Shorter self-paced videos allow less time for distractions to happen and actual learning to take place. I think of "less is more" in terms of this. Give your learner less, but by doing that you are also giving them more because they will want to continue filling in the blanks and research more about the topic. Walk and talk! How did I not think of this! I feel as though I do some form of that within my classroom with Jack Hartmann videos (if you know you know), but it's usually with math. I would really like to do something like this with my reading block.

I remember my dad always telling us "can't" isn't a word. It would drive him crazy when we would say we couldn't do something. Just like that sticks with me, I believe that it will stick with my own students. Whether it's removing the word can't or adding the word yet, regardless, I will continue to instill to my learners that they can do anything. I model the growth mindset to my students by reminding them often that I am a learner just as they are. Age does not mean that learning stops. I will describe to them the different things and ways that I have learned to show them that I practice what I preach. With a growth mindset, my students will focus on the learning rather than the grades because aside from what their paper may say, they still learned something in comparison from where they started. I will drive that point home by reminding my learners of things they didn't know prior to this "lesson" to what they know now.

I believe that I have it easy when it comes to preparing learners to have curiosity and a questioning disposition. I feel that this is how my kinder kiddos come into the world and my classroom and the real question for myself is how do I keep that fire burning. How do I keep wanting them to crave that type of learning rather than diminish it. I want students to come into my classroom and crave the excitement of not knowing. I truly believe that the question for myself will not be how will I prepare them for this, but how will I continue it and make it flourish.

I often wonder if veteran teachers realize that they are encouraging their learners to collect rather than connect. I use my team leader as an example often in my reflections and discussions because she tends to carry her years of experience around as a significant piece of her person. Now, I am not taking away from her devoted time to this exceedingly tough career, but classifying yourself as a teacher and a learner are two different things. In the way that she talks, she is not a learner. She feels that she has put in the time and that justifies her stance on things. I disagree. I think it would be a greater asset for her to take her years of experiences and think about how to make each of those experiences better. Her mentality of thinking that she’s done this long enough so she knows how students are taught best hinders her teaching capability. I think she just needs a mindset change to see that it’s okay to want to learn how to keep becoming a better teacher. I think this goes for many veteran teachers. Once they can embrace the fact that they are learners just like everyone else, including their own students, a mindset shift happens and a brand new world of possibilities open.

Why is it so important to emphasize lifelong learning, personal learning, and learning along with the growth mindset and risk-taking? This question really got me thinking. I feel that emphasizing lifelong learning expresses to the students that they are never done. Regardless of graduation, they should never stop learning or wanting to learn. Instilling this mindset shows the students that there is always something to go after and something more out there for them. I feel that the moment we establish and end-point (graduation or a job) the students feel that if they can just make it to that destination then they won't have to do anything else. I don't think that's a good mindset. Whether it's graduation or a job, they need to keep going. Get better at the job you are at because doing that will make you grow as a person and realize you can take the risk to apply for a better job and the positive cycle will likely continue. Now if someone sees their job as an end point, then there probably will not be an enticement for them to want to do and be better. They feel they have completed their task and will be content with that. A growth mindset and risk-taking will truly change your life.

I believe that my story behind the story is that I have been conditioned it is not appropriate to JUST complain. My dad raised us with the mentality that it's one thing to let it out and not bottle things in, but it's another to ineffectively complain. Here's what I mean, if all did was complain about homework when I was younger, he would almost always end the conversation with, "And what are you going to do about it?" Now, I'm not saying at 15 I enjoyed that response, or even now, but I feel that he did and does have a point. If I am going to complain about how terrible or awful the professional developments I have been to are, that's fine, but what am I going to do about that? Complaining gets nothing done, action does...hence, call to action. I believe that if I feel strongly enough to ramble on and on about how terrible something was then it deserve my time and effort to make it better for myself, fellow staff and especially my students.

Because there is a difference between learning and doing, this means that we cannot add a learning activity and consider it an upgrade from what we had before. Learning the work and doing the work will always be two different concepts. We can learn by doing, but just because we "do" doesn't mean we are learning. I find this extremely relevant to kindergarten. For example, my team leader comes up with decent station activities for her students. What I have found is they are decent for her as a teacher, not for her students. I feel as if she is making them do, not learn. This can be translated into professional development and professional learning. Professional development is simply the teacher doing, not learning. Professional learning is the teacher actually learning, it's even in the title. I feel that as teachers we will do what needs to get done, but if asked did we truly learn something from that, now that's an entirely different story.

