Interviewer introduction

Ms. Li was my Chinese teacher from the third grade to the sixth in elementary

school. Now she teaches Chinese in the Bolles school in Jacksonville in Florida. She

leads a China Trip Program every summer.

Interview

Q1: How would you distinguish the difference between a good teacher and a teacher

leader?

A1: I’d say teachers work directly with students. A good teacher is more like a

facilitator. He may inspire kids to be a better person to discover the world instead of

only focusing on class instruction. Good teachers always set good examples for

students.

Teacher leaders work with teachers, colleagues. Their roles in schools are

more like tour guides. They help teachers to develop professional knowledge. They

administer schools.

Q2: You said teacher leaders help teachers to develop professional knowledge. Do

you agree with the view that teacher leaders should be expert in pedagogy?

A2: Well, I think everybody should focus on his position. Teacher leaders are

responsible for management so I prefer to say they should be experts in management.

Q3: Can you use some words to describe teacher leaders?

A3: A team leader. A team leader is the person who guide teachers and the school in

a right direction, and other teachers can rely on him to be a good model.

Q4: What kind of characteristic do you think a good teacher leader should equip with?
A4: For me, I'd choose the charisma as the answer. And a teacher leader should know

his strength. A good listener is also equally important. Open your heart to listen, to

negotiate and to compromise.

Q5: Do you have anyone in mind to explain your ideas?

A5: Yes! Our academic dean Mr. Hodges. He is a good listener, planner, and decision

maker. He respects our work. He would convene a meeting, asking for opinions from

every teacher, before any big decisions.

Q6: I know you organize the China Trip program in your school every year. Have you

learned anything about teacher leadership from the program?

A6: I joined the program since 2013. Being flexible and responsible is essential to a

team. Apart from the management skills, listening to students is the other thing I

gained. I also applied them to the class. KnowiQng every student individually is

necessary. Teachers should know students’ interests, experience, strength, and

weakness as well. According to my experience, it would reach a mutual trust and

among instructors and students.

Q7: You have teaching experience both in China and the United State. Would you like

to compare the teacher leadership between two countries?

A7: Personally, I regarded teacher leaders in China as small groups that made

decisions directly. Here in America, students and teachers have more chance to

express their thoughts

Q8: what is your prediction about the teacher leader role in the future?

A8: Maybe it will tend to be steady, the same as today, or be smaller. Teacher leaders

may only become organizers.

Reflection

It was a pleasure interview. We all enjoyed the process as the free chat

between two friends. Technically, Ms. Li is not a teacher leader. However, she has

nearly ten years teaching experience. I believe she can give us a deeper

understanding of teacher leadership.

In her opinion, teacher leaders are team leaders who are administrators,

resource, and models to the colleagues. She values communications, which not only

between students and teachers but also between teachers and teacher leaders, in

teacher leaderships.

From my personal view, I partly agree with her words. Firstly, I think being an

educational expert should be count as a precondition to teacher leaders. As a teacher

leader, mentoring new teachers is one of their job responsibilities. What if they are not

able to provide practical methods in subjects instruction for new teachers if teacher

leaders are only professional in management? Second, Ms. Li points out charisma is

one of the requirements for teacher leaders. In my opinion, charisma is a decent

characteristic, nevertheless not everyone born with it. But I didn’t imply people who

don’t own charisma cannot be a teacher leader. On the contrary, I believe every

teacher is a teacher leader. As I mentioned in the last class. Teacher leadership is a

process where teachers catch every opportunity to improve their professional skills as

well as team management skills. Third, from Mr. Hodges’ example, we find that he

gets all teachers participate in the decision-making process where teachers feel their

suggestions are important and they endeavor the same outcomes. Moreover, when

Ms. Li emphasized listening function in teacher leadership, it reminded me a few

sentence from Writing Through Childhood: Rethinking Process and Product. “teachers
who adore young children are good listeners with lots of patience, have exquisite

managements skills” (p159) “They have to know their children individually and

extremely well so that they can coach them appropriately during conferences

(Harwayne, p159)” Finally, I like the word “organizer” that Ms. Li described as the role

teacher leaders play. Decades later, there may won’t have a position call teacher

leader. Different teachers are responsible for work aspects. Schools only need

representatives.

In the end, I'd like to share a story here. Couple days ago, when I shared this

interview with a girl named Ms. Wen, she said in the future students might become

leaders in teacher leadership. It is an interesting idea! What about the parents? the

whole society? It's possible that they all would join the teacher leadership? That's our

work to explore it!