I've been thinking about leadership this week. All of my new tech toys that now reside in my teacher toolbox are going to find their way into my classroom and people are going to take notice. Other teachers are going to see or hear about my students doing things in ways that they had never even thought of before and that is going to cause some chatter. There is a very good chance that some of those teachers will come to me an d ask me to help them do some of the same things that I am doing in my classes. I will become a teach leader.
In our building, we are blessed with a fantastic tech coordinator that helps the entire staff do wonderful things in our classrooms when our students are there and even when they aren't. Also, in every department there is an unofficial teach guru as well. You know this person, they just bough an iPad and want to show you all of the cool things it does, or they know about ten super cool websites that they use in their class all the time and think you should use them too. I've always been on the verge of this unofficial status because I know my way around MS Words, and I am a super crazy test file maker. I've never had any real "wow" status that would draw people to me and most of my skills don't apply directly to students. I think that my new tools are going to change all of that and I am going to become a big fish in a small pond.
The strange thing is that I've already jumped through these same hoops and done these same types of things in different parts of my career. I am a leader in my building for a few other concentrations and feel that my work in those different realms will greatly help me as I become a new tech leader. In Elena Aguilar's Article entitles "Becoming a Teacher leader she says:
"We look for attributes of leadership: teachers who are thinking outside of their classrooms, teachers who take risks within their classroom, teachers who aren't afraid to say that they don't know something, or who aren't afraid to share what they do know"
After only a short year in my building administration and some of the major decision makers in my building had already found those things inside of me and approached me to become a teacher leader and pilot teacher for a new Algebra 2 program that was being developed. I was very surprised and honored to be even asked and decided to take on the challenge of working with some students that really struggled with mathematics but legally had to get through Algebra 2 in order to graduate. I found the leadership position both scary and exhilarating at the same time. It was scary because my decisions were have a strong effect on classes of students and I wanted to make sure I did the kind of quality job that being expected from me by those who put me there. It was exhilarating because I was able to make decisions and be dynamic and creative even if some of those decisions ended in failure. I was allowed to entertain the idea of going on a field trip to the corner Speedway gas station for Slurpees and I was capable of trying group quizzes where students work together on a single assessment. I also really enjoyed experimenting with lesson plans. I would try out lesson plans and some wour be complete utter failures and other would be great. The important thing was that I tried it, I showed it for my administrators, the kids gave me feedback, and we all moved forward together. It has been great fun and great anger all rolled into one.
I am excited to be taking on another leadership role and I hope it brings on the same fears and joys that I have been experiencing as a curriculum teacher leader.
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