Day One

And So It Begins:
So here I am at work trying to synthesize all of the projects I want to begin and having so much trouble getting started.  I just can’t seem to get started.  Where do I begin?  Do I start by trying to lay out the benchmarks? Do I analyze teacher responses?  That would be the bottom up approach but for me it doesn’t feel too natural.  I think I need to have a spiral system.  Where I begin to lie out where we need to go and then reflect where we are actually working towards this and where we have gaps.  So perhaps the priority is to mark out the goals, and then create the steps that will take me there.
Goal List:
•    Synthesize Mission Statement from Lower School
•    Benchmark 21st Century Skills from PreK-12
•    Align Skills with Present Practice
•    Work with Teachers to Create Curricular Projects that will Support the Goals
•    Have a timeline
•    Create a Guide for teachers to use when they are assessing technology in projects.
•    Work through Online Course to support the mapping of technology
•    Assessment of Work as well as fining a way for teachers to assess themselves and their students in a non-threatening manner.
Synthesize Mission Statement From Lower School
This will entail rereading all of the material that came from the faculty meeting and then crafting a paragraph that seems to encompass all of the relevant pieces.  Once I feel comfortable with this, I need to send it to Jane with all of the materials as she has offered to help me.  This needs to have some priority since we will need to begin testing this as I work with individual teachers and grades in two weeks.
Deadline: Wednesday July 7 2:00pm
Benchmark 21st Century Skills PreK-12
So we know we are hoping to have students leave the eighth grade with two major tools:
1.    A PLN
2.    A Reflective/Learning Digital Portfolio
This is one of the taller orders and won’t happen over a period of months, but maybe over more of a period of years.  So the questions are:
1.    What is a realistic time period?
2.    What are the skills and content knowledge that need to be built into the curriculum to begin this process?
3.    How do I get teachers to evolve into this?  Can I?
4.    Where is natural intersection between this and already existing structures that will ease this process?
I think that the first step would be laying out the skills I think would support this growth and then see where it is already happening.  This overlaps with my desire to create a list of possible tools and the ways in which they support 21st Century Learning.  So this will obviously have a series of deadlines. First deadline will be to lie out supporting skills.
Deadline: Tuesday July 6, 2010 2:30pm

Align Skills with Present Practice
I see this as an ongoing process that will hopefully continue to evolve. First stop will be the information provided by the teachers.  Unfortunately since many teachers did not return the information, this may lag a bit until I meet with them.  Also, as I meet with teachers this map of practice will continue to evolve. Therefore first deadline will entail aligning the information they provided with the scope and sequence.
Deadline: Thursday July 8, 2010 1:00pm

Work with Teachers to Create Curriculum that Will Align with Goals
Another goal that has overlap with creating a map for teachers to use to help them become more independent in choosing their own tools to support the learning goals they have already established.  Another piece to this is my preparing for individual teacher meetings by becoming more aware of their curricular goals so I can focus the time and the questions that I need to have answered.   I have meetings next week and I will set this deadline, as I get closer to the meetings.

Have A Timeline
This is an evolving goal to create a realistic map of how we can support the enrichment of teaching and learning with technology. However, I think this is also a goal that overlaps with sketching out where we are and where we are going.  This cannot be done without middle school and lower school voices on both an administrative as well as a faculty sphere. The initial conversations with Crissy, Roxie, Roseanne and Andrea will help to begin to shape this. So I need to begin to set up these meetings
Deadline for setting up Meeting with Crissy and Roxie: Wednesday July 7, 2010 9:30.
Deadline for working out meetings with Andrea And Roxie: Wednesday July 7, 2010 10:30.
Create A Guide for Teachers to Use For Assessing Tools to Enrich Curricular Practice
This will be a time consuming task and part of the process will be refining the presentation of the information.  AS of now I am thinking of it, as a table since creating a database will be too time intensive for now.  However a well-created table will migrate easily into the right database. What I want to be included is:
•    Tools organized under larger topics such as social media, digital editing, etc.
•    Soft skill set (critical thinking, creative thinking, collaboration)
•    Technical skill set
•    Questions to consider when using the tool

Deadline: Friday July 10, 2010 12:00 noon.

Work Through Online Course on Curricular Mapping
This is a final project type piece of the work.  The online course is providing the expert support I need to create this map with the faculty. Additionally, I will be provided with an outsiders view, as teachers from around the country give their opinions and experience in their feedback.  The group consists of teachers in public and independent skills as well as administrators on varying levels so there will various voices to help me think about this project.  The deadlines are also prebuilt into the course, so I will follow the class content.
Deadline: July 6, 2010 2:30
Assessment
How do I assess my goals?  How will I know that I am meeting my own vision as well as assuring the vision is representative of the teachers?  I do feel very connected to the faculty and that I can find a way to capture the spirit of their voices and their curriculum.  However, I do want a checkpoint for myself, Roseanne, Andrea, Crissy and Roxie to assure that we are not veering off course.  One way is my goal of posting my reflections daily of the work and publishing this to the lower and middle school faculty with the invitation for them to provide feedback.
The second assessment will be for teachers and students.  I am hoping to create with teachers a practical quick guide for checking their own progress. John and I have begun this discussion on what the questions should look like.  This will be a larger conversation with teachers and administration to ensure that I am on target.  I will need to remember to bring this up at my meeting with Crissy and Roxie.
Deadline: Monday July 13, 2010 9:00 am.