I felt called to the “Children spread their dreams beneath our feet and we should tread softly,” quote by Sir Ken Robinson. Although I had watched this video multiple times before, there was something about that phrase that spoke to me differently this time. I found that for most of this program I was always wondering how to make my classroom better for my students. Now, although I still think that’s important and will remain of high priority, I listened to this as I, myself, am the learner instead of my students. I think we all can recall a story where someone told us that our dream was too big, to dream smaller. I realize that I was becoming accustomed to that type of response so when I have a professor like Dr. H who says, “Dream bigger,” I don’t know how to respond. I still take this, process it, and then reflect on how I am going to implement this within my own classroom and with my own students. I’ve come to the conclusion that when they speak of their goals and dreams I want to remember what Sir Ken Robinson stated about treading softly, but I don’t want to imagine this as walking on eggshells with my learners but rather tell them, “Now, dream bigger.”

I believe that most PL is ineffective for quite a few reasons. I think the district, or at least mine, is trying to get the most bang for their buck. They want to provide us information, skills and tools for both teachers and our students, but there is only 24 hours in a day. We cannot cover everything that should be covered and needs to be covered in that amount of time, and it remain effective...it's impossible, yet we see it time and time again. I also think that there is no accountability for our professional development. We're asked to sit in these 8+ hour trainings, but we all know when we step foot out of that room that nobody is going to make us do it. Again, at least for my district. I appreciate the information and I do think that it is resourceful and informative, but when it's not put into action and there is no support or reinforcement, then it's ultimately useless. I think a way for me to promote this into my own organization is by doing it myself and allowing my colleagues to see the progress it makes. I think others will see the success I have in my own classroom and want to know why. This will allow me the opportunity to say, "Here's how I did it. Here's the research on why it works. But show me how you're going to implement this information in your own way because I won't be there with you every minute of every day to prompt the next move."

I think the education system is looking for validation that what they are doing is working and they try to achieve that by test scores. I’ve suddenly become the toddler who wants to play the “Why?” Game like the video described. Why do they need validation? If they believed in their product (teachers) then don’t you think our students are learning? I myself am starting to make the connections of why it is so important to allow exploration and play within our classrooms. Now, I’ve always been a proponent of play-based learning. I think there are countless reasons why my kinder babies need this in their life, but I will admit that I started to wonder how this would be possible as students got older. BUT, then I realized that’s exactly what I’m doing right now in this program! Okay, so maybe I’m not playing in the construction center or using Playdoh as I type this, but this is the grown up version of play-based learning. I’m learning by doing. I’m building and failing and rebuilding and finding what works for me and what doesn’t and I have a justification as to why I believe in all of these things. Reflecting on this previous school year, I thought I was both proactive and reactive in creating a significant learning environment for my students. I feel as if my centers were proactive. I was allowing my students to work through problems on their own and with their team to figure out how to solve any given “problem.” Where I now see that I was not giving them the appropriate opportunities was during my small group time. I was tailoring this in a reactive manner. I was checking to see where they were and then figuring out what I needed to provide them to help them. I don’t think this was the best way to help them thrive in an authentic learning environment. I feel as though I am saying, “You’ve failed here, let’s work on mastering this topic and then I’ll see where you fail next.” I now believe it was narrow minded of me to think that. Yes that student was struggling with that specific topic, but maybe if I would allowed them to discuss it further with their team and others or continued to provide scaffolding through different activities that the student would have gathered the skills and experience they needed to master the topic on their own with the environment that I was able to create for them.

