Meghan Williams

615 Reflection Point

George Mason University

 Throughout this course and the rest of the core courses I have learned the importance of

looking beyond my own classroom. This course showed me I have the capability to be a teacher

leader and change agent in my school even though my role is a regular classroom teacher.

Although I still do not feel completely comfortable taking on the role as a teacher leader in my

school, this Core program is teaching me that if I step out of my bubble, I am capable of making

a difference in my school. I had previously thought that I did not want to be a teacher leader

because I do not have the time for it. I have since learned that being a teacher leader does not

take time away from my own students, but can actually benefit them in the long run. Working to

find ways to better the school helps all of the students in it.

This course showed me that teachers are change agents, teacher leaders, and partners with

colleagues learning. I learned that teacher leaders are teachers that lead within and beyond their

classrooms; contribute to the learning of other teachers; and influence others to improve their

practices (Katzenmeyer and Moller, 2009). I was able to experience this throughout the course of

EDUC 615 when I analyzed school data and wrote an action plan that involved working with

administration and colleagues to fix an inequity in my school.

Beyond my classroom, I need to continue to work with other teachers to find ways to

make our school and classrooms more equitable. Although I am an independent teacher, I need to

work towards improving the social capital of the school and join forces with other teachers

(Hargreaves & Fullan, 2012). As a group, we can share ideas and work together to improve our

school. Teacher leaders call others to action with the aim of improving the school environment

and student learning (Danielson, 2007). This is something that I have begun to do with my action

plan addressing the teacher gender gap in my school. I have come to see that the saying two
heads are better than one has meaning in the education world. Educators can learn from each

other.

When I had the task of finding data for my equity audit, I had to reach out to many of my

colleagues. I had to ask them for data or where I could find it. I also had to include my

colleagues in my action plan. This was challenging for me to do since it is my first year working

at this school. I have been learning to reach out to people and build relationships and call others

to action that I feel passionately about. Danielson (2007) not only says that teacher leaders call

their colleagues to action, but also get them excited about doing so. Teacher leaders influence

others towards improved educational practice (Katzenmeyer & Moller, p. 9).The Core program

is continuing to show me that teachers are members of learning communities and need to work

together to improve education for their students.

I also learned to question whether all students are receiving what they need in my

schools walls in order to be successful in their education. EDUC 615 also taught me to go even

further than my own schools walls and see what is happening throughout the country in terms of

education. The fact that am now questioning what is happening in education shows that I am

committed to my students and their learning. Auditing my school and analyzing the data has

given me a glimpse at how I can become a change agent in my school. I learned that sometimes I

have to step out of my comfort zone and have a willingness to be disturbed in order to create

change in my building and in the education world (Wheatley, 2009). My next steps are

continuing to step further out of my comfort zone in order to ensure that my students are

receiving equitable education.

 References

Danielson, C. (2007). The many faces of leadership. Educational leadership, 65(1), 14-19

Hargreaves, A., & Fullan, M. (2012). Professional capital: Transforming teaching in every

school. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

Katzenmeyer, M., & Molly, G. (2009). Awakening the sleeping giant: Helping teachers

develop as leaders (3rd. ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA:Corwin.