Hi folks,

The Change Leadership Chapter test is scheduled for Friday, June 6. Last chapter test of the semester.

On Thursday I will print out a practice test for the New Economy Chapter so please review the chapter now. I will try to do practice tests for all of the first semester chapters to help prepare for the final exam.  

Your other task is to complete the final Change Leadership Action Research project which is due next Friday, June 13. Make sure you do some research! Examples of primary research include an interview, survey, or focus group with teachers, business people, admin, and students. Secondary research includes the scholarly articles or review the material recommended in the project overview. 

There is also an article on flipped classrooms in the new Port Credit Student Newspaper called the Port Critic.

Use your research to support your recommendations and add a bibliography.

Folks, 

We started the Change Leadership Chapter in class yesterday and reviewed the final project of the year, which is due on June 13. Your team is to conduct an action research project report to prepare our school organization to ensure students best learn the "21st Century Learnings Skills" identified by the Peel Board of Education. Please review the Change Leadership project description and the Business report rubric. 

To provide additional time and focus to complete the project we will not complete the Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility Chapter. However your Test on the Organizational Culture and Communications chapters is still scheduled for tomorrow. The Change Leadership chapter test will be scheduled sometime in the week of June 9 and is the final chapter on the exam. 

Also remember to read the earlier Blog post on self, peer, and project assessments which should be completed this week. 

Well done! We are finally at the Adjourning Stage of Team Development. Now we get to celebrate good times!

You should all be proud of yourselves for organizing a great Leadership and Technology conference. Everything went very well and everyone pulled through to make the conference a great success and experience. Thank you for sticking together and not giving up on each other. I know it was a lot of work. People are encouraged to share Conference Team Photo's, Videos, or Twitter Story. Does anyone want to try to publish our Story on Storify or another application or media.

To assist me in completing your conference performance evaluations, please complete the following this week.

1. Complete final Individual Self Evaluation. Hand in on Tuesday, May 27.
2. Complete Conference Project Evaluation. Submit in Lab on Thursday, May 29.
3. Complete Divisional Team Evaluation. Submit in Lab on Thursday, May May 29.

The plan for this week is as follows: 

1. May 26 and 27 -  Review #pcstlt and start Ch. 18 Change Leadership and Transformational Change Project
2. May 28 - Test - Communications and Organizational Culture chapters
   
3. May 29 - Lab work on Transformational Change Project
4. May 30 - Start  Individual Conference Performance Evaluation Interview With Mr. Gill. Be sure to bring evidence of your good work.

Well,

This is it. The big show. Great work sticking together to make this happen. Some great Tweets today too!

Today was our third week to perfect your presentations. We had a good "walk through" of of each team doing a short presentation of your recent changes. I have been involved with many projects and presentations and one is always nervous and there never seems to be enough time to make it perfect. I am confident you will all do well tomorrow.

Get a good night sleep, relax on stage, stay positive, and enjoy. You all know the material and have a lot of great information to share.  Remember to leave about 10 minutes for a Q and Q session and our class team can ask questions if our guests are shy! We have to get the conversation started and keep it interesting. 

See you tomorrow at 8 A.M. !

Team, We are getting close. To make sure we are all on the "same page", here are some reminders regarding our final preparations for the Final Rehearsal in the Auditorium Thursday and the Conference on Friday!  

