The 😁 and 😖 of an Aspiring Digital Leader….autobiographical.

In my role as the Coordinator of Digital Learning here at Twin Lakes School Corporation, I have experienced a great deal of change to my daily routine.  I am no longer housed in a school, I don’t hear bells ringing for each class period, I don’t hear the powerful herd of students in the hallways during passing periods, and so on.  

Being a leader within a school has always been something I have aspired to become.  I don’t know if I was successful all the time, or any of the time, but I’ve tried. Now, I work at our corporation’s central office, which I love!  However, the ambiance, as you can imagine, is quite different. I spend plenty of time in our 3 elementary schools, our middle school, and our high school, but there is still an element of separation from “my normal.”  So, with this detachment from the typical school environment that I have thrived in throughout the past 18 years, my question has been, “How to effectively lead from my new role?”

All leaders ride a roller-coaster of failures and successes.  In truth, I truly believe that the sprouts of authentic learning grow out of our failures.  So, this is just a sample of the Glory and Consequence of my leadership experiences through one semester!  

Moments of Consequence

One aspect of my job is to provide “techno-centric” professional learning opportunities to a faculty of between 275-300 teachers, administrators, and support staff in 6 buildings.  My goal in August was to provide new content during afterschool training sessions each month. I have been successful in providing those opportunities to our staff, but one detail, I believe, has adversely affected participation.  In the interest of making scheduling easier, I have been holding these learning opportunities at Central Office. I’ve now decided that next semester I will schedule these monthly learning opportunities in the schools, on teachers’ “home turf”.  My hope is that this change will improve participation and, most importantly, provide more of a convenient learning environment for teachers.

LESSON REALIZED:  Sometimes it is difficult to remove ourselves from the equation.  I failed to do so by scheduling learning opportunities on MY TERMS and on MY TURF.  Going forward, what is most convenient for me will not be the most prominent part of the equation.

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I have always respected school leaders who are stern when necessary, who maintain high expectations for every aspect of the building, and who communicate successes with as much energy as failures.  As a technology leader in my corporation, I have put a great deal of effort into fostering relationships with teachers and administrators that evoke respect, high expectations, and a “We Can!” attitude.  I don’t believe I’ve done a good enough job with this. I need to improve on my outreach to teachers that don’t often seek me out for help or collaboration time. I’ve focused too much on the “techie teachers”.  

LESSON REALIZED:  Like any classroom, it is our responsibility to meet the needs of every type of learner.  As a leader, I need to continue to improve on my ability to reach the reluctant learners and those who may “fall through the cracks.”

 

Moments of Glory:

I truly love learning from others in my field.  I am forever grateful to friends, colleagues, and acquaintances in the world of education who have enlightened me to new ideas, have helped me improve as an educator, and have modeled leadership qualities for me to emulate.  For all of these reasons, I take a great deal of pride in the success I have had in further fostering a “Let’s Go Learn” attitude in our corporation. The main example this semester has been our ability to bring a number of teachers from Twin Lakes to the ICE (Indiana Connected Educators) Conference.  It was so wonderful to see teachers from my corporation attend, enjoy themselves, network, and most importantly, bring back their newfound expertise to share with fellow teachers.

LESSON REALIZED:  The best educators are always willing to learn.  My job as a leader in our corporation is to foster, support, and facilitate lifelong learning.

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Mahatma Gandhi said, “A sign of a good leader is not how many followers you have, but how many leaders you create.”  I have always loved this sentiment because it truly fosters the idea that leaders need to create more leaders, not simply force others to comply.  The same way that teachers strive for genuine student engagement versus compliance, so school leaders should strive not for compliance, but should instead strive to create the next round of leaders in his/her school or corporation.

LESSON REALIZED:  The best thing that I can do for my school corporation as a leader is to help create more leaders that are stronger than myself.