The Center for Teacher Leadership is proud to introduce Mary Tedrow as this week's guest blogger. She is a former Frederick County Teacher of the Year, a senior fellow at Teacher Leaders Network, an occasional essayist for Teacher Magazine, and a freelance writer, authoring Reading Connection for the Middle Years for Resources for Educators. Mary serves as a Co-Director of the Northern Virginia Writing Project, where she leads their satellite site in the Shenandoah Valley. She is an adjunct faculty member at George Mason University and dual enrollment instructor for Lord Fairfax Community College. When she is not busy with education issues, this mother of three runs just for the fun of it. Mary served on the design team that developed CTL's online course, Teacher as Change Agent, and has written for "Teacher Magazine" and "Resources for Educators." Mary's blog Walking to School captures her musings on our profession as she walks to and from school each day. CTL invites you to walk alongside Mary as she shares her insights on the qualities of effective teacher leaders.
"I'm just a teacher. I don't know anything about leading."
Though teachers are sometimes reluctant to take on a leadership role among their peers, or outside and beyond the school building, exemplary teachers already are leaders, using all the tools they need for leadership while working with students in the classroom. Recognizing the strengths of good teaching and leveraging those skills into practice outside the classroom can develop classroom teachers into effective, transformative leaders.
What are the hallmarks of good teachers and ultimately of good leaders? There are three I can identify from the mentors who have had an influence on transforming my own teaching practice:
Good teachers are humble: Few teachers reach excellence without this quality. Humility is required to engage in real reflection of practice. If not humble enough to ask "Why didn't that work?" of our own classroom behaviors, we cannot expect to make improvements that impact student learning. If not humble enough to learn from our students and to let them take the lead, we won't inspire their growth. If not humble enough to look for gaps in our knowledge and continue to learn, we cannot grow into truly transformational teachers. Outside of the classroom, true teacher leaders engage the community by asking for help, letting others take the lead, and listening and learning from the collective wisdom of a group, adding to our knowledge when gaps arise. Good leaders are humble enough to ask for help.
Good teachers know the subject and make the complex simple: Good teachers know how to break complex ideas and concepts down into manageable, accessible parts so learners can build knowledge. This means knowing students well enough to understand what they already know - and starting from there. This awareness of audience makes teachers adept at speaking to any number of groups - administrators who may have a different perspective but need awareness of the perspective of the classroom - parents who understand school from "when they were there" and need to learn how the environment and teaching practice has evolved - and policymakers who need to understand how the impact of new policy may play out at the classroom level. Good leaders teach as they lead, starting from the perspective of all stakeholders.
Good teachers celebrate: The best teachers remind their students of how far they have come and let celebration into the classroom. Pats on the back. Smiles. Encouragement. These are the moments that bring our students back to school to try again: they learn to feel good about learning. It's no surprise that our peers need the same kind of rewards to spur them on to tackling the next round of challenges. Good leaders give credit to the team, encouraging them to feel good about gains made and risks taken.
A leader does not have to know all the answers. The best professionals who led me along the way inspired me to join in the resolution of problems by asking for help, breaking down the hard parts, and celebrating when we reached a goal.
Our best teachers do that every day for their students. They can do the same for the profession.