The majority of teachers
would not argue with the fact that it is important to instill a sense of
leadership in their students. Moreover, encouraging students to take risks and
challenge their thinking is another key component of most classrooms. Why then would the practice be any different
for teacher leadership?
Although teachers strive to promote leadership among
their students, often those same principles are difficult to embrace in their
own practice. For this reason, it is
increasingly important for teacher leaders to step forward, providing a
positive example in order to remove the stigma from leadership, perhaps
encouraging their colleagues to follow suit. Additionally, encouragement from building leaders to seek out leadership opportunities that align with a teacher's passions is a great first step in growing the level of teacher leadership and engagement within a school building.
However, in order for teachers to feel comfortable stepping up to
a leadership role, there is one essential element that must be present
throughout a school building, trust. Just as students in a classroom are not willing to take risks if there
is a fear of ridicule and mockery, teachers often pass on opportunities to take
on leadership roles when high levels of trust are not present in the school
building. In these instances, positive
examples by strong teacher leaders and support from administrators can help to break down the wall of mistrust
and encourage other colleagues to seek out opportunities to lead.
Promoting teacher leadership is even easier when it is
supported by upper level administrators. One major change that our Directors of K-12 education (@maureenbur1 and @i_sing_america) initiated is to put professional development opportunities into the hands of
the teachers. This has been extremely
empowering as well as eye-opening.
During the first sessions, there were several innovative and meaningful opportunities
offered. They were well attended; and
the feedback was phenomenal. Teachers
enjoyed learning new instructional methods from practicing colleagues. They
also felt a sense of camaraderie when collaborating about ideas that had worked
and those that hadn't. As a result, even
more teacher leaders have emerged to provide learning
opportunities for their colleagues. As school leaders, we should strive to provide similar opportunities for teachers to discover leadership opportunities within their own practice. Kudos
to our curriculum directors for empowering their teachers and putting the
PD in the hands of the practitioners!
In
conclusion, as mentioned by Carol Dweck in the book Mindset, taking risks and learning valuable lessons from mistakes is
an integral part of the learning experience.
Just as educators encourage their students to experiment with new
strategies, teacher leaders should follow suit.
You do not have to be in a leadership
role to be a leader, and teacher leaders can help to transform a school culture
and develop trust while encouraging colleagues follow their example.
This blog post was adapted from an article I wrote for Oakland University's Publication "Teacher Leader" from January, 2013.
