Principal Connections

The nature of leadership is changing. To be a leader is to be a learner and perhaps, the most vulnerable learner in the school. Being a connected leader involves taking risks in order to maximize influence in their schools, communities and beyond. For school leaders, it’s no longer a question of “are you connected?” but rather “just how connected are you?”   Connected leaders need to be engaged in active learning. This could be as simple as building a PLN (Professional Learning Network) on Twitter and connecting with other leaders in various systems and sharing in their learning experiences. It could also mean attending professional learning opportunities provided by the school board. “The Tech-Enabled Administrator” was a professional learning series that has been offered in our board since 2014 where school leaders lead professional learning sessions for other school leaders. An administrator sharing their learning with other administrators is a powerful strategy. It’s one ...

I've been called a lot of names in my day, but today took the cake. Our very lovely chaplain paid me a visit today and called me "cyber Santa" . It just make my day. The name-calling came on the heels of some technological initiatives of mine that went 'live' today. This year, as a part of my own personal growth plan I plan to increase our school's online presence by expanding to various other social media, namely Facebook and Instagram. I also took over the existing school Twitter account and made a few adjustments. The aim is to promote our school with as many different types of social media as possible and provide parents and the wider community with options in how to learn more about what is going on at our school. In my efforts to help streamline administrative and operation procedures and processes, I had planned to introduce a number of paperless processes, managing the school's master calendar through Google Calendar, whereby each staff member has...

I've decided to attempt becoming Google Certified Educator Level 1. It's not like I'm not busy enough, right? I'll admit that part of me feels a bit out of the loop now that I've made the jump from teaching to administration. If I was still in the classroom, I would have done this long ago. I figure that I never turn away a good opportunity for more meaningful professional learning. My certification may give me even more credibility to be able to contribute on a system-wide level. I've already been providing some PD for my colleagues on ways in which administrators can leverage GAFE on a daily basis. I think I'll be better able to support teachers. I'll admit, that while I will always continue to "put myself out there' when it comes to being a sort in-house support for teachers, teachers have a hard time regarding me as a teacher, which is what I am after all. I actually gave a moment's pause to how this certification might be perceived by...

For the last two years, I have been offering professional development for my staff that I call Tech Tuesdays. One day each month, I don't permit any field trips to allow for a day where staff won't be need for additional supervision. This allows them to "drop in" on their prep time for a micro PD session that gives them practical ideas/tips/resources that they can begin to use the next day. I ask the staff to drive the focus for each day so sometimes, these days turn into clinic-like scenarios where I help them to troubleshoot some of the "blips" they have encountered along their journey towards broadening their technological skill set. This means that one day each month, my time belongs exclusively to the staff. It's not meant to be some sort of token gesture. The intention behind it is simply to show the staff that I am committed to supported their learning as much as the kids. The staff made it clear early on that they will "entertain" PD ...

It's 2016. The 21st century has been underway for 16 years now. SO WHEN DO WE STOP CALLING "IT" 21ST CENTURY LEARNING??? Pedagogically speaking, I understand the need to distinguish this century from the previous ones collectively as the needs of the world are rapidly changing and students need to be prepared to participate in the world with a very specific skill set. Schooling must be rooted in innovation, creativity and critical thinking to name a few, I also get that school boards weren't in sync with these needs at the turn of the century. I can personally attest to that because it was the reason why I left my position in the curriculum department at my school board in 2010. Despite all the research I was doing and the in-servicing I was providing that was causing a lot of people to think, system leaders weren't ready to hear about this and after the umpteenth kick under the table, I returned to the classroom to completely overhaul my own practice for t...

Recently I hosted a day-long drop in session for teachers called " Leveraging Social Media ". In June of the last school year, I made a year-long commitment to the teachers on my staff who indicated in great numbers, that they wanted more in-house PD to support the various technology needs on staff. I decided that the last Tuesday of each month would be dedicated to Tech Tuesday. I don't allow for field trips to be booked on this day to eliminate the need for on-calls, which frees up all teachers to come to the conference room on their prep (yup, you read right... they agreed to it...) and receive bite-size PD that they would find practical, yet manageable. I don't determine the focus of these sessions. I use Google forms to generate ideas and the last round indicate a huge number of staff expressing interest in social media and how it could be integrated into the classroom. Staff expressed specific interest in Twitter and blogging and I added in Pinterest and Insta...

It's nice to know that I'm not the only one who thinks that Chromebooks are here to stay. This morning I caught an article by Eric Sheninger on Twitter, and he outlines  6 reasons why Chromebooks have staying power. It's short, to the point and makes loads of sense. At my school, we received three separate shipments of Chromebooks, courtesy of the school board but we decided to put them into the hands of teachers first. We wanted teachers to "muck around" so that they would be more encouraged to integrate the technology into their curriculum. We didn't want access to the be road block. Teachers have been given a Chromebook for the year. The last Tuesday of each month at my school is Tech Tuesday and I plan to use Chromebooks exclusively. Now that our Board has gone Google, I also want to show teachers that the need to use a desktop computer and/or a tradition laptop has gone by the wayside. The strategy, simply put: put it in their hands and model, model, ...

Chromebooks are all the rage at the moment. I  have one. I like it. It does what I need it to do. It fits in my purse. At my school, many seem to feel that now that they have access to a free device, they are "21st century teachers". It's sad really, because like all other trends in education, pedagogy always seems to fall by the wayside. Our school board has invested huge financial resources in devices because certain people feel that if we want teachers to integrate technology, there can't be any road blocks to access. Each school was given a class set of Chromebooks for teachers to use. I think the thought process behind it was that as long as the Board was providing access to the technology, teachers would be more inclined to use it. Instead, I have had requests for certain software to be loaded onto the device so that marks can be done at home. Teachers want the Microsoft Office applications loaded, not understanding (and clearly missing the point entirely) that ...

This I decided that three of my portfolios would become totally paperless: managing the master calendar, field trips and excursions and staff meetings. With the whole of our system converting to GAFE I thought there was no reason why this couldn't work. I've also been pretty patient in the last few years that I've been at my school to really go gang busters with technology so I thought I'd seize the opportunity. So far, not too bad! The calendar has been shared with everyone and many have commented that they appreciate the access as it allows them to plan more than just a week at a time. I still prepare a weekly, informing staff of the comings and goings around the school, but as people get even better at keeping me in the loop, I see that as a thing of the past very soon. Using Google Calendar has allowed me to provide even more information: specific times and locations, notes about which staff is going out on a given day and when its provided, I can copy and paste a l...