Springing Forward with Women Leadership and Gratitude

Do you ever ask yourself where has the time gone? And looking back in the past 3-5 -7 years how dramatically how things have changed and why have I landed here in my job career?  Well I ask those same questions - and quite often.  I look back to a doorway of opportunity that happened for me just over four years ago.  Many of you have heard the story and many are gaining a glimpse of it for the first time today. I know where I was just over 4 years ago…..closing a door- perhaps the better word would be closing/locking the vault- to working in a toxic environment where micro-management was the focus of the ‘so-called” leadership model… where creative thought, challenging the norm and taking risks was looked down upon and even reprimanded- and especially by a woman…. and just being different was consider being an outcast to an educational organization. Yes, this happened to me- and some of you may say - ohh you sound bitter still...., bitter because I was being held back from perusing my educational passions, my creative design and thinking concepts, and to showcase how technology could be utilized to transform a team's collaborative effort to build a community of learners within an organization. I was even questioned of how and why I would even think of using Twitter as an educational professional development communication tool. I still shake my head over this, and am so thankful I am no longer in this toxic environment.

Please note, this leadership mentality still exists amongst several educational administrative leaders, and throughout several pockets of our country. Dr. Scott McLeod, one of our MidWest EdTech leaders from Iowa,  has hit the nail on the head with driving home several points to wake up admin leadership in our MidWest region about the importance of educational technology and the value to our students.  But as you can see, it takes a man to talk to a another group of senior administrators that are mostly men to get the ball rolling of now finally seeing the importance to make change- even though many of us as women edtech leaders have been leading and sharing the very same message for several decades. It is this very same population of men, with receding hairlines, big egos, and compensating for small....... well the right words here would be....small and narrow mindsets of understanding the power of educational technology and  the ability that women can lead- and lead even better than men according to the most recent research.  

"A recent study took a poll of over 7,200 leaders in the year 2011. They were all rated on 16 different competencies in different positions such as managers and executives. Out of these 16, women scored higher on 15, with 12 of them being significantly higher than men. Two of the biggest traits that men didn’t quite measure up as well as their female counterparts were initiative and drive."

"These ratings, that were given to the leaders, were handed out by co-workers, bosses, and peers. Although there were more men in the study than women, women still dominated in almost every leadership competency and were highly recommended by their peers." (Researched retrieved from Forbes, Harvard,  Psychology Today http://goo.gl/i79uh and  http://goo.gl/nNgkQ and http://goo.gl/FPF30 "

Characteristics of Successful Women

I have always been driven. I strive for perfection and attention to detail in everything I do. I aim to please as customer-service is my primary focus is of the highest importance on my checklist- whether my customers are students, teachers, administrators, deans of universities, or CEO’s of business organizations.  My forward thinking and shared vision has gotten me to where I am today- and I am honored to state I am a very successful business woman. My EdTech business has landed me more than a premiere status of an educational agency of choice- it has landed me the best networking opportunity of a lifetime to build a highly collaborative, competitive and creative woman owned business of a lifetime! I accredit my success to the individuals I network, collaborate and surround myself with on a daily basis. These innovative and creative individuals- include both male and female forward thinking EdTech leaders that are not afraid to ask questions or ask for help, share their ideas, and brainstorm educational possibilities to change the world. 

I want to thank each and everyone of you as being part of my PLN over the past 10 years for your support, your listening ear, your thoughtful and creative insights you have shared with me and your kind and caring heart for believing in me as and educational thought leader. Thank you for welcoming me  into your classrooms, your K-12 school districts to work with your educators and students, your universities and global businesses and organizations. Because of each and everyone of you – I have accepted the challenge to offer you, and to design and deliver the best professional technology leadership offerings in the nation. #TogetherWeAreBetter

On that thought, here is a brand new announcement that I am excited to share with all of- we (a collective and collaborative team of men and women educators) are planning two Tri-State Google and Intel Education Mini Summits within the Lacrosse, WI and Green Bay, WI area in Fall 2013. It has been in the works for several months, and we are bringing together the best EdTech thought leaders and Google Certified Teachers from the Tri-State area form Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin for the Lacrosse event and more to come on the Green Bay event. We are pulling together some innovative educators for each of this events as lead learner sessions to jump start your learning with Google Apps and Intel Education integration best practices and motivating teaching and learning strategies to transform your k-12 and Higher Educational classroom environments. 

More to come soon......

