some ideas that were novel--at least for me. Although his ideas have been around for a while and I am sure that his philosophies are in some way involved in the development of the place where I have worked for several years, I have no recollection of being formally introduced to Peter M. Senge until taking the course. The above quote exemplifies the leader I would like to and try to be: one who helps the organization to become self-directed and accomplished. Numerous ideas were unearthed when I took Gerald Jennings' course in the fall of 2010. These ideas remain with me and help encourage me to forward. The class caused me to reflect on who I want to be as a leader and what it takes to become that leader.
Some of the basis for my ideas of who I want to be as a leader come from reading Senge's work. A major point from his article, "The Leader's New Work: Building Learning Organizations" (1990), is that a leader should be thought of in three categories: designer, teacher, and steward. I have developed a strong attachment to his ideas because they just seem to make sense for a person in any leadership position.
Some of the basis for my ideas of who I want to be as a leader come from reading Senge's work. A major point from his article, "The Leader's New Work: Building Learning Organizations" (1990), is that a leader should be thought of in three categories: designer, teacher, and steward. I have developed a strong attachment to his ideas because they just seem to make sense for a person in any leadership position.
To begin, one of my desires is to be a leader who takes on the role as designer, one who helps to create a shared vision to show where the organization I am leading is going. In order for people to move ahead, it is necessary for us to understand the purpose, vision and core values that we will use to carry out the work to be done. I understand from this course that there is a critical need for a purpose to be clearly established. I learned that an organization's success depends upon people in the organization understanding the purpose and agreeing (mostly) on essential beliefs. The result is clarity and unity among the organization's members.
The course also taught me the need for a leader to be responsible for the organization's learning and growth. The leader has to be the first one to take on opportunities to learn something new and stay up-to-date. While I believed this before taking the course I further explored this idea that the leader of an organization has to also provide opportunities for the team to grow. The leader cannot force a desire for learning, but must provide occasions when there is a need.
"Being in the trenches" is another idea that Senge presents that I feel compelled to embrace as a leader. A leader is not there to tell people what to do, rather to show by example that s/he is "in it" with them. It is my belief that a person is more likely to respond to someone who is there to help or who is is able to truly empathize with what they might be feeling and support them. This is the idea of being a leader who is first there to serve.
The course also helped me to create several visual representations for my beliefs about being a leader. These stand as reminders of my commitments when placed in leadership. These commitments include being a leader who is purposeful, committed and self-reflective. A leader has aspirations of grandeur, builds consensus, confronts issues, fosters collaboration, shows passion, and also shows empathy. Leadership for me is about continually looking, lending, lifting, and learning. I will continue to do these things and further develop as a leader because of many of the ideas gleaned from Leadership and Organizational Development.
The course also taught me the need for a leader to be responsible for the organization's learning and growth. The leader has to be the first one to take on opportunities to learn something new and stay up-to-date. While I believed this before taking the course I further explored this idea that the leader of an organization has to also provide opportunities for the team to grow. The leader cannot force a desire for learning, but must provide occasions when there is a need.
"Being in the trenches" is another idea that Senge presents that I feel compelled to embrace as a leader. A leader is not there to tell people what to do, rather to show by example that s/he is "in it" with them. It is my belief that a person is more likely to respond to someone who is there to help or who is is able to truly empathize with what they might be feeling and support them. This is the idea of being a leader who is first there to serve.
The course also helped me to create several visual representations for my beliefs about being a leader. These stand as reminders of my commitments when placed in leadership. These commitments include being a leader who is purposeful, committed and self-reflective. A leader has aspirations of grandeur, builds consensus, confronts issues, fosters collaboration, shows passion, and also shows empathy. Leadership for me is about continually looking, lending, lifting, and learning. I will continue to do these things and further develop as a leader because of many of the ideas gleaned from Leadership and Organizational Development.
Apollo 13
"Fairness means that everyone gets what he or she needs." Rick Lavoie
The fairness quote from Rick Lavoie has to be one of my favorites. It stands to remind me of how everyone needs something a little bit different than the other. Lavoie is another person whose persona was new to me and I was introduced to him during a summer course this year. The course, Classroom Management in the Inclusive Classroom (CEP 841), taught by Troy V. Mariage, is one that reminds me that empathy goes a long way.
Thankfully, I took three courses about reaching all learners during my studies. Because this was the most recent, it is the one that stands out the most. Courses such as this remind me that failure is not an option. Feeling frustration and saying, "I just don't know what to do to help this child" is not acceptable. This course, in particular gave me a chance to ruminate on ways to reach the kids that others might call the unreachable or intolerable.
