Prepare a personal charter lesson plan

Prepare a personal charter lesson plan

Teacher: Jason Henderson

Subject: Organizational leadership

Grade Level: Adult, 11-12th grade, or 9-10^th grade gifted/talented students

Duration: 2-3 days

State Standards Texas:

To be determined.

Learning Goals:

·      Identify a mission statement

·      Identify a vision statement

·      Identify a values statement

·      Identify a strategy

·      Identify operating goals

·      Employ Web tools to collaborate on strategic thinking

·      Employ Web conferencing software to communicate with peers

·      Synthesize the elements of a charter into a strategic plan for personal development

Estimation of student interest, prior knowledge, and misconceptions:

Adults taking this class will have an interest in leadership and/or have leadership experience. Their primary desire is to become better leaders or move up in their organization. Some may have an interest in training other leaders within their organization. Some of them will have participated in writing mission and vision statements for their organizations or departments. Others will be completely new to the idea of charters. This specific lesson may not be of particular interest to them, but it is key to their leadership development. This lesson will help them clarify and articulate where they are going as leaders.

If used in a high school class, prior knowledge will be limited to student organization experience, sports teams, and school clubs. Some may think of charter planes or charter schools when approaching the term. Once they understand it is a collection of foundational statements, they will understand the task before them.

Strategy to grab attention and address misconceptions:

In order to get their attention, I will need to emphasize the importance of visioning and developing a personal plan of action for their lives. I will need to clearly illustrate the benefits of working through a personal charter. They will need to see it more than a gimmick exercise in a leadership class.

Required materials, technology, and resources:

Computers with high-speed Internet connections, Google accounts, access to Google Docs, Skype, Skype accounts, Illuminate, lesson handouts, and Google forms.

Clawson, James G. (2009). Level three leadership: Getting below the surface (4th ed.). NJ: Pearson.

Introduction:

A charter consists of several statements that give direction and identity to an organization. It is revised and clarified over time as the organization grows and as the environment changes. A charter can also be developed for an individual. The elements of a charter my lesson will cover are mission, vision, values statement, strategy, and operating goals. We will begin with an individual charter because it precedes an organizational charter. A leader must know where they are going before they can successfully lead an organization or team.

Guiding Question/Motivator:

How do you know if you are or are not exactly where you need to be in your professional career/life paths?

Lesson Description and Activities:

I prefer the hybrid approach to technology in the classroom; mix live, interpersonal active learning with Web environment interactions. Students will record their brainstorming ideas on Google Docs, because it is a free, Web based application that allows for real-time observation and feedback on work. Google Docs facilitates collaboration. The students will present their charters using Skype, because it illustrates a real world activity of presenting to a universal audience through Web conferencing software. This task will be likely repeated many times over in the corporate world with many different messages. Adobe connect requires a paid subscription (cost-prohibitive) or a 30-day free trial request. Illuminate is only used in academic settings (limited use). Skype is free and readily used by a number of industries. Students will give presentation feedback using Google Forms.

Prior to class, the student will be required to read Clawson (2009), Chapter 8, Personal, Workgroup, and Organizational Charters (15 pages).

Day 1: Identify the elements of a charter

Students will discuss the initial concepts presented in the book through facilitated discussion. (3-5 minutes)

Videos and active learning exercises

(38-40 minutes)

Identify a mission statement

Students will watch a 4-minute video from YouTube and take notes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtyCt83JLNY

They would then be given 3 minutes to reflect personally and write out initial thoughts on Google Docs. The teacher will call “time” at the end of the 3-minute interval and play the next video.

Identify a vision statement

Students will watch a 5-minute video from YouTube and take notes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioY-YSOKBtY

Again, they would then be given 3 minutes to reflect personally and write out initial thoughts. The teacher will call “time” at the end of the 3-minute interval and play the next video.

Identify a values statement

Students will watch a 5-minute video from YouTube and take notes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCDlozomQiY

Again, they would then be given 3 minutes to reflect personally and write out initial thoughts on Google Docs. The teacher will call “time” at the end of the 3-minute interval and play the next video.

