Posts Tagged ‘ educational leadership ’

Social Media For Administrators (Blog Posts)

May 6, 2012
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Social Media For Administrators (Blog Posts)

cc licensed ( BY NC ) flickr photo shared by Ken Whytock I recently decided to compile some of the blog posts that I have written regarding social media and administrators on my own blog site.  I have created a “page” for these articles that I will continue to update as I write posts...

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Is Twitter encouraging a type of ‘Arab Spring’ within Education?

February 6, 2012
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Is Twitter encouraging a type of ‘Arab Spring’ within Education?

  This interesting thought occurred during a conversation today. Are we living through a process whereby social media is finally breaking down some of the traditional divides that have kept education transformation suppressed? I suspect we are. What is twitter managing to do? Break down the barriers that have made it difficult for teachers...

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‘We are not going to miss out on the technological revolution’ Paul Kagame (paraphrased)

January 18, 2012
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‘We are not going to miss out on the technological revolution’ Paul Kagame (paraphrased)

                  Rwanda 2012 Reflection #4 – do you use your role for a higher purpose? As Principals, Superintendents or school leaders, do you use your position to try and ‘be the change’? It seems like a straightforward enough question – but probably one that bears a...

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‘They walk straight past us’

January 17, 2012
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‘They walk straight past us’

Rwanda Reflections #3 – ‘They walk straight past us’   Through this series of blog posts, I am seeking to process another profound experience – visiting Rwanda for the fourth time. I am also hoping to raise awareness of the educational needs of this country – particularly in the regional rural schools. And I...

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‘We could and should have done more’ – Kofi Annan, 2004

January 16, 2012
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‘We could and should have done more’ – Kofi Annan, 2004

  Rwanda 2012 Reflection #2 – ‘We could and should have done more’ – Kofi Annan, 2004 A journey I have just spent 8 days in Rwanda in preparation for a summit I am organizing with some colleagues – Innovate Rwanda (www.scil.com.au/rwanda). During these days, I had the privilege of being invited into...

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7 Top Things Teachers Want from Their Principal

January 15, 2012
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index_cards

At the first staff meeting in August, I asked the staff at my new school to write a notecard answer to the following question: “What do you need from your principal?”   The answers ranged from very practical to very theoretical. When put all together, these needs represent a healthy school culture eager to...

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Privileged at birth – but for what purpose?

January 15, 2012
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Privileged at birth – but for what purpose?

Rwanda 2012 Reflection #1   Circumstantial Privilege I probably think way too much and I’ve had the opportunity to travel a fair amount in the last few years as part of a process to determine ‘next practice’ for our school. When in the air and looking at a map of the terrain over which...

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2011 Lesson #7 – Educators can learn from entrepreneurs

January 5, 2012
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2011 Lesson #7 – Educators can learn from entrepreneurs

  A valuable part of our professional journeys as educators is to look beyond our own experience and learn from others. One strategy that has worked very well for our circumstance has been to bend budgets so that we can recurrently send teams of teachers to learn from others. This strategy commenced a decade...

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2011 Lesson #4 Mixed Mode learning – the way ahead

December 29, 2011
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2011 Lesson #4 Mixed Mode learning – the way ahead

The title for this particular blog had its origin as I listened to a number of presentations on ‘blended learning’ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blended_learning) at the Virtual School Symposium. I have for some years liked the notion of blended learning and it seemed a generally suitable term describing a learning environment where students could transition from the...

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2011 Lesson #3 – “Do then think”: take risks

December 27, 2011
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2011 Lesson #3 – “Do then think”: take risks

  Okay … this lesson probably commenced in my early childhood if I count the number of hospital visits from bumping into (stupidly designed) concrete telegraph poles in Auckland, slipping off high chairs to raid the top kitchen cupboards or eating poisonous plants because they looked nice. But the notion of learning by doing...

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2011 Lesson #2 – Leadership is IMPORTANT

December 26, 2011
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2011 Lesson #2 – Leadership is IMPORTANT

I find leadership a fascinating topic. If something typifies our 21st century world for me, it is the lack of leadership where and when it is needed. This is evident in micro and macro contexts – in countries, communities and schools. The issue is possibly that the media focuses way too much on political...

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2011 Lesson #1 – Vision has to trump administration

December 22, 2011
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2011 Lesson #1 – Vision has to trump administration

  2011 has been an amazing year for me professionally – a year of great change at NBCS and a year of outstanding opportunities, travel and thinking for me. It has also been a year of new connections. I am going to try and capture some of the main insights during 2011 gained in...

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Process Post – Exploring Lines of Flight, Orchestrating and Coordinating #Innovation, and Other Murmurations

November 24, 2011
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Process Post – Exploring Lines of Flight, Orchestrating and Coordinating #Innovation, and Other Murmurations

Preface “Birds of a feather flock together.” How is it that various flocks of birds fly together in non-linear formation? How exactly do they communicate with each other to cut and cross paths in synchronized patterns? Is there a captain or a conductor or a coordinator? Do zigzagging birds rotate those roles of captain,...

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Get connected and make a difference.

November 18, 2011
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Get connected and make a difference.

When I taught sixth grade science, our students were immersed in learning about wildlife characteristics, environments, and patterns in nature in relation to the Hawk Mountain Sanctuaryand our surrounding region. For weeks we explored and discussed the habitats and migratory cycles of raptors, plant life, conservation, as well as the formation of the “river...

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The Power to Kill Innovation

October 3, 2011
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The Power to Kill Innovation

This summer, I wrote a post discussing the world of social media, and how our administrators need to jump in and lead our schools in this “new world”.  Here is one of the things that I wrote in that post: There can no longer be an “opt out” clause when dealing with technology in...

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Do Different Things

September 11, 2011
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Do Different Things

cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by creativecommoners “Our mantra is that you lead by influence, rather than authority.” — Mark Chandler, Senior Vice President and General Counsel at Cisco Reading the book, “The Global Achievement Gap”, by Tony Wagner (which I would say is a must read for anyone interested in...

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Tenure by Steve Bollar @StandTallSteve

August 16, 2011
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Tenure by Steve Bollar @StandTallSteve

Steve Bollar is an Upper Elementary Principal of Hartford Upper Elementary in Mt. Laurel, New Jersey. He is passionate about creating a positive school climate and school culture one student, teacher, parent, and staff member at a time. If you are a tenured teacher or administrator think back to the day you got tenure. ...

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The bar has been raised.

August 11, 2011
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The bar has been raised.

“How do we get reluctant administrators on board with utilizing technologies to communicate, connect, and collaborate?” This is one of the most prevalent questions I encounter when chatting with educators on Twitter, through informal conversations, and in presentations I’ve shared. It came through loud and clear in the Connected Principals ISTE session that teachers...

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This is not optional anymore…

July 13, 2011
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This is not optional anymore…

Spending the last four days at a national leadership conference (CASA 11) in Niagara Falls on 21st Century Learning and Innovation (which had no Twitter hashtag until a few of us got together to start one), and then spending the week prior at ISTE, the conversation about technology in schools is a major theme....

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It’s Easy…

July 7, 2011
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Which path will you take? Image from http://bit.ly/pASkSU

As educators, we are often faced with an opportunity to take the easy road or the hard road.  The easy road often works for us as parents, teachers, and administrators but it rarely works for kids.  The difficult road may be an immediate challenge and take much more time and effort but this is...

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About Connected Principals

This blog is the collected thoughts of school administrators that want to share best practices in education. All of the authors have different experiences in education but all have the same goal; ensuring we do what is best for students.