I've always been appointed leadership positions and this could be due to numerous factors that I won't list here. However, I don't know that I have seen myself as a leader in the true sense of the word. Perhaps the more I learn about leadership, the more I find some of these traits in myself as well as some that I am lacking. Regardless, I enjoy my role at my school where I have the opportunity to collaborate with my colleagues and learn alongside my peers to create professional networks.
Although I am relatively early in my teaching career, I did not always embrace technology. The more time I spent in professional development workshops, the more I realized the potential that technology could afford my students. The time spent with my students enabled me to realize that in order to better connect with them, I needed to change. How could I become a tech leader in my class?
The insecurities began to set in. How could I "teach" my students when they knew more than me? More time spent in the classroom has enabled me to see that indeed we could work alongside each other and learn together. Once I realized this, the possibilities were infinite.
As a learned to adopt technology into my classrooms, I became an emergent leader in my school. This being defined as, "...a type of leadership in which a group member is not appointed or elected to the leadership role; rather, leadership develops over time as a result of the group's interaction" (Levine, 2014). I was often the source of clarification on classroom practices. Because of this, I was assigned several leadership roles, one of them being our school's transition teacher. This role asks the leader to help teachers understand the transitions from grade to grade and from elementary school to secondary. In addition, in my school board (YRDSB), teachers are now required to log student goals, strengths, motivations and help them explore a variety of potential pathways.
How could technology help teachers enable students to explore pathways?
What is the role of the leader and technology in this process?
Challenges of a Tech-friendly Classroom
The transition from a tech-less classroom to one that embraces its' use does pose some challenges on a variety of levels. Here I have outlined some that I have personally experienced or have heard others face. This list is not complete nor does it apply to all situations. I hope to delve into some of these issues and potential solutions.
- lack of education on tech tools
- lack of motivation to implement
- fear of failure
- unavailability of technology
- the authenticity of learning tools or platforms
- misuse by students
- students unable to continue to use at home (do not have access)
- lack of personal interaction amongst students
Authentic Learning?
As a teacher, I feel the obligation to ensure that my students are not only learning the curriculum but that they are doing so in authentic and rich environments. Michael Fullan (2013), suggests that there are four criteria that need to be met in order for deep learning goals to occur:
- Irresistibly engaging for both students and teachers
- Elegantly efficient and easy to access and use
- Technologically ubiquitous 24/7
- Steeped in real-life problem-solving
In order to meet these deep learning goals, a close look at one's pedagogy is required. We need to be self-reflective and determine the best possible platforms for curriculum delivery. How can we use technology to allow students to explore and investigate their own ideas while also sharing with them potential solutions and pathways?
Preparing our students for what comes next:
For the past four years, I have held the position of transition teacher at my school. What does this mean? I suppose it depends on the school and its needs. In our school board, there are initiatives in place to help students transition from year to year, from elementary school to high school and then from high school to their pathway of choice. Such programs allow students to explore and discover potential pathways and help them identify their strengths and interests. It is the responsibility of the teacher to blend this learning in classroom lessons and activities. Teachers are required to provide multiple opportunities for per school year for their students to work on this starting in kindergarten all the way through grade 12.
What kind of leader is needed here?
In transition planning with their students, teachers are required to use technology software in order to log student progress. These programs have been created for the specific use of teachers students and parents until the child reaches the end of grade 12. For those teachers who do not feel comfortable with the technology or do not see the value in these programs, it has proven to be quite challenging. What is needed here, is a transformational leader. One who motivates their team and promotes confidence. This type of leader leads by example and communicates clearly with their staff. In such cases, leaders empower their followers to high levels of morality as well as motivation (Bass, 1985). In my school, my principal has been doing just that. She has been seeking ways to promote curiosity in these tools as well as providing professional development so that staff feels competent and more apt to incorporating them in their classrooms.
To find out if you are a transformation leader, there are a few questions you can answer here:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/cutting-edge-leadership/200903/are-you-transformational-leader
Pathways to Success
For reference of the whole document, please click on the link below:
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/document/policy/cps/creatingpathwayssuccess.pdf
I have a particular interest in this program as I teach grade eight and this is quite the transition year. I work in collaboration with my colleagues in order to ensure student success and a smooth transition to high school. More recently, I have been involved in a transition project. I have been working with one of the high schools that my students will attend. We have created a team with other elementary schools and the high school to help us all gain a better understanding of the similarities and differences between the two panels. In addition, we have come together with common goals about incorporating rich math through the use of technology.
This project has proved to be both rewarding and eye-opening. There are approximately four elementary schools involved. We have been co-planning engaging math lessons which incorporate new and exciting technology. In addition, we have been co-teaching with teachers from different schools. This experience has afforded us many wonderful lessons such as visiting other schools with common goals, witnessing how others solve similar problems, how other schools incorporate tech in the classroom and how other schools go about teaching math. Meeting the school leaders has also provided an insight into the leadership qualities that promote the active use of tech in math and transition-minded teachers.
