Me?!?! Seriously?! No, really, are you sure???

I wasn't going to write about this, because it feels like bragging, and no one likes a braggart.  But the more I've thought about this, the more I think I do need to write about it, for a couple of reasons.  I hope you'll take this in the spirit in which it is intended. 

I learned on Friday that I have been chosen to receive the School Board of Collier County's Instructional Technology Leadership Award:  Innovative Principal of the Year for 2008. 

There are a couple of you who are laughing your heads off right now.  You can stop, please.  Among the rest of you, if you don't understand why I find this mind-boggling, well, you've probably only been reading this blog for a month or so.  In which case, I encourage you to take just 10 seconds (truly, that's about all it will take) and read my very first post.  Scintillating stuff, isn't it?   Or my not-quite-famous, intimidating-schmintimidating post from March, when I learned about RSS feeds.  And stop for a moment to realize that my first post was on February 12, 2007 - and eight months later, I'm considered a model for leadership in instructional technology.

At first, that struck me as nothing short of surreal.  And then, it struck me again... that isn't this the point?  When you embrace instructional technologies - especially the emerging, amazing Web 2.0 technologies that promote collaboration and build communities of learners - your world quite literally can change.

I now understand how the reflective and communicative nature of blogging can refine your thinking.

I now understand how using RSS feeds can expose you to more ideas in 8 months than you'd otherwise find in 8 years.

I now understand how Twitter can gain you a network of fellow educators and new friends, with whom you can learn and laugh and grow.

I now understand how GoogleDocs can make it possible to create collaborative documents that are better than any one individual can design alone; and how Ustream can create a "face to face" opportunity to learn from someone a world away; and how podcasts can let you learn visually, or auditorally, and on your own time; and how digital storytelling allows learners to communicate and create in a different way; and how wikis can help you build a knowledge base about ANYTHING so that NO ONE has to go it alone; and how social bookmarking helps you not just organize your own best sites and content, but helps you learn from others with similar interests; and how Flickr can help you share your "visual thoughts".

There are other tools I'm just starting to understand, like Skype, and there are many, many others I don't yet have a clue about.  But what I *have* learned, I've learned in eight months - and that's the point.  That if this old dog could learn all that stuff in just eight months, just imagine what it could do for the young pups who are our students, if only we as educators embraced it all.

The Collier County Instructional Technology Leadership Award doesn't go to me - it goes to the amazing community of learners with whom I'm interacting on my learning journey.  It goes to -

• Scott McLeod, the professor who started the Principal Blogging Project that began my journey
• Marie Coleman, the Media Specialist who persisted with me until she got me past the tipping point
• my own personal Twitterverse, my ongoing and invaluable dose of professional development, including @cathyjo, @chrislehmann, and @ijohnpederson, each of whom has sparked an idea in my brain that translated into something really wonderful
• and the amazing people from the Lorenzo Walker campus who are embarking on their own learning journeys, either alongside or in addition to me, including (with links to some of their work or the resources they're using, where I have them):
  
  • every single member of our faculty, for using the document cameras and Mimio's and unitedstreaming and clickers and more
  • the members of our Management Team, for delving into this world and pushing themselves forward
  • Linda Bonas
  • Bob Jackson
  • Gracie Somoza
  • Barb Spenik
  • Brenda Harrison
  • Bob Dallmann
  • Felipe Gaviria
  • Jill Peterson and Diane Ross
  • Dianna Zometsky and Ina Kelly
  • Mary Crowley and Fran Brotherton
  • Lin Flood
  • Lewis Perkins
  • Fara Amsalem
  • Judi Lewis
  • April Kimball
  • Richard Ponton
  • Joann Cassio
  • Bruce Peters
  • Brandi Hanson
  • Hannah Poteat
  • Khris Betten-Jutasi
  • Holly Cowburn
  • Donna Lang
  • Carey Gilcher
  • Yelissa Rivera

(I just *know* I've left someone off (this feels like giving out Valentine's in 2nd grade)... so if I left you off, tell me so I can add you!)

To those of you who are new to this world, I say to you this:  Don't be impressed or intimidated. I have been transformed as an educator, and (I think) as an educational leader, in an unbelievably short period of time.  As we all explore together, it may feel odd, or we may goof up as we figure out our best steps in figuring out boundaries - but I believe that if we always focus on doing what's right for students, we may occasionally make mistakes, but we'll never truly go wrong.

Step into this world.  You deserve it.  Our students deserve it.  And twitter me, eight months from now in June '08, when you realize how much it's changed you, too.

Comments

[Marie Coleman]

Well, let me be the first commenter to congratulate you for this well deserved honor!

The power of the interactive web tools is enormous and I appreciate your leadership in encouraging and supporting their use with our faculty and students. Not only do they provide solid pedagogical foundations for effective learning, but they represent the present and future.

And don't forget that your insight provided us with the opportunity to be the first laptop school in Collier Co and you continue to find ways to utilize data (now widely available through Data Warehouse and other venues) to increase student achievement.

I feel privileged to work for such an innovative principal!

[Cathy Nelson]

Wow from the opening line I knew I would comment and share a congratulatory note! Then to find I'm listed too? My goodness t do share the love. Thanks. On a side note, my principal wants to nominate me for Media Specialist of the year in my state. While I'm honored with the nod, I still do not feel I'm at that level yet. I know plenty of lib media specialist who know so much more than me. And they do a significantly better job all around. Your response here may have just given me the reason to go for this award too. It makes me so nervous. I will have to open myself to some real scrutiny. But I am so happy for you, and am delighted to know that you share this award with so many. I keep saying to all my friends--it's about the network. I couldn't do it w/o you.

[Lance Treloar]

Congratulations Jeanette! As someone who is just starting to explore this new world, it is encouraging to know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel: I have no problem with lifelong learning, but a life of confusion is just a little too daunting.
Well done, and thanks.
Lance.

[Linda Bonas]

I wish you congratulations as well. You are inspiring us all to get with the 21st century. Thank you for the recognition of us well, though I too feel a little weird about it. I still consider myself an "untechie" who is just tired of eight year olds passing me by. My new resolution is, no matter how silly or ignorant I feel (or look), to just do it, one baby step at a time. Thank you for leading the way.