Describe: The artifact that I place under the umbrella of  organizational leadership is the Technology Plan. This artifact was an individual activity and I must say that it was not a very difficult task. The overall goal of this plan was figuring out how to implement technology in the classroom not as a substitute with no functional change but as a means of using it to better our students achievement.

Analyze: Connections to the ELCC standards.

a.    3.1 Manage the Organization- The key to implementation of this technology plan is that it should be align with the school's vision and mission together with the and  learning standards of the different content area. Technology should  be embedded into the lessons that are taught, and it should foster collaboration and independence amongst our students. For this to happen however, there is need for continuous professional development. As our students are diverse so are our teachers, some are "tech savvy" and some require extra support. It is therefore imperative that principals provide that additional support. This artifact allows for the involvement of everyone in learning in this 21st century. It allows for connections to be made to new teaching experiences, new ways of teaching and assessment, decentralizing the classroom  yet  holding fast to the culture of teaching and learning.

b. 3.2 Manage Operations- The technology plan creates a space and time for teachers to meet and talk, this is essential to develop a learning community. Therefore, scheduling of common planning time is needed. Professional development time needs to be set aside with clear goals and expectations that addresses the different areas of support that is being asked of the staff.. According to Peter Senge, "if you want to teach people a new way of thinking, don't bother trying to lecture or instruct them, instead given them a tool, the use of which will lead to news of thinking." Another aspect of this standard and its connection to the plan is that a principal should be provide the tech support, infrastructure and hardware support that will be needed through out the implementation of this plan. It is therefore important that principals network and build partnerships with other schools and community based organizations. 

c. 3.3 Manage Resources-This ELCC standard connects to managing of the different resources. One such resource is effective professional development. Time and monies should be set-aside for teachers to have ongoing technology training and work on curriculum integration. In addition, when new action plans are implemented, evaluation of the plan is important therefore, resources need to be set aside for that. There are multiple ways that a principal can generate financial resources but one of the ways not general thought of is funding. Funding can help with the initial and on going cost for equipment, software, and other materials.

Appraise: One of the main realizations and implementation of this plan is that there is need for achievable goals and objectives. A principal should anticipate push back from the staff and should have a plan in place to address those concerns. In 80% of such cases it is the fear of technology and rightly expected. However, this is where professional development is very important. Again, professional development meetings should have objectives that aligns to the needs of the staff. More importantly those objectives should be follow through in the classrooms so that teachers are practicing skills gained and identify where more support is needed.

There is no doubt that there is technology usage in the classroom however, there is always so much that we can do; scanning classroom documents in seconds using your tablet or smartphone, we can keep in contact with parents and students, storing doc, collaboration with others and using Google drive as a place to archive resources.  For all of  this to happen, teachers need to see models of hardware and software in action. I agree that unless teachers and students have hands-on experiences with using technology and make connections to  how it can be useful to them in and out of the classroom in productive ways technology will be useless becoming a substitute.

Transform: One specific way that this artifact has helped me to improve my future role as a leader is to be clear that the key to any implementation plan is that is should be aligned with the goals of the curriculum vision and mission. This is so important because again technology should not replace the pen but it should be embedded into the lessons that are taught; it should foster collaboration and independence amongst our students. Technology can organize a classroom, making it more individualize, providing students with a sense of independence, and depth of learning through feedback and access to academic resources. However, I cannot emphasize the importance of always euvaluating new plans after it has been implemented.