TEACHER LEADERSHIP FINAL ESSAY

Teachers as Leaders Final Essay_________________________

ECI 508

NC State University_________________________By Yuanyuan FangApril, 2015

Author NoteYuanyuan Fang, College of Education, NC State UniversityThis paper was credited to the effective and engaging teaching pedagogy, study strategies and activities the author learned from ECI 508. A million thanks go to Dr Carol Pope and my classmates in ECI 508.Contact: yfang5@ncsu.edu

IntroductionMany teachers think that it is the responsibility of school administratives, principals or department leaders to make decisions regarding students learning, to improve school culture, or to build professional learning communities, and that teachers had better stay in their classroom and focus on their teaching. I had the same misunderstandings before I took ECI 508 Teachers as Leaders. Leaders in my mind were perceived as formal leaders who wielded positional powers, made decisions, mandated policies or enforced rules, etc. In some peoples mind, classroom teachers who passionately and courageously share and actively seek collaboration with peers for the improvement of student learning and school-based reforms are considered as overstepping the authority of the formal leaders or going across the line. For me, as a classroom teacher, I used to have fear, the fear of being judged, being criticized, or being alienated from my peers because of my unusual position as an informal leader. Because of that, there was a time when I could not identify myself and my position at my school.However, it was not until I read, observed, learned, reflected, experienced and articulated with my five senses in and beyond my teacher leadership class that I believe anyone has potential to become a leader and has strength to grow as a competent leader in his/her field. According to Katzenmeyer and Moller(2009), leadership is not limited to governance of activities as the only route to influencing teaching and learning, nor limited to a selected group of lead teachers or master teachers. Informal leadership roles within school are equally valued and powerful (p. 6). An efficient teacher leader can be other roles, such as a mentor, a teacher of a demonstration classroom, an action researcher, a coach, a study group leader, or a willing listener. Teacher leaders are not born, but learned. Along with my passion and excitement about teaching as well as persistence, what I have learned about teacher leadership in ECI 508 class has further confirmed my belief that I can and will be able to grow as a good teacher leader at and beyond my school. Teacher Leadership DefinitionAccording to Katzenmeyer and Moller(2009), the definition of teacher leadership is teachers leaders lead within and beyond the classroom; identify with and contribute to a community of teacher learners and leaders; influence others toward improved-educational practice; and accept responsibility for achieving the outcomes of their teacher leadership (p. 6). I think this definition evolves with ongoing exploration and learning. Based on my observation, learning, and personal experiences, I have had a good understanding of teacher leadership. Teachers leaders influence and promote changes to others as a school-based reformer even if they are in harsh school cultures. They accept responsibility to exert great influence on students within their classrooms by teaching, setting goals or resolutions, providing resources, going hand in hand as learners(Barth, 2001, p. 23); they engage like-minded colleagues throughout the school community by gathering qualitative data to support schools need to for change, securing and sharing resources to promote school reform, and helping them achieving goals. An effective teacher leader seldom complains and asks, nobody supports me, my school culture never let me, what am I supposed to do, or my school leaders or students are impossible, etc., instead, they ask what is it that is essential for my students learning now, and how am I going to secure resources or seek external network to change my school and empower my colleagues to make a difference in students learning and lives. As Barth said(2001), an effective teacher leader has the courage and skill not to remain victimized by the toxic elements of the schools culture but rather to address them (p. 10). In our teacher leader video reviews, a great many teacher leader examples demonstrate this insightful quality in challenging school environment, such as Nikumbh in Like Stars on Earth, Joe Clark in Lean on Me, and Erin Gruwell in Freedom Writers, etc. Teachers leaders are visionary practitioners who bring a spirit of collaboration, creativity and invention into classroom and school community. According to Harris(2003), vision without execution equals hallucination (II 6). Teacher leaders move beyond vision, take action, and are responsible for the outcomes.They involve innovation, developing competency in teaching pedagogy, combating obstacles by securing and applying rich software and hardware resources to expand students thinking and facilitate their discovery, and building alliances and networks to piece together necessary people, funding, and other resources to accomplish work and support their action plans (Crowther, 2008). In our teacher leaders interview discussions, I found one teacher leader one of my classmates interviewed for her review demonstrates leadership with this quality. She collaborates with colleagues to create assessments and evaluates lessons, works for DPI, re-evaluating the Common Core, and is a network teacher for the Governor's Teacher Network, where she is researching how to maximize instructional time using Flipped Learning to improve students learning. She is definitely a good example of teacher leaders to move beyond traditional roles to instill new ideas and inventions to class and school. Teacher leaders are risk takers who advocate for positive students learning outcome with persistence and resilience. Barth in his book on teacher leadership and school