The Leadership Strand
Cultivating leadership roles in facilitating STEM instruction at the classroom and school levels
The Next 5 Years
Personal Reflection
As the school year comes to a close, I have continued to experiment with integrating new tools to break down the walls of the classroom and connect with students’ lives outside of school. I have learned that social media integration, although critically relevant to students’ lives, is a tricky beast, with a lot of potential for abuse. This tool must be tactfully implemented to work with specific student groups, and has much potential. My large-scale endeavor into project-based learning and the use of authentic audiences has been wildly successful in increasing student engagement and accountability, and is something I will continue to implement for the rest of my teaching career. These pedagogical strategies have also opened many other opportunities to build student soft skills, a goal that has become ever more pressing as we prepare students for increasingly diverse and unknown fields. Although I have always valued this ‘hidden curriculum’, this is one way in which I believe educators must anticipate change. This can be especially challenging for generations of educators whose own educational experiences were designed before the revolution of broad internet access ushered in the information age. As for my own learning, this program has been instrumental in increasing the diversity measure of my personal learning network, introducing me to talented STEM educators from around the city, as well as to powerful tools such as Twitter to continue to build my network. This year I have taken significant steps in abandoning the traditional transmissionist mode of instruction, adopting project-based learning, competency-based grading practices, and a focus on developing student cognitive skills. These changes took courage to commit to, with much work to be done and a lot of unknowns, but overall were fairly easy for me to make after seeing the failure of traditional methods with my current student population. As long as educators remain focused on the needs of their students, I believe they will find the courage to adapt their curriculum and teaching methods to best meet the needs of all learners.
Resource Curation
Drew Dudley: Everyday Leadership TED Talk
Drew Dudley defines leadership as the act of improving others’ lives, and believes this happens in many small ways day-to-day.
Mastery by George Leonard
A book about the learning process, recommended as a good start to engaging in independent learning.
Getting Things Done by David Allen
A book on developing systems to organize all the thoughts in one’s head to improve productivity and reduce stress.
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey
This book helps one to identify what is really important to them, and to use these goals to better use their time.
How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie
A book of strategies for working with people, with broad insight into human nature.
PLN
@ForbesLeaders
Insights on leadership for aspiring leaders in business and life
@leadership
Leadership Review provides updates from world business press
@BarackObama
Former President of the United States
@tpnlead
Teacher Leaders division of the Teacher Practice Network, a project of the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning
@MindfulSummit
How to become a more mindful leader
Funding
Fund for Teachers
Funding for teachers’ self-determined professional learning experiences
Donors Choose
Community funding for classroom projects
Class Wish List
Community funding for classroom supplies
MiniScience
Surplus science supplies available for free to educators
Chicago Foundation for Education
Grant opportunities for exemplary Chicago Public Schools teachers
As the school year comes to a close, I have continued to experiment with integrating new tools to break down the walls of the classroom and connect with students’ lives outside of school. I have learned that social media integration, although critically relevant to students’ lives, is a tricky beast, with a lot of potential for abuse. This tool must be tactfully implemented to work with specific student groups, and has much potential. My large-scale endeavor into project-based learning and the use of authentic audiences has been wildly successful in increasing student engagement and accountability, and is something I will continue to implement for the rest of my teaching career. These pedagogical strategies have also opened many other opportunities to build student soft skills, a goal that has become ever more pressing as we prepare students for increasingly diverse and unknown fields. Although I have always valued this ‘hidden curriculum’, this is one way in which I believe educators must anticipate change. This can be especially challenging for generations of educators whose own educational experiences were designed before the revolution of broad internet access ushered in the information age. As for my own learning, this program has been instrumental in increasing the diversity measure of my personal learning network, introducing me to talented STEM educators from around the city, as well as to powerful tools such as Twitter to continue to build my network. This year I have taken significant steps in abandoning the traditional transmissionist mode of instruction, adopting project-based learning, competency-based grading practices, and a focus on developing student cognitive skills. These changes took courage to commit to, with much work to be done and a lot of unknowns, but overall were fairly easy for me to make after seeing the failure of traditional methods with my current student population. As long as educators remain focused on the needs of their students, I believe they will find the courage to adapt their curriculum and teaching methods to best meet the needs of all learners.
