Empower others = Putting people first

I think I’ve figured it out – my moral purpose is to empower others; while I often teach, coach, facilitate, and mentor, ultimately I do these to empower others to do for themselves what they need to be successful or to achieve what they want.  And of course, for me, there is a personal satisfaction…

A reflection about holding ourselves accountable as leaders and agents of change

This week, in thinking about Fullan’s five components of leadership, I was reflecting on leaders that I have worked with or observed in work environments.  Change and transition at work is an interesting time because it challenges everyone to adjust their roles and perspectives and adapt to a new and hopefully improved way of doing…

Leading in a culture of change with Fullan’s Five Components of Leadership

A school, business, or organization articulates its mission and vision to guide their work and purpose for existence.  In much the same way, as a leader, having a “why” or moral purpose is significant because it not only drives you to pursue the best outcome possible, it can also sustain you and give you focus…

A reflection on playing and learning and why we have difficulty teaching beyond the “what”

I hosted our Twitter session this week on #etlead (see transcript at sfy.co/p0y08); we chatted about our favorite lessons to teach and why and how we create space for “hanging out” in our classrooms.  We almost all seemed to agree with Thomas and Brown (2011), that playing was a form of self identity – that…

Moving beyond teaching the “what” to teaching the “where” and the “how”

In the career exploration program that I facilitated for high school girls, there always seemed to be a lot of what that they needed to know – what careers are emerging, what college and universities included in their application process, what jobs are available for specific degrees, what documents you need to complete the FAFSA.…

A reflection about my perceptions of learning in the collective

This week’s topic of learning in the collective definitely challenged my assumptions and thinking; I struggled with the distinction of a collective from a community, mostly in part because I value community so much, actively seeking it in learning environments.  At the same time, I value being able to “follow” conversations on twitter, subscribe to…

Embracing the collective while bringing a sense of community

“Social media is arguably the single most disruptive innovation in the history of industrialized civilization. It’s redefining how we engage with each other, how we do business, how we get our news, how we spend our free time and how we revolt against repressive regimes. It’s no wonder that people are terrified of it. And…

Wk 4 Reflection

Being an Explorer (and an athlete) helps me to embrace change in my work environment

After taking @DuncanSSD’s Gamer Type Quiz (What Type of Gamer Are You?), there is no doubt that I’m an Explorer: I’ve taken this quiz, or some form of it, several times and consistently I get the same result.  I definitely enjoy discovering new ideas, objects, and places.  While I also have some “Achiever” tendencies, they…

A reflection about being a 20th century student and becoming a 21st century educator

This week, the twitter session really got me thinking about what I remember from my learning experiences as a child, what impacted me the most, what did I “walk” away with from each teacher or class, and how those experiences, gained knowledge and understanding of others and the world around me shaped who I am…