Because I am a visual learner, the videos that we watched helped me a great deal. Although it is clear from watching the videos, that the ideas were presented by Rick Lavoie and Dr. Robert Brooks some time ago, the ideas are timeless. Seeing and hearing the audience members, who were both parents and teachers, gave me a high dose of a much-needed empathy pill to remind me that children who are having some sort of difficulty in school are someone else' children, their pride and joy. It is my duty to commit to trying any strategy that Lavoie and Brooks presented that might take students from feelings of hopelessness, confusion or frustration to that of understanding, hope and success. Persistence on the part of the educator is necessary. It is not an option. Lack thereof cannot be acceptable. A teacher's scarcity of time, when it comes to helping students to feel successful, is not a reasonable justification for not finding strategies to be inclusive of all. School should be like an all-inclusive vacation: once you are there, everything can be entrusted to the people running the place (teachers, administrators, and other staff). You (students) are taken care of.
There are plenty of options to choose from when trying to maintain an inclusive classroom that I have subscribed to and use because of this course. Many of Lavoie's ideas circle around understanding the function of behaviors of students. This is actually something that I did before taking the course, but my senses for doing it are heightened because of the course. It is essential to adopt and live by the mantra, "What might be the cause of that behavior?" instead of assuming the worst first. Social autopsies are also a procedure described by Lavoie that I find useful: sitting with a child, discussing social mistakes and dissecting them with the student to help him/her understand what went wrong and what went right.
With Brooks, Savage (1999), Larivee (2009) among others, there are even more options that are weighing heavy in my corner now. Because failure is not an option with students, it is necessary for me to go back to the plan and change the script when something is not working. Rather than applying the same ineffective consequence, the plan may require a second, third, fourth or fifth look until something is done that works in a struggling student's favor
Another vital point taken from this course is that a huge part of a child feeling competent, included, and significant has to do with his or her self-esteem. Students are people first. While that may seem obvious, it is an idea that sometimes needs to be stated to help me and others remember who we are actually dealing with. School should be a positive memory where students feel like they learned and that depends on them feeling cared for. Another of my pledges is to create an environment where students have a sense of relationship and that sense of the educator caring for them. Praising my students enough so that they go home feeling built up/with a full bucket/having more metaphorical poker chips when they leave than when they came is one of the methods I will continue to use. Rewarding successive approximation (Lavoie), is also an idea that I have learned to use. That is the idea of saying, "you did x right. That's great!" even if the student did not do everything that was expected, but acknowledging that I notice them working toward the goal.
This course taught me to exhaust all of my options and then push even further. There are so many places to get ideas for helping students now, with the internet being a fabulous place to start because we can access video like those of Lavoie and Brooks to serve as reminders of what needs to be done as well as what can be done. I just spoke to my mother (a recently retired teacher) about the feeling that tests are somewhat a moot point now because students can access the internet and will be able to find information that they need (as long as they have skills to search for it). I think this idea can apply to teachers who are being put to the real-life test daily and wondering "what can I do to help this child excel?" The answers (or at least some starting points) can be found by touching a few buttons on a screen. CEP 841 reinforces the idea that my responsibility is to press the buttons to help me get to a potential answer because "failure [with any child] is not an option" and that is the only thing that is fair.
Thankfully, I took three courses about reaching all learners during my studies. Because this was the most recent, it is the one that stands out the most. Courses such as this remind me that failure is not an option. Feeling frustration and saying, "I just don't know what to do to help this child" is not acceptable. This course, in particular gave me a chance to ruminate on ways to reach the kids that others might call the unreachable or intolerable.
Because I am a visual learner, the videos that we watched helped me a great deal. Although it is clear from watching the videos, that the ideas were presented by Rick Lavoie and Dr. Robert Brooks some time ago, the ideas are timeless. Seeing and hearing the audience members, who were both parents and teachers, gave me a high dose of a much-needed empathy pill to remind me that children who are having some sort of difficulty in school are someone else' children, their pride and joy. It is my duty to commit to trying any strategy that Lavoie and Brooks presented that might take students from feelings of hopelessness, confusion or frustration to that of understanding, hope and success. Persistence on the part of the educator is necessary. It is not an option. Lack thereof cannot be acceptable. A teacher's scarcity of time, when it comes to helping students to feel successful, is not a reasonable justification for not finding strategies to be inclusive of all. School should be like an all-inclusive vacation: once you are there, everything can be entrusted to the people running the place (teachers, administrators, and other staff). You (students) are taken care of.
