Final Leadership Proposal 667
Brent Hibbert
July 13, 2008

Going through OMET has been a life changing experience for me in that I have been able to focus on what my values are that pertain to education and my part in that task.  Like others I have also found that I can make a difference no matter where I stand, each of us can lead by example.  I have struggled at my past job for the last several years, it seemed that the distance between my values and the schools became wider and wider as time went on.  From my experiences of this past year I came to the knowledge that I would be unable to work there any more due to those differences.  With my new knowledge and experience I sought out another job and found one where I would be able to teach values and skills in the manner and way I learned that is successful for the learning process to succeed.  

With this new adventure ahead of me I am excited for all of the possibilities that in front of me.  One of the greatest things I have learned over the last year to have successful learning experiences and build relationships with others is to continue to develop my listening skills.  Like one of my students said “The more Brent listens to us the more we listen to him”.  Another quote I love is in The Power of Their Ideas p. xii “…as I’ve discovered, teaching is mostly listening and learning is mostly telling…”.   

With these new skills I plan to continue to implementing my action research project and to continually refine it and learn from it, to become the best learning designer I can be.  I want to develop an environment like Deborah Meier talks about in The Power of Their Ideas that can be “…a rich and interesting curriculum full of powerful ideas and experiences aimed at inspiring its students with the desire to know more…” (p.16).     

Since my move I have been spending some time driving around and meeting and trying to get to know some of the students I will have in the coming year.  This has been a new experience for me since I am not in my comfort zone, while realizing that this will give me a head start on building relationships with them for the coming year.  I am also trying to attend local activities where the communities youth will be at to meet more of them and find out what interests them personally so I can work that into my curriculum for the coming year.  What has been interesting is when I meet them and sit and listen to their dreams and aspirations the more interested they are in me, which is another conformation of my action research.  I am planning to focus on building a culture where my students can feel comfortable enough to take chances.    

One of the grant’s I am looking at is offered by Qwest for the amount of $10,000.  It is for teachers who pioneer innovative uses of technology in the classroom, from going though OMET I believe I can do that now.  I am looking at developing a computerized machining program and with this money I would be able to purchase a machine that my students could design and actually machine those parts out of various types of plastics.  Then they would be able to transfer that knowledge over to the shops computerized mills and lathes to build their parts.  This would be a real life application for my students to see their ideas turn to designs then to actual real life usable parts.  I know of only one school that has these machines in place to do this as part of their curriculum. http://www.qwest.com/about/company/community/teachers_and_technology.html   

Within my school I plan to not be as vocal in my opinions as I have been in the past, and take that time to listen to others and find out what is important to them and the school community.   This will enable me to find ways I can share with the community in a positive way and share the many wonderful things I have learned this past year and what I will continue to learn in the future.    

During the time I have spent getting to know the youth in the community I have also reached out and introduced myself to everyone within a hand shake.  This has really opened up doors for me in the community I might not have had access otherwise.  I have also spent time with those that had time discussing the school, the students and what they felt is important for them to learn.  I then spent time trying to enrolled them into my learning design I developed in my action research and everyone I have talked to really got excited about the learning possibilities.   

In the future I plan to work on building the Industrial Arts Association at the state level.  It is not as functional or as strong as I would like to see it.  I have been part of strong organizations in the past and found many benefits from participating in them personally and professionally.

My plan of attack is to stay positive and each day look for new possibilities and spend the time to build relationships with my students and colleagues so we as a group can promote positive change in our school and community.  Then take the time to give my students as much feedback as I can on their projects.