Navigating politics and learning to let go of past responsibilities were among the most unexpected aspects of their positions
Richard Carranza — Chancellor, New York City Department of Education
I’ve been principal in two different schools in two different states, so my heart’s really in the classroom, in the schools themselves. But it’s important that if anybody’s going to become a superintendent, you realize that you also have a good array of political issues that you’re going to have to deal with, [from] elected officials [and] individuals that are not elected but have considerable political clout and could affect the initiatives or agenda that you have.
Suzanne Lacey — Superintendent, Talladega County Schools
a thing I struggled with the most was just letting go of the jobs that I had done before.
Glenn Robbins — Superintendent, Tabernacle Township School District
“No one ever made a difference by being like everyone else.” An organization is either run by visionaries or operators. Which are you?
Leadership is a privilege. Serve others each day with a positive attitude. How strong are your relationships with not only your board of education and administrative team, but also the teachers association? Relationships and communication are first. Everything else comes second.
Stay true to the district’s goals and values. Remember to embrace the infinite game, and not chase the external finite game. Focus within, not external. Coach, mentor, support and challenge. Be the leader that creates more leaders, not produces more soldiers.
Introduction (5-10 min)
Plamen: http://web.stcloudstate.edu/pmiltenoff/faculty/
students: interests and related information
Group assignment (5-10 min)
Effective communication strategies. List 3-5 and discuss the pros and cons (what makes them effective and are there any impediments, limitations)
Class discussion on effective communication strategies: based on the group work findings, how do you think digital storytelling may be [can it be] an effective communication tool
What is Storytelling? How does it differ from Digital Storytelling?
Rossiter & Garcia (2010) consider “digital stories are short vignettes that combine the art of telling stories with multimedia objects including images, audio, and video” (p. 37)
Is Digital Storytelling more then just storytelling on technology steroids?
What is Digital Storytelling (DS) for school leadership? A bibliographic research reveals a plenitude of research on DS in the classroom, for educators, but not much for educational leaders.
Guajardo, Oliver, Rodrigez, Valcez, Cantu, & Guajardo (2011) view digital storytelling for emerging educational leaders as “as a process for data creation, analysis, and synthesis.”
There is information for corporate leaders or community leaders and DS, but not much for ed leaders.
Let’s create our own understanding of digital storytelling for educational leaders.
Basic definitions, concepts and processes.
Learn about Web 1.0 versus Web 2.0; the Cloud; transliteracy and multiliteracy
Multimodal Literacy refers to meaning-making that occurs through the reading, viewing, understanding, responding to and producing and interacting with multimedia and digital texts. It may include oral and gestural modes of talking, listening and dramatising as well as writing, designing and producing such texts. The processing of modes, such as image, words, sound and movement within texts can occur simultaneously and is often cohesive and synchronous. Sometimes specific modes may dominate.
group work (15-20) min
split in groups of 3: an ed leader, a media specialist (or teacher with technology background) and a teacher (to represent a school committee on community relations)
you have 5 min to research (Internet, access to school resources) and 5-10 min to come up with a strategy for use of digital storytelling for expanding and improving community relationship
Base your strategy on existing examples.
E.g.:
Do the following electronic resources regarding this particular educational institution relay digital story: http://strideacademy.org/ https://www.facebook.com/StrideAcademy/ https://twitter.com/search?q=Stride%20Academy%20Charter%20School&src=tyah https://youtu.be/eekIUqMQ4v0
What do you like?
What would you do differently?
Digital Storytelling for building, expanding, improving community relations – final thoughts
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literature:
Rossiter, M., & Garcia, P. A. (2010). Digital storytelling: A new player on the narrative field.
New Directions For Adult & Continuing Education, 2010(126), 37-48. http://login.libproxy.stcloudstate.edu/login?qurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.
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