TEL 431: Learning in Workplaces

L3 Activity: Improving your Ability to be Autonomous

Name: Samantha Friedman
Date: 4-2-15
NOTE: Please italicize all your responses so that nothing is missed when your work
is assessed.
In this activity you will determine specific professional development goal(s), then seek to
engage in conversation with other professionals you find through social networks or other
Web-based spaces who might support your development in some way.
According to the article by Linton (n.d.), a PLC is composed of collaborative teams
whose members work interdependently to achieve common goals linked to the purpose of
learning for all.
Linton, J. (n.d.). Building and maintaining an online professional learning community.
Available at http://learnnc.org/lp/pages/7012
They are a structure for continual growth and development, in collaboration with
colleagues. In a PLC, educators can talk about best practices, share data, and plan for
innovations surrounding areas they believe can be improved in their practice.
Professional educators can benefit by expanding this idea beyond face-to-face
interactions, by spanning geographical distances through online tools for collaboration
such as social networks, discussion boards, etc.
ESTABLISH AN AREA OF INQUIRY
Determine one Professional Learning Standard that you would like to explore more
thoroughly for this activity.
What standard did you select? Leadership
Why did you select that particular standard?
I picked this particular standard because in the field of education that I want to
be in requires leadership qualities. It is not that I do not possess them but I can definitely
use knowledge on how to make them better. My dream job is to own or run a Daycare one
day. Even though the other standards are very important for the role of top dog, I
personally need help on leadership qualities. One of the most important things someone
in a leadership role can do is advocate. I definitely can use help in that department.One
Related to this standard, what specific knowledge would be helpful to you?
Leaders help themselves and others to do the right things. That part is not
difficult for me but I have to be more confident, direct and not feel guilty when telling co-

worker that I need them to do something for me. I feel as if learning about different
leadership roles and ways that people lead I can find a way that works for me! Some
specific knowledge that would be helpful to me related to this standard would to learn
better public speaking skills and how to organize lesson plans better.
As a professional educator, in what way(s) will this knowledge be helpful to you?
As a professional educator I believe that this knowledge will be helpful to me
because I can learn different ways to create a vision for my Daycare, motivate and
inspire people, manage people and the organization, be a good coach and be able to
build a team to meet the common goals. Also as a leader, I need the appropriate skills to
problem solve, make decisions, have communication, creativity, time, and stress skills. I
feel as if I can only get better at leadership the more I research and practice it. This
knowledge will be helpful to me because as a leader one must hold themselves
accountable along with others to meet the results that they want. Also, if I can learn get
more comfortable speaking in front of people I can become a better advocator for my
students and staff.
FIND OTHERS WHO ARE DISCUSSING YOUR AREA OF INQUIRY
Your next step is to find at least three relevant conversations that might help you learn
more about your area of inquiry. The Linton article you read provides an initial list of
collaborative tools including wikispaces, Twitter, Ning, Etherpad, and Google Drive.
LinkedIn has both groups and searchable posts. You will also want to look at the web
sites for organizations associated with your future target job to see if there are discussion
boards or social networks that relate to your area of inquiry. For example, if your future
target job is in professional learning/professional development, Learning Forward, the
association that promotes the Professional Learning Standards, has discussions taking
place on their web site. See http://community.learningforward.org/Home/
Find 3 or more conversations. List them here. (Add more rows to the table if needed):
Originator URL
What new information did you attain by
or
lurking?
Sponsoring
Associatio
n (if
known)
Leadership https://twitter.com/search?q=
We need more woman leaders in
debate on
%23leadershipdebate&src=tyah politics.
Twitter
Learning
http://community.learningforwa Leadership does not have to be done
Exchange
rd.org/blogsmain/blogviewer/?
alone. Being a leader/mentor/monitor
BlogKey=9d95acf4-b3e4-45e0- you are more than welcome to give out
b4e3-cae574955c50
tasks that help you clear your plate a
little bit. For example, if you are the
teacher or boss and you leave the room

Tom
Manning

make sure that someone else is in charge

of everyone elses actions so the
children (in my case) do not get
disruptive.
http://community.learningforwa I looked into the challenge to
rd.org/communities/viewdiscuss reauthorize Elementary and Secondary
ions/viewthread/?
Education Act (ESEA). If passed the
GroupId=121&MessageKey=f5 ESEA will provide funding for
d9f49d-8d3f-4ae4-baaaeducators to get the resources that they
37fe8f32bee5
need to learn and work together to get
better content knowledge, plan
instruction, examine student work, help
different students with different needs
and many more useful things for
students and teachers.