Identify a strategy

Students will watch a 4-minute video from YouTube and take notes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inBaHOPZREQ

Again, they would then be given 3 minutes to reflect personally and write out initial thoughts on Google Docs. The teacher will call “time” at the end of the 3-minute interval and play the next video.

Identify operating goals

Students will watch a 5-minute video from YouTube and take notes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uThBb3kGf4k
Again, they would then be given 3 minutes to reflect personally and write out initial thoughts on Google Docs. The teacher will call “time” at the end of the 3-minute interval.

Small group active learning exercise

(16-18 minutes)

Next, students would be broken down into groups of three. Each student would present/share their ideas for their five statements to the other two group members using Google Docs. They will give editing rights to their group members on their Google document. The other group members would have 5 minutes to give feedback and suggestions for their ideas directly in the document using a different color font. The teacher will call “next statement” at the end of each minute and time at the end of each 5-minute interval. This ensures equal time and opportunity for each student.

Homework for Day 1

For homework, the students would refine their initial thoughts based on peer feedback and prepare a PowerPoint or Google Docs presentation for the next class period. They will be required to keep the original document with the feedback and create a separate revised document so the evolution of ideas can be traced.

The students would rate their peers constructive comments using Google Forms with each question on a Likert-type scale.

The students will be provided additional links to websites through my Delicious stack for the lesson. The stack includes:

Sample charters

http://flowchainsensei.amplify.com/2010/06/24/helping-people-my-own-personal-charter/

Sample personal mission statements
http://www.wou.edu/education/faculty/mahaffy/Personal%20Mission%20Statement.html

Sample vision statements

http://www.skills2lead.com/vision-statement-examples.html

Sample life purpose

http://www.riches-for-teachers.com/lifepurpose.html

Sample teaching philosophy statement (for educational leaders)

http://www.celt.iastate.edu/teaching/philosophy.html

Students will be prepared to present, they will have tested their technology prior to class.

Day 2: Synthesis and presentation of a personal charter

(45-60 minutes)

Each student will have 3 minutes to present his or her charter. The students will bring their laptops with built-in cameras on the day of the presentation, or they can prerecord the message and deliver the video over the Web in a blog. The students would watch each other’s presentation on their individual monitor.

Homework for Day 2

Students will create blog posts on their personal blogs that include their presentations and/or final documents. Each student will be required to provide constructive feedback on 3 peer presentations (150 words minimum).

Assessment:

Student learning will be assessed through their final written charters and their presentations. It will be very clear if the students learned the concepts when it is time for them to synthesize them and present their own ideas. Their ability to use technology will be assessed through observation of the live presentations. The group will quickly realize if a peer is uncomfortable with or is unprepared to use technology when it is their time to present to the class. I will focus on the apparent level of confidence using technology as well as their ability to present their statements with conviction.

Sample survey questions:

How well did the group member give clear feedback and suggestions?

How helpful was their comments?

How interested were they in your ideas?

Accommodations and Modifications:

Since this is a hybrid class, I would not require a student’s physical presence in my class. They would have the opportunity to participate remotely through Skype, FaceTime (Mac and iPhone), or another Web conferencing tool such as Adobe Connect. If there are more than 20 students, the presentations can be broken into a 2-day time period.

Grading Scale:
90 – 100          = A
80 – 89            = B
75 – 79            = C
70 – 74            = D
0 – 69              = F

Thoughts on integrating podcasts in my teaching

I can use podcasts in my teaching in a variety of ways. I could use them as an extension of my classes, providing additional material to my students who would like to learn more about the subject. My current experience using podcasts has been to teach internationally via the Web. I have received feedback from Liberia and the Philippines where educational material is hard to come by. I am sure others have heard my podcasts in other nations according to the Web statistics on my server. I produced one podcast a week for about a year. I built my own podcasting automation Website to make the weekly production easier. Now there are social Web applications prebuilt so teachers do not have to build their own.

