One of my all time favorite quotes came from a Disney movie. I’m not talking about the cutesy cartoons that millions of people have entertained over the years, but instead “Remember the Titans.” This football based movie was in fact about how these young men from different backgrounds, guided by their leader, their coach, learned to quell their desire for segregation in order to reach a common goal. While there was much pressure from their parents and friends to remain segregated, the young men finally had a mini-argument that ended up being the turning point in their racial tensions. The shortened version goes as follows.
Julius - ... I’m supposed to wear myself out for the team? What team?! No, No. What I’m gonna do is, I’m gonna look out for myself, and I’m gonna get mine.
Gerry: See, man? That’s the worst attitude I ever heard.
Julius: Attitude reflects leadership, Captain.
(Remember the Titans)
I have thought about that final line many times. If I am viewed as a leader in my school and community, my responsibility is to get my students to grow. How can I get them to grow if I am stagnate myself?
I want to get my Master’s degree in Digital Leading and Learning so I can continue to help grow all of those around me. I know that it will not be easy trying to balance family, work, and extracurricular activities while completing this degree, but I believe a person’s true character is revealed in the most stressful situations. I am willing to grow. Attitude reflects leadership.
While learning to master the teaching techniques involving COVA and CSLE, Blended Learning and Disruptive Innovations, my future goal is to become a principal. If I am in a position to lead other teachers in the field of digital learning and innovation, I have an opportunity to change lives for the better. I want teachers to be innovative. I want teachers to have the freedom and flexibility to teach their students how to solve real world problems. I want to make teaching fun again.
I was always told that a goal of mine should be to win the prestigious Teacher of the Year award. Last school year, before the Covid 19 situation, I was voted by my peers as the Teacher of the Year. It was a proud moment because we are a large school with some amazing teachers/educators. I believe that some of my innovative practices were starting to circulate around the school and it potentially inspired other teachers.
Some of the projects that I’ve created in the past were designed to teach my 10th grade students about English Language Arts in a nontraditional format. I applied for and won a mini-grant that would supply me with 2 Ipads. I began using the Ipads to have days where my students would use the APP called Periscope. This app allowed us to communicate with people all over the world during our class period in real time. Students were able to speak to people in France, the Middle East, and other countries.
I also borrowed an idea from a national award winning teacher named Raif Esquith. He gave me the idea about teaching economics, leadership, and work ethic in the classroom through a classroom economy system. I modified his idea to fit my campus, but the general idea was that students treated the classroom like a career. There were 2 classroom supervisors, 4 team leads, and the rest were regular workers. The students were virtually paid to do their classwork every day and received bonuses based on their performance.
The supervisors would communicate with me a week in advance and use their technology to study the material and get ahead. They then would communicate with their respective team leads the information that they learned so the leads could in turn teach the regular workers/students. Team leads had groups that they taught, and if they received an A or a B on an assignment, they received a bonus that day. The students were allowed to save their digital money and use it to buy real prizes that I either purchased or allowed.
The problem is trying to grow once I have become comfortable. I did reach a major goal in becoming teacher of the year, but now I have to set new goals. I can’t allow my methods, my passion or my own learning become stagnant because I would be settling and no longer striving for excellence.
With an ever changing wave of technological advancements infiltrating our school systems, I feel it is my responsibility to learn how to best utilize what we are given in order to maximize the students’ potential. If I am viewed as a leader, I have to have the attitude that I will do whatever it takes to be better in my career. My attitude should reflect my leadership.
Sources
Yakin, B., Rousselot, P., Stenson, M., Flynn, M., Bruckheimer, J., Oman, C., Howard, G. A., ... Buena Vista Home Entertainment (Firm),. (2001). Remember the Titans.
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