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Working to Develop as a Leader

As a part of my professional learning plan, I chose to spend time learning about strategies for becoming a better leader.  I have been in my current position for a few years, but feel that I can always grow as a leader.  It was a harder transition than I thought it would be moving from a support role of District Integration Specialist to a manager roles as the Technology Coordinator.  Early this month, I began reading the book Creating Magic, 10 Common Sense Leadership Strategies from a Life at Disney by Lee Cockerell .  I have to admit that I first picked up this book last year, but was not focused enough to complete it.  So, I got out my planner and mapped out a reading plan to read one chapter a night and take notes.  I now wish I had scheduled to read a chapter every other night in order to take more time to reflect on the information.  I may have missed a day or two, but am now back on track with the reading.  I have been amazed at the simplicity of the strategies that Lee has out
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Focused for 2019

Last year, I learned about bullet journaling and fell in love with how organized it made me feel in my professional and personal life.  I spent a lot of time on Pinterest finding ideas for pages, how to organize, what to track, etc. in the blank page journal I purchased.  You can visit my Pinterest journaling board .  I changed the layout a few times to try to get the most impact from my time journaling.  I have to say that I started strong, but towards the middle of the year I would start to miss a day here and there.  One of my commitments this new year is to be focused so I can accomplish great things.  It is easy to start something, but hard to finish.  With this in mind, I went looking for a journal this year that was more than blank pages.  I found it in Create 365's Plan a Happy Life planner. There are many different themes of planners.  You can see the collection of planners, pages, stickers, etc.   I also have a planner for my personal life.  I chose the Live Well as m
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Hooked on Twitter Chats Again

This week, I was gently pushed back into a resource I used a few years ago that made a great impact on my learning and resources to share with others – Twitter Chats.  A twitter chat is a common time weekly, monthly, or whenever scheduled that people with common interests meeting online.  There is a facilitator or two who asks questions and others respond all within Twitter .  Here is a short video about Twitter Chat .  The first time I participated I was extremely overwhelmed with everyone tweeting at once, but have since discovered TweetChat that lets you get control of the chat.  I got so many ideas and added people to my network to learn from by following them on Twitter and face to face as the chat I participated in on Monday was about Alabama Education, #Aledchat.  Below is a list of other live, regularly scheduled Twitter chats that you might be interested.  I have not attended all of these, but have found them through recommendations online.  The chats are 1 hour. Monda
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Got Google? ISTE 2015 does.

Google is everywhere at this year's ISTE conference in Philadelphia.  We have piloted Google Apps for Education with specific teams and grade levels.  This year, all students will have GAFE accounts so it made since for the team attending to focus on learning more in depth about the tools and how others are using them.  Our goals are to assist students and teachers to move beyond the typing and receiving of information to connecting, collaborating, creating and publish which we feel is necessary to prepare students to be future ready.  The ISTE 2015 team consists of: Laura Graves, high school Teacher-Librarian, Joy Young, high school assistant principal, Morgan Cruit, middle school English teacher, Anjell Edwards, middle school assistant principal and myself, Technology Coordinator. We are all comfortable with organizing our work within Google Drive and sharing with others.  The connecting piece for us is Google Classroom.  I am amazed at how simplistic it is yet packs so muc
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Ready?

It is difficult when designing professional development for teachers because they are at different ability levels, not always available and feel overwhelmed. In the past, the greatest struggle was to get teachers to attend training. It felt like I was continually begging people to attend. Last year, designing extended PD for teachers had an impact in the elementary level but not the secondary level. However, things have recently taken a turn in which schools are calling to set up training. The questions and requests have gone from "How do you find your printer and set it to default?" to "How do I find another geometry teacher/class to collaborate with?". Leaders, beyond the TTL/LTTs, have begun to emerge with minimal face to face training. It is amazing to see teachers take ideas and run with them far beyond my hopes. I struggle with meeting the needs of all teachers so that I am not overwhelming or holding others back. How do you find that balance? I am v
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Mr. Pumpkin's Blog

Check out Mr. Pumpkin http://visitingmrpumpkin.blogspot.com
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NECC 2008 in San Antonio, Texas

Recently, Shawn and I went to the NECC Conference in San Antonio, Texas. There were so many educators and sessions to attend. Some we went to were amazing and others didn't have any new information. Take a little time to attend at least one session and share your thoughts, ideas, questions, concerns, etc. here. Program Search to virtual attend any session through the blogs and handouts Video on Demand Podcasts You do not have to have an iPod or MP3 player to listen.
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