Content area
Full text
My time as a district-level secondary language arts coordinator has provided numerous opportunities to facilitate program improvements. Writing new curriculum, implementing backward design, establishing an annual literacy summit (where both in- and out-of-district teachers present "best practices"), and promoting student choice are all initiatives that I've led. However, they were brought to fruition by teachers who shared a vision and who later facilitated districtwide implementation. For any change to occur in language arts, it must originate from a classroom need and have the support of teacher leaders who are able to carry it forward.
Teacher leader is a misleading term. It is a semantic pleonasm as illustrated in Chapter 1 of Start. Right. Now.: Teach and head for Excellence, which begins, "Teaching is leading; leading is teaching" (Whitaker et al.). Learning environments would cease to exist without a teacher leading the learning. The essence of our profession is leadership, yet many teachers do not see themselves as leaders beyond the classroom setting.
The term teacher leader generally describes teachers willing to take on responsibilities outside of their assigned teaching duties. The term (and position) has grown in popularity as research supports the importance of leadership in school improvement efforts. In 2014, the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and the National Education Association partnered to create a list of teacher leader competencies established around three categories: instructional leadership, policy leadership, and association leadership. While multiple definitions of the term exist, Todd Whitaker et al. describe teacher leaders as "experts at teaching their students and experts at leading their students, as well as others in their school communities" (10).
All educational organizations need teachers willing to step forward and lead their colleagues. Nonetheless, teachers often feel overwhelmed with the duties of teaching, let alone leading. Any time I work with teachers, I hope to tap a potential teacher leader. Interestingly, when I approach teachers about a leadership role, they are almost always surprised. Charlotte Danielson discusses this phenomenon in Teacher headership That Strengthens Professional Practice, noting that "some teachers simply don't see themselves as leaders and would never describe themselves using that word" (130). Valeri Helterbran termed this the "I am just a teacher" syndrome, pointing out that "maintaining a culture where 'just a teacher' states-of-mind...