This is the last week of class. As such here are two good sites on pathways to teacher leadership:

This first site is a wonderful resource on all things pertaining to teacher leadership. There are videos and comments from other educators all pertaining to teacher leadership.

http://workingconditions.net/?p=270

This second site is great in explaining ideas and concepts. But it also helps with implantation.

http://www.tqsource.org/pdfs/TQ_Policy-to-PracticeBriefTeacherLeadership.pdf

Hi guys,
This week we are discussing Distributive Leadership. Distributive leadership is the distribution of power and responsibilities.  This is a method that is already in practice in most schools.  Having Distributive leadership allows for the flow of success to continue.  This allows everyone to take ownership in what is happening in their own school.
I can confirm that this method is in practice at my school.  There are committees that have different responsibilities, they help run the school efficiently.  I really cannot think of a school that would not want to do this.  It seems like the best solution to over worked and under paid staff.  This way everyone can feel like they contribute to the whole.

So this week we are discussing the difference between transformational and transactional leadership styles.  Transformational being more of a motivational leader while transactional is more of a ddisciplined leader.  I find myself in the transformational leadership roll.  I am not the most organized and disciplined person, while I get things done I do not have a specific method for doing things.  I am always looking for new ways of doing things and ready to learn from those around me. 
My style of leadership could help my school by finding new methods to do tasks and help others explore their own abilities to problem solve out of the box.

This weeks posting is about the power dynamics at my school.  While I work at a private institution there is still a definite order of things.  We have a Director and Assistant Director, there is a parent committee, religious leaders and a governing board.  Most everyday changes can be instigate by speaking with the director, however bigger changes must be approved by the religious leaders and the governing board.  The parent committee is a good source of change since they are able to voice the needs of the teachers and the children.  This is a good system that seems to work well, like everything else there are times when it could be better and times when it is perfect.

This week has been crazy. My school had in-service Thursday and Friday and on Wednesday there was an open house. This has left me with little time during the week. So I am finally catching up! I did my quiz on strengths finder 2.0, turns out I'm a learner, developer, believer, good with input and context. I knew I was a learner and a believer, the developer and input were not expected. This was an interesting quiz, I was thrown off by the fact that you were only given 20 seconds to answer each question. It was nice to see that there were questions from all topics and they made you think.

This coming week I need to interview a leader in my school and then I will get the info onto a power point for my team. This class is flying by so fast!

So this blog is meant to track my progress through the UofP's Teacher Leadership Program.  From this program I am hoping to become better prepared to be a leader at my school and in my community.  Through this program I would like to expand my ability to lead,  organize and model.  This are all areas that we could all benefit from improving.