EDC 668 Blog Post - Week #4

What tools in the Drive Toolkit most interested you? How would you use these tools to motivate those around you? To be personally motivated?

"Understanding my sentence or purpose" and "My performance review" were a few tools that mostly interested me towards being a Type I.  Using these tools allows me to help motivate others by providing suggestions to do things differently to enhance my learning environment.

Personally, I honestly feel that we all can make improvements on the way we live our lives.  On a daily basis, I strive to be the best father for my sons, better husband for my wife, and better servant for God who has blessed me tremendously beyond finances.  I can only get better by asking for feedback from my peers and from making a self-assessment about my aspirations, goals, and purpose in life.  In my younger years in life, money drove me but, I now feel that being of service for others to help them succeed is more rewarding than self-promotion.

Senior Awards Day Presenter...

On Friday, May 28, 2010, I was asked to fill-in as the awards presenter for our Academy of Information Technology.  It was more of an honor than just a task to do for the 2010 graduating class of Phillip O. Berry Academy of Technology.

Funny moment:  As a fill-in, you're not going to be on the program and they are going to call out a name of the individual to present but you have to introduce yourself instead.  I wasn't nervous and I had fun presenting the awards for the top seniors in the National Technical Honor Society (NTHS), IT Courses, and Cardinal Connection broadcast team.

At first, I thought I had to present once but, I had to present 3 times.  So, imagine yours truly getting up in front of the audience once as someone else and 2 more times as myself.  I'm so glad that I wore my GQ tailored suit to look presentable regardless if I would have fumbled on my words or not. (smile)

Overall, it was a great program and it was great to see that my students that I had an opportunity to teach were receiving awards and scholarships.  This graduation class had been awarded a total amount of $4.5 million dollars of scholarship monies.  Again, I am very proud of them and I am honored to be one of their teachers.

"Best Teacher Award" goes to...

It's Thursday, May 27, 2010 and this is the day that I planned to provide refreshments for my students for working very hard and making my 1st year at Phillip O. Berry a memorable one.  This is one of my rewards for my students who work hard and play hard.  Again, each of my class periods had refreshments and each of the students had took a moment to express their experiences in my class(es) and what they learned.  Let me just say they were very thankful for me being their teacher this year and some were saddened to the fact that they couldn't take the same class again for credit. (smile)  The kicker to this day was when my students presented me with a small token of appreciation in a form of a certificate and a huge carnival lollipop.  The certificate says "Best Teacher Award" goes to Mr. Flowers.

Here's a picture of me showing how happy I was to receive this award: 

This let me know that I don't teach for the $$$$ nor for the decision makers in our district.  I truly serve as an educator to help our students learn and prepare them to be future leaders in technology.  My students will always have a special place in my heart for their gratitude.

Thank you God for allowing me this opportunity to serve as an educator.

EDC 668 Blog Post - Week #3

Who is impacted by change? What are their characteristics and how do we use our understanding of them to best implement change?

Change impacts everyone. Changes affect the way we think about laws, the voting of a new President of the United States, a decision to make healthcare more affordable, or even as simple as rules of a game. These are some examples of a few things that are impacted by change.

Some key characteristics on why change occurs:

1. Consistency:  Your message (communication) has to be clear
2. Expectations with Evaluations:  Objectives/Goals are given and proper assessment is available to provide the results
3. Affirmation:  People want to feel wanted or more so rewarded.  Compensation is a way to help confirm this.
4. Timing:  Timing is everything.  You have to make sure that you have strategically planned for a change to occur in a timely fashion that is given through clear communication upon it being put in place.
5. Assumptions:  Please make sure people affected by a change(s) are aware of it occurring.  No one wants to be blind-sided by something that is going to cause major ripples in their livelihood.

Overall, we have to make sure that our communication is clear and our objectives of the change are clear.  Most importantly, it makes sense that all parties involved are informed in a timely manner to provide feedback and different perspectives.

NASCAR and My AR...

Each year around the week before the Memorial Day Weekend, Charlotte, NC becomes the centerpiece of racing for NASCAR fans from around the world to support their favorite drivers.  The two key races that Charlotte is host of within this two-week span are the Sprint All-Star Race and the Coca-Cola 600.  As a kid, I remember that I would always watch NASCAR on television but, I never been to a race in person.  My father would take me to the car shows and to a few drag strip races but, I never been to a NASCAR race.  I owned a Tyco race track and I would act as if I was a driver in NASCAR for hours.  WooHoo!!! 

Now it's 2010 and I have 3 sons who seem to enjoy watching NASCAR on Fox whenever there is a televised race.  Three years ago, I decided to go to my first NASCAR race with my oldest son Jaden and my brother Marcus.  The race we went to happened to be the Sprint All-Star race which is only 100 laps and the drivers race at night.  The cool thing about NASCAR in person is that everyone was having a great time with family and friends.  Before we could get out of our car good, we were greeted by some fans of Dale Earnhardt, Jr and Jimmy Johnson.  They invite us to their tailgate area and we had a great time before we stepped into the Charlotte Motor Speedway (Lowe's Motor Speedway was the previous name).  Again, we had too much fun for a 1st time experience.  Jaden and I have attended 2 more Sprint All-Star Races since our 1st race in 2008 and each one gets better and better.