Flunency Finder App- Perfect Reading Assessment for K-8 Educators

I would like to share with you the exciting new app of Fluency Finder we utilized during an iPad Apptivity workshop in Wisconsin yesterday with K-8th grade teachers and Reading Specialist and Title I teachers.  It’s a reading fluency app that will work on your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad, and the cost is $6.99. The grade level assessment associated with this app is focused on grades 1-5, but can easily utilized for children in kindergarten who are more fluent with reading or students through their middle school years who are struggling with reading.   This particular app allows you to assess the reading fluency of each child in your classroom and store the data assessments, so you can refer back to them for future comparisons of analyzing fluency growths or setbacks.The Fluency finder app stores all the information locally on your mobile device and the reading passages. 

This app allows for educators to be productive with their time and efficient with administrating the reading fluency assessments with their students. If you’re an educator, you know that these assessments can take forever when you have 25-30 students in a class. This app will be your time lifesaver for you, and your students will also enjoy the immediate feedback of improvements made by you as an educator by providing your positive critical and constructive feedback for students meeting their reading goal or striving for improvement.

So you may be asking now- how do I get started with this app after I purchase it- it is simple and easy! First input your students information (name, grade and class) and then choose one of the corresponding grade level passages. You also have the option to  print out the passage from the Fluency Finder Website located here http://www. fluencyfinder.com for the student to have a tangible copy and then you can follow along on your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad. Fluency Finder has three passages per grade so you can administer the reading fluency assessment at three different incremental timeframes throughout the year using different passages. 

To begin using the app with your students-  all you need to do is enter the students name, select a passage and start the timer app. As the student begins to read the passage and during the reading you mark how many mistakes they are making. When they are finished reading the whole passage you click “Finish Assessment” and the app calculates the students reading ease, words per minute and the mistakes they made.

Our group of educators I worked with really enjoyed this app based on the productivity of its use, immediacy of data reading fluency results and ease of technology use.  I highly recommend this app for K-8 grade teachers, Reading Specialist and Title I teachers. The cost of the app is $6.99 but it is well worth it from an educators point of view! 

Check out the website at www.fluencyfinder.com or download the app from iTunes to get started today with assessing the reading fluency of your students in your classroom. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fluencyfinder/id537046445?mt=8 

A very special thank you to David Kapuler http://cyber-kap.blogspot.com and his twitter handle @dkapule for introducing this app to me to share with all the educators I work with throughout the nation!

September Back To School "The Digital Buzz" Radio Broadcast

September Greetings!

This month's "Digital Buzz" radio broadcast focus is on Back to School with tips and tricks with shared resources of Apps, Authentic Assessments, Creating Curious Readers and Roll Out's of Technology Plans and Initiatives. These topics were generated from posed Twitter questions and insights from my Twitter PLN during August and the beginning of September.

Thanks to Michael Fischer @fisher1000 on Twitter and Jenna Linskens @2teach_edtech for sharing and recommendations of the following apps to find free educational apps!  Apps to find free apps: Free Apps, AppsGoneFree, AppShopper, AppStar Picks, Edu App Center, TechChef4U. Also tap into Moms with Apps http://momswithapps.com/  every Friday for a great collection of apps that are free or greatly reduced for iPads, Androids and Windows based. Don;t forget to checkout these two great app respiratories to find the right educational app to get the job down and meet the individual student learning need in your classroom! TCEA http://www.tcea.com/ipad and Appitic http://www.appitic.com You will NOT be disappointed :-)

Also look to this great collection of Android apps for schools: http://www.android4schools.com/ 

And Kathy Schrock's amazing collection of Bloomin' apps for iPads, Androids, Google and Web 2.0  for education: http://www.schrockguide.net/bloomin-apps.html 

Authentic Assessment Resource- thanks to Lisa Nielsen and the article she wrote in the June 2012 Tech and Learning magazine. I introduced this to our radio listeners of "options" and "choices" to standardized assessments to get at the heart of understanding of what our students really know.
http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/2012/04/8-ways-to-assess-without-standardized.html

How to create curious readers from Scholastic "Instructor" magazine.  Many educators ask me how do I get reluctant readers to enjoy reading and ask good thought provoking questions- well this article sums it up with meaning results! http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/how-create-curious-readers  




Three other great app mentions to support authentic assessment and to flourish question creation and critical reflection include the new KWHL Chart app & Sticky Notes HD with Bump app & Paper Port Notes app.  The KWHL and paper Port Notes are free and Sticky Notes is $1.99.

