Book Released: My new book "How to Lead Based upon Integrity, Innovation, and Ingenuity" is about Change. This book looks to the future-- specifically our children's future. It calls on today's educators, parents, and business leaders to partner in new ways to ensure everyone's future success. Here I share my dream for our society that can help beat the financial challenges bearing down on those who are facing retirement. Bound up with this is a plan for educating youth according to their innate gifts so they will love their life work and have sustainable pay. I hope this book will spark a fire within you to make a better world.
CHANGE:
- Using the research method Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM), I used my dissertation to work with the Southern Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventist Office of Education to develop an operational definition of their initiative called The Adventist EDGE. The process for gathering the data for this project facilitated a uniting of ideas and leaders throughout the Southern Union Conference by clarifying the core elements and specific behaviors for the Adventist EDGE initiative. The procedure for my study helped to facilitate a more successful change process in the Southern Union by clearing up differences in perception and unifying them through a collaborative process.
- Worked to help set up the process for recognizing Adventist EDGE Schools of Excellence in the Southern Union
- I worked with the Carolina Teacher Study Groups over the past 13 years to:
Receive a K-12 Board of Education vote for Teacher Study Groups to be the method for ongoing
staff development for the Carolina Conference
Develop a virtual model for Carolina Teacher Study Groups through the use of technology within
technology for online collaboration to address the issue of cost and distance between
Carolina Conference teachers across the states of North and South Carolina
- Developed a Wiki called “Teacher Loop” as a collaborative and more effective method for distributing and filing needed information for Carolina teachers
- Developed a “Resolution/Appeals Process” to aid in clarifying to teachers and school boards the different processes for the diverse issues that can arise when operating a school
LEADERSHIP:
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- Worked with the Southern Union to help bring about an understanding of why my research was needed so the Adventist EDGE initiative would move forward and not become another perceived educational “band wagon”
- Mentored and trained Team Leaders for the Virtual Carolina Teacher Study Groups
- Provided support for each Team Leader ensuring their success through determining how much to help and when to let go as each individual Team Leader went through the paradigm shift from physical study group meetings to virtual study group meetings
- Instituted a teacher elected group of their peers to serve as a Council of Teachers to help the Education Office be more closely connected to what is happening in the field
LEARNING:
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- Facilitated a process for ensuring that all initial
Carolina teachers received 4MAT training within a three-year period with a plan
for all new teachers to the conference to receive their training as part of
their employment requirements (4MAT is a framework for developing instruction according to Kolb's Natural Cycle of Learning)
- Provided three years of language arts training for
teachers using the Exemplary Center for Reading Instruction (ECRI) program
- Uses the Cooperative Learning setting to structure both physical and virtual Carolina Teacher Study Groups
- Uses the Carolina Teacher Study Groups to provide ongoing teacher development and classroom implementation through coaching, practice, feedback, and accountability for training received
- Set up a four-week class in the Carolinas to teach teachers how to increase student learning by improving instruction for academic credit
