Leadership through Educational Technology

By: Taylor Clements

The recent jumps in accessibility and affordability of amazing technological devices has made its way to the Kentucky education system. However, as with most large shifts in organizational environments, adapting to these changes has been sluggish or non-existent, especially in large, decentralized organizations. As educational leaders begin to move in the right direction, they are relying on classroom teachers to help determine the vision for the tech-friendly learning environment.

As part of this movement, many teacher-leaders across Kentucky are working to ensure the effective use of technology in classrooms. I have been doing this primarily at Atherton High School in Jefferson County Public Schools. This includes working with other teachers on integrating a large amount of resources as tools to increase pedagogy and collaboration between teachers. There are great resources that allow teachers to raise rigor, engagement, and collaboration at a structural level in schools. I try to provide teachers with a working knowledge of the technological resources so that they can use them effectively in their own content classes. These efforts have not been limited to my district.

In February, I represented my school at a national conference in San Francisco, CA (the College Preparatory Mathematics National Conference) to continue leading teachers in integrating technology at the classroom level. Following this national conference, I worked with another JCPS educator to lead workshops at the Kentucky Society for Technology in Education (KYSTE) spring conference in Louisville. Our sessions discussed not only the effective use of collaborative media in the classroom, but on how district leaders should approach 1:1 learning initiatives. Both sessions were well-received and connected us to other teachers around the state.

There are many other educators in Kentucky who have found their niche in leading educational technology in schools. Especially with many generations of teachers in our schools, the need for professional development on using these devices is paramount. As more educators become familiar with the effective use of the latest classroom technology, we can begin taking our schools to more innovative and amazing places.

This is a guest blog written by one of the teachers in our Innovative Teacher Leader cohort to share about an innovative teacher or practice from their area of the state. To learn more about the work happening in the Commonwealth from these Innovative Teacher Leaders, who are working to redefine teacher leadership in Kentucky, check back throughout the month of March. We’ll be sharing guest blogs all month long.