Assignment 2: Digital Leadership Through Personal Growth

I've always thought of myself as one to embrace change but when I think about my role as a mentor and the extent to which I've helped lead for digital change, I've fallen short...thus far. Sure, I've employed the typical plethora of technology with my teachers such as providing a crash course to essential district technology, communicating through email and newsletters, and sending the occasional link to professional articles. However I could hardly classify these as examples of the kind of digital change that Sheninger (2014) speaks of in his book. So what's missing? I would have say that the missing ingredient is my own personal embracing of the scope of technologies and their educational power. I've often felt overwhelmed at the sheer volume of technologies that exist and the ability to stay up-to-date on all of it. Although I engage in the use of technologies, I often question whether it is enough. The result of this has been a hidden fear. A fear of change similar to one of the roadblocks that Sheninger outlines in chapter 3. All of this has kept me from helping lead the digital change which I hope to see within the teachers I work with. It's a fear of failure in my ability to lead others into a world in which I'm don't feel fully confident myself. 

 The learning from this course and the reading by Sheninger has me inspired to want to learn from my previous digital shortcomings and become a catalyst for digital change. In order to start this growth process, I plan to take immediate action on two critical steps. The first is to begin increasing my own personal technology capacity. This action relates strongly to what Sheninger depicts as the starting point that Dr. Spike Cook took when he began his journey of leading digital change in his building; becoming aware and connected with various technologies. Engaging in the process (which I've already begun through this course) will not only help me gain confidence, it also gives me the ability to model the lifelong learning that I expect of the teachers I work with. This kind of personal learning is an example of a leader modeling lifelong learning which aligns with what Fullan (2008) describes as one of the Six Secrets of Change (Change 4: Learning Is the Work). The second action step that I plan to engage in to improve my digital leadership is to develop another blog as a resource for the new teachers I mentor. I envision this blog being a place to house informational resources, messages of inspiration, as well as being a tool for teachers to collaborate and learn with each other. It is my hope that this blog will be a starting point for achieving of a number of additional goals related to the Six Secrets of Change. For example, one of the Secrets of Change talks about connecting peers with purpose. This blog will be a place that new teachers can go to collaborate around specific instructional and technology issues. The creation of this blog also is a vehicle that demonstrates some of Sheninger's Pillars of Digital Leadership. For example, it will be a very effective tool for communication (Pillar 1). Not only will I be able to communicate with teachers but they will be able to communicate with each other around professional practice. Additionally, it  connects with  branding (Pillar 3). I want my teachers to know who I am, what inspires me, and my views on education. This blog will be a perfect place to aid in this kind of intentional branding. Ultimately, I hope this blog can be one step in helping me reach NETS-A standard 4 (providing digital age leadership and management to continuously improve the organization through effective use of information and technology). 

In closing, when I think about my own journey of improvement for digital leadership, I'm reminded of a quote by legendary coach John Wooden. Wooden once said, "Failure isn't fatal, but failure to change might be."