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ECI 508 Teachers As Leaders

Final Leadership Essay & Action Plan


Jing He
April 20, 2016

Before I took this course, I had never envisioned myself as a leader. In my


mind, leaders were those administrators who took care of the affairs concerning
school management and dealt with issues of students outside the context of inclass learning. I told myself I was not ready to be a leader, because I just wanted
to be a good teacher who could be devoted to her teaching career and her
students wholeheartedly without any outside influence, and because I didnt
have the ability to be a good leader and at the same time a good teacher.
However, my conception of leadership began to change once I was engaged in
learning in this course. I began to realize not only how narrow-minded and
shortsighted I was, but also how irresponsible and selfish I was to confine myself
inside the walls of my classroom.

My Definition and Understanding of Teacher Leadership


Based on what I have learned so far, teacher leadership is not only the
ability to lead within and beyond the classroom, but more importantly, its the
action you taken intentionally to get positive mutual influence with other stakeholders in the community; its the responsibility a good teacher carries to help
students more and help more students; its the challenge you take to cultivate a
new mindset;

Action to Get Mutual Positive Influence


Its impossible for teachers to work in a vacuum, no matter how competent
you believe you are. Many times we choose to resist the influence, because we
feel safe in our comfortable zone. However, teaching itself is a career which
exerts great influence not to only our students, but also the families, the
society, and even the world. When we confine ourselves inside our classrooms,
we can only exert very limited influence and sometimes even negative influence
to our students, because our students are whole human beings whose learning
experiences and achievements are influenced by every aspect of the school and
the community.
By being teacher leaders, we step outside our seemly comfortable zone and
exert more positive influence not only to our students, but also to other
members of the community which in return will benefit the growth and
improvement of our students. As Katzenmeyer and Moller has stated (2009)
Teachers influence others through a variety of routs (p.117) and Teacher
leaders can make a difference in schools through the actions they take (p.115),
we teacher leaders can influence positively our colleagues, our schools, and our
community in various ways. When we mentor new teachers, we not only help
them, but also bring positive influence to our students and schools by bringing
new strength successfully. When we share our ideas and experiences in
professional development, we influence others by offering potential new ideas
and new possibilities. When we speak up with principals and administrators
about an initiative innovation or drawbacks of a current practice in schools, we
influence our school management and improvement greatly and positively.

When we advocate for or against an action from the perspectives of our


students improvement, we are influencing our community by seeking real
changes.
This influence is not one-way, but mutual. When we mentor, we learn from
our new teachers about their up-to-date pedagogical ideas and strategies, as
well as their passion and vigor. Through professional development, we can get
new ideas and strategies that we want to try in our own classes, and get
suggestions from others on our current practices. We can get support when we
go to our principals and administrators to speak up our thoughts in a proper
way. And all this mutual positive influence between others and us will all
contribute our goal being a good teacher: to help our students improve and
succeed.

Responsibility to Help Students More and Help More Students


We have to admit that, the strength of a single teacher is limited. If we lock
the doors to our classrooms, we shut out resources and support we can get to
help our students learn better. By becoming teacher leaders, we expand the
notion of our students: they are not only students sitting in our classrooms,
but also students of this whole school, the large community, and whole persons
in this world. Its our responsibility to introduce outside resources into our
classrooms; its our responsibility to work collaboratively with others and help
students learn in various ways; its our responsibility to speak up for the
innovations that can benefit our students learning and against those policies
and actions that will hinder our students improvement. Its not enough for us to
just teach the students what the textbooks say and what we think, we should

help students more by making changes and bringing new possibilities.


At meanwhile, teacher leaders reach out to help more students. When we
exert positive influence to others by mentoring new teachers, organizing
professional development, speaking up and advocating, we are transmitting the
influence to more students. We teacher leaders do not limit our responsibility
within the benefits of 25 students sitting in our classroom, we are willing to help
more students get profound resources and support, listen to diverse voices, and
learn better in a more dynamic environment.

Challenge to Cultivate a New Mindset


Being a teacher leader can be a great challenge for many teachers. We may
be intimidated by the uneasiness when stepping outside the comfortable zone;
we may be skeptical about the differences we can make; we will probably be
overwhelmed by the workload brought by all the actions; we may hesitate when
thinking about the conflicts that can be aroused by collaborating with others; we
may conclude that we are just those people who can speak up with those powerholders. After I have learned about teacher leadership, I realize that many
changes can happen to you and made by you if you cultivate a new mindset.
First of all, we need to understand that these uncomfortable feelings are
natural reactions when we face challenges. Its just like being nervous before
taking a drivers license test, feeling wanting to give up in the last 10 minutes of
a Zumba class, or uncertainty when boarding on the flight to a new place. Then
you need to know that though the process is suffering, the outcome is enjoyable
and rewarding. When you finally can drive your car to any place you want, when
you feel relaxed after the Zumba class, when you see new sceneries and meet