1. Wear Business Professional (Black) to the Rehearsal on Thursday, May 22 and the the Conference on Friday, May 23. We will Tweet out another Team Photo on Thursday. Perhaps get divisional Team photos too!
2. For the Rehearsal, all Teams will be requested to quickly explain & show just their main updates to their presentation. 5 Min Each.
3. Arrive 20 minutes early for the rehearsal and 30 minutes early for the Conference to set up, get presentations open, test, and review roles at the conference. 
4. Remember Teams will have different jobs at the conference when not presenting. Review the Duty Roster on the Wiki. Project Managers should ensure team understands and are commuted. Comment on the page if issues or other ideas. 
5. When your team is assigned to be the Conference Greeters, remember to be professional and escort the class to one area in the front of the auditorium together. There should be no students walking around or siting in the back. Please also remember that there is no food or drinks allowed in the auditorium and only students accompanied by teachers can attend the conference. Tell the class teacher if there are any issues. All students are encouraged to Tweet out pictures and quotes from the conference.  
6. Final Revisions to Workshop and Exec Presentations to be completed by the End of Day on Wednesday. Upload or Link to Wiki (including date)and SUBMIT to the Conference Presentation page of the class Website. 
7. Teams must be prepared to speak if someone is sick (must bring note as part of culminating). Everyone must also have access to presentations and software that you are demonstrating. If one group is not ready to present then one of the other groups will have to present. 
8. All students from our class must be in the auditorium for the entire day as this is an in-school field trip. Groups must be in the auditorium area and be prepared to present for the second time if required. Make sure you pay for class Pizza, bring refreshments, or bring your own lunch. We have the Conference Room booked for the day.
9. Bring in the Parent Form to attend the full day conference if you forgot. You can invite your parents. 
10. Keep Promoting the Conference with Tweets using #pcstlt including pictures of the class teams, management topic articles, promotional ads or videos. Keep it positive and educational.
11. Review and comment on action Items from the Conference Wiki Event Front Page, Exec Page, and Your Team's Main pages. 
12. Remind your teachers to attend with any of their classes in any period. They can either reply to my email to advise us what class they are taking or you can sign up for them on the Wiki Teacher Attendance page.
13. Double check each of your Job Descriptions and Assessment Rubrics as this is what we will be reviewing together during post conference performance reviews. You will have to bring evidence of your performance.  
14. Re-Read "Lets Push Things Froward" Blog post from the weekend which has a number of points on assessment and evaluation, updating and practicing your presentations

Hi, I hope everyone is having a good long weekend. Nice work last week. 

The test on Communications and Organizational Culture will be delayed until Monday, May 26 so we can focus on the final Conference preparations. I have scheduled the Library on Tuesday and Lab 220 on Wednesday.

Every Workshop group and exec team had an opportunity to present at least once in the auditorium last week. It was nice to see so many of you Friday before class started in the auditorium to make sure the equipment worked and your presentations were ready. We will have to do that again next Thursday in our final rehearsal in the Auditorium. On the conference day, which is next Friday, May 23, you should be in the auditorium by 8 A.M. at the latest!

All presentations, including the exec intro and conclusion, need to be improved and practised. Here are some ideas:

• Meet with your team and decide who can do what to improve the presentation. Everyone can work on 1-2 slides to come up with ideas and adding material for the main section your are presenting. 
  
• As Jacob clearly commented at the rehearsal, the presentations need more visuals (Company and conference logos, images, or screen shots). Try to use examples and screen shots that are personal. Your own Google + or Outlook accounts and pictures. 
• Remember that our audience is grade 9-12 students. Make it PRACTICAL, interesting and informative. 
• You are also encouraged to re-read my earlier content Blog Posts and the feedback posted on the Wiki 
• For the Introduction and Conclusion, I made some suggestions via comment on your Wiki executive status page. 
• The workshops and the Conference Intro and Conclusion are 30 Minutes each including approximately 10 for questions and answers. Make sure you have practised and timed your final presentation. 
• Remember to market the conference by inviting your teachers to bring their classes (I sent them an e-mail), Tweeting pictures and information about the conference and what ever else is on the Marketing Plan. For example, tweet out our promotional videos and add them to the website.
• You should also review the presentation check-brick criteria and the planning and execution rubric to understand the expectations for the presentation, marketing, and working together as a team.
• On the technical side, the technical managers should make that their team all have access to the software you are presenting with or doing a demo with. You should all be using the software your team is recommending students be use. Add a Screen print of your team on a Google Circle or Google docs, or Collaborating on Prezi.
• Use the Wiki to make suggestion, ask questions, and to post recent material. Make your your info is updated and date info that is new and you want people to review. Reply to other peoples comments. 
• Stay positive, encourage each other, volunteer to complete tasks to help the team, and as the Streets say,  "Lets Push things Forward" !

