This week I have had to take a good look at myself. Progression and obtaining goals are not a sprint it is a long continual journey. We must plan and set goals daily. “To achieve daily success, you must be willing to follow the adage “one day at a time.” This mantra pertains not only to one’s personal life but also to one’s professional and business goals.” This was an eye-opener and a great reminder that one needs to take time to plan. The old saying “If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail”. We must have an overarching goal that we can set smaller goals. To become a leader, they must have a mission and vision. A leader must be able to see where they are currently and then progress from there.

I like to review at the end of the day and look back on what I accomplished that day. I then try to look at what I worked on the past evening and then make the goals for the day. My wife has been instrumental in helping me get back into a good habit with goals and focus. I once had the habit of great goal setting and keeping myself on track. I let life get in the way of planning for life. There is an awesome video that focuses on awareness and knowing where you are in your life. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=eC7xzavzEKY&feature=emb_logo

With keeping myself motivated I have not ever thought about “How will you reward [my]self?”. As we progress through this course and we work on planning and goal setting, I will have to plan to build in rewards when I accomplish set goals and reward myself when I accomplish my goals. As I plan better and keep self-motivated, I can succeed. Also having examples of educational leaders and following their positive example can help one become the leader they need to be to help others. I have been focused more and more on student-centered learning. Be the best leader to help those that I am given the chance to teach and work within professional and personal capacities.

This week we further dove into leadership and qualities.

One of the articles that presents the characteristics was from MindTools https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_41.htm. Leaders are at the forefront of a group they are guiding and bettering those individuals in their circle(s). Leaders are also those with a vision and can share that with others.

As I continue in learning about technology leadership. My biggest take away is that I must better myself to be able to assist others in their own development. Also as a leader, it imperative to know the strengths and weaknesses of your group. This is to better help with the progression of the group. Knowing where individuals need help or can be of an assistance will help in furthering the groups vision and goals.

I have always liked this picture as exemplifying a true leader. This is from https://content.wisestep.com/difference-boss-leader/.

I want to be that individual that can be a true leader. I want to better myself to help better others. This week I have dug deeper into myself and looked at how I am hard on myself to be better. I learned that no matter the weaknesses I have as a leader I can progress and become a Transformational technology leader. I do not have to be the best all at one time, but I can progress daily to progress toward that goal of a very successful leadership.

This week we discussed self-awareness, self-motivation, and took a School Leader Self-Assessment and Strength surveys. There were many points that brought to light increasing in my self-evaluation.

Readings:

https://www.skillsyouneed.com/ps/self-awareness.html

https://www.managementstudyguide.com/self-motivation-for-leaders.htm

I reflected on the readings and came up with the following.

Emotional intelligence is an important factor in self-discovery. One key factor that I gleaned from the articles is self-awareness. Daily self-inventory can be beneficial. To make self-discovery a habit there must be a plan in place. One must determine their own time and place for daily self-reflection to assist with solidifying the habit of self-discovery.

I am an empath and I take in other emotions as well as my own. Many years ago, I reached the state where I turned off my emotions. As the reading said, you get overly involved in “addictive” activities, mine was working out. I would go to the gym in the morning and then in the evening. It was a great way to clear my head but did not solve the problem. I learned to take a daily self-inventory to see where I stand and then determine where I stand in my emotional state. Currently, I have a second detector, my wife. When she sees me acting out of sorts, she will call me on it and then I will take an evaluation of where I stand. I also include her in my discussion. It can be beneficial to have a trusted individual in your life to help with ensuring success in life.

In our family, we have been working on asking each other how we are doing. Just showing that care for each other. In the same way, I try to ask myself how I am doing. It is not currently a daily activity, but I am becoming better with self-inventory as I make it a habit. Making sure I am in a state of self-discovery often will strengthen me when I face trials.

Reading these two articles gave me more insights on how to better myself. My moral compass partially encompasses to be true to myself and others. Also, helping others helps improve my mood no matter my initial mood. When I am feeling down, angry, or frustrated I seek to help others, especially my wife. She is my best friend and companion through this life. I seek betterment for myself, my family, and others.

The reading did increase the parameters and the scrutiny that I will use for my self-inventory. It will take time to determine to what extent I change my self-inventory, but the articles were helpful.

Keep Calm and Carry on have a different meaning for me than the “Self-Awareness” article. I agree that society tells us to move on and not worry about our emotions, but the first time that I read this statement I thought more about control of my emotions. Ensuring I know where I stand and how I can press forward and win the day. 

This week we also took a strength assessment, the results were not unexpected.

My highest strengths included Spirituality, honesty, love of learning, and humor. In my life I like to focus on the positive aspects of life. In addition, I learned that there is much to develop in my teacher leadership.

I look forward to learning more about myself. Though this course has taken me out of my comfort zone, but in the short amount of time I have grown.

Learning about each of my fellow classmates, I have learned that we have our own strength. It has been enjoyable talking and learning about others. Self-assessment means different things to each person. It can be enjoyable or it can be excruciating. We will conquer this course and learn a lot about ourselves in the journey.

This first week in ETEC 589 has been interesting and enlightening. I am not very articulate when I am talking about myself. It did take a little bit of time and effort to decide how I wanted to introduce myself. My WHY was a lot easier after the self-introduction, I had to spend a little bit of time thinking about all I do and why I do it. It was a great chance for reflection of what drives me. I do appreciate and like how the class has enabled me to come a little bit more out of my shell. I have always disliked watching myself in videos, but I do know that they can be beneficial on many levels.

My biggest takeaway this week is that stretching yourself can be hard but very worthwhile. During the writing of my WHY statement I learned that I seek to help others and grow. It was a great reminder that I seek to be better myself to help others reach their potential. Watching the WHY video did remind me of some of my nervous responses such as rubbing my nose and that I still use “ums” several times during the video. It did give me the chance to look at what I can do to better my public speaking skills and to better myself. I will work on pausing instead of “ums”.

Even though I know some my classmates, it was great learning more about their interesting lives. In addition, it was great to learn a bit about my other classmates and our professor that I have not had the chance to be acquainted with before taking this course.

I am looking forward to the rest of the semester to see our growth and gains in knowledge that will occur.  

Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.

— Oscar Wilde.

This is the first post on my new blog. I’m just getting this new blog going, so stay tuned for more. Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates.

Hello to those that will be reading this blog.

My name is Michael Mann. I am currently a PhD student at University of Tennessee working toward a degree in TPTE in Science Education. I have previously earned a Bachelors in Science in Animal Science from the University of Arkansas. Then went on to earn a Masters of Arts in Teaching with a focus in Secondary Science.

My research interests are gamification of the classroom. I have seen the good and the bad of technology in the classroom, but I want to look what can be done to help students in their coursework. Gamification also has the potential to increase each students’ technological literacy.