The goal of any administrator is to improve instruction and increase student achievement.

As we progress in the 21st Century, innovation and technology have been evolving at exponential levels making these goals increasingly more difficult to achieve with our students.  Quite frankly, it is much more difficult to motivate the students of today. Most would even say that instructional techniques have not been adapted to best educate and meet the needs of the 21st Century student.

As society evolves education must as well.

Today’s student must be actively engaged in meaningful learning.  The ultimate way to accomplish this is through the utilization of the many tools that they currently use on a routine basis and through specially designed activities that are interactive, integrate technology, foster critical thought, and can be connected to the real world. I strongly feel that this can best be the utilization of web 2.0 tools, iPods, and social networking sites like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Delicious.

This summer has been one of the most exciting in my career as a high school principal.

I have spent countless hours acting like a sponge, absorbing and learning as much as I can about the exiting ways to engage adolescents through a PLN (personal learning network). This is where social networks come into play. I don’t even look at Twitter as a social networking site anymore, but rather as a professional networking environment.

Twitter allows committed educators from all over the world to collaborate, share ideas, engage in thoughtful discussions, and participate in continual professional development that is meaningful (now how often do teachers say that on a professional development day). There is no doubt in my mind that EVERYONE benefits from this type of communication, especially students. I can also state with confidence that my immersion in this arena has made me a better administrator and is allowing me to better prepare my students to be successful in a 21st Century global economy.

Those of you reading my post probably feel the same way as I do.

I find it exhilarating to browse through the many tweets using an application like TweetDeck each day knowing that I will be receiving a piece of new educational knowledge or learning about an exciting resource that my teachers can use in the classroom. This is where Delicious enters the picture. Through the use of a PLN, I have been diligently working this summer on creating the ultimate one-stop-shop for interactive, engaging resources that my teachers can easily access.

I see the value in the plethora of technologies that can be used to motivate, engage, and help increase achievement in an authentic fashion. I also realize that I must model, inform, and provide teachers with the proper training in order for authentic learning to take place.  One of the first steps I have taken is developing teacher PIP (professional improvement plans) goals that incorporate the integration of educational technologies as well as a building-level goal where all freshman teachers must engage their students in an authentic-based cumulative project.