Twelve teacher leaders are participating in a Teacher Leadership Workshop course throughout this spring semester. We are focused upon understanding more deeply what it means to be a teacher leader in our own classrooms, within our school district (or university) and within our local community. We are investigating what it means to become an advocate for our profession by the inquiries we have established within our classrooms and schools. Through this investigative lens, we are learning how to be agents for change in our schools and in our communities. This workshop also specifically focuses upon how we are developing a new project or significantly redesigning an existing project that can be implemented in our classrooms or in conjunction with community agencies or individuals. We have experienced intense research into the development of curriculum through small group or cadre work and exchange of both personal and professional writing. We are learning how this kind of research-based inquiry can be modeled to other teachers at our Ozarks Writing Project site so others may understand the importance of research/evidence-based curriculum design and implementation.
We have learned a great deal about teacher leadership through this workshop, but first and foremost we’ve learned that we often don’t completely understand what it means to be a teacher leader, because, as educators, we are continuously barraged with negative publicity. We have a tendency to forget that we are leaders in our schools and communities. We have gained a greater understanding of what it means to advocate for education within our school districts. We are learning that we cannot be an agent of change if we are not willing to advocate on behalf of our students to administrators, school boards, or the community. We know this kind of leadership is crucial if we are going to develop curriculum that involves connections with community members. We are also absorbing information about the latest digital tools and how to integrate these tools into our classrooms thereby increasing our students’ digital literacy. As leaders, we must be on the cutting edge of the rapid changes in education so digital literacy is essential.
We are eagerly and earnestly jumping into our inquiry projects focused upon both teacher leadership and literacy instruction, including some of the following: student-led writing groups, revision strategies in the creative writing classroom, after school writing clubs, argument writing, informal grammar instruction, podcasting and daily writing, just to name a few. The list of books that teachers have requested is an impressive collection, too:
Buckner, Aimee. Notebook Know How: Strategies for the Writer’s Notebook.
Connors, Neila. If You Don’t Feed the Teachers They Eat the Students: Guide to Success for Administrators and Teachers.
Clark, Ron. The Essential 55: An Award-Winning Educator’s Rules For Discovering the Successful Student in Every Child.
Culham, Ruth. The Writing Thief: Using Mentor Texts to Teach the Craft of Writing.
Gallagher, Kelly. Write Like This: Teaching Real-World Writing Through Modeling and Mentor Texts.
Heard, Georgia. Awakening the Heart: Exploring Poetry in Elementary and Middle School.
—. Finding the Heart of Nonfiction: Teaching 7 Essential Craft Tools with Mentor Texts.
—. Writing Toward Home: Tales and Lessons to Find Your Way.
Hicks, Troy. Crafting Digital Writing: Composing Texts Across Media and Genres Paperback.
—. The Digital Writing Workshop
Hobbs, Renee. Discovering Media Literacy: Teaching Digital Media and Popular Culture in Elementary School.
Kittle, Penny. Write Beside Them: Risk, Voice, and Clarity in High School Writing
Lamott, Anne. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life.
Noden, Harry. Image Grammar, Second Edition: Teaching Grammar as Part of the Writing Process.
Romano, Tom. Fearless Writing: Multigenre to Motivate and Inspire.
Scott, Susan. Fierce Conversations: Achieving Success at Work and in Life One Conversation at a Time.
Schoeberlein, Deborah and David and Suki Smith. Mindful Teaching and Teaching Mindfulness: A Guide for Anyone Who Teaches Anything.
Silverman, Rita. Case Studies for Teacher Problem Solving.
Tobin, Lad. Writing Relationships: What Really Happens in the Composition Class.
Weaver, Connie. Grammar to Enrich and Enhance Writing.
Winter, Dave and Robbins, Sarah. Writing Our Communities: Local Learning and Public Culture.
Wong, Harry. The First Days of School: How to Be an Effective Teacher, 4th Edition.
In March we will experience two field trips that will demonstrate how teachers can utilize local resources in their curriculum. We will visit the archives of the Meyer Library on the Missouri State University Campus where we will learn how we might utilize some of the historical documents. We will also tour the Springfield Art Museum and the Nature Center where we’ll have an opportunity to learn about the educational programs offered at each so that we might consider the possibilities for our own students.