reform states(2001), To learn is to risk; to lead others toward profound levels of learning is to riskthe career of the lifelong learner and of the school-based reformer is the life of the risk-taker (p. 187). As informal or formal leaders, we take risks in and outside of our classrooms. We take a risk when we address issues or conflicts; we take a risk when we inquire and critique; we take a risk when we find out solutions to the problems that present themselves. Sometimes we face up to different challenges and take various risks to achieve our goals of bettering school culture and increasing students performance within our families, with the school district, among many other things. For example, Erin Gruwell in Freedom Writers took a risk of getting sacked to go over her department chairs head to ask the superintendent for permission for her at-risk students trip. Dewey Finn, the passionate music teacher in School of Rock that my classmates represented in their video review, took a risk of creating a kid band and entering them into a community rock band competition to demonstrate to students, the principal and parents that learning happens beyond classroom, and that the skills that are learned in school are very applicable to real life. Another example is Ms Angela Scioli, the guest speaker in our class, who took a risk of being arrested to advocate for teachers and students in the legitimate house. Through these excellent teacher leader examples, I have learned that teachers leaders are brave and resilient to move beyond their usual roles to expand influence, to create a healthy and supportive learning climate, and to promote professional development (Katzenmeyer and Moller, 2009). Based on the good teacher leadership examples set by my class professor, the leaders we interviewed, the informal and formal leaders in my board observation review, and the engaging excursion activities---Exploring the World, I have learned that effective and competent teacher leaders are open-minded and empathetic, and that they respect and embrace difference in every student. As Barth poses(2001), diversity is abundant and free; when used wisely, deliberately, it offers an untapped, renewable resource available as fodder for reflection...(p. 74). Teacher leaders take great care to meet different students needs and do what is the best for them above everything else by building connections with students and creating a climate of hope, respect and trust in and beyond the classroom (Zemelman and Ross, 2009, p. 62). In our ECI 508 class, my professor demonstrates leadership by valuing the differences and commonalities among us. She cares about our thoughts, feelings, and shows great concern of our different needs. She has built a supportive and trust classroom learning community for students of different cultural background, and guided us to embrace and celebrate the different values, goals, and dispositions in the group through reading and writing, collaborative group/pair projects and activities, and teacher and peer review/conference, etc., which definitely engaged us in diverse and enriching contexts and helped us immersed in learning. Besides, in the new digital age with bursting information, efficient teacher leaders are evolving learners who reflect on practice and refract from students perspectives (Pope, 1999). As Alvin Toffler in Barths book said(2001), the illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who can not read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn( p. 7). For one of our class prompts, each of us wrote our reflections on how we learn and read about the world in class. Through reading my professors and classmates learning process, I came to realize that to grow as a credible, capable and respectful teacher leader, thinking, reconsidering, reflection, and ongoing learning are essential steps to lead students to profound and evolving learning. According to Barth(2001), Teachers and students should go hand in hand as learners---or they dont go at all(p. 23). There is no denying fact that teachers are able to lead students to effective learning when they simultaneously and continuously read and learn. In addition, effective teacher leaders constantly review and examine their learning and teaching process, gathering information, view their class in different lights by listening to peers and students, and observing peers teaching and students learning(Pope, 1999, p.182). They consider and reconsider their expectations of students and students expectations of their class so as to well refine their teaching approaches and innovate ways to meet students needs. More meaningfully, they reflect on their own deficiencies to see whether they will hurt or hinder the development of a group.Plan of ActionBased on what and how I have learned about teacher leadership through our class, I am determined to strive for my goal of being an informed thoughtful teacher leader to advocate for students, to collaborate with peers and help each other achieve goals, to participate in school change, and to speak up for teaching or learning issues, etc.Identify myself and Manage myselfAccording to Peter Drucker(2008), one must learn to place themselves where they can make the greatest contribution by knowing his/her strength and weak points; they need to be well aware of how to develop themselves and how and when to change by well managing themselves (P. 163). Katzenmeyer and Moller (2009) also list clearly and confidently stating your own position as the first step to influencing others: knows his/her own shortcomings and strengths (p. 110). I need to know who I am, where I belong, what my strength is, what I can do, and how I lead in specific school culture so as to make a good personal assessment and an effective influencing strategies when I carry out my plan of action. I will apply the Four temperament quiz and explanation we tried in our class and Peter Druckers manage oneself strategies to assess myself and identify my position accurately to more effectively influence others.

