Leadership is communicating to people their worth and potential so clearly
that they come to see it in themselves. - Stephen Covey
A teacher leader is a vital member of a school
community. Teacher leaders help a school
community grow and make the necessary changes to maximize the learning of
students. Below I will share my own values, beliefs and
assumptions to be an effective teacher leader.
Upon reflection I have nine core values, I feel these values
are not only essential to the teaching profession and education but also values
a teacher leader should possess. These
values are respect, honesty, compassion, commitment, learning, enthusiasm,
teamwork, leadership and trustworthiness.
As a teacher leader
there must be mutual respect between me and any other stakeholder. I need to respect the viewpoints and value
the contributions of all stakeholder groups.
Professionalism and politeness are key to ensure a positive working
relationship is established and maintained at all times.
I must ensure honesty is maintained in all aspects of my
relationships. If I am to develop
effective relationships I must be honest in all my interactions. This will also help me to develop the value
of trustworthiness. As a teacher leader I must earn trust through all of my
interactions. If I am untrustworthy in
any situation I can easily jeopardize my effectiveness as a teacher
leader. It is important to take the time
to develop the trust and relationships with others. My
honesty will hopefully show I have integrity and others will be able to trust
and believe in me.
Being a teacher leader does require you to value
leadership. From my perspective, I value
transformational leadership. I try hard
to motivate the teachers and staff I work with.
I also try to show them different ways they can implement strategies,
methods, etc. I try to be a consistent
role model in my classroom of how to execute new initiatives. With the value of leadership, I also value
teamwork. Teacher leadership is about
developing a team environment where collaboration of ideas and the sharing of
resources is not only encouraged but also expected and rewarded. By continuing to collaborate and share ideas
we will also build capacity within our school as well as student success.
I value enthusiasm and I think it has been a tremendous
benefit for me as a teacher leader.
Throughout my teaching career I have had many individuals comment my
enthusiasm is contagious. I have been
told this not only motivates them but also inspires them to try new
things. I feel a positive attitude has
the power to change any situation.
However, with enthusiasm I also value compassion. It is very easy to have your enthusiasm
become annoying or overwhelming for some individuals. I value compassion because as a teacher
leader you need to understand where each stakeholder is coming from, their past
histories, their apprehensions, and their burning questions. Your compassion as a teacher leader will
help stakeholders open up and share this information.
Finally, my values of commitment and learning are essential
for any teacher leader. Teacher leaders
are life-long learners. They are always
looking for new ways to improve their craft.
Myself, as a teacher leader, I hope I am showing others I value learning
by attending professional development opportunities, continuing to take
university courses such as this one as well as reading professional articles
and books. In turn, I hope this also
shows how much I value and am committed to the teaching profession. This commitment is giving your all to teaching and to kids. Being accountable to standards, curriculum
outcomes, but most of all committed to the success of students is truly what I
value.
I hold many beliefs as a teacher leader. Below are just a few beliefs I feel are essential
to be an effective teacher leader.
I believe a teacher leader needs to be a strong
communicator. They need to be able to
communicate effectively with all stakeholders to build strong cohesive
relationships. As a strong and effective communicator, the teacher leader will
make connections with others to finds ways to improve teaching methods,
practices and question pedagogy. As a
strong communicator the teacher leader is always looking for new ideas for the
betterment of the school community and ultimately for students.
I believe teacher leaders need to be well-organized; they
need to be able to manage documents and find information easily. They must be able to itemize and prioritize
and have a systematic approach for keeping track of documents. Although being well-organized and a strong
communicator are essential, a teacher leader also has to have the humanistic
approach and ability to be passionate and caring. A teacher leader has to be passionate about
the topics they are leading but also show a caring for kids as well as the
other stakeholders in the community. A
well-rounded teacher leader is the only way to effectively help bring about
change within a school.
I believe a teacher leader needs to be an advocate for the
profession. It is very easy in our
profession to go to work every day and become complacent in the issues and in
the work. In learning more about the
political framework of a school organization, teachers need to become even more
of an advocate for their profession.
Teacher leaders not only have to be advocates for themselves but also
for students as they have a huge impact on what is best for kids. Since this is my belief, I am an advocate for
the profession by being the school’s local representative for the Alberta
Teacher’s Association.
I am actually sharing two assumptions I use to hold of teacher
leaders that I have now re-evaluated.
Old Assumption: Teacher
leaders hold an evaluative role.
New Assumption: Teacher
leaders hold a mentoring/coaching role.
After learning more about teacher leadership and seeing
effective teacher leaders, teacher leadership is a non-evaluative role. Teacher leadership is about building capacity
within a school. It is about valuing
collaboration and working together. It
is collegial and an opportunity for the both teacher leader and teacher to grow
together. It is about coaching as well
as modelling effective teaching methods to improve the teaching and learning to
best meet the needs of all students.
Old Assumption: Teacher
leaders need to be veteran teachers with many years of experience.
New Assumption: Teacher
leaders share a specific skill set with other teachers for the betterment of a
school.
One of the basic assumptions I use to make about teacher
leaders is the teacher leader needed to be a veteran teacher. Although, I value experience I have also seen
many new teachers coming out of university who have been able to guide and
provide leadership with regards to technology and about current research.
I was able to rethink this assumption when my school began
the process of becoming a Leader In Me school.
The idea of leadership is not only with teachers but also with students. As a school we realized each child has their
own strengths and we just have to tap into them. The same holds true with staff, all teachers
are able to be a teacher leader in some capacity. We all have the power to lead our school
towards school improvement, we just have to find a way to tap into those
strengths and share them with others. Developing
teacher leaders “is about mobilizing the still largely untapped attributes of
teachers to strengthen student performance and work toward real collaboration”
(Kurtz, p. 38, 2009).
The values, beliefs and assumptions I have as a teacher leader I hope are reflected in this poster that is proudly displayed in my classroom for all stakeholders
to see.
References
Kurtz, S. (2009).
Teacher leadership. Leadership, 39(1), 12-14,38. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/204317962?accountid=458
