Being a teacher leader to me generally means being like a super-teacher. Teacher leaders are the teachers at a particular school that work actively with clubs, sports teams, PTA, and a number of other things. Teacher leaders devote large amounts of their personal time to the school and the profession in general. Teacher leaders attend conferences whenever possible and share that information with any teacher that can benefit from it. The two resources I found were Hal Portner’s article, Are you an Informal Teacher Leader (http://teachers.net/gazette/OCT08/portner/) and an interview with Dr. Betsy Rogers, 2003 Teacher of the Year (http://www.teacherscount.org/topic/topic-rogers.shtml). Portner’s article focuses on the concept of the informal teacher leader, which is essentially a teacher leader that is not an administrator. He emphasizes that teacher leaders are those who stay in the classroom and project their leadership role from there. Dr. Betsy Rogers explains her view of the teacher leader as a teacher who strives to make an impact, not only on his or her school, but on the community as well. These sources make it clear that a teacher leader is involved in after school activities and facilitates school improvement in any way possible. In my career as a teacher I do intend to attend conferences and continuing education programs, partially so I don’t lose the edge that coming from an accredited program has provided me with, and also because it is one of the best ways to make sure you are always providing students with the best possible education.
Do you think being a teacher leader is something we should strive to be in our first years as teachers or should we start out as teacher followers for the first few years?
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I think it will be difficult to be a teacher leader in the first year. We, ourselves, will just be learning the proverbial ropes. Shouldn't we find our own footing and gain some in class experience first, I think it will help us in the long run because we will know what areas need improvement.
ReplyDeleteI'm not certain we need to become the ultimate teacher leader in the first few years or so but I do believe we should strive to attain these qualities as early as possible. There's a saying, "you can't teach an old dog new tricks" and i believe it has some accuracy behind it. It's not impossible to assume a leadership role later on in your career, but I think it creates a better foundation the earlier you start.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it is most important to be getting your footing with teaching in the classroom for the first year. In other ways, the first years could be the ideal time to become a teacher leader. I would guess that a teacher's energy level and enthusiasm will be higher in the beginning when everything is new and exciting. As time goes passes, commitments with family and children will start to take precedence and we might not be able to devote as much time to work as we will in the first few years.
ReplyDeleteI think its good to start out as a leader. Look for opportunities in the community to get involved with from the start. Also, maybe new teachers could learn from more experienced teacher leaders at their school. I don't see why a teacher can't start early.
ReplyDeleteI don't necessarily think that we need to jump right into doing everything possible when we first start teaching. I think we should actually get the hang of teaching and dealing with kids and parents and all that before getting too much in depth with everything else. I don't want to get into teaching and immediately get involved and then get burned out in a few years. I think balance is needed throughout our careers, and I think it needs to start by being a teacher in our first years, then moving up to super teacher, as you so awesomely put it.
ReplyDeleteI think it is definitely something to strive for. While we won't reach the teacher leader status probably for a few years the qualities that a teacher leader possesses are qualities I would like to have anyway. I don't think we necessarily need the specific title to make an important impact on our school. I think it is will be helpful for us to get on the path to becoming teacher leaders early on and will benefit us later in our teaching career.
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