Teacher Leadership to Effect Change in Education
July 28, 2008
Leadership is a major theme on most educator’s minds.
A typical example of school leadership usually involves an enlightened principal, or great superintendent - but rarely involves a great teacher affecting the school beyond their classroom.
Teacher leadership should move to the next level to include the question: how can a teacher effect change in their district?
I believe that institutional change will be driven by teachers who are committed to changing the culture of their districts.
It is no longer tenable for enlightened educators to act as silos of innovation. Teachers should target educational leaders, curriculum directors, superintendents, and boards to help educate them on the importance of 21st century skills and the role of technology in teaching these skills.
The ed tech blogosphere would benefit from more discussions about implementing change management programs and less talk about the latest gadgets or web sites.
An ideal school culture would award risk-taking and innovation in instruction. An investment in technology is often a tough, risky decision that requires genuine leadership and buy-in.
But leadership does not need to happen solely at the principal, or administration level. Leadership can function at the teacher level as well.
Educators are great leaders and experts in consensus building, aligning students around a vision, gaining political capital, managing conflict, and driving change. But, educators are typically not trained in applying these skills to effecting enterprise-level change. In essence, teachers should apply their classroom leadership skills to their entire districts.
The education sector can borrow from change management, turnaround management, and leadership classes from traditional business schools to learn how to apply these skills to district-level change.
Genuine leadership at the teacher level is the key ingredient to institute systemic, sustainable change in school districts.
Challenges and Obstacles of Integrating Web 2.0 into the Classroom
May 30, 2008
Challenges and Obstacles of Integrating Web 2.0 into the Classroom
Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach was kind enough to invite me to participate as a panelist in an Elluminate session with 80 superintendents from western New York.
We started the session with the superintendents brainstorming the greatest challenges to shifting to a 21st century learning environment. The main bullets from my notes were:
- Time for collaboration
- Privacy and security
- How to get ahead of the students instead of trailing behind
- How to educate boards and communities
- How to build a shared vision at the school
- Where to find funding
As the managed service partner for a number of districts across the region, the Smart Solutions K12 group faces these challenges on a daily basis.
As the last panelist, I had to rush through my talking points and was not able to fully explain my ideas.
This blog gives me an opportunity to more clearly state my philosophy on these topics. I believe that managing school district technology comes down to three fundamental components: policies, budgets, and leadership.
District technology departments are expected to be superheroes. As a short example, look at this article from ISTE. District CIOs need to understand:
- Leadership and visioning
- Planning and budgeting
- Team building
- Systems Management
- IT
- Business Leadership
- Education and training
- Communication
District technology budgets are being repeatedly cut, levies are not passing, and administrators are expecting IT departments to be leaders in collaborative technologies. It is clear that the current model of district technology management is broken.
Going forward, there is only one way that districts will be able to handle the myriad challenges of managing technology. This is to bring a team-based approach to technology management.
The IT department can no longer be all things to all people. For starters, IT needs to represent an executive level position with equal footing to curriculum directors or treasurers.
Next, IT should be considered a partner in the organization to help the school achieve its curricular goals.
Superintendants should also trust outside experts such as my fine co-presenters, Dean Shareski , Christopher Sessums, Dennis Richards , David DeShryver, and Vance Stevens – to help them understand best practices in integrating technology into the classroom.
Finally, the only way for this to be successful is through strong leadership at the district. District leaders, superintendents, and curriculum directors need to understand the importance of building 21st century classrooms and invest their time and energy into understanding this new environment.
Districts can overcome the obstacles of integrating Web 2.0 into the classroom with a combination of policies, smart budgeting, and leadership.