My grade level is college age adults or high school seniors and my topic is leadership. As leaders, we must be able to clearly communicate our vision to our team, organization, or group. Podcasts could be one method of communicating and teaching others with “reach back” capabilities.

For my hybrid or online courses, I could use podcasts to keep the human element of teaching in the course. I could record the introduction of each lesson and set the tone of the research they would be doing. I could podcast special instructions to projects so students would not be limited to reading everything themselves as in many online courses.

For presentations, I could have the students create podcasts of their presentation and present it on the Web. Students could write responses to each peer podcast. Another option would be to have students’ podcast their responses to readings and research. They could be given the freedom to create dialogue podcasts where they could take opposing viewpoints and create a single cast. This would require the students to meet somewhere to record the podcast.

Just from my brief research on the podcasts offered on the Apple iTunes store. There is a great need for good and consistent podcast for Educational Technology and Education in general. Many of the podcasts are from 2008 and others are just poor quality, desktop publishing. We as teachers can raise the bar. We know what “professional” looks and sounds like. We need to pay attention to the details and invest five more minutes into our production; our students will know the difference.

A response to “Use of audio podcast in K-12 and higher education”

I just finished reading Khe Foon Hew’s (2009) article, “Use of audio podcast in K-12 and higher education: a review of research topics and methodologies”. There were many findings that caught my attention. First, and most importantly, Hew (2009) found no correlation between listening to podcasts and improving learning outcomes. Students reported that they liked the fact they could “listen to specific material they had missed or did not understand multiple times,” (Hew, 2009, p. 344) but liking did not affect learning. Since, the majority of the studies were done at traditional “brick and mortar” institutions instead of online distance learning (DL) courses and that the subject areas where highly technical and/or scientific, this may have affected the results. I think studies should use DL learners to test podcasts. Another interesting finding, which may have also been skewed by the traditional audience, was that students preferred to listen to podcasts on their PC at home versus on a mobile device or in the car. In conclusion, I feel podcasts can be used as a “reach back” for students and to prepare them for the next lecture. There is more to be explored with podcasts, especially with multimedia podcasting.

References
Hew, K. F. (2009). Use of Audio Podcast in K-12 and Higher Education: A Review of Research Topics and Methodologies. Educational Technology Research and Development, 57(3), 333-357.

Lower Valley Ed Tech Podcast

Here is my test podcast

More thoughts on a technology integration lesson

Like I said in the previous post, my subject is organizational leadership, the grade is undergraduate adults (or high school seniors), and the lesson topic is “prepare a personal charter.” A charter consists of several statements that give direction and identity to an organization. It is revised and clarified over time as the organization grows and as the environment changes. A charter can also be developed for an individual. The elements of a charter my lesson will cover are mission, vision, values statement, strategy, and operating goals. I am leaning now toward individual charter versus the previously mentioned organizational charter. A leader must know where they are going before they can successfully lead an organization or team.

The learning goals are to identify a mission statement, identify a vision statement, identify a values statement, identify a strategy, identify operating goals, employ Web tools to collaborate on strategic thinking, employ Web conferencing software to communicate with peers, synthesize the concepts of a charter into a strategic plan for personal development.

I prefer the hybrid approach to technology in the classroom, mix live, interpersonal active learning with Web environment interactions. Students will record their brainstorming ideas on Google Docs, because it is a free, Web based application that allows for real-time observation and feedback on work. Google Docs facilitates collaboration. The students will present their charters using Skype, because it illustrates a real world activity of presenting to a universal audience through Web conferencing software. This task will be likely repeated many times over in the corporate world with many different messages. Adobe connect requires a paid subscription (cost-prohibitive) or a 30-day free trial request. Illuminate is only used in academic settings (limited use). Skype is free and readily used by a number of industries. Students will give presentation feedback using Google Forms.

