What does the idea of teacher leadership mean to you?
In the past, teacher leadership was often only for those who wished to advance their careers, and eventually move away from actually being a teacher in the classroom. Today, teacher leadership is for those that wish to analyze current teaching ideas and best practices, assess these methods in their classroom, develop a specialized skill, and then share what they have learned with their colleagues. Teacher leadership is also an important part of shared leadership. Shared leadership encompasses the foundation of joint leadership roles, which allows for all involved with the school, including community members, to have an opportunity to share their viewpoints, insights, feedback, opinions, …show more content…
Describe the approach you took.
This school year we had a new member, Matt, join our 4th grade team. The other two members and I have taught together for 10 years. Matt taught 2nd grade for years at another school in our district. While he is not a new teacher, he was definitely in a position where he felt completely foreign with his surroundings, and out of his comfort zone. Not being asked by anyone, I took it upon myself to serve as his mentor, and guide him through the waters of becoming a 4th grade teacher. Matt and I have spent countless hours working together. One of the first things I did was work to familiarize him with his new school, and make him feel welcome and comfortable. Next, I began helping him to develop robust lesson plans, and guided him regarding instruction, procedure, curriculum, and best practices. Being a mentor takes a great deal of time and expertise and makes a significant contribution to the development of a great teacher. Knowing this, makes all the time and effort put forth worthwhile. It is also amazing what this has done for me. It has forced me to be even better teacher than I was before, causing me to constantly review what I am doing, improving on what has been done in the past, and making sure I accomplish my goal of always doing the best that I can for my …show more content…
Improving on what I have done in the past and learning new things is like breathing to me, it is just something that I must do. The day that I stop trying to make everything that happens in my classroom better is the day I need to stop teaching. There are many changes I have incorporated in my classroom over the last few years to enhance student learning. I will discuss a couple that have proved to be the most impactful.
One modification was to utilize more heterogeneous grouping activities. Often we only use ability groups in our collaborative work. Using heterogeneous grouping allows for my students to learn from one another. This forces those who understand the material to explain it to those that don’t quite have it yet. Those that have an understanding and can teach to someone else show true mastery. Those having some difficulties profit from hearing someone other than the teacher. Then all students can benefit and show their full
In the past, teacher leadership was often only for those who wished to advance their careers, and eventually move away from actually being a teacher in the classroom. Today, teacher leadership is for those that wish to analyze current teaching ideas and best practices, assess these methods in their classroom, develop a specialized skill, and then share what they have learned with their colleagues. Teacher leadership is also an important part of shared leadership. Shared leadership encompasses the foundation of joint leadership roles, which allows for all involved with the school, including community members, to have an opportunity to share their viewpoints, insights, feedback, opinions, …show more content…
Describe the approach you took.
This school year we had a new member, Matt, join our 4th grade team. The other two members and I have taught together for 10 years. Matt taught 2nd grade for years at another school in our district. While he is not a new teacher, he was definitely in a position where he felt completely foreign with his surroundings, and out of his comfort zone. Not being asked by anyone, I took it upon myself to serve as his mentor, and guide him through the waters of becoming a 4th grade teacher. Matt and I have spent countless hours working together. One of the first things I did was work to familiarize him with his new school, and make him feel welcome and comfortable. Next, I began helping him to develop robust lesson plans, and guided him regarding instruction, procedure, curriculum, and best practices. Being a mentor takes a great deal of time and expertise and makes a significant contribution to the development of a great teacher. Knowing this, makes all the time and effort put forth worthwhile. It is also amazing what this has done for me. It has forced me to be even better teacher than I was before, causing me to constantly review what I am doing, improving on what has been done in the past, and making sure I accomplish my goal of always doing the best that I can for my …show more content…
Improving on what I have done in the past and learning new things is like breathing to me, it is just something that I must do. The day that I stop trying to make everything that happens in my classroom better is the day I need to stop teaching. There are many changes I have incorporated in my classroom over the last few years to enhance student learning. I will discuss a couple that have proved to be the most impactful.
One modification was to utilize more heterogeneous grouping activities. Often we only use ability groups in our collaborative work. Using heterogeneous grouping allows for my students to learn from one another. This forces those who understand the material to explain it to those that don’t quite have it yet. Those that have an understanding and can teach to someone else show true mastery. Those having some difficulties profit from hearing someone other than the teacher. Then all students can benefit and show their full