Mr. Ralph Andrews' Blog

Below is my Emaze project on Digital Age Leadership. This was the first time I used Emaze and it was very user-friendly and I would highly suggest giving it a try for your next presentation or giving it to your students as an option for a multimedia project. I look forward to seeing our networks grow together as I've subscribed to each of your blogs via Feedly! I look forward to your next post/tweet :)

Photo courtesy of photosforclass.com Copyrighting Practices When contemplating the role of educational leaders in the arena of laws and uses of copyrights, I was reminded of Taylor Good ’s blog post pertaining to the moral imperative of educators which boiled down to practicing what you preach. Educational leaders want teachers to produce engaging lessons, they should be held accountable to provide engaging professional development. Educational leaders want teachers to be internet awesome , they should be internet awesome themselves. I think this means embracing what teachers like using, for example, Twitter, and using it as a platform for communication but also provide boundaries for acceptable use. This may mean finding a balance between self-expression and potential consequences. If we expect our teachers to communicate this to our students, educational leaders are expected to communicate this to their staff and the best way is to lead by example. This could take the shape o...

Photo Courtesy of Pexels, Photographer Bruno Scramgnon Innovative Teaching & Learning        By using a technology integration framework, administrators can promote a healthy integration of technology aimed at improving instruction and student achievement. This isn’t my first time reviewing the SAMR Model as I was exposed to this during my pursuit of a Master’s Degree in Classroom Technology. However, this takes on a slightly different view as I examine the model through the eyes of a (perspective) administrator. Personally, I can relate to this model. I feel a good portion of the beginning of my personal transition into a digital classroom was based on augmentation. I had a hard time working with G Suites because I was so comfortable with Microsoft Office programs like Word and Powerpoint. I was stubborn and resisted change. I could feel engagement levels being capped with the way I was using new technologies. Yes, it was neat and new for students but ...

Photo Courtesy of pixabay.com Prior to looking at Connected Educational Leaders (shared with me by Lyn Hilt ), I did a simple Google search for “Blog Rich Kiker.” Rich is a Google for Education Partner, among many other things and I had been inspired by his passion for technology and learning in two of his workshops that I attended. However, when surfing through the results, I stumbled upon a blog about Rich Kiker. The blog discussed meeting Rich and hearing him speak at Educon. Not exactly what I was looking for but the author’s name sounded familiar. Spike Cook? With so many resources that we’ve been exposed to over the last few weeks, who knows where I would have recognized the name but after a few clicks in the blog, I found myself reading through his 365 blog challenge and that’s when it hit me it was from Eric Sheninger’s Chapter 3 Digital Leadership . Blogging daily? I remembered how crazy that sounded two weeks ago and still resonated as it’s been exhausting creating a...

Photo by Ansonlobo, from Wikimedia Commons When studying about my moral obligation and moral imperative, it seemed extreme. I “owe it to others to share” ( Dean Shareski ) information, practices, and lessons that I have developed or encountered to improve learning for others? It is enough to make one feel guilty for not already having a platform in which to upload and share my entire Google Drive that is packed with countless hours of preparation, collection, and creation. Am I wrong for being hesitant to share my resources or am I being selfish? Education is such a unique profession but I will try to draw parallels to another profession, medicine. I have a doctors appointment tomorrow to examine a birthmark on my upper cheek that has recently become irritating. I rely on my doctor to have acquired the resources to make informed decisions about my skin. This doesn’t mean she has conducted hundreds of hours of research and studied birthmarks but rather that she has made herself...

A visionary leader in education that I have crossed paths with was my former Junior High Principal, Paula Husar. She was named principal a year before I was hired at an elementary school within the district and played a role in my desire to move into a middle school mathematics position a year later. Though I loved the atmosphere at the elementary school, I jumped at the chance to move because of her ingenuity and her genuine desire to make an impact on the community and the changing educational platforms. She wasn’t making waves for the sake of making waves but wanted to lead a change in thinking in the building that would later her the principalship in our district’s high school. She inspired staff members to incorporate technology into the classroom and made a push for a one-to-one initiative which would later produce carts of Chromebooks for instruction. Her leadership style promoted collaborative processes in the form of different teacher-led committees that was aimed to i...