10 Key Traits of Teacher-leaders.

I was recently asked by one of my teachers, Valerie Southgate (@VSouthgate) to share the leadership traits that I saw in her. No this was not an act of narcissim on her part. It was part of her graduate work. When I sat down to respond to her email, I thought maybe two or three things would come to mind. What happend next was surprising. Well not really. I cranked out 10 traits that I have, over time, seen in all of the great teacher leaders with whom I've worked.

Val, along with veteran music teacher Nicki Barragy (@CLMSMusicRocks), special education teacher Rachel Anderson (@rachey418) and technology integration coach Emily Hill (@mle9903), they have taken under their wings three first year teachers. In doing so this team has managed to guide 8th grade students through their very first large group PBL musical, School House Rock Live!, developed five unique PBL experiences for their students and are now in the process of launching Google Classroom in all content areas. These saavy veteran teachers along with first year teachers Miss Davis (@MissDavis_UNI, Miss Shreeve (@CShreevers & Mr. Statz (@pdstatz) are making significant strides in redesigning the 8th grade experience for our students.

So what are the traits I see in all of the great teacher leaders with whom I've worked? Let's take a look!

Teacher leaders are: 1. people who value other's opinions and perspectives. 2. people who “stir the pot” of innovation. Not to intimidate or bully others but to help grow the system. 3. people who know what they don’t know and trust the insights of their peers. 4. people who are well connected to other leaders in education. Not just their content area. 5. people who realize that we all exist because of the kids and NOT in spite of them. 6. people who will openly champion an unpopular change if it benefits students in spite of resistant peers. 7. people who will respectfully agree to disagree, yet will support someone else’s ideas when their’s has fallen short. 8. people who do not let reluctant learners off they hook. They find a way to "hook'em". 9. people who recognize they are a valued part of the system but not THE system. 10. people who make others around them better. (I call this the Larry Bird effect.)

'm proud of our teachers at CLMS. Our journey into project-based learning hasn't been easy or pretty but hey, we don't do easy at CLMS!

So there you have it! What's on your list?

Happy New Year!

It's better in the Middle!