Standard 3- Excellence in Professional Practice

3. Excellence in Professional Practice:
Educational Administrators promote an environment of professional learning and innovation that empowers educators to enhance student learning through the infusion of contemporary technologies and digital resources.

Teachers need to grow and reflect as educators as well as have a support system. To be able to provide the resources and time for teachers to be able to effectively learn how to use technology is key to help them become comfortable with consistently and effectively using it in their classroom. Also, when you open the lines of communication among your faculty and staff through professional learning communities, it builds a trusting and effective learning environment. As a leader, I want my staff and faculty to know that I support them in the classroom as well as in their professional growth and development. Staff and students also need to know that what they are teaching and learning is relevant as well as current. Finally, I want the students to know that we value their education and that we are going to do everything in our power to help them become successful not only in their academic career but in society.

Personal Email

I never realized how serious this issue is until I decided to pursue my career as an educator. I think the bigger issue besides email is the sudden interest in sites such as Facebook and Twitter. You hear so many stories about teachers and educators losing their jobs because of inappropriate pictures and postings to these sites. New teachers and administrators ruin their careers before they even start. As future leaders, we need to educate our new teachers and administrators of these situations. Technology is fantastic and it is our future but we really need to make sure that with all this new technology that we are offering the knowledge and development needed to use it successfully.

Digital Natives

Yes, I do believe that we have "digital natives" in our classrooms. They can text, email, blog, and download music. The problem is that most of our students do not realize the technology that they need in order to become successful in society. As a leader, it will be my responsibility to make sure that teachers are teaching our kids the skills that are necessary to stay globally competitive. To prepare my teachers for this change, I plan to offer professional development that adheres to the 21st century goals. Also, any technology that we have for the school, I would expect it to be used.
While I do believe that we need to prepare these students for the 21st century through exposure to technology, I also believe that we cannot lose sight of the value in knowing how to properly write a letter or complete a resume. It works the same way in math. We want children to have critical thinking skills and using the higher levels of Bloom's taxonomy such as application and evaluation but in doing that we have lost sight of the fact that students cannot do basic math facts.
Yes, I definitely think that tests should be changed to correlate with these 21st century goals. We want our students to be technology savvy yet we are still testing them with paper and pencil.

My principal is a great leader when it comes to implementing technology into our curriculum. He has been with our school for 4 years and within that time, he has purchased multiple computers, laptop carts and smartboards. This year he is actually hanging Smartboards in teacher's classrooms that have been trained in using them. He makes sure that with any technology that is purchased, we have professional development and experts in the school that can help us implement this into our curriculum.

First time user

Well. This is the first time that I am using a blog. I am new to this and it will probably take me some time to get acquainted with doing this properly. I named my blog opportunity for growth because with the position that I am coming into (a leader), I am always reflecting and deciding how I can become a more effective leader . This also applies to how I have started living my life these past couple of years. I am always looking for ways to grow and reflect as a human being. Hopefully, this will help me write out my thoughts effectively and accomplish my goals.