A scenario of how the students will use technology may look like the following. Students would first be presented with the concepts in a facilitated discussion format. Next, students would be broken down into groups of three. They would be given a few minutes to reflect personally and write out initial thoughts on each of the statements. They would then be required to begin presenting ideas for their statements on Google Docs. Their peers would use the chat function to give feedback. Each person would be given the same amount of time to present and receive feedback from their peers. For homework, the students would refine their initial thoughts based on peer feedback and prepare a presentation for the next class period. The students would bring their laptops with built-in cameras on the day of the presentation, or they could prerecord the message and deliver the video over the Web in a blog. The students would rate their peers using sort Google Forms.

Student learning will be assessed by the written and presented charters. It will be very clear if the students learned the concepts when it is time for them to synthesize them and present their own ideas. Their ability to use technology will be assessed through observation. The group will quickly realize if a peer is uncomfortable with or is unprepared to use technology when it is their time to present to the class.

Initial thoughts on a technology integration lesson

For my technology integration lesson, my grade level is adult at the undergraduate level (it could with select high school seniors) and the subject is organizational leadership. The topic is “prepare a mission, vision, values statement, and operating goals.” The students will brainstorm, develop, write, and present these four items for an organization they would like to lead. Instead of having them present in front of the classroom, I will have them present via Skype or Adobe Connect. This would be a real world activity, because many organizations are global and it is not realistic to fly everyone into the same place and present the vision at once. This activity will allow students to be creative in leveraging technology as leaders to solve organizational communication problems.

In addition to the four statements, students must consider backdrop, lighting, and setting and how they affect the message. If they are unprepared or fumble through the presentation their credibility may be weakened. To help the students develop the concepts for their statements I will have them use concept mapping software and post their ideas to their blog or simply have them use Google Docs so the other students can provide feedback and offer suggestions. More and more is required of leaders and teachers as leaders as far as technology is concerned. Yes we should be expert communicators both orally and written, but we also must know how to leverage technology. We do not have to know how it works (I still don’t understand how grains of sand compute everything I use my Apple computer for and I am a programmer), but we must understand the principles of how to use it affectively and how to stay current. We also need to be able to “feel out” a technology to see if it is just a fad (remember the laserdisc and zip drives). Organizations and schools waste millions on trash technology with a one-year shelf life. We must be good stewards. Yes it is a lot to ask of people.

Improving TPACK in the classroom

There are three areas of the Pedagogical Technological Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework I need to improve for effective technology integration in the classroom: pedagogical content knowledge, technological pedagogical knowledge, and technological content knowledge. Mishra and Koehler (2006) define them as follows: pedagogical content knowledge refers to “teaching approaches fit the content…knowing how elements of the content can be arranged for better teaching;” technological pedagogical knowledge is “knowledge of the existence, components, and capabilities of various technologies as they are used in teaching and learning settings, and conversely, knowing how teaching might change as the result of using particular technologies;” and technological content knowledge is “knowledge about the manner in which technology and content are reciprocally related.”

I know technology, especially Web technology; it comes naturally to me. I have been a Web technologist, with experience with hardware, software, networks, and programming, for more than 16 years. I have been a teacher in the El Paso community for about the same amount of time. I have been told I have a gift for both areas. I have also been told I am very knowledgeable in the subjects I teach. Through self-reflection inspired by the articles I have read on TPACK, I realize I am lacking in the linking of the three areas. They are not flowing as they should in curriculum design and delivery. The default technology for online classes has been the discussion board. At the Academy, I build highly interactive course material that evokes active learning. However, I think I can do better and could do better to help bring technology to the classroom for lecture type settings. I also need to know how to better teach each subject according to best practices. Every subject should not be taught the same way.

