Leaders for LIFEBy: Mary Young

Think about self-determination and leadership…

• What is self-determination? Define leadership.

• Who do you consider to be a leader? What are their characteristics?

• How does a person develop self-determination skills?

• How does one become a leader?

“Self-determination refers to volitional actions that enable one to act as the primary causal agent in one’s life and to maintain or improve one’s quality of life” Wehmeyer, 2007, p. 6).

The component elements of self-determined behavior are:

Self-determined learning model of instruction in Promoting Self-Determination in Students with Developmental Disabilities by Michael L. Wehmeyer (2007, p.8)

Leadership is helping others confront problems that have never been successfully addressed (Fullan, 2001, Leading in a Culture of Change, p. 3).

There are five components to leadership:

http://www.cec.sped.org/Content/NavigationMenu/ProfessionalDevelopment/ProfessionalStandards/Red_book_5th_edition.pdf

Link to Administrative Standards

1. Leadership and Policy: IDEA 2004 – Transition Services2. Development and Characteristics of Learners: Looking at the

strengths and challenges of students with special needs and helping them become self-determined

3. Individual Learning Differences: Helping students learn how they learn and what accommodations they need to learn best

4. Instructional Strategies, Research and Assessment: Using assessments to help students plan post-secondary goals; Indicator 13 and 14 data

5. Professional Development: Division on Career Development and Transition; Transition Forum

Link to Administrative Standards

6. Collaboration: Teaching students to advocate for adult services and college disability services; school business partnerships

7. Instructional Planning: Students learn to guide their instruction and learning based on their needs and interests; they develop and lead their IEPs

8. Assessment: Students are included in assessment practices and evaluate their progress themselves

9. Professional and Ethical Practice: Transition staff belong to professional organizations and attend conference; on the CSB Board; Support their students self-advocacy; person centered plans include/respect the families (cultural background)

A Comparison …

Self-determination• Focus on individual

needs and concerns• Implies personal

management skills and self directed behavior

• Includes basic and inalienable rights

Leadership• Focus on collective

needs and concerns• Requires a relationship

between “leaders” and “followers”

• Leadership is conferred/required

Source: Self-determination, Self-advocacy, and the role of the Professional by Iriina Paraschiv

Self-determination leads to …

• a self-determined learner or a self-directed learner.

• knowing ones’ self and being able to self-advocate.

• leadership

So what?

Everyone needs self-determination,self-advocacy and leadership skills!

Literature ReviewSelf-Determination: What Do We Know? Where Do We Go? (2007)

Students with higher self-determination scores had a more positive post-school outcomes.

Self-determination contributed to a more positive quality of life for people with intellectual disabilities.

Implications: a) more teacher training and more support

b) implementation of strategies in the educational context

c) more instruction and involvement of families

d) the promotion of self-determination in younger students

Everyone needs self-determination,self-advocacy and leadership skills!

Literature ReviewPromoting Self-Determination for Transition-Age Youth: Views of High School General and Special Education (2008)

Both general and special education teachers feel self-determination skills are important, but they do not necessarily feel qualified nor do they have time to teach them .

General education classes may provide opportunities for students with disabilities to acquire skills that may enhance their self-determination, but they may need more effective strategies to acquire and apply them.

Implications:

a) There is a need for intervention and instructional strategies that are feasible , effective, and relevant in general education

classrooms at the high school level. They must work for a wide range of students.

b) A promising model: The Self-determined Learning Model of Instruction (SDLMI)

Everyone needs self-determination,self-advocacy and leadership skills!

Review: The Trophy Kids Grow Up, by Ron Alsop. Harvard Business Review Magazine (November 2008, p. 36). Generation showered with praise for the most modest accomplishments. Generation with acute sense of entitlement. Have helicopter parents that hover over college applications and grading

procedures. In the workforce they want constant positive feedback and have an unrealistic

expectations when it comes to career advancement. They like adults and want to score well. Corporations need to teach them some manners, such as turn off your IPods in

meetings and leave the stripped jeans at home.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens by Sean Covey, www.7habits4teens.com

Possible Selves by Hock, M., Schumaker, J., & Desher, D.

Everyone needs self-determination,self-advocacy and leadership skills!

Promoting Self-Determination in Students with Developmental Disabilities by: Michael L. Wehmeyer (2007)

Provides teachers with a framework to enable young people to become casual agents of their lives.

Based on the component elements of self-determination, the process of self-regulated problem solving, and research on student-directed learning.

It is appropriate for both students with and without disabilities across wide range of content areas. Students are active participants in their learning; it is self-directed.

Implications: a) Paradigm shift b) Teachers will need to direct the student through a problem-solving

sequence of thoughts to satisfy their needs and interests.

c) Self-directed and can help students develop self-led IEPs.