PARTICIPATE IN ONLINE CONVERSATIONS

Make 3 attempts to initiate new conversations and/or extend existing conversations. You
will need to plan ahead for this, as online conversations take place over extended periods
of time.
Date & time of
your initial post

Paste the text you posted

April 5, 2015 at
3:44 pm

Your

comment is awaiting moderation.

Do you think that getting away from the

Common Core Standards and more into
innovations such as STEM (science,
technology, engineering and math) is a
good idea?

4/5/15

1.

Sam says:
April 5, 2015 at 7:53 pm
YolandeMT, did you tell that
person that what he thought
was a strength was actually
a weakness? I am really bad
at telling people the honest
truth sometimes because I
am afraid of hurting their

If you received a
response, what did
you learn, as
related to your
area of inquiry?

URL to this
conversation

http://dianeravi
tch.net/2015/0
4/05/can-your3rd-graderread-300words-aminute/comme
nt-page1/#comment2306911
http://www.mi
ndtools.com/bl
og/2015/03/02/
weeklylessons-inleadership/#co
mment-682

feelings. How did you tell

him if you did? Thanks!
ASU
4/3/15

I went to a Professional
Development Day for the MLFTC
Preschool

I learned all about

STEM and how
you can help
children learn
through play.

4/5/15

I sent a LinkedIn Member an InMail

(I think that is how I was supposed
to) She is a certified professional
leadership coach at Maximize You
Leadership. I asked her how she
decided she wanted to become a
leadership coach and what is the
hardest struggle that she sees in
people.

Still waiting for a

response

https://www.lin
kedin.com/vse
arch/f?
type=all&key
words=child+d
evelopment+le
adership&orig
=GLHD&rsid=
412483663142
8336142706&
pageKey=voltr
on_federated_s
earch_internal
_jsp&trkInfo=t
arId
%3A14283361
55543&search
=Search

REFLECTION AND PLAN FOR ANOTHER AREA OF INQUIRY

What worked well for you related to the process of using the Web to have collegial
conversations with other professionals? Reflect about any successes and/or struggles.
(100-125 words)
Using the Web to have collegial conversation with other professionals was
actually very intimidating for me. I was afraid that what was I posted people were going
to think I was stupid or did not know what I was talking about. I would rather have direct
conversation with someone than over the internet. Another struggle was waiting for
people to respond to me, one of the successes that I had was it was easy to find many
other people interested in the same thing as me. For example, child development and
dealing with leadership issues. I recently went to a Professional Development Day at

ASU and would much rather do that again than search the internet for other peoples
opinions, when I do not know if they are sincere or not.
Reflect about the insights did you gained, as related to your area of inquiry? (100-125
words)
I took a test on one of the websites to see if I would be a good leader or not
because wanting to run my own Daycare I definitely need leadership qualities to be
successful. The quiz said I was a in the bracket of transformational leadership which is
where leaders create an inspiring vision of the future, motivate their followers to achieve
it, manage implementation successfully, and develop the members of their teams to be
even more effective in the future. I needed help in the area of self-confidence the most. On
a different note, I was surprised to see how many people believed that there should be
more woman bosses, politicians and leaders in the United States.
After this inquiry, what new question(s) do you have related to this particular standard?
I do not have any new questions at this time. They were all answered while I was
doing my research and blogging. I feel as if a good leader falls under all of the different
standards because without the other standards how can one be a leader?
What activities will help you address this new area of inquiry?
I definitely can start to work on my self-esteem. I can practice with my friends in
politely telling them what I need from them instead of asking, What can I do for you? I
also can begin to take more charge at my internship instead of going to someone to see
what I should do I can think for myself and make the decision on the next appropriate
step.
I am actually very excited because I will be able to start practicing advocating
over the summer. I am currently in an USL class where I am improving a preschools
sensory room. I will have to raise all of the money and promote my idea to have people
help me build this amazing sensory room for the children.
Take one action step now toward this new area of inquiry. What did you do? Explain why
you selected this particular action. (50-100 words)
At my internship, MLFTC Preschool, I am always afraid to discipline the children
because I feel as if it is not my place. If one child is crying because another one did
something to them I would always get a teacher or someone in a higher position than me
to tell them no. The other day instead of getting the student teacher I sat down Leeland
and told him it was not nice to use potty words towards Nona and made him go over and
apologize to her. I selected this particular action because in all honesty I should have
been doing that the entire time. I am just as important at the facility as anyone else. Why
should I hide who I am and feel ashamed to take on a leadership role?