Personal and Professional GrowthI am determined to be a head learner/leading learner to model learning for students (Barth, 2001). I will invest more time and energy to continuously learn leadership knowledge and skills through online courses, books, journals, and practice and seize opportunities to apply what I learn about leadership through inquiry and reflection. Student LearningSince my students learn at private boarding school and they are in developmental stages. Particular attention and time should be given to every student. As a classroom and homeroom teacher, I will respect and celebrate difference and uniqueness in each of my students and keep in mind that student learning in real world is priority, even within the rigid test-orientated school curriculum. I will do what is best for students above everything else and increase their personal and professional performance by authentically listening to them, supporting them in initiatives they wish to achieve, removing barriers to their success. Through meta-cognitive and transformative learning, I self regulate my class management skills. I want to make changes by using good listening techniques with students---FLEX listening skills (Katzenmeyer and Moller, 2009, p. 107), treating students with dignity, differentiating students needs and achieving equity among students of different levels. Through constant reflection and refraction, I keep up exploring students potentials not only in academic intelligence, but also in their affective and artistic level by building connections with students through one-on-one/group communication or conference, and creating a healthy and respectful class learning community in and beyond the classroom through reader-response reading corners, writing process society, and inquiry-based collaborative group/pair projects. I will also find ways to give incentives (resources, recognition, innovative evaluation, and problem-solving skills) to boost students confidence and promote their growth as the 21st century learners.As an English teacher, I will reform my traditional teacher-centered language classroom to student-centered classroom by sharing responsibilities, applying what I have gained throughout the enlightening whole-year learning in my NLGL graduate program---the engaging activities situated on research and theories, the enriching teaching and learning strategies based on learners response, and the good integration of American teaching pedagogy and Chinese teaching pedagogy with technology in new literacies. Through explicit direction or modelling integrated with multimedia, I will gather qualitative data by reading, observing, and metacognitive experiences to guide students to be more professional in the areas they develop interest in---learn to address issues, to critique, to do research, to gather data, to analyze, to effectively collaborate and synthesize, and to articulate. By providing a wider exposure to the outside world and motivating them to talk with their peers across countries through cross-cultural correspondence program, I will empower my students rather than control, and engage them in meaningful dialogues about their life and the world beyond, learning and future plan rather than solely instilling test-orientated content to them. Teach and Lead Beyond ClassroomImmersion and Collaboration with Peers and Principals at schoolUnlike before, I believe I will be able to overcome fear of speaking up and addressing issues at my school. I have confidence and will do my best to promote teacher leadership development in and beyond my school learning community. Inspired by the IAP(influencing Action Plan) strategies, (Katzenmeyer and Moller, 2009, p. 114), and the thirteen steps to teacher empowerment (Zemelman and Ross, 2009), I will build confident relationships and have regular interactions with the principals to to influence their understanding of teacher leadership and its value and win their long-term support for sustainable teacher leadership training and development. Inspired by teacher leadership video presentation and talk and board observation in my ECI 508 class, I plan to talk with my executive principal to gain her support of me collaborating with Teaching Affair Office at my school to organize teacher leadership video discussion or writing, help my colleagues to have good knowledge of teacher leadership and see its value in improving students learning through project product sharing. I plan to positively share the knowledge of concepts, and emerge others in writing and discussion, help them grow deep understanding of teacher leadership. The ability of teacher leaders to influence others relies on teacher leaders interpersonal relationships, their competence as perceived by others and the information they have that others want to know (Katzenmeyer and Moller, 2009, p. 29). Like what we have done in ECI 508 class, I plan to win support from school leaders to organize leadership workshops, like reading and writing workshops. Through these workshops, teachers collaborate within and beyond school, share craft knowledge and solve various problems we encounter in classrooms and schools. New teachers could be also motivated and engaged to actively address teaching and learning issues and make changes through teacher leadership advocacy skills. I plan to make as many contributions to provide hardware and software resources to facilitate my colleagues to learn about the benefits of teacher leadership. If possible, I plan to create online reading and learning resource centers for future teacher leaders. Like Twitter, we have its counterpart---QQ blog, Sina Blog and Wechat, to promote professional communication with the real authors and other teacher leaders, building teachers capacities in leadership. Considering the fact that there is no mentorship and coaching system for high school teachers, I also plan to write letters to or have deliberate conversations with my school board and general school principal to assist and promote pre-service teachers and new teachers to grow as competent teacher leaders in their future teaching and learning.Sustainability of Improvement Efforts for School Renewal