Our last visit of the year was to the high school. We co-planned a lesson which incorporated Ipads. We then entered a grade 9 academic math class where many of our past students were present. We observed two teachers co-teach the class and then debriefed as a group. In our post-lesson discussion, some elementary school teachers asked the high school teachers if our lesson was a "typical" lesson that would occur. In response, the high school math teachers explained that all of our planning and discussions throughout our meetings were not in line with the secondary panel (or at least their school) operation. They explained that they taught in quite a socrative method and little to zero technology was ever utilized. The consultants and the rest of us were quite shocked. It was evident that there was a huge gap between the two panels.
I left that day feeling quite deflated. We had spent so much time considering and planning for these engaging and authentic lessons. At our school, we spend so much time creating environments which are student-centered and offer students access to technological tools to problem-solve in order to help them prepare for their future. But what future are we preparing them for?
Questions:
- How do we bridge the gap from elementary school to high school?
- Should the secondary panel be following a similar model to the elementary panel (student-centered learning, open-ended problem-solving, hands-on learning)?
- Why is the secondary panel so different than the elementary one?
- How can we lead others towards a common goal when we are on such different pages?
Leadership in transitions
While working with my colleagues and transition partners, we did find some things in common. Notably, everyone appreciated the lack of technology in our math classrooms. It seems that tech is much more apparent in our language classrooms. Perhaps technology could be the link that helps the elementary and secondary panel come together to create student-centered authentic learning environments?
Technology has presented many challenges in our schools and with my team in my masters course, we are investigating why it is so challenging for teachers to adopt these tools. The factors are dependent on school support, funding, community, motivation and leadership. "While Canadian educators believe that digital technologies can enrich students' learning, there are still significant challenges to overcome in making this happen - with one of the main barriers being students' lack of digital literacy skills (VerticalNews.com. 2012)."
A beautiful partnership: math & technology
Technology has presented many challenges in our schools and with my team in my masters course, we are investigating why it is so challenging for teachers to adopt these tools. The factors are dependent on school support, funding, community, motivation and leadership. "While Canadian educators believe that digital technologies can enrich students' learning, there are still significant challenges to overcome in making this happen - with one of the main barriers being students' lack of digital literacy skills (VerticalNews.com. 2012)."
As a student, I despised math. I remember sitting on the carpet in grade 3 and feeling tortured by the multiplication table. My own experience has afforded me some insight into the minds of some of my students. As I work on transitioning my grade 8 students to high school and collaborate with their future teachers on creating mathematicians, we make great attempts to have math and technology become best friends. "It is vital that math and science subject matter areas along with well-integrated developmentally appropriate technology should be consistently available... to provide them with a solid foundation for their future learning (Kermani & Aldemir, 2015).
Modern day math classrooms are very different than what they used to be. Students are using manipulatives to discover, reason and justify math concepts. Lessons are done alongside student exploration. Math no longer needs to be about right and wrong but rather about problem-solving. "Purposeful integration of math concepts in classroom curricula and daily activities along with guided open-ended questions and conversations can help increase children's engagement and interest in math-related subjects (Kermani & Aldemir, 2015).
There have been many studies on the effect of technology in math classrooms. In their article, Kermani and Aldemir (2015) share some examples.The Tomas Rivera Policy Institute's report examines national data to investigate whether computer use and computer support for teachers have any significant effect on the academic performance of racially and ethnically diverse children's reading, writing, and math scores by fifth grade. The results reveal that factors such as computer utilization for math and science in class and computer support provided to teachers do indeed have significant positive effect on the reading, writing, math and science scores for this student group . Similarly, Sunha and Mido ( 2010 ) discovered, through their study of the effects of computer use on children's math performance, that computer use for math significantly improved the math performance of children who speak limited English.
What does this mean for teachers?
- we need to find ways of allowing our students to access technology
- we need to create environments where students can engage in a curriculum in authentic situations and where learning goals are relevant to student lives
- technology needs to be approached as an asset
- teachers need to take risks and expect some failures when using new software
- allow students to guide the use of tech in classrooms
- be creative!
- we require leaders who will promote the use of technology and motivate their followers
- transformational leadership will help teachers push through the challenges
References
Fullan, M. (2013). The New Pedagogy: Students and Teachers as Learning Partners. LEARNing Landscapes, 6(2), 23-29.
Hengameh Kermani and
Jale Aldemir.
Preparing children for success: integrating science, math, and technology in early childhood classroom. September 2015. 185(9) p.1504-1527.
Levine, S. (2014). The Skills Required for Emergent Leadership. Credit Union Times. Retrieved from http://www.cutimes.com/2014/04/20/the-skills-required-for-emergent-leadership.
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