Virginia’s Self-Determination Project

www.imdetermined.org

is about…

______________ Present Level of Performance

Post-school goals

Strengths(Academic and Social)

What I know…

EmploymentEducation/TrainingIndependent Living/Community Participation

understanding my disability and advocating for myself by identifying my post-school goals, strengths, challenges, concerns, and needs in my IEP (Individualized Education Program)

See Handouts on SDLMI

• Phase 1: Set a Goal• Phase 2: Take Action• Phase 3: Adjust Goal or Plan

Note: Curriculum Modifications, Accommodations, Technology and Universal Design for Learning will play a large part in this model.

An Example of Setting a GoalStep 1

What class do I want to improve in?

Math

Step 2

What do I want to learn or improve on in Math class?

Figuring out how much tip to leave in restaurants.

Step 3

What must change for me to learn what I don’t know in math class?

I need to know the steps in a frame and an example of a problem that has been solved, and have things color coded.

Step 4

What can I do to make this happen?

I can ask my teacher to give me an example of a solved problem in a frame. I can have her color code it for me. After she teaches me I can practice problems

Step 5

Write goal.

My goal is to figure out how

much tip to leave ten times

using my frame.

Everyone needs self-determination,self-advocacy and leadership skills

Partnership for 21st Century Skills www.21stcenturyskills.org Overview Core subjects Skills

PBS

RTI

Self-determination & Leadership Skills

UDL

Differentiated Instruction

21st Century Skills

SDI

Social and Safety Skills

Make sure these are included in our framework

Framework graphic from www.21stcenturyskills.org

Standards and Assessment

Curriculum and Instruction

Professional Development

Learning Environment

Learning and Innovation Skills

Core Subjects and 21st Century Themes

Life and Career Skills

Information, Media and Technology Skills

Everyone needs self-determination,self-advocacy and leadership skills!

West Virginia’s Framework for High Performing 21st Century High Schoolshttp://wvde.state.wv.us/21stcenturydigitalresource/PDF%20High%20School%20Framework.pdf

Implications for Practice

If Virginia, and ultimately LCPS, adopts the framework for 21st Century Skills, we must make sure PBS, RTI, Self-determination, self advocacy and UDL are infused into the framework.

• Lack of teacher understanding of “self-determination” and leader in the 21st century.

• Overloading teachers and time to teach one more thing

• Limited services, supports, and resources for adults with intellectual disabilities and autism

• The adult service system in and of itself

• What happens when the economy is in trouble?

• Over taxed supports at the college level

• Fear of the unknown

• Assessment of some 21st century skills

• Schools always playing catch up

What are the main issues?Where can we find the answers?

http://www.cmu.edu/uls/journeys/randy-pausch/index.html

Randy Pausch: The Last Lecture

www.ImTyler.org

Tyler Green: I’m Tyler

Self-Determined Leaders for LIFELiving Interdependently Fosters Empowerment

Learning Interdependently Fosters Education or Evolution

ReferencesCarter, E., Lane, K., Pierson, M., & Stang, K. (2008) Promoting self-determination for

transition –age youth: Views of high school general and special education teacher, Exceptional Children, Vol. 75, No. 1, pp. 55-70.

Chambers, C., Wehmeyer, M., Saito, Y., Lida, K., Lee, Y., & Singhs, V. (2007), Self-determination: What do we know? Where do we go? Exceptionality, 15(1), pp. 3-15.

Council for Exceptional Children, Special Education Professional Standards at http://www.cec.sped.org/Content/NavigationMenu/ProfessionalDevelopment/ProfessionalStandards/Red_book_5th_edition.pdf

Covey, Sean. (1997) 7 habits of highly effective teens. New York, NY, Franklin Covey Inc.

Fullan, M. (2001), Leading in a culture of change. San Francisco; Jossey-Bass.

Greene, T. (2007). I’m Tyler. Waterloo, IA: Author. http://www.imtyler.org/

References ContinuedHock, M., Schumaker, J., & Deshler, D. (2003) Possible selves: Nurturing student motivation,

Lawrence, Kansas: Edge Enterprises, Inc.

Peebles, M. E., (2008, November). The trophy kids grow up: How the millennial generation is shaking up the workforce [Review of the book The trophy kids grow up]. Harvard Business Review.

Paraschiv, Irina. (2000). Self-determination, self-advocacy, and the role of the professional/ Chapel Hill, North Carolina: Center for Development and Learning, University of North Carolina. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED346082)

Partnership for 21St Century Skills at www.21stcenturyskills.org

Pausch, Randy. (2007) The last lecture at http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=5462447

References Continued

Wehmeyer, Michael, L. (2007). Promoting self-determination in students with developmental disabilities. New York NY; The Guilford Press.

West Virginia 21st Century Framework for High Performing 21st Century High Schools retrieved on November 8, 2008 at http://wvde.state.wv.us/21stcenturydigitalresource/PDF%20High%20School%20Framework.pdf