Leadership Final Thoughts

Before this class, I never thought much about the roles of teachers as informal and formal leaders. We all know who those informal leaders we have in our buildings are. But, how did they get there? What makes them successful leaders? Why do people follow their lead? I think that these informal leaders, to some extent, have more clout with their peers than the formal leaders. They stepped up to the plate and took control of some aspect of their building and others followed their lead, without 'having' to do so. That's real power. I believe that teacher leaders can be instrumental in internal changes within a school or organization. They can get buy-in easier than administration can. They 'know' what really goes on in a building. They know where changes to need to be made. They know who the 'rocks' are.

I would like to be a leader, but I sometimes have too strong of opinions for some peoples tastes. I have a hard time getting some of the 'rocks' to buy into my ideas. I feel like I now have the tools to change the way I lead others and that I could take on a leadership role. The biggest problem I face is that I teach a 'specials' class and I switch buildings each year. It's hard to gain any recognition or respect from staff when you are this 'young computer nerd' who just shows up in their building trying to make changes. Also, lots of people, even other teachers, don't view me as a 'real teacher' because I don't have a classroom teaching job. I don't understand this mentality and it frustrates me to no end! I have the same degree as them, know 'a little bit about everything' just as all elementary school teachers do, but I also have a specialized degree. They teach 23 kids, I teach 554. How does that make me less of a teacher? But I digress...






















I think that the only way to improve schools is from within. What is going on in our government in Wisconsin right now is going to destroy education. From all that I have heard from people who don't work in schools, they have *no* idea how they operate. I know that changes need to be made, but why not ask the experts to make those changes? At least to get the process going? We live it every day. We know what needs to change and many of us have great ideas to do it. We make changes every year to improve our students' performance. We work to better ourselves every year to improve student performance.