Module 3

Section One:
The ISTE T standards promote teacher leadership in their first teacher standard, which discusses how we should demonstrate collaboration with our students and other teachers, both face-to-face and by using digital/virtual tools. Modeling, or demonstrating practices, is touched on in the third and fourth standard for teachers and says we must be representatives of new, emerging, and proven teaching and learning techniques. By modeling, we can show our students and fellow faculty members how easy and effective different teaching methods are. To be a teacher leader, responsibility must be taken to adopt and implement new technology, teaching methods, collaboration, and ethical practices within our classes and "across the hall" with other teachers. Volunteering yourself and like-minded teachers to adopt a new practice is a great way to become a teacher leader. If we join forces and work together in implementing a new practice we are able to rely on each other through professional development, as in teacher standard five.

The NBPTS promotes teacher leadership through being an active member in professional development and learning communities. By participating in a professional development team, we can have a part in guiding the professional development exercises to suit the need of our individual classrooms and students. By "owning" the learning experiences, we can tailor fit our new knowledge to our classroom for maximum effectiveness. Self-reflection and monitoring of our own practices and the reactions of our students is a good way to demonstrate leadership. Experience with a new practice and communication are key to leading other teachers, state the collaborative part of Proposition five.

The WVPTS, Standard Five, addresses the need for teachers to participate and work together to model effective teaching strategies. By modeling our good practices, other teachers may see how effective and appropriate the practices may be for their own classroom environment. Not only is the teaching and school community involvement important, but teacher interactions within the community at large is a very effective way to demonstrate and communicate teaching policies to those outside our classroom who do have an effect on our classroom. Communication and implementation with parents and community members helps our in-school initiatives for change more efficient and effective if they are supported and reinforces outside the school walls.

Section Two:
If I was in charge of professional development initiatives, I would first survey all of the teachers in my school on their responsibilities they like and dislike, along with their experiences with effective teaching strategies they have tried before. Once I have a gauge of what the teachers know and are familiar with, I would design professional development exercises that group teachers so that one-half of the group is comprised of teachers who have experience in implementing new strategies with the other half who have either showed an interest in the new strategy of interest or who think they need help in that area. By grouping in this way, half of the teachers can take on a leadership role by modeling the new strategy and helping the inexperienced teachers in the adoption of the strategy.

From the surveys, I could identify those teachers who would like to take on a more administrative role, and I could assign them to researching, implementing, and reporting on a new professional strategy. I would like to see teams of teachers throughout the school implementing different strategies and selecting one administrative-leaning teacher to lead each group. Within this group, I would place two semi-administrative teachers to implement the new practices, but also place them over two other teachers who are wanting only to stay in their classrooms and teach (with little administrative power). This chain of command may help the team complete the professional development without placing a purely teaching oriented faculty member in an administrative position and vice versa.

Section Three:
In my class, I am working with my biology class to develop a set of pamphlets and posters to raise awareness of the need to reduce, reuse, recycle, and upcycle in our overly plastic and fuel-heavy culture. I will assess how my students gather information digitally (internet), how they organize their information, and how they decide to design and display their products. To identify my students' success and deficiencies, I will identify their need through observation, documenting the individual effectiveness of their navigation and organization, and the influence of their final products on the attitudes of other students who view their work. I will monitor the students throughout the project and take notes on how well my students navigate the internet, find the information they were searching for, design digital products to be displayed digitally, and printed in physical form.