CEDU 527 - Week 1

Technology Leadership

What I learned and how I can apply it:

Patrick Awuah's presentation - First of all, I learned about TED - a website dedicated to "riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world". Love it. Regarding the speech itself, here are some ideas that are worth remembering:
1. Reach for perfection and you will achieve excellence.
2. Africa needs enlightened leaders to transform.
3. The 3 major problems are corruption, weak institutions, and weak leaders.
4. African education puts little emphasis on ethics. There is more of a sense of entitlement by the educated than a sense of responsibility.
5. New leaders should be taught integrity, ethics, and how to tackle problems.

The articles we jigsawed -
I read "Leading Change From The Classroom: Teachers As Leaders" and found it to be interesting and informative. The article not only discussed the skills needed by teachers to be effective leaders, it also discussed the conditions necessary in the school to nurture leadership by its teachers. Those four conditions include: vision, structure, time, and skills(training).


The Four Frames of Leadership - The idea that a leader has a dominant style and that a good leader possesses qualities from multiple styles is a concept in which I am familiar...my first degree was a BBA in Business Management from UW-Whitewater. The terms may be different, but the descriptions are essentially the same as other models I have seen. I really enjoy learning about management, probably because I am passionate about psychology and so much of management is related to psychology and how you can motivate the employee/student to achieve a goal. :)


How I currently lead at my school:

1) In charge of board games for "The Games Club"...a very rewarding volunteer position.
2) Currently creating a "Basic Technology" proposal for a class I intend to teach next year.
3) A member of our district team of special education teachers working to improve the transition process for our students.
4) Step in to help throughout my department as needed when technology issues arise.