18. May 2010 by MrBall.

From the post of day 2 I have very little to say. It isn’t that I am trying to be modest but I often don’t feel as though I have had many chances to delegate jobs to others.

As a leader of a summer music camp, back in the days, I had many opportunities to delegate work. I was never comfortable delegating work in that atmosphere. I felt inexperienced for the task and easily not as confident as I now feel. Also I often felt like I was passing the buck. It isn’t that I felt others weren’t competent. I wouldn’t hire people if I didn’t think they could do a good job.

In delegating work more recently I have had only a few chances but it is now easier for a few reasons. First, I have a better idea of the skill sets and interests of my co-worker. We were chosen with skill diversity in mind. Second I am more confident in my role as a consultant and a tech leader.

Reflecting back in the change I think my confidence level is one of the deciding factors in delegating work. Now htat I feel more responsible and more knowledgeable I am able to let go of the total control of a project and give out work to others.

Posted in Management, Reflections | 1 Comment »

16. May 2010 by MrBall.

Concordia students prefered Facebook as a means of sharing work. I was sharing things with Concordia University Ed students via moodle only to find out that they have created a page for the course. We were even using ietherpad.com to share links to Math resources but that failed for me. I asked them to put together the days assignment on Microsoft Word only to find out that many had actuall switched to Facebook as a sharing tool.

They weren’tall friends with each other but they did all use the page. They posted photos and links and managed discussions all on Facebook before I even knew that the ietherpad was failing for them. Move over Moodle and iEtherpad Facebook is taking your place.

Posted in Management, Reflections, Presentation | No Comments »

14. May 2010 by MrBall.

One of the main worries I have had in my job as a consultant is classroom management. Should I have to manage someone’s classroom while they are in the room?

Usually classroom visits are great. I am bringing in cool tools and the kids are totally engaged in learning about them. Sometimes I deal with the small distractions: use proximity, remind them to focus, give them count downs, help them to cope with me the new person in the class. Sometimes it gets out of control and since I have very little follow up time with students after and no knowledge of many of the school procedures I have to do discipline on the spot.

I have had it happen a couple of times where the students are quite disrespectful and the teacher does nothing. I’ve had teachers leave the classroom (which they should know is a ‘no no’) and I have brought a lesson to a complete halt because there were too many students off task and not willing to listen.

I was thinking about all this yesterday while I was watching a student teacher do a lesson on bullying. The class was disruptive and unruly, basically bullying the student teacher. The student teacher was presenting and the classroom teacher pulled out a newspaper and started cutting out coupons! The kids started to get very disruptive so I started to float around and put out small fires but still it was no good. The student teacher did a fabulous job trying to bring the class back with some Brain Gym exercises and still the classroom teacher just sat as students called out. This was not my lesson and I did not want to intervene but I thought I should help her. In the end I complimented her on her efforts and her patience.

What do you think? Should I take over a class if the teacher is not helping. How much control do I need to take?

Posted in Management, Engagement | No Comments »