I am currently in my very first year of teaching, and feel I have grown so much and learned a lot throughout this year. The school in which I work is a fantastic school; we have a great school community, awesome teacher support, lots of parent involvement, and fantastic students. My principal is also wonderful, and has provided me with much support and many resources over the course of the year. I have been very blessed to work in such a great environment for my first year of teaching!
However, even with all of these great things that my school has, one thing we are lacking is technology. I have one computer in my classroom (my school laptop), a projector, and a smartboard. Students really only use computers during their weekly computer class, and we have no iPads or tablets of any kind. We had WiFi installed in our building just last week, which was very exciting! As a result of this lack of technology, I have received very little in the area of professional development (PD) with regard to technology. During my first year of teaching, I think PD is extremely important, so I definitely would have appreciated more.
The importance of PD cannot be overstated for any teacher, regardless of level of experience. When teachers are continually improving themselves by learning new techniques and teaching strategies, they are becoming more effective teachers, which leads to higher achieving students. This constant PD in the area of technology is especially relevant today, with all of the new advances in technology that are constantly happening.
Throughout my first year of teaching, I have received some PD in the area of discipline, but almost none in technology. This makes sense given our current shortage of resources, but our school did just receive a cart of iPads to share among the building. There are 12 classrooms who will be using them next year, but I have high hopes that I will be able to implement them into many parts of my classroom. I also know we are going to have some PD towards the end of the year about effective use of iPads in the elementary classroom, so I am very excited about that. For example, I'm hoping to set up a guided math system next year with math groups, instead of my current whole group instruction system. This will help me differentiate my math lessons, and one of the stations can be fact practice or concept review on the iPads. I am looking forward to this opportunity, and can't wait to take part in the professional development that goes along with it!
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
Branding in the Hastings Area Schools
These past two weeks, I have been doing a lot of research and digging into what branding is, why it is important to schools, and how to brand a school well. For my project, I decided to compare and contrast the branding efforts of the Hastings Catholic School system with the Hastings Public School system. I was interested in finding results in terms of quality of posts and reach. To find out about a school's branding efforts, I focused completely on social media for this project, because this class is focused on technology.
Both Hastings Catholic Schools (HCS) and Hastings Public Schools (HPS) are K-12 school systems. HCS has two buildings (one middle/high and one elementary), while HPS has seven (one high, one middle, and five elementary). Because enrollment is much higher at HPS, they automatically have a larger reach, because more people are interested in following them on social media. However, quality branding of a school is about more than just number of posts or followers. It should instead be focused on the quality of the posts. The ultimate goal of branding is to tell the story of a school, and to do this, schools need to have a variety of well-rounded posts on social media.
HPS does a much better job than HCS in terms of telling the story of the school. For example, the most recent posts made by HCS include mostly high school extracurricular highlights, with a few mentions of the elementary school. Meanwhile, the most recent posts from HPS include a teacher highlight, technology updates at the high school, as well as updates from the high school and middle school extracurricular activities. Overall, it is important that social media coming from schools tells the story of the school by sharing well-rounded, accurate, and positive posts about what is happening at school. In this way, people involved in the school system, as well as those from outside, can learn the story of the school by the way it is portrayed on social media.
Both Hastings Catholic Schools (HCS) and Hastings Public Schools (HPS) are K-12 school systems. HCS has two buildings (one middle/high and one elementary), while HPS has seven (one high, one middle, and five elementary). Because enrollment is much higher at HPS, they automatically have a larger reach, because more people are interested in following them on social media. However, quality branding of a school is about more than just number of posts or followers. It should instead be focused on the quality of the posts. The ultimate goal of branding is to tell the story of a school, and to do this, schools need to have a variety of well-rounded posts on social media.
HPS does a much better job than HCS in terms of telling the story of the school. For example, the most recent posts made by HCS include mostly high school extracurricular highlights, with a few mentions of the elementary school. Meanwhile, the most recent posts from HPS include a teacher highlight, technology updates at the high school, as well as updates from the high school and middle school extracurricular activities. Overall, it is important that social media coming from schools tells the story of the school by sharing well-rounded, accurate, and positive posts about what is happening at school. In this way, people involved in the school system, as well as those from outside, can learn the story of the school by the way it is portrayed on social media.
Friday, March 13, 2015
Week 1- School Branding
Throughout this past week, I have been doing some research into school branding. One of my favorite ways that school branding was described was as a school telling its story (Davis & Molnar, 2014, p. 8). Basically, every school has a story to tell, just as every human has his or her own story to tell. This story includes the history, legacy, current activities, school culture, and future of the school, and each school has something unique to offer in this area. I loved this comparison that makes schools take on almost a human form and really come to life. Schools have the responsibility to make sure their stories are told, and one way to do that is through branding, specifically social media.
