Caitlin Maynard

ITEC 8500
Reflection – Standard 1.1

1.1 Shared Vision - Facilitate the development and implementation of a shared vision for the use of
technology in teaching, learning, and leadership
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The Shared Vision paper was created in the Spring of 2020 as part of the ITEC 7410 course,
Instructional Technology Leadership. School leaders should unite under one vision and direction for the
students and their families, faculty and staff members, and community stakeholders. Included in this
vision is the use, management, and procurement of instructional technology in terms of devices and
software. While this was an individual effort, I collected information from interviews and collaborative
sessions with my colleagues, administration and leadership team, and the district instructional
technology coordinator. It was essential to gather insight from other sources and people who would be
directly affected to truly reflect and create a shared vision.

As part of the Visionary Leadership standard, Element 1.1 requires a shared vision to be developed
and implemented. This vision must be geared toward technology use in teaching, learning, and
leadership. To develop the shared vision for Russell Middle School, I analyzed the current School
Improvement Plan, along with professional learning survey results and technology needs assessment
data. From that information and supplemental interviews from faculty and staff members, I created a
Shared Vision that met the current needs at Russell Middle School while also planning for the future. As
a way to demonstrate implementation, I met with my administrators to review the document and plan
upcoming workshops, professional learning sessions, and meetings with our Instructional Coach and
Media Specialist to carry out the goals set in the Shared Vision during the 2020-2021 school year.

While completing the Shared Vision, I learned that the running of a school and its educational
programs and initiatives is only successful when there is unity. This unity must be apparent in all
aspects, from leadership to community outreach. At first, I believe there was a small sense of
disagreement in the process of creating the Shared Vision simply because interested parties were
focused on individual goals and ideas instead of what would best fit the school as a whole. The divide
was created due to a recent lack of communication, but this project helped to open those doors once
again. It was uncomfortable to ask questions about budgets and spending or to get input from
disgruntled staff or family members, but that information helped to pinpoint areas of need. If I could
have changed anything, I would have started on creating the vision sooner to give all interested parties a
chance to fully participate. I had enough input overall, but I think the scope would have been wider, and
ultimately a bit more profitable and serving, had I got more student and family feedback. Based on time
limitations, I received information from more in-house representatives than from the community.

The creation of the Shared Vision for Russell Middle School provided an opportunity to reflect on
current practices, identify possible ruts in routine, and establish a plan to improve and succeed moving
forward. Even when things seem to be progressing normally, there is always a need to refer back to
previously set goals and plans so that nothing is left out, forgotten completely, or, what is possibly
worse, assumed to be functioning properly when, in actuality, it is not. I believe that is what happened
within our School Improvement Plan in terms of technology use in years past and through the
development and implementation of a focused Shared Vision, that will no longer be the case. The
Leadership Team has been able to use the Shared Vision and the School Improvement Plan to identify
technology goals and to create a more streamlined process of getting technology into the students’
hands, basically shifting to one device for every student. We are now in our third month of the 1:1 plan
and since the students have a device with them in every class every day, we have seen growth in writing
skills as determined through the Teaching and Learning Cycle, our current writing initiative. The
feedback from teachers, students, and their families has been very positive about having technology
readily available and student skills are measured every two weeks through writing assessments using
the rubric from the Georgia Milestones Assessment System as a guide. Additionally, student ability to
show digital citizenship and technology skills has increased with the daily use of technology in all six
classes.