How can we educate, promote and advocate for teacher leadership?

Video: The Most Important Trait of a Leader (Simon Sinek)

Some people would say vision or charisma, but Sinek argues that it is COURAGE that is most
important. He says the pressures on us every day are to be finite- to prioritize the short-term
over the long-term and to choose the important over the urgent, and it takes courage to choose
the long-term and important things to focus on. How do you get courage? You have to have
people in your life who love you and believe in you. (Friends, colleagues, employees). ​Be the
leader you wish you had.

Video: Leader versus Manager (Simon Sinek)

● Two things great leaders need to have: empathy and perspective

● Mindset- you’re not in charge, you’re responsible for those in your charge
● Companies are not teaching leaders how to lead
● Leading takes on-going practice
● *Great personal sacrifice to be a leader (when everything goes right you give away all
the credit, when everything goes wrong you have to take all the responsibility)

Article: The Many Faces of Leadership (ASCD)

Why teacher leadership?

● Teachers may want more responsibility and influence but not want to go into
administration
● Teachers often stay in a school/district for a long time so they understand the culture and
can manage long-term projects
● Huge demands on principals’ time mean school improvement may fall to the wayside
● Principals have limited expertise in whatever they specialized in as a teacher

Qualities and skills of teacher leaders

● Formal leaders (selected department chair, instructional coach, etc.) vs. informal leaders
(teachers who take their own initiative to get behind a program or idea)
● “The litmus test of all leadership is whether it mobilizes people's commitment to putting
their energy into actions designed to improve things. It is individual commitment, but
above all it is collective mobilization.”
● Teacher leaders must enlist colleagues to support their vision, build consensus among
diverse groups of educators, and convince others of the importance of what they are
proposing and the feasibility of their general plan for improvement. They must be
respected for their own instructional skills. They also must understand evidence and
information and recognize the need to focus on those aspects of the school's program
that will yield important gains in student learning.
● Open-minded and respectful of others’ views
● Display optimism and enthusiasm, confidence and decisiveness
 ● “They persevere and do not permit setbacks to derail an important initiative they are
pursuing. On the other hand, they are flexible and willing to try a different approach if the
first effort runs into roadblocks.”
● Expertise in curriculum planning, assessment design, data analysis, etc.
● Listen actively, facilitate meetings, keep a group discussion on track, decide on a course
of action, and monitor progress

What does teacher leadership look like?

● Within the department or team:
➔ Takes considerable interpersonal skill and tact
➔ Teacher leader needs to have established credibility and trust with his/her
colleagues
➔ Examples: Coordinate a program in which students in the 6th grade read to
kindergarten students during their lunch period; Invite colleagues to examine the
reasons for student underperformance in writing
● Across the school:
➔ Involvement with master schedule, grading policy, or student programs
● Beyond the school:
➔ Participate in a districtwide teacher evaluation committee or curriculum team,
make a presentation at a state or national conference, serve on a state standards
board, or speak at a school board meeting as the voice of teachers in the
community

Conditions that promote teacher leadership

● A safe environment for risk taking
● Administrators who encourage teacher leaders
● Absence of the “tall poppy syndrome.” (in which teachers resist taking on leadership
roles or make it difficult for their colleagues to do so)
● Opportunities to learn leadership skills

Article: The Teacher Leadership Competencies (Center for Teacher Quality)

“Teacher leadership is no longer optional. Its importance in student learning,

teacher retention, school culture, school improvement, the crafting of sound
education policy, and productive and innovative teachers’ associations has
been demonstrated by both research and practice.”

“The partners in the Teacher Leadership Initiative, comprised of the National

Education Association, the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards,
and the Center for Teaching Quality, not only understand the need for teacher
leadership at every school site and district in the country; they envision a
powerful new model for teacher leadership that stretches beyond previously
held beliefs about the collective power of educators. The Teacher Leadership
Initiative model offers the professional learning, support, and experience
necessary for teachers to expand their influence and offer their expertise in
new, large, and innovative contexts. Teachers’ spheres of influence can tend
to start out small: the classroom, some colleagues, and occasionally their
administration. Through teacher leadership, as envisioned and executed in
the Teacher Leadership Initiative, these spheres can expand hugely, allowing
teachers to power the profession and shape the landscape. ​This model brings
together three intertwined pathways that define the ways in which teachers can
blaze new paths in education: instructional leadership, policy leadership,
and association leadership​.”

