What is your general definition of teacher leadership?
The way I define teacher leadership is a person who can
challenge me to learn while providing empowerment. This is a person who
believes that we are teachable at any age, cost or circumstance. Teacher
Leadership is a role assumed by people who are not afraid to step out of their
comfort zone and not afraid to Challenge or be challenged.
What examples of
teacher leadership have you observed or experienced?
My experience with teacher leadership has been working with
a group of student on a project that was going to be presented at the CADCA
Conference in DC. My kids wanted to do a digital story about being above the
influence, this project was going to be created by them, and my role was just
to provide guidance, support and technology. This was to be Youth Led Adult
Guided. I set some guidelines and we concluded on the program we would use and
began creating our product. It was hard for me to let go and let the kids take
ownership over the project but the outcome was amazing. Through this process I
learned that good teacher leadership does not mean you have to control
everything, but you have to provide the appropriate tools, opportunity to
create and continues reinforcement when need. And most important be prepared to
jump in at any moment’s notice.
How is leadership for
meaningful technology integration different from other kinds of leadership?
It is different because you must take into account the form
in which you are communicating. There is no physical property to conversion
only written language so when conveying messages, assignments or any type of communication
we must pay close attention on how we integrate language and expression. So to
be a good teacher in leadership with technology you must really be up to date
on tech language it’s also important to understand the language that is trending
on the different types of social network, student blogs, and email etiquette.
From your perspective, what are the benefits and the
challenges of teacher leadership for technology (for teachers, for students,
for schools, for the profession)?
From my perspective as an educator my challenges funding, training
and resources this is to just name a few. I think that for students I would
imagine is being able to access internet and understanding how and what are
programs available to them for writing papers, or completing projects. For our
schools update internet access that is fast, easy to access and available all
the time (crash proof). For the profession keeping up with the demand.
I agree with you definition of leadership, if a "leader" is not influencing the followers to be better, then the leader is a failure. 100% control over our students does not make us leaders, I learned that through the first couple years that I taught. We cannot control everything that occurs in the classroom, if we could then we would not be educating our students. Mistakes must be made for teacher and students to grow and learn.
ReplyDeleteIt's good that you were able to give up control and let your students do their thing. It was probably a wonderful learning experience for both them and you.
ReplyDeleteI admit not an easy one but truly a learning experience for sure.
ReplyDelete