Resource Curation
Drew Dudley: Everyday Leadership TED Talk
Drew Dudley defines leadership as the act of improving others’ lives, and believes this happens in many small ways day-to-day.
Mastery by George Leonard
A book about the learning process, recommended as a good start to engaging in independent learning.
Getting Things Done by David Allen
A book on developing systems to organize all the thoughts in one’s head to improve productivity and reduce stress.
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey
This book helps one to identify what is really important to them, and to use these goals to better use their time.
How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie
A book of strategies for working with people, with broad insight into human nature.
PLN
@ForbesLeaders
Insights on leadership for aspiring leaders in business and life
@leadership
Leadership Review provides updates from world business press
@BarackObama
Former President of the United States
@tpnlead
Teacher Leaders division of the Teacher Practice Network, a project of the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning
@MindfulSummit
How to become a more mindful leader
Funding
Fund for Teachers
Funding for teachers’ self-determined professional learning experiences
Donors Choose
Community funding for classroom projects
Class Wish List
Community funding for classroom supplies
MiniScience
Surplus science supplies available for free to educators
Chicago Foundation for Education
Grant opportunities for exemplary Chicago Public Schools teachers
Setting Goals: Instrumental and Missional Thinking
When discussing the integration of technology into education, it is far too often done with instrumental thinking, incorporating a new tool for the sake of using a new tool, and not necessarily intentionally implementing the tool with the larger goals of the institution or program in mind. Using the mindset of missional thinking, or keeping the larger mission and vision in mind when making decisions, will help me achieve my short- and long-term goals. In the short-term, I will continue to experiment with utilizing technology to connect to students in ways that they are familiar with, such as through social media, helping to break down the walls of the classroom, and connect content to students “real” lives. I will also continue to explore digital communications as vehicles to broad public sharing to increase student accountability and ownership of learning. Technology can also be used to reinvigorate some tried and true educational formats, such as with the video word problem, another ongoing goal of mine. In adopting a missional mindset, I also aim to be more mindful of opportunities to effect change by tactfully handling interactions with those around me. In the long-term, I hope to synthesize these tactics, along with others, such as project-based learning, to create an educational experience for students that is relevant, meaningful, and fun. Far too often education seems to be about getting the right answer, and not about experimenting, making mistakes, trying again, supporting a team, innovating, asking for help, and finally, finally, arriving somewhere deemed as accomplished. The educational experience seems to have lost its heart somewhere between now and when going to school to be educated was a privilege. This is not an easy task, especially in the face of external pressures like standardized testing and expectations of the breadth of content to be covered. But when one goes back to the mission statements of schools, they are never as simple as a test score. They are to create well-rounded and contributing humans, ones that value education as a route to bettering themselves and the world around them, and we must not forget that ultimate mission.
Rocking the Boat
Rocking the Boat: How to Effect Change Without Making Trouble by Debra E Meyerson advocates for those who feel outside the majority in their organization. The book addresses two primary questions: (1) how can these individuals affect change within their organizations, and (2) how can organization members find balance between their identities and values and the culture of the organization? Meyerson answers these questions with her introduction of the tempered radical: one who navigates the ambivalence of trying to fit in yet stay true to oneself by recognizing opportunities to create learning. Meyerson describes a full spectrum of ways a tempered radical can affect change, ranging from organizing collective action to simply resisting quietly and staying true to one’s “self”. In her view, change agents are “sensitive improvisers who are able to recognize and act on opportunities as they arise.” A skilled tempered radical will utilize tact and strategy to capitalize on situational contexts that will ultimately lead to greater change.
