I appreciate your insights especially as one of our younger principals. No doubt that provides us with a diversity of input on any issue you decide to weight in on. I am happy this one is on your radar.

In reference to “millennials” or GenY, etc… there is a really slick little video posted on VSS just yesterday: http://virtualsouthside.ning.com/video/video/show?id=2126556%3AVideo%3A7182 Check that one out. I do believe that this generation possesses a fearlessness towards technology. In my opinion, that can be parlayed into great gains. However, your grasp of technology on a working professional level is what these kids have little experience with.

That is the sort of thing… if allowed to continue… we are to hold ourselves to blame for in the near future.

And hey- glad you liked the Will Richardson article in Ed Leadership. That is actually the one I linked to above.

Thanks again for taking the time, Corey. I am glad we have your focus for the future.

I’m not a veteran of anything to do with education. The longest I’ve been in any single position, is three years. I would classify myself as a Millennial (I grew up in the 1990s and 2000s). While it’s not my goal to turn this into a commentary on generational characteristics, it’s worth noting what makes my generation unique. Consider the following excerpt on the Millennials from Wikipedia:

Generation Y [Millennials] has a nearly intimate connection to technology. In their 2007 book, Connecting to the Net.Generation: What Higher Education Professionals Need to Know About Today’s Students, Reynol Junco and Jeanna Mastrodicasa found that in a survey of 7,705 college students in the US:

97% own a computer
97% have downloaded music and other media using peer-to-peer file sharing
94% own a cell phone
76% use instant messaging and social networking sites
75% of college students have a Facebook profile and most of them check it daily.[16]
60% own some type of portable music and/or video device such as an iPod
49% regularly download music and other media using peer-to-peer file sharing
34% use websites as their primary source of news
28% author a blog and 44% read blogs

Now while all of this information probably seems trivial, it is an attempt to make a point. I represent a very different generation of eductional leadership. I don’t carry any baggage of what always was. My schema doesn’t allow for the way things used to be. My only insight into the past is through the eyes of my colleagues.

That being said, I view this “shift” from administrators as managers to instructional leaders as common practice. When I became and administrator, a few short years ago, I knew nothing different than the expectation that I was to be a learning leader. Period. Perhaps one of the challenges that I face as a leader, and many of my generation will in the future, is that as we mingle with other administrative colleagues, we do not come with the struggle to embrace the new emphasis on instructional leadership while still validating the practices of the past. Rather, many of us simply assume that this is how life has always been. Administrators should be instructional leaders.

During my first year in administration, this juxtapositon of traditional manager and instructional leader hit me between the eyes. I was caught in the middle of the shift. I had shifted not knowing it, while the staff was starting the shift, knowing it, and very unsure of what it meant.

Fast forward three years. The shift is beginning to sink in. In fact, I believe some might even agree that it is in its institutionalized infancy. Instructional leadership is now the way that we are expected to do business in our district.

But what is our next step? The call to action in this post is one of the most challenging chapters that I believe our district will face. Connecting best practices in content knowledge, pedagogy, and technology will truly be a dynamic paradigm shift for our district, but one that must occur with a sense of urgency. Our students deserve no less.

(Read the November 2008 Ed Leadership article “Footprints in the Digital Age” to fully understand why our kids are getting technologically shortchanged and must have access to an instructional program rich in content, pedagogy and technology.)

I’m on board and there are others like me who are cautiously optimistic that we are about to engage in the next major district-wide initiative to enhance our best practices. But it will not be without leadership. And I agree that there must be a vision.

So who will articulate this vision for 21st century best practices? Who will provide the leadership? Who will make it a priority?

Having administrative support to learn and integrate technology has and will continue to be been invaluable. I agree that we need to find a way to systematically assist teachers throughout the school year in increasing their skills in technology and how it correlates to improving pedagogy and content knowledge. Administrative support on this issue is a must. Thankfully, I know Truman has it!

I talked with my students last week about how “Googable” they are right now. As my 8th graders increase their use on our Ning, I want them to learn appropriate ways to add content and make comments to others. I see that their knowing that future teachers, adminstrators, and community members are part of our target audience has changed they way they write for discussions and comments.