1. Instructional leadership: This means more than being the best possible teacher within
your classroom. It also means that you reach out and share great teaching with others.
2. Policy leadership: Serving in school, district, state, or national policy leadership
capacities to shape and eventually implement the policies that best support student
learning.
3. Association leadership: Creating and guiding meaningful, positive, and powerful
collective action; learning to lead members of large and critical groups, and steering
those members in the direction of desired change; build bridges with administrators and
other stakeholders

What this document includes:

➔ Teacher leadership competencies (overarching and then in each area listed above)
➔ Core beliefs and themes
➔ A “rubric” of the competencies broken down into categories (emerging, developing,
performing, and transforming) to help teacher leaders reflect on their current skills and
how they can grow

The core competencies as listed in this document:

● Reflective practice
● Personal effectiveness
● Interpersonal effectiveness
● Communication
● Continuing learning
● Group processes
● Adult learning
● Technology facility
● Coaching/mentoring
● Collaborative relationships
● Community awareness, engagement, and advocacy
● Policy implementation
● Policy advocacy
● Policy making
● Policy engagement and relationships
● Leading with vision
 ● Leading with skill
● Organizing and advocacy
● Building capacity of others
● Learning community and workplace culture

Article: Teacher Leadership Skills Framework (Center for Strengthening the Teaching
Profession)

“In order for Teacher Leaders to flourish, certain characteristics and conditions must be present.
Teacher leaders must possess the knowledge and skills needed to lead. In order to be seen
as a leader, they must also have a set of positive dispositions and attitudes. Finally, there must
be opportunities for leadership in the school, district or larger context.”

Knowledge and skills needed by effective teacher leaders:

1. Working with adult learners
2. Communication
3. Collaboration
4. Knowledge of content and pedagogy
5. Systems thinking

Dispositions of effective teacher leaders:

● Energetic risk takers whose integrity, high efficacy, and content knowledge give them
credibility with their colleagues
● Their desire to work with adults is grounded in their belief that systems-level change will
positively impact student learning, and that their contributions to the profession are
important and needed
● The natural curiosity of teacher leaders makes them life-long learners who are open to
new experiences and challenges
● Juggling many important professional and personal roles, they effectively prioritize their
work to maintain a sense of balance
● Teacher leaders often seek like-minded colleagues with similar positive intentions as
allies, however they also value different ideas and approaches that move the work
forward.
● Difficult challenges require teacher leaders to tap into their deep sense of courage, and
their unwavering perseverance helps them to follow through.
● When best-laid plans have unexpected outcomes, teacher leaders are open to
constructive criticism. They reflect on their experience, learn from it, and then with
resilience move forward to the next challenge.

What this document includes:

For each category of the knowledge/skills needed for effective teacher leaders (listed above),
there is a page that breaks down even more specific knowledge and skills needed in that area,
a vignette illustrating the dilemmas that teacher leaders face, reflective questions to prompt
thinking and discussion, and a list of resources.
Article: The What, How, and Why of Teacher Leadership (ASCD)

*Pathways to teacher leadership are needed that do not ALL culminate in moving to
administration. Some teachers want to lead but stay in the classroom!
*There can be a stigma around teacher leadership “who do you think you are?” instead of
encouraging teachers to lead
*Twitter as a place for leader growth and support
*Giving teachers leadership roles (coach, mentor, policy-advocate, etc.) without adequate
training is setting up for failure
*Teachers are not going to raise their voices up politically or in the comunity if they don’t feel
heard in their own school
*”It’s essential that schools and individuals have the flexibility to define and implement
teacher leadership in a manner that’s consistent with their unique contexts and needs.
Policy must strike a balance between creating teacher leadership opportunities and
building capacity but not over mandating how that’s done.”

Article: Leading from Every Seat EMPOWERING PRINCIPALS TO CULTIVATE TEACHER

LEADERSHIP FOR SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT (New Leaders)

“Principal’s Checklist”—key actions great principals take to cultivate

teacher leadership for school improvement:
1. Identify teachers ready to lead
2. Distribute leadership schoolwide
3. Provide high-quality leadership training
4. Set teacher leader goals for growth and results
5. Allocate school resources for teacher leadership

*For each of these action steps, this document includes info on the challenges, needs, principal
role, and solutions.

Three lessons New Leaders has learned over the years:

1. Many educators lack the knowledge, skills, experience, and disposition to become
transformational principals. (More and better training is needed)
2. The role of the principal has become vastly more complex and demanding—and
principals, no matter how heroic, cannot do it all alone. (By sharing and distributing
leadership, principals can focus their time and energy on their most important
responsibilities while drawing on and strengthening the skills of their entire staff to
support school improvement.)
3. Staff turnover is highest in the schools most in need of strong, consistent teaching and
leading. (Coupled with the right school leader and the right incentives, teacher
leadership is a strategy for attracting and retaining great teachers, particularly in our
nation’s highest need schools.)
Assignment:
In preparation for the group project, independently consider the following:
★ What examples of teacher leadership exist in your setting?
★ How do formal and informal teacher leaders function in your school? Which teacher
leaders, formal or informal, have the greater influence within school settings? Why?
★ Locate at least one (1) additional resource on teacher leadership to round out your
background information. Add the citation and a one line annotation to the forum
open for Teacher Leader Resources.

My resource on teacher leadership:

https://sites.google.com/nncsk12.org/stlawrencevalleytlc/home

I had heard of the St. Lawrence Valley Teachers' Learning Center from two colleagues who are
involved with it when they sent out information in the beginning of the year about trainings but I
have not attended any yet myself.

According to the website, the SLVTLC provides research-based professional learning to all
educators in St. Lawrence County at no cost to districts or individuals and includes substitute
reimbursement.