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The Next 5 Years

The Next 5 Years (Due May 8)

Each of you came into this fellowship with experience and a unique story. Now that the year in the fellowship is coming to an end (it is not goodbye forever), it is time for your story to continue. So, where does your story go next? This is your opportunity to be forward-thinking. What goals do you have for yourself, your classroom, and your learning community in the next five years? Think back to the goal setting assignment (instrumental and missional thinking). Using the resources below, you will revise your goals and gather and curate personal resources that will support your growth as a STEM leader.

When one thinks about leadership, inevitably the business world comes to mind. We could spend countless hours watching great TED Talks on leadership, but let’s narrow our focus to this TED talk from Roselinde Torres.  Roselinde is a senior partner and managing director for the Boston Consulting Group.  The Boston Consulting Group is one of the largest private companies in the U.S.A.

Watch her talk here: https://www.ted.com/talks/roselinde_torres_what_it_takes_to_be_a_great_leader?language=en

Roselinde leaves us with 3 questions in her talk:

  1. Where are you looking to anticipate change?
  2. What is the diversity measure of your network? (Consider thinking in terms of your professional learning network. How often do you connect with individuals with different perspectives and beliefs? How does that influence your work?)
  3. Are you courageous enough to abandon the past? (Consider thinking in terms of past practice. What are you willing/courageous enough to part with?)

Keep these questions in mind as we explore this next resource,  “The Personal MBA: Mastering Business Without Spending a Fortune” by Josh Kaufman (2005). Read pages 1-6 and skim the rest of the article.  You will use this as an example when thinking of revising your goal as a leader in STEM and when writing your 5 Year Plan.

Skim these two readings on Personal Learning Networks (PLNs)

 

Now, let’s get to the nitty gritty details of this assignment! For your 5 Year Plan, you will create and post the following to your website by May 8:

Part 1: A Personal Reflection

Write a 300 – 500-word summary which returns to your instrumental and missional goals by:

  1. Restating and possibly revising your goals.
  2. Describing where were you looking to anticipate change?
  3. Explaining what is the diversity measure of your network? Remember to think in terms of your PLN.
  4. Exploring in what ways (if any) you feel courageous enough to abandon the past?

Part 2: Curating your Resources

Based on the revised instrumental and missional goals you have set for yourself, you will create an annotated bibliography (of sorts) of 15-20 resources that help you not only build your leadership skills, but also resources that can help you craft your leadership presence. You will gather and share your resources using a new or favorite curation tool. You can find a nice list of possible tools here. If you are new to content curation, we recommend that you try out blendspace or you can simply add text with links to your site. CIick here for a quick tutorial on how to annotate your resources in blendspace.

Remember that “resource” is a broad term.  Traditionally, when we talk about academic resources, we are talking about articles.  But, resources are everywhere.  They are people, organizations, videos, etc.  We want you to think outside of the box when trying to curate resources for your 5 Year Plan.  Don’t limit your vision by having a static definition of what a resource is.  Your resource curation should include:

  • At least 5 articles, websites, PD opportunities, videos, locations, books, etc. to explore further
  • At least 5 new additions to your PLN
  • At least 5 potential resources for funding (1 should specifically be opportunities available to CPS teachers)