There are plenty of options to choose from when trying to maintain an inclusive classroom that I have subscribed to and use because of this course. Many of Lavoie's ideas circle around understanding the function of behaviors of students. This is actually something that I did before taking the course, but my senses for doing it are heightened because of the course. It is essential to adopt and live by the mantra, "What might be the cause of that behavior?" instead of assuming the worst first. Social autopsies are also a procedure described by Lavoie that I find useful: sitting with a child, discussing social mistakes and dissecting them with the student to help him/her understand what went wrong and what went right.
With Brooks, Savage (1999), Larivee (2009) among others, there are even more options that are weighing heavy in my corner now. Because failure is not an option with students, it is necessary for me to go back to the plan and change the script when something is not working. Rather than applying the same ineffective consequence, the plan may require a second, third, fourth or fifth look until something is done that works in a struggling student's favor
Another vital point taken from this course is that a huge part of a child feeling competent, included, and significant has to do with his or her self-esteem. Students are people first. While that may seem obvious, it is an idea that sometimes needs to be stated to help me and others remember who we are actually dealing with. School should be a positive memory where students feel like they learned and that depends on them feeling cared for. Another of my pledges is to create an environment where students have a sense of relationship and that sense of the educator caring for them. Praising my students enough so that they go home feeling built up/with a full bucket/having more metaphorical poker chips when they leave than when they came is one of the methods I will continue to use. Rewarding successive approximation (Lavoie), is also an idea that I have learned to use. That is the idea of saying, "you did x right. That's great!" even if the student did not do everything that was expected, but acknowledging that I notice them working toward the goal.
This course taught me to exhaust all of my options and then push even further. There are so many places to get ideas for helping students now, with the internet being a fabulous place to start because we can access video like those of Lavoie and Brooks to serve as reminders of what needs to be done as well as what can be done. I just spoke to my mother (a recently retired teacher) about the feeling that tests are somewhat a moot point now because students can access the internet and will be able to find information that they need (as long as they have skills to search for it). I think this idea can apply to teachers who are being put to the real-life test daily and wondering "what can I do to help this child excel?" The answers (or at least some starting points) can be found by touching a few buttons on a screen. CEP 841 reinforces the idea that my responsibility is to press the buttons to help me get to a potential answer because "failure [with any child] is not an option" and that is the only thing that is fair.
L.O.L. (Learning On Location), Lots of ONLINE Locations
"Do not confine your children to your own learning, for they were born in another time." -Chinese/Hebrew Proverb
At the same time that I was attending the 2011 International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Conference in Philadelphia, my class with Leigh Graves Wolf, Teaching K-12 Online, was beginning. The situation could not have been set up any better for me to begin a journey into understanding how to better teach my students using technology. Prior to the conference and the beginning of the course, my technology skills were not basic, but not what I could deem advanced either. I had attended courses offered by my district meant to boost teachers' technology use in the classroom which helped me learn how to use wikis, blogging, SMART Boards, imaging, some other collaborative learning tools, but I had not yet done much in-depth searching and learning outside of what my district offered. I would quickly adopt some new web tool and try to learn how to use it through experimentation, but I still would not say that I had enough practice with it. So Teaching K-12 Online was perfect!
One of first readings that we did about a MSU College of Education graduate who worked in Pennsylvania and taught elementary school course entirely online was both surprising and intriguing. I immediately began to wonder how this could be possible with students so young. How in the world does she accomplish "real" teaching totally online with kids? How does she build community with learners who are not often in the same physical space? I also began to wonder how I could get involved in a school like hers! In the weeks to come, I would find out strategies, theory, and ways of actually making online education for K12 students possible.
With this course, I was able to begin exploring ways to create units and potentially online-based courses for elementary school students, a task I thought would be extremely difficult. However, I learned that it is the exact opposite. While the planning for an online course has to be even more purposeful, deliberate, and explicit, adding this manner of instructing really does open several doors. The course caused me to break down previously held schema about teaching and learning and reorganize the way think about them.
From my instructors and dorm-mates I learned about different content management systems (CMS) as a stage or platform for instructing. My choice ended up being a webtool, Schoology, that I heard about first at the ISTE Conference, but was reminded of this CMS by a dorm mate who chose to use it for her course design. My unit is a fourth-grade science unit meant to teach students about matter.
I learned to get over my anxiety that usually arises when I hear my recorded voice, and create screen casts to demonstrate concepts I wanted my students to be able to learn.
