Sunday, November 8, 2009

Teacher Leadership

Based on the reading I have done on teacher leadership, the teacher leader in my opinion is someone who truly embraces education beyond their personal classroom. A teacher leader wants to continue their own learning and involve themselves in school decision making and supporting their colleagues. The resources I found give concise descriptions of teacher leadership and great pieces of advice for all educators from pre-service teachers to experienced veterans.

This resource is a post in one of the blogs hosted by the Teacher Leaders Network (TLN). The TLN website has a lot of great resources, but I felt that this one in particular does a great job at simply stating the characteristics of a teacher leader. The list of resolutions shows that all teachers can find ways to improve themselves in and out of the classroom and is a great source of advice for teachers at any stage in their career.

The educational career ladder often seems more like a short step stool where you are either a classroom teacher or an administrator. This resource explains the frustration many teachers feel about being in a career with very few opportunities to "climb the ladder" and suggests that by developing teacher leadership skills educators can take advantage of opportunities to grow outside their classrooms.

Do you think teacher leadership has the potential to create a broader career ladder for educators?
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3 comments:

  1. EllephantsNovember 9, 2009 at 11:05 AM

    Yes, a lot of teachers are Liberal Arts majors and a lot of companies are hiring people with these majors to work in their personel departments because we are considered "people persons." With that being said, I believe if teachers are able to demonstrate their ability to be effective teacher leaders this leads to new career paths as deans and principals as well as possibly with a corporate company. Within the corporate company the teacher can set up workshops that help employees with the creative process, team work, and building leadership skills.

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  2. EricNovember 10, 2009 at 1:50 PM

    Teacher leadership would look great on the resume of any teacher who wants to go higher on the ladder, to supervisor or principal etc. Increased teacher leadership, however, could decrease the need for many higher position educators. Why have 5 assistant principals if teachers are leading? Toughy toughy

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  3. Brittany YNovember 11, 2009 at 4:53 PM

    I definitely think teacher leaders can create new opportunities for teachers. Hopefully, teacher leaders will stimulate new career opportunities for educators.

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