“You can only lose something that you have, but you cannot lose something that you are.” Eckhart Tolle
Education has the power to change all lives for the
better and forever. Without what Peter Senge calls “creative tension,”
however, there can be no positive change, so those making wide-reaching
decisions in education are responsible to know which changes are most necessary
and most beneficial for all involved, even if they are going to be difficult to
implement. Using a combination of an Authentic leadership approach with a
Leader-Member Exchange approach, educational technology leaders can begin
asking questions that relate to the reality of school organizations and dealing
with that reality as it is, just as leaders extend opportunities to others to
help transform their organizations into the reality of what “needs to be” for
the sake of all stakeholders.
As Education and Educational Technology move further into the 21st century, more and more emphasis is being placed on both teachers and learners to become “producers of knowledge.” This only makes sense for what has become a knowledge-based economy, but only those empowered by data-driven, best-practice methods are going to be able to assist in creating settings conducive to such transformation.
We are shifting into a “learn and do” model in school organizations, and while some may lament the passing of the old way of “doing” learning, the new model supports teacher and learner performance and self-actualization. Educational leaders will have to be capable of “doing” this change through technology as well as ensuring that that change will serve literacy, numeracy, digital citizenship, and the pursuit of personal growth for the short- and the long-term, and for the betterment of all students of all ability levels.
This is where I
see myself as an Educational Technology Leader: at the threshold between what
people know and what they want to know, what they thought they weren’t capable
of and what they truly are capable of. By nature, I am an existentialist,
and as such, I place a great deal of professional and personal significance not
on what is dreamed of, nor what is said, but what is, in reality, done.
Technology is what I wish to actuate this sea change we are only now in the 21st century
beginning to understand—it is the tool that is currently most capable of
helping humankind unlock its many possibilities in Education and in the real
world.
Goals Met from 2014-2015:
· Creating relationships within the cohort and my
own school
· Using of-the-moment research to inform
technology choice within my school (how/when to use)
· Using leverage as a literacy specialist to
carry out technology-based authentic learning projects and best-practice
instruction within my school
· Using my position on the Technology Leaders
Committee to address the merits of communities of practice within my school
· Using newly acquired proficiency in statistics to
appraise the validity of readability index measures and district assessment
programs to better serve students and teachers with technology-based,
best-practice, CCSS-aligned forms of assessment
· Collaborating with my doctoral peers on a
Blended Learning presentation
· Joined the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) and attended ISTE 2015 in Philadelphia.
Goals Yet to be Achieved:
· Creating publication-ready articles related to my passion
(writing ↔ the
digital world) and to teacher/student need
· Starting dissertation's study and finishing dissertation itself
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References
Northouse, P. G. (2013). Leadership Theory and Practice. Thousand
Oaks: SAGE Publications, Inc.
Senge, P. M. (1990). The fifth discipline: the art and practice of the learning organization. New York: Doubleday/Currency.
Senge, P. M. (1990). The fifth discipline: the art and practice of the learning organization. New York: Doubleday/Currency.
Tolle, E. (2006). A
new earth: awakening to your life's purpose. New York: Plume.
© Garth Ferrante 2013-2015
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