Lazy Days of Summer Are No More

I have had many interesting conversations since the wrap up of the school year, and some individuals think or believe since school is out of session that my workload has or will lighten for me professionally and for k-12 educators in general. I always laugh at these statements and share with these individuals that my summers are my busiest times for working with educators and administrators around the nation. And....some k-12 educators and administrators are working their hardest to make greater gains with professional technology literacy skill sets, learning new facilitation strategies incorporating blending learning best practices, and trying to stay on top of the demands coming at them from the state and federal government demands of the Common Core, PBIS, RtI, and the new Teacher evaluation process of the Danielson model- especially in the state of Wisconsin. 

The summer is my highest demand with working with k-12 schools to ignite and jump-start their new strategic plans and visionary technology infused initiatives. I really enjoy working with k-12 school's innovation collaborative teams with sharing success stories and resources of what is working well around the nation- but to also share with them what is not working and how to make immediate and lasting change. So many schools have brilliant ideas- but they just do not know where to get started. Their system-based approach, or leadership organizational structure, and/or action planning of deliverables- tied to target learning outcomes or an accountability factors appear to be in total disarray or completely missing.  I ask myself at times- how have some schools made great k-12 system changes with a total buy-in from all of its members, and where others are greatly struggling with even the simplest day-to-day activities? The answer lies in the leadership style.... and the instructional facilitation strategies and methods to empower all stakeholders.

But how do you get to this point? Even our most influential k-12 administrators leaders are missing the boat at times when it comes to the "facilitation strategies and methods to empower all stakeholders."  The top down approach and dictator of delegation does work well in education and in this day and age. A collaborative and professional learning community approach is best to "build the boat first with all of your trusty teammates" taking into consideration their identified strengths and weaknesses. Then setting your sails high for uncharted waters with "job embedded and specialty interests groups." By empowering your teammates with professional and collaborative learning tasks that have personal meaning and interests to them- and noting that it directly correlates and compliments with their job embedded performances- can make lasting and positive change. It can also contribute to some very smooth sailing of waters, but also more risk taking adventurous journeys to discover and explore new territory, while sharing and actively listening to more in-depth conversations with their teammates. 


When is the last time you as an educational leader posed a learning questioning scenario to your K-12 teammates to ponder, explore, discover and uncover multiple solutions to make change? What if you did this each time as part of your schedule professional development in-services with your k-12 staff? Empowering your staff to take ownership and provide an opportunity to share their critical voice in the positive lasting change in your k-12 strategic planning and new technology initiatives could lead to some monumental change and drive with your teammates. This initial setup modeled process does take time and trust on behalf of your staff and yourself as an instructional leader- but their will be overwheleming positive benefits for years to come. 


Here are six action steps to get you started that I share with administrative leaders regularly to empower their instructional leadership approaches within their PLC's, and to strengthen social collaborative teaming.


1. Model and setup social norms for safe and positive collaborative teaming adventures and discoveries.

● Listen respectfully.
● Discuss issues, not people.● Probe ideas; do not criticize philosophies.
● Show respect for online views of others.
● Avoid side conversations.
● Avoid use of mobile devices to check personal emails during dedicated teaming adventures and discoveries, but the tool can be used to locate and discover resources or new ideas.


2. Focus first on what meets the needs of the children we serve for all learning outcomes.  


3. Fostering shared leadership experiences for all learners in large groups and within "Dynamic Duos" of "Transformative Trios" as teams to empower meaningful conversation, curate their knowledge and shared collective wisdom from the group.


4. Action planning visual organizer: identify the problem to be solved, outline goals/objectives, targeted learning outcomes with embedded resources, individual teams responsible, and an active accountability timeline to share out progress, accomplishments or setbacks.


5. Shared collaborative online workspaces and backchannel chat reflection areas such as: Wiki, Google Site, TodaysMeet or a Backchannel for continuous communication streams, sharing of ideas/insights/resources/research and ongoing critical reflection of lessons learned.


6. Celebrations: Ongoing event from both small and large accomplishments from teaming adventures, discoveries made, job embedded transformations and successful strategic planning implementations.


Please feel free to share with me additional steps to strengthen these beginning an ongoing instructional approaches within a PLC environment, and to strengthen social collaborative teaming best practices. Would love to hear your thoughts and collective wisdom.


Naomi