Teacher Leadership ECI 508
As the culminating course, ECI 508 helped me to transition from assuming my full obligations as a teacher into developing into a teacher leader. A teacher leader is reflective, confident as well as inspiring to not only their students but also their colleagues too. As Ghandi stated, "We must be the change we want to see in the world," with this statement as a guiding factor I decided to take several leadership roles during the course of my last two years of teaching. Becoming a leader is a recurring cycle; one creates a self-awareness of who they are as a teacher, leader, etc. before accepting any roles of leadership.
Looking back on my teaching experience I still believed there was more work to be done on the issue of helping struggling readers succeed by using innovative technological tools as well as teaching practices to prepare students to become proficient readers. I began my teacher leadership voyage by observing great leadership qualities in others such as my colleagues, family, and friends. Soon I made small changes to my teaching practices to be able to make learning authentic for my students who have academic difficulty. As a product, my first group of students participated in critically evaluating online sources which helped them to become critical thinkers Next my students created a series of Windows Movie Maker videos to explain the concept of Advertising methods in today's media. These small, but risk-taking means of instruction helped to motivate students to want to read often and carefully. From that point, I had the idea to start a school-sponsored club that would help support at-risk students to become better students. The Drama club was the first of its kind and completely designed by students. Their final product was a student-written play about the facts and prevention of bullying. It was at this moment, I realized that I not only inspired students through the creative 21-century strategies I modeled in my classroom, but I formulated a club based on student interest which helped students to improve their comprehension of written work and perform on stage in front of their peers.
Fastforwarding unto today, my influence of teacher leadership continues with the creation of an at-risk non-profit organization which I will be collaborating with a colleague of mine at our current school. This idea developed after employing those teacher leadership processes of observance, reflection, and risk. I am willing to address a need at our school; how to assist at-risk students who do not typically perform well academically not to ability, but confidence. I believe being able to work individually with these students would change the culture of our school completely. In conclusion, teacher leaders are being callled to action even more so than in the past. It is our duty to be an agent for change and an advocate for our youth.
Looking back on my teaching experience I still believed there was more work to be done on the issue of helping struggling readers succeed by using innovative technological tools as well as teaching practices to prepare students to become proficient readers. I began my teacher leadership voyage by observing great leadership qualities in others such as my colleagues, family, and friends. Soon I made small changes to my teaching practices to be able to make learning authentic for my students who have academic difficulty. As a product, my first group of students participated in critically evaluating online sources which helped them to become critical thinkers Next my students created a series of Windows Movie Maker videos to explain the concept of Advertising methods in today's media. These small, but risk-taking means of instruction helped to motivate students to want to read often and carefully. From that point, I had the idea to start a school-sponsored club that would help support at-risk students to become better students. The Drama club was the first of its kind and completely designed by students. Their final product was a student-written play about the facts and prevention of bullying. It was at this moment, I realized that I not only inspired students through the creative 21-century strategies I modeled in my classroom, but I formulated a club based on student interest which helped students to improve their comprehension of written work and perform on stage in front of their peers.
Fastforwarding unto today, my influence of teacher leadership continues with the creation of an at-risk non-profit organization which I will be collaborating with a colleague of mine at our current school. This idea developed after employing those teacher leadership processes of observance, reflection, and risk. I am willing to address a need at our school; how to assist at-risk students who do not typically perform well academically not to ability, but confidence. I believe being able to work individually with these students would change the culture of our school completely. In conclusion, teacher leaders are being callled to action even more so than in the past. It is our duty to be an agent for change and an advocate for our youth.
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