Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Teachers as Leaders
Final Essay
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ECI 508
NC State University
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By Yuanyuan Fang
April, 2015
Author Note
Yuanyuan Fang, College of Education, NC State University
This 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
Introduction
Based 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 myself
According 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.
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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
Conclusion
As 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
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.