Galileo

Teacher Leadership Reflection

Amy Jager
April 2015

As long as I can remember Ive wanted to be a teacher. I remember playing school
as a little girl and dreaming of the day I would have my own classroom, inspire my own
students, and share my love for math and science. Thirty years later, I am living that dream
and now I am interested in expanding my audience and developing skills that will allow me
to be a positive leader within my school, district, and community. Galileo has provided me
with many useful tools to help me become a better teacher, learner, leader, and person;
ultimately, allowing me to be a teacher-leader.

My Galileo journey began two years ago with three other Fraser teachers, Charlene
Barla, Mary Thompson, and Christine Foren. The collaboration with my team was
valuable; however, I found the connections I made with people from other districts to be
equally as valuable. The collaboration and discussions held at Galileo were focused around
the seven domains of teacher leadership and provided me with many great
experience/research/ideas that will help me become a teacher leader and effect positive
change in my school as well as district.

Domain 1: Fostering a Collaborative Culture to Support Educator Development and
Student Learning

A teacher leader is one who promotes a positive collaborative culture. Stephen
Coveys Seven Habits fits nicely into this domain because it stresses the importance of
knowing your individual strengths and weakness and using those strengths to be proactive
and work with others to synergize to develop a win-win solution. These skills will come in
very handy, as our district is moving forward with a competency based learning model that
includes blended instruction. During this transition stage, we will rely heavily on our
colleagues to work together to come up with the best competencies, lessons, and
assessment to improve student learning. As a Galileo grad and teacher leader, I hope to
create an environment that allows all PLC members to feel comfortable to share their
opinions. I will also use active listening skills learned at Galileo to help seek first to
understand my colleagues and then synergize our efforts to come up with the best win-
win scenario for our team.

Domain 2: Accessing and Using Research to Improve Practice and Student Learning

Galileo has given me the opportunity to become involved with current research and
best practices focused on improving student achievement. It has forced me to think about
my students, their specific needs, and how to meet those needs. The action research
project has reminded me how important it is to evaluate my students and their specific
needs, and then apply researched based strategies to help meet those needs. It is very
important to keep an open mind and not be afraid to try new researched-based strategies
in the classroom. This action research has reminded me the importance of having a growth
mindset and not being afraid to have a failed lesson. Challenging myself within my lessons
will improve my practice as well as student learning.

Domain 3: Promoting Professional Learning for Continuous Improvement

As an educator, it is very important to continue learning and growing to help
improve student achievement. Teacher rounds is a great way to help create/improve a
collaborative culture as well as help educators observe best practices and as a result
improve their practice and grow as an educator. While on my first teacher round this year,
I was reminded the importance of wait time, questioning techniques, and formative
assessment. These are all things I am aware of, and practice on a daily basis; however, it
was nice to see student reactions from an observers perspective because it reminded me
how important these are in lesson design. During teacher rounds, I also observed a
colleague explain a difficult concept in terms that I never thought of. I was able to help one
of my struggling students with a difficult concept because of what I learned while observing
a trusted colleague. Teacher rounds are an easy (and free) way to learn and grow as an
educator. This is something I hope to continue in the future, and I hope to observe a variety
of different teaching styles.

Domain 4: Facilitating Improvements in Instruction and Student Learning

Two things from Galileo have had a MAJOR impact on my teaching. The first is the
book Mindset. This book really made me think about my students and how they view
themselves and their academic success. Failing is such an important part of the learning
process and most students view failure as a bad thing. I, as the teacher, can foster a
growth-mindset by helping students see how hard work and effort relates to success.
Giving students challenging activities but also allow them to be successful will help them
see the relationship between effort and success. This book also made me think about how I
react to students and how this feeds into their mindset. The last two years, I have been
very focused on how I provide feedback/praise to students. I have noticed a huge
difference in my struggling students by taking this approach.

The second major impact Galileo left me with is the brain-based learning strategies
presented by Marcia Tate. She was such a dynamic presenter that modeled everything she
was trying to teach. I remember sitting in this presentation thinking about how I felt and
was engaged in the content and comparing this to how I believe my students feel during my
class. Since seeing her present, I have tried to incorporate as many of the 20 brain-based
strategies as possible into my daily lessons. In the past, I have used these strategies
periodically, but now I am playing music, using videos, graphic organizers, movement, and
technology on a daily basis. I loved this presentation!

Domain 5: Promoting the Use of Assessments and Data for School and District
Improvements

Assessment is a crucial component of student learning, both formative and
summative. It is very important for the classroom teacher to have a solid idea of their
students understanding of the curriculum. As a teacher leader, it is important for me to
collaborate with my colleagues about the data that is assessed. We should have
conversations focused around our students results and how to move them forward. Our
school does PLCs, and we work very well together with lesson design and creating common
assessments; however, we struggle when it comes to analyzing data and using the results
to improve our instruction. As a teacher leader, I need to change this. I need to use some of

the techniques in the facilitation guide to help get these conversations started. This will be
one of my goals for next year!

Domain 6: Improving Outreach and Collaboration with Families and Community

Creating a partnership with community is something I struggle with as a teacher
leader. I am very good about emailing/calling parents of my struggling learners, but this
only reaches the students in my classroom. We need to do a better job of getting parents
involved in the school and their childs education. One thing I have done this school year is
organize a student recognition breakfast. Twice a year, teachers are asked to nominate a
student who they feel has demonstrated exceptional character/improvement/study
skills/etc. We then bring these students and their parents in for a breakfast to recognize
their efforts. This is a great event that recognizes our stellar students, their families, and
staff members. Going forward, I would like to come up with some ideas/strategies, that go
beyond recognizing students, and that involve our community in the education process.
This is defiantly something for me to think about!

Domain 7: Advocating for Student-Learning and the Profession

The best practices Ive learned in Galileo has not only impacted my students, it has
also impacted other students at FHS and throughout the state of Michigan. During the
Galileo research fair, our curriculum director recognized our action research projects who
then shared our research with others at the MISD. We were later contacted to present our
findings at the 2015 Michigan Council for Exceptional Children Conference in Grand Rapids.
This whole experience reminded me that it is important for me to share MY story because I
have something to say that others can learn from. I am beginning to find my voice and
realize I have something to offer! Galileo has really helped me realize the importance of
sharing and collaborating with other teachers across my district, state, and nation. Twitter
is a great tool for this collaboration.

I am fortunate to be doing what I love and I am continually seeking to improve my
practice. I am grateful for the opportunity Galileo has provided to help me fine-tune my
teaching practice and leadership skills within the seven domains of teacher leadership. I
am leaving Galileo feeling inspired, rejuvenated, and refreshed. I hope to continue this
journey with fellow Galileo Alums in my building and district for years to come.