Social media is consistently becoming more and more present in our society, and I don't personally think it is going to be leaving anytime soon. It is a (usually) free and always effective way to market a school, because so many people use social media throughout each day. Because this class is focused on technology, I chose to compare and contrast elementary and secondary school branding efforts in social media. I teach third grade in a school building that is K-5, but our school system includes K-12, so I thought I would be able to find some interesting research about the benefits, challenges, and possibilities that exist in elementary vs secondary school branding. I also wanted to discover what makes an effective branding platform in the educational setting.
Essentially, I found that what works for businesses in terms of branding also works for schools. Schools should focus on what sets them apart, keep their branding strategy simple and consistent, and use as many different venues as effective for the setting (Stine, 2002, p. 10). For example, one principal in New York updates a school blog, posts things on Facebook and Twitter, and has a relevant and current web video channel. In this way, he is able to reach many people, and all of those things cost him virtually nothing! (Davis & Molnar, 2014, p. 8)
As far as elementary vs secondary school branding, I was not able to find too much about branding elementary schools at all. I did find a couple of articles from principals who said that even though some people don't see the purpose of it, he wants to use social media to tell his school's story, or else someone else will do it for him (Davis & Molnar, 2014, p. 8). However, in the secondary school setting, branding is much more important and used because of school choice. People choose secondary schools based on many different aspects, like academic rigor, extracurricular opportunities, or carrying on a legacy, and social media is the easiest way to build a brand around those things (Chang, 2011, p. 4).
All in all, I was able to find a lot of information about how to build an effective brand for a school. By sticking to a specific strength and following the business branding model, schools are able to use social media to help build their name and tell their story. I hope to be able to use these ideas in my role as a school leader one day, especially because these issues are bound to be even more relevant in the future.
References
Social media is consistently becoming more and more present in our society, and I don't personally think it is going to be leaving anytime soon. It is a (usually) free and always effective way to market a school, because so many people use social media throughout each day. Because this class is focused on technology, I chose to compare and contrast elementary and secondary school branding efforts in social media. I teach third grade in a school building that is K-5, but our school system includes K-12, so I thought I would be able to find some interesting research about the benefits, challenges, and possibilities that exist in elementary vs secondary school branding. I also wanted to discover what makes an effective branding platform in the educational setting.
Essentially, I found that what works for businesses in terms of branding also works for schools. Schools should focus on what sets them apart, keep their branding strategy simple and consistent, and use as many different venues as effective for the setting (Stine, 2002, p. 10). For example, one principal in New York updates a school blog, posts things on Facebook and Twitter, and has a relevant and current web video channel. In this way, he is able to reach many people, and all of those things cost him virtually nothing! (Davis & Molnar, 2014, p. 8)
As far as elementary vs secondary school branding, I was not able to find too much about branding elementary schools at all. I did find a couple of articles from principals who said that even though some people don't see the purpose of it, he wants to use social media to tell his school's story, or else someone else will do it for him (Davis & Molnar, 2014, p. 8). However, in the secondary school setting, branding is much more important and used because of school choice. People choose secondary schools based on many different aspects, like academic rigor, extracurricular opportunities, or carrying on a legacy, and social media is the easiest way to build a brand around those things (Chang, 2011, p. 4).
All in all, I was able to find a lot of information about how to build an effective brand for a school. By sticking to a specific strength and following the business branding model, schools are able to use social media to help build their name and tell their story. I hope to be able to use these ideas in my role as a school leader one day, especially because these issues are bound to be even more relevant in the future.
References
Chang,
Y. (2011). Does branding matter in secondary schools? The Free China Journal, 16, 3-5.
Davis,
M. & Molnar, M. (2014). Entrepreneurial models shape principals’ work. Education Week, 2, 8.
Stine,
G. (2002). The nine principles of branding. Branding
Solutions, 9, 3-32. Retrieved from Polaris-inc.com.
Sunday, March 8, 2015
Introduction
When it comes to using technology, I would say I would have a lot to learn. I currently teach 3rd grade at a relatively small Catholic school in Hastings, NE. There are about 250 students in the K-5 building, with two sections of each grade. We have some difficulty using technology in our building for a couple different reasons, which I am sure I will get into later. However, for now I know I am looking forward to learning how to use technology as a school leader for the best benefit of my school.
In this class, EDU 617, taken through Creighton University, entitled "Leadership in Administration in Educational Technology," I will be looking into the topics of Branding, Leading Professional Development, and Resource Selection. I am excited to dig deeper into these topics and learn how to use them to benefit my school both now and in the future!
In this class, EDU 617, taken through Creighton University, entitled "Leadership in Administration in Educational Technology," I will be looking into the topics of Branding, Leading Professional Development, and Resource Selection. I am excited to dig deeper into these topics and learn how to use them to benefit my school both now and in the future!
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