The role that teacher leaders can play is a unique one. They have direct insight into the daily lives of their students, inside the classroom and often even outside of it. In terms of connecting with community resources, they have the advantage to work as the liaison between the students, parents, school, and community. Moreover, they'll be the ones who will typically work with, or be directly impacted by, community resources. Teachers can provide their opinions on what works and what doesn't, as well as offer suggestions.
Chapter 11 discusses discovering opportunities within the school's community through partnerships. Sheninger stressed that the focus should be fixated on the students but to continually make improvements and advancements through innovative solutions and successful branding. The chapter also briefly discusses the types of partnerships possible such as university partnerships, experiential learning partnerships, intraschool partnerships, corporate and community partnerships, and mental health partnerships. Personally, I found the discussion of mental health partnerships to be the most salient; the recognition that schools have the unique opportunity to provide much more than a basic education and that even providing that can be difficult without a strong, healthy foundation to place it on. The metaphor comparing schools to gardens is fitting when we so often discuss student, school, community, and professional growth.
Also in this chapter, Sheninger once again discusses the power of leveraging social media by maintaining that it propagates attention, which produces new opportunities for partnerships, authentic learning experiences, and professional development, as well as recognition for the school and educational technology. Sheninger conveys a simple, yet powerful message in harnessing the power of social media - sharing success generates success.
Sheninger concludes his book on leadership in the best possible way, as call to action. We've read examples, examined the possibilities and challenges. Now, what are we going to do? What I appreciated most was that throughout the book, while promoting the power of technology, Sheninger also promotes the importance of face to face interactions. The final chapter serves as a gentle admonition to not only keep that in mind, but to remember that being a leader also means being a model in behavior.
1 comment:
Your first paragraph is a powerful reminder that teacher leaders have a very unique role. As empowered teachers, we have the ability to not only directly communicate with parents and students, but profoundly affect the decisions our principals make!
Post a Comment