Are you a teacher leader?

Renee Boss, a national board certified teacher and eleven-year English teacher veteran asks teachers this question in her latest post on TeachingChannel. org. In this article, Boss offers teachers tips on how to become leaders through social media efforts, professional development workshops, and more. 

"Following a recent Friday evening flurry of Twitter exchanges, a friend and trusted colleague picked up her phone and called me," Boss said. “'You have me all fired up now about how we need to change the culture around teachers as leaders. How are we going to do this? What are we going to do?'” We chatted for nearly an hour, talking about great visionaries and leaders throughout time, people who started movements and influenced change, people like Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr.. I haven’t stopped thinking about our conversation or wondering about who will be our fierce leader. Who will drive the movement around teacher leadership? I’ve come to this conclusion: It needs to be all of us, because we all want freedom, justice, equality, and prosperity for students."

Boss then provides five ways teachers can become leaders in the classroom, and includes real practices by real teachers. One of Boss's tips is to "make learning meaningful."

"Elementary teacher Brad Clark designs meaningful learning experiences for 45 students under his charge, and he extends learning into his work as a mentor as well," she said. "If he’s teaching literary analysis of a short story, he makes sure to help his fourth and fifth graders understand how those same analysis skills can be applied to the media they consume outside of class. He says, “everyday is an opportunity to refine my practice, to become more efficient and more effective.” He also makes learning more meaningful for his students by continuing to be a learner himself. For example, if he’s working on questioning skills with his students, he seeks out his own professional learning around this same topic. If he’s sitting in a required school-wide teacher PD session that is designed as one-size fits all, he determines in advance how he will drive his own learning. Specifically, he sits near colleagues who he knows will push his thinking forward."

Read the full story and comment below. 

Article by Kassondra Granata, Education World Contributor