Visionary Leadership: Vision Statement Assignment

If I ran the Literacy Center, we would move forward on the consortium of Region 10 (Kent, Allegan, Ottawa) by creating a one stop agency within each county that assesses learners and refers them to the first step/agency on their personal literacy journey.  Each county would house a literacy council with one on one tutoring, Family Literacy programming in partnership with area schools, an Adult Education Agency with Adult Basic Education courses at all levels, ELL courses at all levels, and GED preparation and testing, a Workplace Readiness agency with skill training and certification, a Post Secondary transition center, and a Community College that would include developmental courses and credit courses.  These agencies would share resources, learners, space, and funding in order to make sure that each adult learner is placed and working towards his/her personal goals in an efficient and successful fashion. 

What can I do to be a visionary leader?

I read the "NETS-A Standards for Visionary Leadership."  It's a document that lists the standards for being a visionary leader and incorporating technology into schools and organizations. 

At the Literacy Center of West Michigan, we teach Adult Education.  I recruit and train volunteer tutors to teach adults to read, write, or speak and understand the English language.  Tutors meet in any public location, out in the community, in order to conduct their tutoring.  We train them on the use of research based literacy strategies and provide them with adult learning materials.  Not a lot of our learners have access to computers and/or other technologies within their homes or at their tutoring sites. 

My role in encouraging the use of technology for teaching adults may be accomplished within the Tutor Training that I teach.  I provide KeyTrain access (an online curriculum preparing learners for the WorkKey's assessment and thus a National Career Readiness Certificate), provide lists of adult learning websites, show tutors how to build their own professional networks through Adult Learning sites, lesson planning sites, etc.  Within the Literacy Center, we have computers available for adult learners and their tutors to use.  The new GED assessment will only be given on computers, so I'd also like to incorporate typing and basic literacy skills into our annual tutor and/or learner in-service schedule. 

Q/A for TLA

What makes a good blog?
The blogs that seem to attract my attention contain images/photographs that draw me in and make me interested in learning more.  I also enjoy the fact that my "friends" mention blogs on their facebook pages, because I learn about blogs that I might enjoy based on their comments and recommendations. 

How could a blog enhance your existing agency web presence? 
We have a PR/Marketing Specialist that has been exploring creating a blog for the Literacy Center or West Michigan.  It's really important to her that it's done well and is well maintained by staff people.  It may be a way to provide free web advertising for the Literacy Center and may assist us in recruiting tutors. 

Are blogs an easier way for people to self-publish?
I would assume so!  It's as easy as 1,2,3!

TLA TAL -getting started

Through the Teacher as Learner course, I hope to become more comfortable training Adult Literacy Tutors to incorporate technology into their one-on-one tutoring sessions.  They may also be able to use technology with their learners in between tutoring sessions or for make-up sessions.