Ed Week Chat: Awaken the Teacher Leader in You

The transcript of today’s “live chat” at EdWeek.org -- Moving Beyond the Classroom: The Growing Role of Teacher Leaders -- is already posted on the Teacher Magazine website and well worth your time. It's a text-based format (no extra software needed) -- participants submit written questions to the guests and they answer them. It's amazing how much got said in 60 minutes.

Despite the phrase “beyond the classroom” in the chat title, guests and participants quickly made the point that teachers still at work full-time in the classroom can play many important leadership roles -- not only in schools and district s, but in the larger policy arena where expert teacher voices desperately need to be heard. Guest Anthony Cody, a teacher leader in Oakland CA and a member of the Teacher Leaders Network, commented:

One thing I learned in 18 years in the classroom is that there are lots of different ways students come to shine. Some are great speakers, others great artists, and others great writers. Teacher leadership is similar, in that there are lots of different ways teacher expertise can emerge and be of value, and it is going to look different for each teacher. So I think we need to build as many different avenues to leadership as possible, and see who gravitates to each one.

Cody was joined at the virtual podium by educators Gayle Moller and Marilyn Katzenmeyer, co-authors of the TL classic, Awakening the Sleeping Giant: Helping Teachers Develop as Leaders (Corwin Press) which will soon appear in its third edition.