At this year's race with Fantasia singing the National Anthem and Michael Jordan waving the Green Flag to start the race, I was sitting there with my son Jaden with the excitement of stock cars going around a 1.5 mile track at speeds up to 190 mph @ 700 hp.  It is such an adrenaline rush as a fan particularly if you can imagine sitting in the cars with the drivers.  In addition to my focus on the cars, I had a few thoughts about how NASCAR is a metaphoric subject that I can speak about towards my action research project.  I know I mentioned to my Learning Circle Team (Mike and Nick) that I was going to compare my AR to Gears and this idea led to my thinking of NASCAR as my metaphor to use in my elevator speech for my AR instead.

Here's a draft of my Action Research Elevator Pitch with my metaphor of NASCAR:

Come take a ride with me to Charlotte, Daytona, and Talladega.  These are the famous places where I have been.  Within a year, 23 of us from around the country have gone through multiple races for the ultimate win.  By following a pace car 3 times around, this helped me to get a good grasp of an action and start from the ground.  My crew chief Margaret R. provided advice and feedback of my turns.  My Cadre 12 crew assisted me with any changes needed and supplied fuel to help me understand several theories on how everyone learns.  In my community of practice, I was sponsored from A to Z to put a logo or seal of approval on my work.  From those sponsors who helped in the process, the truth was told and no feelings were hurt.  Establishing a legacy like those of Earnhardt, Petty, and Waltrip have come to mind.  Through this season, I shifted gears from gaining the trust of others in a PLC to incorporating a technology framework for others to use over time.  The stock car that I drove has been touched by many with a different hue.  The waving of green was not the driving force for starting my work but, the black & white in the checkered flag did let me know that I am finishing through.  This is not about NASCAR! It's all about my AR!

Hello ladies and gentlemen.  My name is Juan Flowers and my action research as a 1st year teacher at Phillip O. Berry Academy of Technology in Charlotte, NC consisted of 3 cycles to help me bring "Educational Technology Tools into the Classroom to Help Students Learn."  The 1st cycle involved me meeting new and seasoned teachers in my PLC and other PLCs to introduce myself and gain their trust while learning about their experience with technology.  My 2nd cycle involved introducing different Web 2.0 tools and resources to teachers within and outside my PLC and for them to provide their feedback.  My final cycle involved developing a framework of the tools approved of/used by the teachers and their students to help them enhance the learning of different subjects being taught through the use of technology.

EDC 668 Blog Post - Week #2

How do we know what learning is necessary within ourselves and those impacted by the change?

The learning necessary for us to obtain is:

• Understanding what actions need to take place
• Knowing how much time is needed
• Obtaining the resources available for implementation to occur

Learning is further obtained after setting a goal(s) and having a firm list of objectives to solidify that what is being taught is being assessed to ensure the learning. For example, a teacher can have a goal for his/her students but, if the objectives aren't given, the teacher may not know how to navigate through his lesson to reach the goal. Furthermore, the assessment given should "flow" with a consistent check alongside the objectives that should have been given to the students to ensure that they have learned.

Throughout the country, we are hearing more and more about teacher layoffs. This has to be the most challenging time to be a teacher. Let's say that the standards have increased to potentially keep the best ones around to help students improve student achievement. It just seems that the evaluations of teachers have changed to have them show proof based on artifacts than just facts. If you aren't used to documenting all that you have done as a teacher, it's a great time to refine your documentation to demonstrate your competency in this role as a teacher.

Change can either motivate or demoralize an individual from doing their best work.

EDC 668 Blog Post - Week #1

Identifying opportunities for change. How do you know when change is needed? How do people become passionate about change?

When I think about change, it seems that it can apply to many entities. In the sense of making a change in society, I am always asking myself "How am I going to be the best servant to make this world a better place?" Making this world a better place requires quite of bit of "change."

In order to make change in this world, we have to change ourselves which may require several minutes, hours, days, months, years of deep thoughts and reflection. How I am today is not always what I will be tomorrow or the near future but, I honestly feel that my past decisions that I didn't like help guide me now as a reminder of things not to do going forward. Each day of living is another way of looking at another blessing that God has given me to make a difference within myself, family, friends, and the world.

Change is needed when a repetitive action is ongoing and the results are the same whereas you're expecting something different. In the business world, processes may require change when productivity is down or overwhelming due to a demand that is greater than expected. When you want to lose weight, you may change your habits (i.e., eating, sleeping, exercising, etc.,) so you can work for a more healthier lifestyle and legacy.

People become passionate about change when they support an idea that may affect many moreso themselves. Change is inevitable and you always have to expect it to occur. Again, people are passionate about it more when they have a support system to rely on from others who believe in the same change. We can only hope that the change(s) made are positive and support wise, thought-out decisions for the best of all.