Teacher Leadership - Going from Good to Great!

This week, I attended a teacher leadership summit in Alexandria, VA as the 2017 Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) Teacher of the Year along with the other teachers of the years from the 2016 and 2017 groups from around the organization.

Getting to Know You

The first day, we began with an ice breaker exercise, which allowed me to understand more about this amazing group of educators. I got to hear about lessons they were proud of from their classroom, why they decided to teach, and how they would like for their students to remember them 20 years from now. Listening to their story empowered me to understand the power of sharing my own. My take away from this activity that I will take back to my district is to truly take the time to cultivate relationships with the people we work with. By doing this, a good teacher can become a teacher leader.

Unpacking the Concept of Teacher Leadership

Throughout the week, we have been understanding the role of a teacher leader. The National Network of State Teachers of the Year (NNSTOY) in partnership with past and current State DoDEA teachers of the year, conducted a robust training that introduced us to the concept of teacher leadership.

The word leader is not often used to describe a teacher. Sure, we all lead our classroom, make decisions for our students, and create engaging lessons, but we do not always think of ourselves in the realm of a "leader". However, if we think about various teachers in our schools, we can see leadership attributes such as charisma, kindness, integrity, responsibility, role model. The problem is we have to shift in our thinking and allow teachers to have a voice in the issues that affect them the most. My take away from these concepts that I will take back to my district is to advocate for the teachers' voice to my leadership. Our goal, as teacher leaders, is to have distributed leadership and to be a part of the team.

Teacher Leaders Unite - Build your network

For me, one of the most amazing observations that I observed was watching my fellow educators collaborate and share ideas. It was as if an imaginary web was connecting us all around the room. As people were sharing ideas, you could see others frantically jotting them down and asking for more information. This is so vital for us educators in DoDEA, as we are a global organization, operating schools in America, Puerto Rico, Europe, Asia, Cuba, and the Pacific - being able to come together and build a network is crucial for our next steps in building teacher leaders in our dynamic organization.

Team Work makes ANY dream work

I know it is a cliche saying, but when we unite around the belief that teachers CAN be leaders, that teachers CAN be experts, and that teachers CAN be better together then there is nothing that we cannot accomplish. Knowing now that I can email and connect with my counterparts all over the world as we pool our resources together to make life better for our military-connected students, makes me excited to move forward on this journey of going from teacher, to teacher leader, and going from good to great.

*To learn more about our amazing organization, DoDEA, visit www.dodea.edu. To learn more about NNSTOY, please visit http://www.nnstoy.org/