Folks. Please remember to keep any promotional Tweets using our Port Credit Conference Twitter account and conference # positive . Think before you tweet. Would a future employee or your grandmother approve? If you are not sure, then please do not Tweet and delete anything inappropriate.

Remember to keep a positive digital footprint.

You are encouraged to Tweet out information about the conference or your individual workshops. You can also tweet your promotional videos, images of your team getting prepared, or articles and videos related to the management topic or software you will be speaking about. 

Think before you Tweet!

I will see everyone at 11 at the latest on Friday in the Auditorium to make sure the equipment and your presentation are ready to go. Any group that did not present or has updates should present. We also need to see the TweetDeck presentation and an example of the conclusion, Q & A, and Feedback documents.  

P.S. the Test on Tuesday, May 20 is on the Communications and Organizational Culture Chapters. 

P.S.S. The conference Website looks great. Re-tweet to followers! Remember students can only attend if they convince their teacher to take their whole class. 

Good job today. We got 5/6 presentations done and most of the introduction. Friday, we should do the Intro (including TweetDeck) again as too many distractions to start. The office has advised that the second projector now works, although I am not sure how and where one gets the second screen. We still have the Motivation and Google + presentation and I would like to see the Prezi presentation again along with a run through of the concluding comments, Q & A, and on-line customer feedback forms (perhaps need to mention each period). If anyone else wants to practice any updated portion of their presentation. All teams should upload and date on the Wiki any changes made for Friday and next week. 


I tried to give some immediate feedback to all teams today and please to remember to hand in your feedback forms, which I will cut up and return to teams like the last time. In general, it was much better, but I think we can still be more creative (images, interesting examples, or activities), add some more business examples, and include some more demos of the software features (Tips?). Each Workshop has 30 Minutes so teams should practice and leave 10 minutes for Q & A. Finally, review the "Content, Content , Content" Blog post and the many comments I have made on the Wiki. 

Last, but not least, Lets officially start the marketing campaign by sending out a formal invite from our conference Twitter @ that includes the date, the website, and #. The rest of you can then Re-Tweet and of course you are encouraged to Tweet info out with #pcstlt about your Workshops and the Conference. To be clear, we are inviting students to ask their teachers if the teacher can take the whole class on May 23rd to see the conference during the period. Students cannot go without the rest of the class and their teacher. I will also send an e-mail to teachers. If anyone wants to write a more personal note on behalf of the class, I can send it.

 The website is looking great and there are just a few minor details to spruce up. Everyone is encouraged to share ideas on the Wiki.  We now have a logo on the site, a date (a bit hard to read) and updated Workshop descriptions. Just the Prezi team Logo needs to be added. We should also add the exact times of each period for outside classes and guests. Any guest you invite, which may include parents need to sign in at the office and you also have to advise me in advance. We should add info on the Executive team.


Thanks again for your hard work, focus, and enthusiasm today. The next Rehearsal is Friday in period 3 in the auditorium. We are in Lab 225 tomorrow. The last rehearsal is May 22 and the Conference is all day on May 23. 

Today in class, I was asked why something to do with the conference was important. I forget if it was related to getting a logo, promotional material, or using Tweeter. Unfortunately, I did not stop and think and made some inappropriate comment about why are any of us important in the big picture of things. However, the more I think about the question the more I realize it is important to answer in a thoughtful way. 

Here are my thoughts about why we are organizing a conference and why I think we should all try to make it an excellent conference and experience.

1. We will learn about the art, science, and practice of management by working together and growing as a team.
2. We will actually produce something that you can take pride in and that is creative and authentic. 
3. You will have done something interesting that you can share with others and which might even help you get a job or get accepted into some post secondary school program.
4. We can say we did it despite the ups and downs, conflicts, and the demands of our generally busy lives. 

What do you think? Make a comment? I dare you..