Amplified Administrator Digital Portfolio

                                                                      Amplified Administrator

Digital Portfolio

Through my participation in the first semester of the AWSA / WASDA Amplified Administrator program, I have gained new understandings and skills in several relevant and enriching areas.  In many ways, I have learned of a whole new virtual world out there and, through Brad Sarron's wonderful insight, guidance and encouragement, I have gained greater confidence to "step into the stream."

Image Courtesy of itsawriterthing.tumbir.com

Here is some of the more visible evidence of my learning in this course:

Blogging

I established a professional blog entitled School Leadership Matters.  I like the double meaning of the title.  I also appreciate how it allows me space for my own views on education while also linking to my role as an AWSA Leader, where our mantra has long been "Because Leadership Matters."  This post will mark my ninth one via this blog.  I share my posts via Twitter.  Many are versions of articles I submit to members through our AWSA newsletter.  On several occasions these have been retweeted.  I also have received a few comments to posts on my site.   My blog url is http://joeschroeder23.blogspot.com.

Diigo

I also have established a virtual library via Diigo.  This has helped me see how powerfully information can be gathered via the web.  I need to make sure to build new habits to go to this account more often, though, so that I can better leverage the potential.  My diigo url is https://www.diigo.com/user/joes2326.

Twitter

I first established a Twitter account over a year ago, but then it remained silent.  I took the leap forward with activating this account during our second class meeting in March.  Since then, I have made 24 tweets, am following 101 people and have 100 people following me.  Like so many tools we learned, this one has enormous potential, especially for someone in my role.  As is the case with Diigo, I need to build and deepen emerging habits to go to my Twitter account and use it more often.  

Reflections

Through this course, I certainly have a better understanding of how a PLN can be cultivated, the benefits for one both personally and professionally, and where leverage points exist.  While I have learned a lot, I know that I am still just scratching the surface.  Fortunately, there are many wonderful exemplars among educators across the globe, including some mighty examples here in Wisconsin that I can draw upon for continued growth.  These are individuals I particularly want to focus upon through Twitter and other tools in order to help grow my PLN into a powerful part of my professional and personal world.

Overall, this course has helped me see a whole other world of ideas, conversations, reflections, and inspiration.  By diving in, I am able to better find my own voice and the means to share it.  I also am beginning to see a host of different tools through which I can differentiate my message and connect with folks with myriad interests and foci more effectively.  

If a lot of what and who you become is who you hang around with, the quality of thinkers and doers in my emerging PLN are going to make me a whole lot more of an enlightened educator and leader.  Thank you, Brad!  The journey continues!

The Rest Makes the Rhythm

Image courtesy of arts.brighton.ac.uk

I came upon a recent blog by Steven Soderberg that spoke to the breakneck speed of living these days.  Among several good analogies, his most resonant to me was where he likens life during earlier chapters of his journey to a drumbeat, with its own rhythms, fast or slow -- depending on the day and season.  At least that's how it used to be, he claims.  In contrast, now the pace of life seems to race by so quickly (with little to no relief) that we often struggle to any longer distinguish the beat -- for lack of a pause.  Rather, given the rapid beating of life's drum, he asserts, all we can generally discern now is some sort of hum.  Hmmmmm....

Reflecting on this led Soderberg to a book by Douglas Rushkoff called Present Shock, which named the ailment from which Steven (and our nation?) is suffering.  Rushkoff described the conditions for present shock as follows:  "When there's no linear time, how is a person supposed to figure out what's going?  There's no story, no narrative to explain why things are the way things are.  Previously, distinct causes and effects collapsed into one another.  There's no time between doing something and seeing the result.  Instead the results begin accumulating and influencing us before we've even completed an action.  And there's so much information coming in at once from so many different sources that there's simply no way to trace the plot over time."

Now, I know that having the world available at my fingertips 24/7/365 is a wonderful gift.  But like any gift, too much of it can be a bad thing.  For example, as a musician, I know that the rest or pause in a measure is often as important to the rhythm (and the music) as are the notes.  In fact, if we force more notes into the measures we play (to the point where no rests occur), rather than creating better music, at some point we cross a threshold where our devoted efforts result instead into some sort of cacophony. 

And we are designed to be reflective creatures.  So all this stimulus and connectivity is a wonderful gift. But at regular intervals, we need to intentionally disconnect, provide some pause to the world around us -- and take some time to connect the parts of our selves that can grow through all this interaction with the world around us.  In other words, we need to slow down at intervals to allow the rest and rhythm of life to provide its sweet music to our souls.  

Overall, I don't argue for or against the "on-demand/always on" world in which we live.  Rather, I advocate for all us creatures interacting with it to take intentional effort to build in margins for pause, reflection and integration.  Then we are better positioned to not miss a beat!