Leaders need to share their HEART

I really enjoyed this post by Pete Reilly talking about one of the distinctions between administrators and leaders. For him it is all about heart. Those leaders, whether they have the title or not, that experience success are those that lead from the heart. I am completely aligned with this belief and share it with our administrators regularly.

Those of us that tell a story about our journey have learned that the story must come from the heart to have any influence on the listeners. In the absence of listeners knowing who we are, what we believe in, and what makes this work so important to us it is just words. They carry no meaning and do not create any emotions. It is the emotions that grab us, that allow us to "see" a vision emerge from the words, and that make us want to follow that vision.

Think about those "leaders", both formal and informal, that have had an influence on you and your work and I will guarantee you that they have shared their story and that you do not question their motivation because it comes from the heart.

Baseline data for our Classroom 10 journey

Earlier in the past school year we contracted with Metiri to do an audit of our school systems level of implementation of Classroom 10, our vision of 21st Century Learning. One of the purposes for this audit was to establish baseline data for measuring growth on this journey. On Tuesday, Cheryl Lemke shared their findings with our school board. Some of what we heard affirmed what we know about our system, but there was also much additional information that led to seven recommendations for focus as we continue our journey. You can see the Executive Summary on our web page under District News.

Using their Metiri Dimensions21 framework we are in the "exploration" or "scaling up" level on each of the seven dimensions. Though we have much room to grow, we also heard how the work we have done and continue to do has positioned us for future success. We began by identifying our District Outcomes and Indicators with a focus on Habits of Mind and thinking skills. Our curriculum has this focus, K-12. We now need to embed technology tools into this curriculum to provide opportunities for young people to become literate and fluent with the tools and with accessing and using information. Cheryl reinforced the way we have approached this work as opposed to purchasing technology and then trying to figure out what to do with it.

The recommendations from this audit, the NETS, our technology plan, and our curriculum development and review process are the road map for our journey that results in:

Quality Learning

Every day

in

Every classroom

for

Every child

It is exciting to have our efforts affirmed and praised and even more exciting to know that what we have built has the capacity to support our journey to 21st Century Learning.

A sense of satisfaction

I survived my adventure as a keynoter in our 10Tech Summer Conference. Feedback for this and for the blogger class was positive and I really enjoyed the enthusiasm of those in the blogger class. During that short period of time we added about fifteen people to the list of bloggers, many already with their first post. That was exciting to experience.

I can't believe that I would actually include a picture of myself during the conference. When I first started this blogging journey it would have never entered my mind. I am basically a pretty private person who keeps these kinds of thoughts to myself. Since becoming a blogger, I have experienced a change in my willingness to share these private thoughts. I don't know why or when, but gradually over time it has happened. Anyone else experienced this kind of change?

It was great to see over 100 of our staff give up one of the first real summer days we have had to share in this learning opportunity. We are blessed in our system to have committed, wonderful people to work with. It makes this difficult work possible.

Thank you Kimberly for challenging, encouraging, and supporting me as I continue my learning journey and for the wonderful job you have done with this first summer conference for us.

Still anxious - with time running out!

Its Sunday about 10:00 pm, I'm getting tired and I sit here trying to get ready for Tuesday's conference presentations. I have the basic outline for the "keynote", but I'm now struggling with what to do for my break out session on blogging. I know I want to tell my story, but that won't take 90 minutes and it won't help those in attendance. There is so much to share that the problem will be more of eliminating too much than finding enough to do and say over the allotted time. I'm surprised how time consuming it has become to narrow the focus. Presentation Zen is causing me headaches.

The keynote outline is less about the tools and more about the learning in 21st Century Classrooms because I see that as the focus of our work. We'll see if the attendees and planners agree.

My grandchildren spent the weekend with us so I wasn't able to spend as much time as I wanted to getting ready, but playing with them was more fun anyway. That's Ciara on her horse.

I guess I will really test my ability to produce quality in a short period of time with Tuesday looming and tomorrow a big day of meetings. I'll be right back here tomorrow night "cramming" for the presentation while trying to focus on Presentation Zen. It was a lot easier to fill the pages with bullets and talk from them.

I'll let you know how it goes from my perspective and then again after I'm given the session feedback sheets.

About that KEYNOTE

Yes, I am scheduled to do the keynote at our 10Tech Summer Conference and I am feeling higher levels of anxiety than normal for me. Usually I respond well to creative tension and see it as a challenge to produce quality. Why is this so different?

How did I let myself get in this situation? Well, I was asked by Kimberly months ago. I am sure she probably used the word keynote when she asked me to speak, but it didn't hit me until recently when I realized that it was scheduled for an hour and that it was KEYNOTE, you know set the stage for the conference sessions, energize everyone, and come across as if you know something. This will be difficult because I don't know if I know enough to pull this off. If only I didn't have such respect for Kimberly I might have been able to say no.

It feels like when I sometimes schedule attendance at a conference months in advance and as the time approaches and my in basket is full I wonder why I ever thought it would be good to attend. Only I think in this situation the feeling is the same to the third or fourth power. Too late to exit with grace so I better get going. Where do you find a crash course on keynoting?

Guess what, I also get to do a session the same day on blogging. So many opportunities to share learning and open oneself up to constructive criticism. Maybe they won't include feedback forms on the presenters. One can only hope. If I survive next Tuesday, I'll share my fate.

The Unknown!

I decided that I should register my blog today with technorati. Technorati Profile

I know I see it referenced on all the blogs that Scott Mcleod would label as hubs and superhubs. I also am aware of some ranking that technorati does. Don't really know where this will go if anywhere, but they told me to do a post and refer to the link so I am simply following directions.

Stay tuned for my next post on my debut as a keynote for our local 10Tech Summer Conference.

Summer Book Club

Though it's not yet summer, I've joined a summer book club on the Influencer, a book I believe has the capacity to support our work at creating change that influences learning and instruction and that sustains over time.

This is my first online book club. I enjoy reading the entries from those on my team, but I am feeling a little guilty with my lack of contribution. Oh well, I always have tomorrow as one of you shared with me from Mark Twain.

Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow.

Feeling better already!