As a part of the course I made a Developer's Notebook, showing the though-process for designing the course. With this course I created digital learning goals for my course using ISTE's NETS or standards, a skill I had not ever even tried to develop because I did not really know what NETS were or that they even existed. One of the most challenging aspects of the course for me was trying to plan strategically so that the learning that I expected to happen would indeed happen. Using the NETS helped to create that sense of intentionality.
Even more, I have actually taken what I learned to do in Teaching K12 Online into my classroom this school year! My fourth-graders have a writing course setup through the Schoology website that I know that both they and their parents find helpful. It helps me to communicate and share what they are learning in physical classroom and reinforce concepts. Those screen casts that I learned to create with Jing are coming in handy now when I want to model writing for my students.
What I have found extremely promising with what I learned to do in Teaching K-12 Online is that some students who do not excel using paper and pencil, are extremely adept at using technology. So they are able to shine and teach others what they know using the online web tools. One of the modules was dedicated to making accommodations for learners in our online courses that we developed. I found the abundance of online resources promising. I was able to add so many resources to my Diigo bookmarks that are now helping me to be more of an accommodating instructor.
Having this experience makes me feel like I am really preparing my students for college and beyond. If they are able to, at age nine, participate in a threaded discussion and post assignments using an online dropbox, they should have little trouble making adjustments as technology becomes an even more integral part of education, both K12 and post-secondary. Now I get to say it...this should propel them "to infinity and beyond," as Buzz Lightyear says.
-November 4, 2011
With this course, I was able to begin exploring ways to create units and potentially online-based courses for elementary school students, a task I thought would be extremely difficult. However, I learned that it is the exact opposite. While the planning for an online course has to be even more purposeful, deliberate, and explicit, adding this manner of instructing really does open several doors. The course caused me to break down previously held schema about teaching and learning and reorganize the way think about them.
From my instructors and dorm-mates I learned about different content management systems (CMS) as a stage or platform for instructing. My choice ended up being a webtool, Schoology, that I heard about first at the ISTE Conference, but was reminded of this CMS by a dorm mate who chose to use it for her course design. My unit is a fourth-grade science unit meant to teach students about matter.
I learned to get over my anxiety that usually arises when I hear my recorded voice, and create screen casts to demonstrate concepts I wanted my students to be able to learn.
As a part of the course I made a Developer's Notebook, showing the though-process for designing the course. With this course I created digital learning goals for my course using ISTE's NETS or standards, a skill I had not ever even tried to develop because I did not really know what NETS were or that they even existed. One of the most challenging aspects of the course for me was trying to plan strategically so that the learning that I expected to happen would indeed happen. Using the NETS helped to create that sense of intentionality.
Even more, I have actually taken what I learned to do in Teaching K12 Online into my classroom this school year! My fourth-graders have a writing course setup through the Schoology website that I know that both they and their parents find helpful. It helps me to communicate and share what they are learning in physical classroom and reinforce concepts. Those screen casts that I learned to create with Jing are coming in handy now when I want to model writing for my students.
What I have found extremely promising with what I learned to do in Teaching K-12 Online is that some students who do not excel using paper and pencil, are extremely adept at using technology. So they are able to shine and teach others what they know using the online web tools. One of the modules was dedicated to making accommodations for learners in our online courses that we developed. I found the abundance of online resources promising. I was able to add so many resources to my Diigo bookmarks that are now helping me to be more of an accommodating instructor.
Having this experience makes me feel like I am really preparing my students for college and beyond. If they are able to, at age nine, participate in a threaded discussion and post assignments using an online dropbox, they should have little trouble making adjustments as technology becomes an even more integral part of education, both K12 and post-secondary. Now I get to say it...this should propel them "to infinity and beyond," as Buzz Lightyear says.
-November 4, 2011
Looking forward and backward image from http://homepage.mac.com/sungecko/blog/061226mirror.jpg
Giant Paper Airplane on Roof image from http://farm1.static.flickr.com/55/163319152_bf464f0951_m.jpg
Failure is not an option image from http://blog.newsok.com/bamsblog/files/2009/07/failure_is_no_a_option.jpg
Tiggs'DN Wordle was created on Wordle.net by JLTiggs
Giant Paper Airplane on Roof image from http://farm1.static.flickr.com/55/163319152_bf464f0951_m.jpg
Failure is not an option image from http://blog.newsok.com/bamsblog/files/2009/07/failure_is_no_a_option.jpg
Tiggs'DN Wordle was created on Wordle.net by JLTiggs