new people, you will tell yourself its really worth a try. When you see your
students engaging more in learning, and achieving more improvements and
growth, wont you feel proud that you have made a try?
We should also tell ourselves that the process of taking actions is a precious
lesson for us to learn and improve. The moment you step out your classrooms
bravely, you expose yourself to various ways to cultivate yourself to be a better
teacher, and a better person. We learn different ideas and strategies of
teaching; we learn to communicate with different people; we learn about the
organization and management of a school; we learn how a committee works;
and we learn how to get support from a wider community. No matter how far
away the success is, we learn something on the path to it.
As Conyers and Wilson suggested (2016), teachers should also learn to get
an optimistic mindset, because its a powerful influence on teacher leaders
effectiveness as they work together (p.78), and it helps veteran teachers
maintain a passion for their profession and beginning teachers to sustain
enthusiasm (p. 79). While training ourselves to be effective teacher leaders, we
also learn to be stronger and more optimistic, which not only benefits our career
but also our life.
For me, learning about teacher leadership has helped me get a new mindset
when reviewing myself as a teacher. For example, I used to think my students
are my responsibilities and I should not bother others with my students
problems. However, now I realize I am not fulfilling the responsibility well if I
dont take initiative to seek support from others to help them learn better. I used
to think collaboration could be a waste of time, but now I believe I can actually
save time if we collaborate strategically. I used to be afraid of conflicts, but now

I feel more comfortable with the awareness that its just natural because we are
different people, and the goal is not to eradicate the differences or
disagreements, but to seek understanding and collaboration.

My Plan of Action
In the first week of the class, we were asked to read Liebermans article Can
Teachers Really Be Leaders? (2011) and reflect on our comfortable level with
various roles of teacher leaders discussed in this article. At that time, I was
uncomfortable with most of the roles. However, now I think I have become more
confident and supported. I will describe my plan of action concerning different
roles.
1. Leaders of New Forms of Accountability
Since I begun to learn in the United States, I have realized more and more
how limited ways we have to access and test students in China. Though the
school I work for is relatively more open-minded, we still have several traditional
big tests to meet the requirements of parents who still judge their students
learning outcome on test scores. I observed many students put big efforts to
prepare for the paper tests but ignore the process of learning. When I go back to
the school, I will first begin to evaluate the students in my class in a diverse
way. Students will not only be evaluated by the test papers, but also the projects
they do, the books they read, and the reflections they have while learning. The
process will be emphasized. I will let the parents and students know the
significance of assessing them in different ways. Once it works in my class, I will
go to my colleagues in my grade level and talk with them on the feasibility of
this form of accountability. After we agree on it, we will go to our principal to get

support to make the change happen in the school wide.

2. Professional Developers
I always feel fortunate to get sponsored by our school to learn at NC State to
become a better teacher. The learning process is really engaging and rewarding.
I feel eager to share the new pedagogies and strategies I have learned when I
go back to work.
I plan to talk with the leader of the English teaching department and the
principal of the Junior High department about using some time in our weekly
meeting to share with the colleagues about what I have learned. The first phrase
will be general and main conceptions regarding teaching and leading. In the
next phase, we will discuss the specific strategies that we can use in our English
classes. It will last about 30 minutes each time. I will present first. Then I will
answer questions. Then we together will make plans to implement the
strategies in the real context of our classrooms. We can also experience doing
some activities by ourselves. In the next meeting, we can talk about how the
plan works and what improvements we can make. I will follow Zemelman and
Rosss suggestions (2009) to make it worth the time (p.69) by planning in
advance, making the process moving with clear targets and procedures, and
making time for reflections.
If I take the challenge to participate in this development, I think many other
teachers will feel more comfortable to join in to share their ideas and
experience. I hope I can really exert some influence to help create such an
atmosphere.

3. Mentors
I was comfortable with the role of mentors, but now I realize I can do more
and do better as mentors. First, I should go to the teachers to communicate with
them, instead of waiting for them to come. Then, I should seek mutual learning,
instead of just telling the mentees how I do it. I should be a better listener and
give constructive suggestion that the mentees feel comfortable and ready to
take.
4. Scholars
Since I become a student again, I am glad that I have cultivated a habit of
keeping journals and logs with reflections toward my learning. I realize how
valuable this kind of accumulation is when I can refer to these reflections easily
to accomplish a bigger project or essay. There are many things that can be
explored in the field of teaching. While learning, I reflect my previous teaching
experiences and know better what works and what doesnt. I also envision
myself implementing what I have learned currently in my future classes. When I
go back to teaching, I think I will have more deeper and profound reflections
when connecting the theory to reality, and get more ideas concerning teaching.
I will challenge myself to accumulate theses understandings, and write articles
to be published to influence more in our education system and hence help our
students learn better.

I was one of those teachers who would never see themselves as leaders,
because I saw leaders with a very narrow definition. As Katzenmeyer and Moller
(2009) have indicated, many teachers are sleeping giants who havent realized
how much power they have. I am still not confident enough to say I am a giant,

but I strongly believe that by trying to wake up together, we teachers can be


great giants.

References:
Conyers, Marcus & Donna Wilson. 2016. Smarter Teacher Leadership:
Neuroscience
and the Power of Purposeful Collaboration. Teachers College Press.
Katzenmeyer, Marilyn & Moller, Gayle. 2001. Awakening the Sleeping Giant:
Helping Teachers Develop as Leaders. 3nd edition. Thousand Oaks: Corwin.
Lieberman,Ann.2011.CanteachersReallyBeLeaders?.KappaDeltaPiRecord.ProQuestCentral.
Zemelman, Steven & Ross. Harry. 2009. 13 Steps to Teacher Empowerment. 2 nd
Edition. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

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