Teacher as Leader - implications for teacher development
Teaching is my second career. My first was in the media. I was an associate producer (AP) in the Channel 8 Variety Division of the then Television Corporation of Singapore (TCS). One major difference between these two careers was accountability. As an AP, I was accountable to the producer, the production coordinator and the executive producer of each programme. My customers were the viewers whom I was not directly accountable to. As a teacher, I am directly accountable to my pupils who are also my most immediate customers. As a teacher, I am responsible for the growth of thirty to forty young minds in my class. Usually, they have no matured standard in which to evaluate me. In a way, I am accountable to myself. I alone can decide the amount of planning, preparation and the array of activities I could orchestrate to engage my pupils in the classroom. I am a leader in the classroom.
In every classroom, a teacher is a leader. She decides on the pedagogy to develop her pupils learning. She sets goals in collaboration with the pupils. She communicates expectations to pupils and provides the rules and procedures to ensure the smooth flow of activities in the classroom. She has to react and adjusts her approach to changing conditions in the classroom. Gone are the days when teachers merely follow scripts to conduct lessons! The modern teacher has to be a leader. The skills and dispositions required for teaching now are also required for leadership.
The modern teacher’s roles go beyond the classroom. She is actively involved in curriculum building and assessment strategies. She has to use evidence and data in decision making. She is also a co-supervisor to her peers. Her supervisor is her collaborator in helping her to improve her performance. She creates new knowledge about teaching and learning. She works in a community of fellow teacher leaders. She may have to mobilize people around a common purpose.
The training models of teacher development could no longer be the primary model for teacher development. The training models still has its place to address deficit in teachers’ knowledge or to improve teachers’ skills in an area.
However, to enable teachers to teach for understanding, to develop student thinking and to promote generative knowledge (knowledge that can be used to create new knowledge), the professional development models of teacher development may be more effective. Professional Development approaches emphasize inquiry, problem solving and action research. In this model, teachers are provided with a rich environment of teaching materials, media, books and other learning objects, and are encouraged to interact with these resources and other teachers to enhance their learning.
In their roles as teacher leaders, teachers must be responsible for their own improvement. While both training and professional development models both help teachers to improve their practice, the renewal models of teacher development empower teachers to improve themselves. The emphasis in renewal models is on building a caring community by encouraging teachers to reflect and to engage in conversations with a community of learners.
In DDM, all three models of teacher development are used although more attention seems to be given to the professional development and renewal models. I would even boldly say that the renewal models seem to be more deliberately use than the other two. That’s why we are writing reflections. In Blangah Rise Primary, we are trying to giving a little more emphasis to the renewal models of teacher development. The introduction of PD time within curriculum is an attempt to build a caring community of learners that engage in conversations to support each other. Reflection writing is an attempt to encourage teachers to reflect (although writing reflection does not always mean you are reflecting). These attempts recognize teachers as leaders. As a leader, you must constantly reflect and work with your peers (fellow teachers) for the benefit of your customers (students).
Chris
In every classroom, a teacher is a leader. She decides on the pedagogy to develop her pupils learning. She sets goals in collaboration with the pupils. She communicates expectations to pupils and provides the rules and procedures to ensure the smooth flow of activities in the classroom. She has to react and adjusts her approach to changing conditions in the classroom. Gone are the days when teachers merely follow scripts to conduct lessons! The modern teacher has to be a leader. The skills and dispositions required for teaching now are also required for leadership.
The modern teacher’s roles go beyond the classroom. She is actively involved in curriculum building and assessment strategies. She has to use evidence and data in decision making. She is also a co-supervisor to her peers. Her supervisor is her collaborator in helping her to improve her performance. She creates new knowledge about teaching and learning. She works in a community of fellow teacher leaders. She may have to mobilize people around a common purpose.
The training models of teacher development could no longer be the primary model for teacher development. The training models still has its place to address deficit in teachers’ knowledge or to improve teachers’ skills in an area.
However, to enable teachers to teach for understanding, to develop student thinking and to promote generative knowledge (knowledge that can be used to create new knowledge), the professional development models of teacher development may be more effective. Professional Development approaches emphasize inquiry, problem solving and action research. In this model, teachers are provided with a rich environment of teaching materials, media, books and other learning objects, and are encouraged to interact with these resources and other teachers to enhance their learning.
In their roles as teacher leaders, teachers must be responsible for their own improvement. While both training and professional development models both help teachers to improve their practice, the renewal models of teacher development empower teachers to improve themselves. The emphasis in renewal models is on building a caring community by encouraging teachers to reflect and to engage in conversations with a community of learners.
In DDM, all three models of teacher development are used although more attention seems to be given to the professional development and renewal models. I would even boldly say that the renewal models seem to be more deliberately use than the other two. That’s why we are writing reflections. In Blangah Rise Primary, we are trying to giving a little more emphasis to the renewal models of teacher development. The introduction of PD time within curriculum is an attempt to build a caring community of learners that engage in conversations to support each other. Reflection writing is an attempt to encourage teachers to reflect (although writing reflection does not always mean you are reflecting). These attempts recognize teachers as leaders. As a leader, you must constantly reflect and work with your peers (fellow teachers) for the benefit of your customers (students).
Chris
Labels: DDM Jan 07
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12:59 AM
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