Leadership concepts form

Using wiki’s in the classroom

Kay Teehan (2010) offered several suggestions on what type and how to implement wiki’s in the classroom in her book Wikis: The educator’s power tool. She suggested a library wiki, a reciprocal wiki, a student-produced wiki, and activities to implement them. I work with adult learners who have experience and opinion to share. Although they may vary in their technical skills, I believe a wiki would be a good alternative to the Blackboard threaded discussion system. Threaded discussions do not provide a final product. They are more like a collection of public emails threaded together in a message board. Wikis offer the ability to create a final product. In my class I could use a reciprocal wiki. Teehan (2010) defines a reciprocal wiki as one, which “invites user participation in completing a task, making lists, collecting documentation, and exchanging ideas.” I would setup a case study situation on a particular leadership situation or ethical dilemma commonly faced by leaders. I would break my class into groups of four or five and assign them roles. I would present the problem and ask open-ended questions to help them evaluate the case. They would be required to use the wiki to discuss and argue their points of view. I would require they cite their sources in APA format and to present supporting evidence for their ideas. The wiki would allow the groups to see how their case research and discussions evolved over time. They would be able to track how thought processes changed and were influenced by others.

The future leaders could take the knowledge of using wikis to their professional organizations. They would be able to use the principles learned as an alternative to the email project management system. Wiki’s are transferable from the classroom to the corporation. The problem solving skills and collaborative, critical thinking platform are practical in both sectors.

Web magazines to get ahead of the rest

In order to help you keep a competitive edge over your peers, I recommend two web magazines that cover what is on the horizon with Web technology. They are primarily written for Web designers and developers, but there is plenty of good articles for business and education as well. They focus on best practices.

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/

http://www.alistapart.com/

Blogs as educational tools

Deng and Yuen (2010) proposed a four dimensional framework for blog use: “self-expression, self-reflection, social-interaction, and reflective dialogue.”

In the adult learner classroom, blogs would work well because adult students have experience and expertise to share on various topics. They are more confident to communicate and want to share what they know. They have an emotional investment into their experiences. The content would be focused on educational leadership: leaders as teachers and teachers as leaders. The Army currently uses threaded discussions to train leader/educators. Non-commissioned officers are the primary educators for Soldiers. I would have my students blog about ways that adults serve as both leader and teacher within the community, in private and public industry, and other areas outside of the military. What are the implications of being a leader/teacher in the larger context of society? How can we shape the community through mentoring others? The capstone project would be to develop a leader/teacher program to train adults in the community sector. The blog would allow the students to post their ideas of various elements of their plan.

De Almeida Soares (2008) stated obstacles to blogs included “lack of free time at home” or other “technical issues” and suggested creating a blogging tutorial to give at the beginning of the class. Most adult learners will have a learning curve unless they are technologists already. I too would create a tutorial to blogging. Currently the first two courses Army online learners take are “Introduction to Blackboard” and “Introduction to the Army Leader Graphical User Interface.” We make sure they know what all the buttons do before releasing them on the system.

To address the issue of “lack of free time at home” I would recommend that students use their smart phones to read blogs during down times such as waiting in line. (Blackboard threaded discussions would make this a painful experience.)

Blogs are unique in their ability for personalization and expression of identity, thoughts, and feelings. This allows for a deeper investment of thought and time. Threaded discussions belong to Blackboard or another learning management system, blogs are personally owned (for free). Threaded discussions are only available for a semester; blogs are permanent (Richardson, 2010). Threaded discussions are limited in the content that can be attached; blogs are Web 2.0 standards compliant (means freedom to express with multimedia).

Blog reading is important for personal confirmation (“am I on the right track?”) as well as gaining new ideas from peers instead of emotionally distant, journal articles.

Deng and Yuen (2010) identified weak comments (less in-depth) to blog posts. Threaded discussions usually reap deeper responses because of how the rules are structured. I would apply similar guidelines to commenting on blogs as well as teach blog owners to probe the “I liked your post” commenters by instructing them to ask “why” or “what specifically resonated with you.”

Richardson (2010) states that blogging is continued conversation and synthesis; it requires evaluation of blog posts for accuracy and trustworthiness as well as self-evaluation. This puts blogging on the highest level of Bloom’s (1956) Taxonomy and Anderson and Krathwohl (2000) Taxonomy if done right. Blogging can improve critical thinking as well as broaden the minds of teacher/leaders. Students recognize connections to content and will increase their understanding of networking and collaboration (Richardson, 2010).

