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Powerful Learning, Powerful Leadership Pt. 2

Action without purpose is rarely effective and often does not serve the real needs of those you intend to help. At the beginning of the professional development training package project, I felt it would be important for me to base decisions about what topic I would address on what was needed in the district and what teachers would actually be able to use. Even if these are not necessary criteria for choosing a topic, it created a sense of purpose for me that would help in crafting a specific plan, one that would potentially be well received and perhaps more effective. On the other hand, I could choose a topic on what I found through external research was most useful or appropriate for the learning environment or type of teacher, and it might well lead to a successful training package, but it would seem to have less purpose outside of the practicum course. I think I have learned this through making the mistake of doing what I thought was best rather than what was needed. I have so far ...
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Powerful Learning, Powerful Leadership Pt. 1

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Powerful Learning, Powerful Leadership Last week, I spoke with Sarah, the ELA/ELS teacher I am working with at Livingston, HS, about some ideas for how to better involve parents in what her 6 ESL students were doing and to help them. (In some cases, their parents are not in the country. I had just recently remembered reading a passage from "Early Learning and Educational Technology Brief" that struck me as interesting. When I mentioned that she try something like this with her students because it would give them a chance to bring their home experience into their learning and make it more personal, there was a moment of silence and a strange look came over her face. Then she lit up and said she thought that just might work.  It was clear Sarah had not imagined such a possibility, and I think when I mentioned it, she had to think about whether that was really possible and whether it would really be good for the students. I sensed that she was thinking about the risks it might i...
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Leadership Style

 Based on the personalized professional learning survey, the district I am working with scores low to average in collaborative leadership, personalized student learning, robust infrastructure, and personalized professional learning. This may be due to focus on other fundamental needs the district, administrators, and teachers feel are more pressing. Nonetheless, recognition of the importance of these elements seems vital to moving the district forward, whether or not they are achievable in the immediate future. My own leadership style is developing in at least one important way. I am communicating with the teacher I am working with in a way that draws out their own strengths and knowledge as an experienced teacher toward implementing student-centered learning. For example, I am interested in developing a training package in which the teachers are themselves experiencing the technology as a student and emphasizing a personalized plan of action based on how they view the benefits of ...
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Developing relationships

As I continue to develop relationships during my practicum and learn the importance of such relationships as a technology facilitator, I consider the following questions: How am I developing my identity as a technology facilitator?   Perhaps the most important way that I am beginning to develop my professional profile as a technology facilitator is through listening. In my interactions with people in the district, I am spending most of our meeting time together listening. I am interested in what they are actually doing in their day-to-day jobs, what values and beliefs they hold about their educational environment and education in general, what ideas they have about how to make it better and what challenges they face. I am learning about who they are, how they envision their role, and what aspects of what they are doing I would like to emulate in my own approach. In doing so, I am beginning to form ideas about how I can contribute and how I can help them. They are hopefully perceivi...
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Innovation

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  What an innovator is To be an innovator in education is to consider what your students need and to be fearless about changing what or how you are teaching to meet those needs. Since we do not always know what students will need in the future, we can foster critical thinking skills and creativity so that our students will be able to adapt to future needs. Being innovative means making existing approaches and lesson plans better by refining them toward developing future-ready skills or exploring new approaches and plans that solve existing problems or fulfill emerging needs in a new way (creativity). Innovation is a way of thinking and approaching what you are doing. I have experienced the need for innovation in my own teaching, but have not yet fully realized it. The pedagogical approaches and skills that I learned, and that my teachers learned before me, no longer reflect the realities of what students need to know how to do. They learn concepts that I think are important, but th...
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Introductory message

Hello everyone! I'm Colin Davis, a teacher and musician living here in Huntsville. I'm an adjunct professor at Sam, where I teach the music theory and ear-training sequences. I also teach piano and guitar at a music academy in Houston and I'm an organist on Sundays. My wife is a clarinetists and professor at Lamar University and we have two daughters, Adeline (5) and Ella (1). For me, the ISDT program is a really refreshing chance to explore outside of what my primary focus has been for so many years (music and teaching music), to meet knew people and learn knew ideas, perspectives and skills. I have had a great experience in the program thus far, having had a chance to work with and learn from many of you. I have many favorite educational quotes, but if asked about one that specifically relates to technology education, I like the one from Steve Jobs, "It's not a faith in technology. It's faith in people." It's a quote that might need a little context....
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