Meyerson argues that tempered radicals share a common experience of being “different” than the majority. This difference varies from person to person, and manifests itself in three primary ways: (1) “Those who have different social identities from the majority and see those differences as setting them apart and excluding them from the mainstream”, (2) “Those who have different social identities and see those differences as merely cultural and not a basis for exclusion”, and (3) “Those who have not cultural but philosophical differences, which conflict with the prevailing values, beliefs, and agendas operating in their organizations”. As a straight white male from a middle-class family, my social identity is mostly mainstream, but I do have philosophical differences that can at times cause conflict. I don’t necessarily see this as a product of differing from the majority, but simply of holding certain values and possessing the motivation to want to enact change.
I see myself somewhere in the middle of the spectrum Meyerson outlines on how tempered radicals make a difference. This is generally described as “Broadening the impact through negotiation”, and the ensuing chapter describes the power of choosing your mindset in moments of conflict. Viewing these incidents as negotiations in which you have choices, of which some that may lead to positive change, can help one respond most appropriately. My goal is not necessarily to move one way or the other on the spectrum, but to learn as much as I can about strategies for tempered radicals to best balance their ambivalence and affect change. My goal is not to navigate away from where I currently am, but to more effectively operate as a tempered radical in my current space. Being mindful of choice, and practicing identifying moments for alternate outcomes will allow me to more purposefully negotiate these situations for the best possible results.
Tempered radicals face challenges characterized by Meyerson in four ways: the difficulties of ambivalence, the incremental lures of co-optation, potential damage to their reputation, and frustration and burnout. I do occasionally fall prey to the anxiety and guilt of my ambivalence, but feel as if I am getting better and better at finding ways to achieve balance. This task gets easier as I become better at my work through experience and education. I fear the pressures of co-optation and preserving a reputation may become worse once one has more to lose, such as a house and family, but for now can be mitigated with providing high-quality work to bring value and weight to one’s views. If frustration levels become too high, one may move on the spectrum of how tempered radicals make a difference, now having the motivation to act in new capacities.
Meyerson argues that tempered radicals share a common experience of being “different” than the majority. This difference varies from person to person, and manifests itself in three primary ways: (1) “Those who have different social identities from the majority and see those differences as setting them apart and excluding them from the mainstream”, (2) “Those who have different social identities and see those differences as merely cultural and not a basis for exclusion”, and (3) “Those who have not cultural but philosophical differences, which conflict with the prevailing values, beliefs, and agendas operating in their organizations”. As a straight white male from a middle-class family, my social identity is mostly mainstream, but I do have philosophical differences that can at times cause conflict. I don’t necessarily see this as a product of differing from the majority, but simply of holding certain values and possessing the motivation to want to enact change.
I see myself somewhere in the middle of the spectrum Meyerson outlines on how tempered radicals make a difference. This is generally described as “Broadening the impact through negotiation”, and the ensuing chapter describes the power of choosing your mindset in moments of conflict. Viewing these incidents as negotiations in which you have choices, of which some that may lead to positive change, can help one respond most appropriately. My goal is not necessarily to move one way or the other on the spectrum, but to learn as much as I can about strategies for tempered radicals to best balance their ambivalence and affect change. My goal is not to navigate away from where I currently am, but to more effectively operate as a tempered radical in my current space. Being mindful of choice, and practicing identifying moments for alternate outcomes will allow me to more purposefully negotiate these situations for the best possible results.
Tempered radicals face challenges characterized by Meyerson in four ways: the difficulties of ambivalence, the incremental lures of co-optation, potential damage to their reputation, and frustration and burnout. I do occasionally fall prey to the anxiety and guilt of my ambivalence, but feel as if I am getting better and better at finding ways to achieve balance. This task gets easier as I become better at my work through experience and education. I fear the pressures of co-optation and preserving a reputation may become worse once one has more to lose, such as a house and family, but for now can be mitigated with providing high-quality work to bring value and weight to one’s views. If frustration levels become too high, one may move on the spectrum of how tempered radicals make a difference, now having the motivation to act in new capacities.
In the Room Activity
This quickfire challenge was the first step in determining where I am now in my views on leadership. In this activity, fellows were challenged to take pictures of six random items in the room they are currently in, and use those items to reflect on leadership. This photo collage visualizes the characteristics of an effective leader from photos taken in my office.