I think blogging would work well; it would also give teacher/leaders a technical skill to teach to others in the community.

Three educational blogs to follow are:

Online Learning Update
http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/onlinelearning/
News and research from the University of Illinois at Springfield

Free technology for Teachers
http://www.freetech4teachers.com/
Free Resources and Lesson Plans for Teaching with Technology

Mr. C's Class Blog
http://mrcsclassblog.blogspot.com/
The Official Blog of Mr. C's Class at Noel Elementary School! Modeling the use of technology to teachers and students.

A response to Teaching the iGeneration

Rosen (2011) suggested that “teachers relegate much of the content dissemination to technology” to free up time to facilitate learning. He suggests having the students review content as homework and do the work in class. I think it is a great idea and will improve the quality of our kid’s education. This would work with students whose parents can afford the $100 monthly data plan and smart phone or personal computer with high-speed Internet service. However, according to a 2003 technical report from IPED, only 35.1-42.9% of El Pasoans had Internet access. The digital divide in El Paso would only allow certain economic classes to use this method of teaching. Is it right to hold back the financially able to be fair to the unable? Who should pay for the other half of the population? Tough questions for the policy makers to answer.

Rosen (2011) also stated, “Technology is all about engagement…we can clearly see that they [children and teens] are engaged.” True, but we need to look at “why” they are engaged. All but one of the technologies mentioned were social media technologies. One could argue that even games are social media once you add a “live” account. They have the ability to chat or talk with friends while playing your favorite game.

 What we need to do as educators is apply what we have learned from the addictive social interactions that make technology so exciting, and design our active learning experiences based on their best practices. It is not the technology that is important to them (most don’t understand “how” it works); it is what the technology allows them to do with their friends and their time.

The linking experience

UTEP.edu

The Web 2.0 classroom

 To answer what a Web 2.0 classroom looks, I must first describe what it does not look like. It doesn’t look like the traditional independent desks aligned in rows with the chalkboard and teacher’s desk in front. Nor does it look like a computer lab with rows of giant CRT monitors obstructing the view from other students. Web 2.0 is accessible, participatory, and social. The classroom does not necessarily have to have walls or “brick and mortal.” The classroom could be the quiet spaces where the students escape, however with Internet access. Physical classrooms could be rearranged in circular “clouds” to facilitate sharing of ideas with their classmates. Students would use smaller form factor laptops that take up less space and are portable. Students would be encouraged to move and share their ideas with other “clouds” in the class as well as other classrooms, schools, and nations. Teachers would be cross-trained in technology and would have the confidence to be technological leaders in the classroom. Instead of posting reports and drawing in the hallways of schools, work would be posted on the Web to share with other students. Work could be organized according to topic and grade. There would be a shared, multi-cultural learning experience. Students could see how others interpreted the same project from different perspectives in different regions of the U.S. and abroad.

Creating a technology-rich constructivist classroom requires money first and foremost. It requires training and, if applied globally, it would require removing non-conforming teachers. Lawsuits and a host of teacher union problems would ensue with that route. The simplest method would be starting the classrooms one at a time with federal, state, and district administrators supporting individual teachers incorporating Web 2.0 technology in the classroom. Web safety nets would have to be in place as well as a campaign to educate parents on Web 2.0 technology, benefits, dangers, and was to mitigate those dangers. Supporting research and documentation should be provided to parents. Also to help educate parents, schools could offer free classes on Web 2.0 technology. Teachers could be required to have profiles on LinkedIn, hiring could require access to the profile and resume instead of posting resume’s in the traditional HR website.

There are no easy answers for the Web 2.0 classroom, but I believe it must begin with administrators giving freedom to the teachers and teachers taking the next step with the freedom. And of course, money.

Welcome to the world's most awesome blog

A bit pretentious. OK, just another blog. This blog has been created for UTEP's EDT 5372 Web tools for the Constructivist Classrooms course. The course teaches teachers how to apply Web 2.0 technology in the K-12 classroom.