6B. Activity
Collaboration, Collaboration, Collaboration
There is no doubt that collaboration is of paramount importance in any work environment, and particularly in education. A Professional Learning Leader is looked to by both teachers, as well as administrations and sometimes, school boards, for guidance and thoughtful, forward-thinking ideas. It then becomes just as important to be able to collaborate with all of your educational environment's stakeholders to communicate your vision. You have been trusted to craft a vision, now you need to be able to bring others' voices into the conversation with the knowledge that that may further refine your vision.
In addition, the more people with whom you authentically share your vision and ask for feedback, the more voice you provide to those individuals, so it is important that you choose trusted people to give honest, critical feedback.
The process of honing your vision with others to ensure consistency and alignment with larger missions, visions, values and goals is quite possibly an endless process. Eventually, however, that vision needs to stand on its own and you need to prepare to have something that can be published and communicated. At this point, branding should be considered seriously.
Audiences to consider when collaborating with others and communicating your vision (ask yourself: for each of these groups, how will my vision impact their lives?), include but are not limited to:
Consider how your vision will be received by these teams and be sensitive to as many of these teams as possible. Serious consideration needs to be given to crafting a toolbox of professional learning models from which you can implement. Different models for professional learning provide for you and your content to stay relevant. It is necessary that your professional learning leadership not only model what is innovative in your content, but also, and just as importantly, in a variety of implementation. You will get more detail about those models and how to effectively implement them in the next section.
In addition, the more people with whom you authentically share your vision and ask for feedback, the more voice you provide to those individuals, so it is important that you choose trusted people to give honest, critical feedback.
The process of honing your vision with others to ensure consistency and alignment with larger missions, visions, values and goals is quite possibly an endless process. Eventually, however, that vision needs to stand on its own and you need to prepare to have something that can be published and communicated. At this point, branding should be considered seriously.
Audiences to consider when collaborating with others and communicating your vision (ask yourself: for each of these groups, how will my vision impact their lives?), include but are not limited to:
- Students
- Teachers
- School Site Administrators
- District Administrators
- Instructional or Information Technology Departments
- Educational Services or Curriculum & Instruction Departments
- Superintendent(s) and Assistant Superintendent(s)
- School Board
- Parents
- Community Groups
Consider how your vision will be received by these teams and be sensitive to as many of these teams as possible. Serious consideration needs to be given to crafting a toolbox of professional learning models from which you can implement. Different models for professional learning provide for you and your content to stay relevant. It is necessary that your professional learning leadership not only model what is innovative in your content, but also, and just as importantly, in a variety of implementation. You will get more detail about those models and how to effectively implement them in the next section.
Branding
The reason logos and commercial jingles are used, in part, is to provide a reliable message that associates something with (hopefully) positive qualities. You want your vision, or your department's vision, to be easily recognizable and associated with those (hopefully) positive qualities. This may mean that you include elements of your larger organization's logo included in your own, or it may mean you create a new logo using the same colors. Take a look at the following example for an idea - notice how the larger organization's logo is on the left - and one branch's logo is on the right. The county logo is still included in the Technology Services Branch logo to ensure consistent association. Ultimately, your logo should be a visual representation of your vision.
Communicating the Vision
The reason logos and commercial jingles are used, in part, is to provide a reliable message that associates something with (hopefully) positive qualities. You want your vision, or your department's vision, to be easily recognizable and associated with those (hopefully) positive qualities. This may mean that you include elements of your larger organization's logo included in your own, or it may mean you create a new logo using the same colors. Take a look at the following example for an idea - notice how the larger organization's logo is on the left - and one branch's logo is on the right. The county logo is still included in the Technology Services Branch logo to ensure consistent association. Ultimately, your logo should be a visual representation of your vision.There are a variety of ways to communicate your vision. Things to consider when communicating your vision include:
You may want to consider also including your goals and potential deliverables - this is an enormous help for any audience. Theory alone often leaves an audience interested, but with no clear direction. In essence, you are telling a story - here is what we believe, here is where we can go, and here are some clear deliverables.
- Audience, Audience, Audience - Who are they? What are their possible biases? What kinds of questions might they ask, and how can you prepare for those questions?
- Method of communication - Will your audience prefer a casual conversation around a table, or a formal presentation?
- Preparation - What will you need to prepare ahead of time? What, if any, hands-on activities will you want from your participants? Do you need to send them a reminder of the meeting or conversation ahead of time? How far ahead of time?
- Follow-Up - Be sure to include many possible ways for your audience to contact you - what does that include? Website, email and phone are customary, but what about a Facebook page or a Twitter account?
You may want to consider also including your goals and potential deliverables - this is an enormous help for any audience. Theory alone often leaves an audience interested, but with no clear direction. In essence, you are telling a story - here is what we believe, here is where we can go, and here are some clear deliverables.
Activity Instructions
Communicate your vision via presentation. Prepare a presentation using a Web 2.0 tool of your choice and of at least 5 slides. You may choose any adult audience of your choice. Some ideas include a potential employer, potential clientele, district management, school board, school site staff or any other adult audience. Web 2.0 options include, but are not limited to, Google Presentations, Prezi, Sliderocket and Blendspace.