Week+6+Part+III+Discussion


 * Part III: Discussion:**


 * Directions:**
 * 1) Revisit your team discussion forum to read the postings of your team members from Parts I and II.
 * 2) Using the appropriate thread, discuss what you have learned from each other regarding change, characteristics of leaders, and technology implementation, by contributing at least one additional posting in your team's forum this week.
 * 3) The team reporter this week should summarize the discussion by midnight Monday, posting it in a clearly labeled thread.

The goal for the team discussion is to identify the common elements of promoting change within a school and the leadership characteristics needed to make change occur, including change that promotes technology integration.

Fawn Brunson:
After reading all the articles on change, I am amazed at how much time leadership spends on trying to implement a new program without considering the effect change has on people. In my experience as an educator, those who are responsible for implementing a new intiative or school-wide program at the ground level (such as teachers) feelings are often not considered. What I've come to learn is that change is inevitable. For change to be effective it must focus on individual needs as well as the whole school. This is essential because any change can affect academic achievement. Leadership should make decisions that are data driven and student-centered. When this is done some of the obstacles that may occur can be curtailed because the focus is on student needs.When implementing change leadership should act more as a facilitator instead of the main decision maker. In addition, technology can be used as a change agent administratively and instructionally.

**John Binnert:** From reading all of our posts, it seems to me that we all agree that change is necessary, and whether it is first or second order change is dependent upon many circumstances within and outside our control. We must embrace a healthy amount of change, and continually reflect upon and evaluate its effectiveness and alignment to our personal and school visions. It takes a flexibility of leadership styles to integrate and sustain change, and a 21st century awareness to produce our future leaders. In the realm of educational practice, "technology" is somewhat synonymous with "change." Our students will live in a far different world from that of our own, and we must engage them at their chronological level through technological applications. We should also evaluate these processes, and have teachers self-evaluate their effectiveness in infusing technology into the classroom.

Karen Bryer: I was struck through reading our posts what a great part of leadership is spent managing human behavior. An educational leader really should have a degree in psychology to manage a school through any period of change. Living in the time we do, change is such an inevitable part of life. I feel public schools in particular, because they have been so stuck in a century old model, are most ripe for change at this time. We can all look forward to great changes to school as we know it in the next decade or more. So much of managing through change involves helping people navigate the changes in a manner that allows for their comfort but that also allows for the change to occur. There are many factors that need to be considered: maintaining a level of autonomy for people, assessing changes to be sure they are contributing to effectiveness in teaching, assessing teachers to be aware of their comfort and ability level as well as the level of implementation they are reaching regarding the new changes. The educational leader does need to wear many hats or use many different styles to manage change effectively.

Kenneth Caesar
This week’s readings and discussions have enlightening me more about the rapid changes in education. The most important thing to that stood out to me is when we think of education at a school level the school leader must be prepared to embrace change as an individual. Once the leader has embraced change, he/she must encourage the faculty/staff to implement the change. The 21st century leader must be one who is able to multitask and be prepared to assist teachers no matter their weakness are. I also think with increase technology in society school leaders must continually keep abreast of the latest trends in technology and be prepared to introduce it to teachers. As the wheels of the society continue to turn the key to a successful education is acknowledging the fact that change is going to happen and being prepared to change. As much success as on may experience in education, success is not going to be forever.

Jon Bruno
After examining the team’s posts, we all agree that either first or second change on occasion is warranted. Most teachers naturally resist change but it is required medicine to educate students in a global society. We also believe that either the ACOT or CBAM models are valid and necessary for school change. While the ACOT model seems more global in approach, both models address that technology integration is an important factor for school change. Students of 21st century gather and interpret news and information much differently than students just a generation ago. Furthermore how can schools still use teaching techniques developed for the 19-early 20th century agricultural/industrial society in a modern information latent classroom? The answer is we cannot!