I think being a leader is stressful, but being an effective leader is even more stressful. The difference between the two is that an effective leader is aware that leading change is not going to be easy, but well worth it. That type of leader is going to recognize their own anxiety and find proper and effective ways to regulate that. I don’t think it’s about eliminating the stress, but rather thriving in it and working passed it. Sabotage indicates that the virus is taking over. This is when the one person (or group of people) that begin to infect the rest of the crowd or body with their negativity. Their words take over others’ thoughts and lead to no action for change. The effective leader is viewed as the one who wants to destroy the complacency that is had. The shake up is needed though, and oddly enough, if sabotage is occurring then your initiative is already working. To make their organization a better place, the effective leader will have to continue to ignore what “the virus” is saying and doing and allow their actions to be the proof to other individuals that are watching the change happen. The self differentiated leader will eventually show others that although their work may be different from the status quo, effective change is happening without the stress and anxiety others are still facing. I think I will need to be focusing more on crucial conversations in the beginning stages of my change strategy. Click here to read how I plan to use the crucial conversation tools with my team. I feel that since this innovation is new there will undoubtedly be conversations that could very easily become heated discussions and arguments, if they are not approached properly. I feel that once the new wears off and my innovation plan becomes something that others are familiar with, then in that point in time differentiated leadership will become more significant. Becoming a self-differentiated leader will require me to become proficient in my emotional process of things rather than my traits or skills as a leader. Although those are important, this is what will set me and my team apart from the others. I will be their calm in the midst of the storms that lie ahead. This will in turn allow my team to receive my non-anxious response that they are needing to conquer the difficulties they face. While a good leader takes other’s opinions into account, it is important to stay true to one’s own identity. Connecting with others and their ideas is a good skill to practice, but taking the emotion out of this situation is what a self-differentiated leader should also be practicing. I will not be falling into the triangle and anxiety that others may be protruding. Remaining connected with my peers while having a well defined stance will be important to the success of my innovation plan. An emotional immune system is something I did not think I would have to become as a leader, but I am finding that it will become a very important asset. Doing this will show my team that I am able to tolerate their discomfort and develop it into something that is healthy and positive. Moving towards this direction will continue to help myself, my team, and my initiative become successful despite what is occurring around us. References: Vital Smarts India. (2012, February 10). Crucial Conversations Explained in 2 Minutes [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/ixEI4_2Xivw Mathew David Bardwell. (2010, November 10). Friedman's Theory of Differentiated Leadership Made Simple [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/RgdcljNV-Ew Conquer covid chaos by finding your calm in the eye of the storm - flasg global - supply chain logistic. (2020, July 22). Flasg Global - Supply Chain Logistic. Retrieved May 1, 2021, from https://flashglobal.com/conquer-chaos-by-finding-your-calm-in-the-eye-of-the-storm/ Dispenza, J. (n.d.). Staying calm in the eye of the storm. Retrieved May 1, 2021, from https://blog.drjoedispenza.com/blog/mastery/staying-calm-in-the-eye-of-the-storm

I think being a leader is stressful, but being an effective leader is even more stressful. The difference between the two is that an effective leader is aware that leading change is not going to be easy, but well worth it. That type of leader is going to recognize their own anxiety and find proper and effective ways to regulate that. I don’t think it’s about eliminating the stress, but rather thriving in it and working passed it. Sabotage indicates that the virus is taking over. This is when the one person (or group of people) that begin to infect the rest of the crowd or body with their negativity. Their words take over others’ thoughts and lead to no action for change. The effective leader is viewed as the one who wants to destroy the complacency that is had. The shake up is needed though. To make their organization a better place, the effective leader will have to continue to ignore what “the virus” is saying and doing and allow their actions to be the proof to other individuals that are watching the change happen. The self differentiated leader will eventually show others that although their work may be different from the status quo, effective change is happening without the stress and anxiety others are still facing. The crucial conversations that I face with my own innovation plan is letting my team leader and admin know that I will be incorporating some form of play-based learning into my blended learning stations. Both are fully aware that stations are already happening within my classroom, but bringing back free play and exploration to learn is something that may be a touchy subject. Using the crucial conversation tools will allow both parties to keep our result and outcome in the forefront. Aside from how we feel about it, we all want what is best for our students. I believe keeping that in mind, always, will allow the conversation not to divert to our own personal feelings. I think I will need to be focusing more on crucial conversations in the beginning stages of my change strategy. I feel that since this innovation is new there will undoubtedly be conversations that could very easily become heated discussions and arguments, if they are not approached properly. I feel that once the new wears off and my innovation plan becomes something that others are familiar with, then in that point in time differentiated leadership will become more significant.