Hi Folks, Jason Thanks for the reminder to post to my Blog. Last Thursday I spent time thinking of what I was going to blog about as I was leaving for the weekend. I even included it in my to do list. I went so far as to create a memory of submitting the blog entry. I would have sworn I did even when Louis sent a note reminded folks to post I pretty much ignored it as it did not pertain to me.

Each summer the Waukesha school District host a Summer Academy in which a large portion is given to a data dive and time to set up school wide Smart goals. It will be interesting to see how this summer goes as the teachers union and district are stuck in a contentious contract dispute.

I wondered how difficult it would be to find data like we are given during the summer. I made two email inquiries and a check of the Waukesha website and I had all the data I could possible use. I had taken some time to analyze the WKCE testing and such and we as a school had set a goal to increase our students % of passing classes. As a new school we did not have a bunch of history or data to compare but we could compare our students to the face-to-face students of the Wuakesha school district. We have made great progress in supporting our students to achieve greater percentage of classes passed. It will be interesting to see how this translates to test scores. We may have to look directly at areas of need in the future.

Blog 1 Leadership and planning 565

Here we are a well over a year from the start looking at the skill and characteristics of good leadership. When I first saw this on the class list frankly it looked out of place. I was taking this course work to improve my online teaching skills. Along the way I have learned how to better communicate and organize my online classroom. I have investigated and explored many helpful online tools. I have learned much about the inner workings of a the computer and how to better use the connectivity of the internet to meet my students learning needs. I could not see how this class would fit in with all the rest.

After working with my cohorts for the better part of two years I do understand how a class on leadership fits in and why it is placed here at the end of the experience. I am not a leader within my district or department but I have read the blogs and have been utterly impressed by the leadership being displayed by many members of this cohort in their home districts.

Many have be driving forces in acquiring and using new proven technologies in their classrooms and at their schools. They have also show initiative in experimenting and implementing more cutting edge technologies as well. I here their passion in their writing and applaud their efforts. It makes sense that after acquiring some skills in this area while not experts in the field we can certainly serve as advocates for proper and productive use of technologies in the classrooms of today and with enrollment of others more of the learning of tomorrow.