Leading, Planning, Looking for Leaders

This has been my favourite module so far.  This one applies more to what I do on a daily basis than the other two.  It has been great learning other ideas to put into my practice.  The two most important ideas to reflect on to me were the staff development and the online calendar.  Staff development is hard.  It needs to be embedded in practice, but we need to teach new technology, but it shouldn't be focused on the technology.  Then you have to scaffold for staff to make sure that people who already know aren't getting irritated and those who have never tried it aren't overwhelmed.  It's a difficult balance.  I love the ideas presented by other group members, like the tech lunches, that incorporate learning technology over a really short time period.  Sometimes we all just need to have that time put in front of us.  The online calendar was a great way to look at what my goals are for my role for the next ten months.  By laying it out it made me focus on what I want to start incorporating for learning series, where my priorities are for teacher development and for myself. 
The online forum we are involved in has provided me with many ideas for professional development strategies and math applications to try out.  Not only do we get ideas, but the discourse about them is amazing.  I had a hard time wrapping my head around a specific math game, but hearing the way it is used in a different classroom has opened my thinking now that I am viewing it through a new lens.  The forum allows me to see how different programs work for different groups of students in different places, and I love that.  I love that we are getting many different points of view on similar topics and we can apply that to how our students learn and their own needs. It deepens our professional knowledge about the applications and has us trying them out in our classrooms in the right ways – with understanding of the pedagogy behind it. Professional learning, or LEARNING, is something I love to "learn" about.  I love hearing the ways other people create their own staff development so that I can build on my skills.  I had never led a PD session before this position I am in and it is extremely intimidating.  Reading articles and hearing other ideas has me feeling more confident about my planning skills.  It is great to read ideas, again like the tech lunches, that engage staff and make them want to learn more about technology in their classrooms. The people I am learning from are leaders in their learning communities.  This course has really made me start thinking about leadership in general.  How do we make leaders?  How do we bring them to the forefront?  There are so many people in our boards doing great things, but we normally hear about teachers from the city or the USA.  How do we change that?  I want more leaders in my own community.

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