Due to social dynamics or the norms within school culture, building connections with like-minded people and external network to reach outside to a wider professional community can an impetus for teachers to realize the value of teacher leadership skills and have confidence and guts to lead, to articulate within (Crowther, 2008).For me, I will more actively participate in national educational projects or conferences, professional organizations, and other external school reform activities or movements. I believe this will provide me and my other colleagues to build alliance and networks of other exemplary teacher leaders to gain support of our action plans, strengthen leadership skills and accomplish future work---make a difference for students.

ConclusionAs Katzenmeyer and Moller poses(2009), teachers, if afforded opportunities, can increase effectiveness...Influencing by teacher leaders without its difficulties, but it is certainly worth the efforts(p.115). The school culture is complex, in which social norms, attitudes, beliefs, values, traditions are deeply entrenched. The culture shapes what people think and how they act with its power. There are indifferent team members, reluctant peers to share resources and deal with teaching and learning problems, and lack of support by school leaders. Still, more and more opportunities present themselves when we never give up and persevere in it. I believe school leaders are learning and transforming along with us with more research studies and evidence growing in the acknowledgement of teacher leadership as a valuable asset(Katzenmeyer and Moller, 2009). Today, there are many alternative avenues and rich resources for informal and formal teacher leaders to advocate. But the strongest power is ourselves, and our deliberate and follow-through actions as well as our persistence are the key to success. So in this case, our continuous efforts are needed to enhance the school renewal and our evolving learning spirits with execution are demanded to make positive changes to students lives.Just Barth stated(2001), Every member of a community holds some responsibility for the welfare of every other and for the welfare of the community as a whole (p. 13). As teachers leaders, it is time that we took on these responsibilities and made endeavor to influence and empower others, sometimes even if we sacrifice.

References Barth, Ronald S. (2001). Learning By Heart. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Crowther, F., with Ferguson, M., & Hann, L.(2008). Developing teacher leaders: How teacher leadership enhances school success (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.Drucker.P. (2008). Managing Challenges for the 21st Century. Boston: Harvard Business Review Press. pp. 161-195.Harris, B. (2003). Noel Tichy: Leadership beyond vision. Missoula: Montana Associated Technologies Roundtables. Katzenmeyer, M. & Miller, G. (2009). Awakening the Sleeping Giant: Helping Teachers Develop as Leaders. Thousand Oaks: Corwin. Pope, C. A. (1999). Reflection and Refraction: A Reflexive Look at an Evolving Model for Methods Instruction. English Education, Vol. 31, No. 3. Urbana, IL: NCTE. Zemelman, M. & Ross, H. (2009). 13 Steps to Teacher Empowerment: Taking a More Active Role in your School Community. Portsmouth: Heinemann.