Taking the Lead

Program Standard 6

This quarter has been all about how to step up as a teacher leader through communication and collaboration. As I work with my colleagues, I am realizing that I have a lot of ideas but I'm still working on how I can implement them in a way that makes sense for my school. In my initial reflection, I wrote about how I had a lot of hope for the direction my school was moving as we shift our leadership structure and develop a new curriculum. Over the past few months, I have seen a lot of growth, both in the school and in myself. I am searching for ways to be more involved.

I am currently planning a book study to engage my colleagues as we plan our new curriculum. I chose a book study because I thought that it would be a good way to gather people who needed to learn about a new teaching method but who had limited time to meet. Zepeda (2012) writes "Effective book studies have the overall goal of supporting the reading of professional materials that will support the development of thinking or refined instructional practice" (p. 190). To that end, this project has helped me think about collaboration goals. Baum and Krulwich write "true collaboration... happens only when professional collaborate daily on the defining work of their profession." As collaboration is a word that gets tossed around a lot without really meaning anything, I have also thought a lot about how adults learn and how to apply these principles to make my book study an effective means of collaboration. Further readings from Zepeda (2012), particularly information about logistical planning and the provided case studies, were helpful in completing this project.

With my new learning, I have also sometimes been frustrated as I try to do more but do not have the tools or information. Smylie, Conley, and Marks (2011) emphasize the need for proper structures to build teacher leadership programs. It is important to note that it is not enough to give teacher leaders the training. The school culture or leadership needs to change to empower those teacher leaders. I have learned to be more frank about my needs so that I can be a better leader. I think that in the future I will be able to aid my colleagues through sharing information, such as articles from Edutopia or other education sites, or being a model in my own classroom, two strategies that have not been readily utilized at my school.

One tool that I found very useful was the "Teacher Leader Self-Evaluation" from the Center for Strengthening the Teaching Profession (CSTP). From this survey, I learned that systems thinking is my biggest challenge. Because I am not an administrator, I don't always have access to all the information (nor should I, in some cases). When I do have access to information, I don't always understand what to do with it, or understand all the steps that have gone into making a decision. I find it challenging to think on that level, as it is still new to me. Marsick and Watkins (2001) write that "The organizational context produces different work assignments, which, in turn, lead to different opportunities and priorities for learning" (p. 28). For me, as I have become grade level coordinator, this has led to a whole new context, and I am still learning how to effectively perform in that role. Marsick and Watkins (2001) also note that for adult learners, "learning begins with some kind of trigger" (p. 29) and my new role has triggered this desire to learn for me. It has made my grad school work more meaningful because I can apply it directly to my professional work.

Moving forward, I hope to embrace my work as a teacher leader help bring more voice to the faculty in leadership positions. I can remain flexible, and work with administration to negotiate what this will look like. I can also help my colleagues to see how giving a greater role to teacher leaders is beneficial, since empowering teacher leaders "can often maintain momentum in a school's improvement efforts" and "can build community and collaboratively find ways to make a difference for students" (Katzenmeyer & Moller, 2011, p. 8). Making a difference for students should be at the heart of what all teachers are doing. I look forward to helping my colleagues find new and exiting ways to do that.

References
Baum, K., & Krulwich, D. (2017). A New Approach to PD--and Growing Leaders. Educational Leadership, 74(8), 62-66.
Katzenmeyer, M., & Moller, G. (2011). Understanding teacher leadership. In E.B. Hilty (Ed.), Teacher leadership: The "new" foundations of teacher education: A reader (3-21). New York: Peter Lang Publishing.

Marsick, V.J., & Watkins, K.E. (2001, Spring). Informal and incidental learning. New directions for adult and continuing education, 89, 25-34.

Smylie, M.A., Conley, S., & Marks, H.M. (2011). Exploring new approaches to teacher leadership for school improvement. In E.B. Hilty (Ed.), Teacher leadership: The "new" foundations of teacher education: A reader (265-282). New York: Peter Lang Publishing.

Zepeda, S.J. (2012). Professional development: What works. New York: Routledge.