Instructional Leadership Reflection

This class opened up a lot of new doors for me that I did not even know were out there. When I began this class 5 weeks ago I did not realize how much information I would gain as I went through the class. I have come away with a much better understanding of technology and its different uses within the school setting. If technology is used the right way, students can receive a much better education than they did just a few years back. I will have to admit this class was tough with all of the assignments, but I feel I came out of it with a lot better idea of the uses of technology than I had when I went into it. I feel that I can help fellow educators along in certain areas that a few weeks ago I could not have. I know now that the sky is the limit for technology, and it is important to stay ahead of the game.

What makes it more interesting for me is the fact that I can use so many of the ideas that I learned with what I do on a daily basis. I work with the ISS and DAEP students on a daily basis and a lot of time we have to rely on the web to find out the answers to some of the questions that students might have. I am a certified science teacher and sometimes can have trouble with questions about english, history, or math. Some of the information that was provided to me throughout the past 5 weeks can be put to good use as I maneuver my way through the web to help students out. I am the athletic director as well and with some of the new technologies that are out there, I can be much more efficient as I move through my daily activities. The key is making sure that you stay ahead of the game and continue to learn.

I guess what would be the bummer of some of the fantastic ideas is the fact that we may not have all the technologies that some schools are allotted. Although we are probably more fortunate here than a lot of other schools, we still do not have all the advantages as most. I understand the process of bringing in technology can be slow and costly, but hope I we can strive to make our school the most technologically sound school around. I would hope our district would push for the use of laptops by all students. I know it would come at a high cost for the district, but would be so beneficial for everyone involved. So many kids do not have the technology at home that is needed. I would love to see the day where students could check out a computer from school and take it home to work. Until this is done we cannot expect students to be able to do work via the web on their own time. Hopefully, we as a district can make this dream a reality.
This course provided many challenges along the way. I always find that when you first look at an assignment it looks overwhelming. As you begin to go through each of the different parts of an assignment, you start to realize that it was not as bad as it looked when you first glanced at the work as a whole. I will admit though a couple of the assignments throughout this class were very tedious and at times made you think about whether you would have the time to get the work done. I have learned how to break the work down during the week to make sure I have a sufficient amount of time to get the work done. Although at times over the past five weeks the work was somewhat difficult, I feel that I learned a lot and will be able to use so many more new ideas of technology. I can actually say I am a blogger now!

I guess you could say that I have always been somewhat scared of technology and the new advances that are out there. Okay, who am I kidding? I am probably not as much scared but more hard-headed than anything. I guess when you get stuck in doing something one particular way, you have a hard time trying something new. I am pretty good with the basics of technology, but now have a better idea of what all is out there and how much school districts can benefit from the latest of technology. If I plan to be a leader within a school district, I feel that it is important to learn as much as possible about the technology we use today and what we plan to use in the near future. I can honestly say that I have a whole new perspective on what technology can mean to the future of our children.

One new idea that I learned a lot about and that we actually created and used was blogging. I have known about blogging and knew of people that blogged but really did not how easy of a process it was. Like I said, I was able to create my own blog and learn some of the ins and outs of blogging. To me blogging can be an important tool within education. Students can use blogs from other people to learn important information. With as many people that are blogging today, there is a good chance you could find information on just about any topic you would like. Of course with blogging, just like anytime you use the web, security becomes a big issue. The use of blogs by students need to have guidelines and parameters in which they must stay in. The web and blogging is a great tool to be able to use, but we have to be careful with what we put out there with the understanding that not everyone on the web is innocent and nice.

All in all this class was very informative, and I came away with a lot better understanding of technology. I was able to build on some ideas of things that I already knew about, but at the same time learn some new things. I hope to build on my learnings from the past few weeks and become a better educator from the technological side of education.