T An Eye on Education Book h An Eye on Education Book e C a l l t o T e a c h e r L e a d e r s h i p S a lly J . Z e p e d a , R . S t e w a r t M a y e r s , B r a d N . B e The Call to Teacher n s o n Leadership Sally J. Zepeda, aninformabusiness ISBN 978-1-930556-50-8 R. Stewart Mayers, ,!7IB9D0-ffgfai! Brad N. Benson www.routledge.com T C HE ALL TO T L EACHER EADERSHIP Sally J. Zepeda R. Stewart Mayers Brad N. Benson ~~ ~~o~!~;n~R~up lONDON AND NEW YORK First published 2003 by Eye On Education Published 2013 by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business Copyright © 2003 Taylor & Francis All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Notices No responsibility is assumed by the publisher for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use of operation of any methods, products, instructions or ideas contained in the material herein. Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experience and knowledge in evaluating and using any information, methods, compounds, or experiments described herein. In using such information or methods they should be mindful of their own safety and the safety of others, including parties for whom they have a professional responsibility. Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Zepeda, Sally J., 1956- The call to teacher leadership / Sally J. Zepeda, R. Stewart Mayers, Brad N. Benson. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1-930556-50-0 1. Teachers--Professional relationships--United States. 2. Teachers--In-service training--United states. 3. Educational leadership--United States. 4. Teacher participation in administration--United States. I. Mayers, R. Stewart, 1959- II. Benson, Brad N. III. Title. LB1775.2 .Z47 2003 371.1’06--dc21 2002029752 ISBN-13: 978-1-930-55650-8 (pbk) ISBN-13: 978-1-315-85269-0 (ebk) Editorial and production services provided by Richard H. Adin Freelance Editorial Services 52 Oakwood Blvd., Poughkeepsie, NY 12603-4112 (845-471-3566) Also Available from EYE ON EDUCATION Instructional Supervision: Applying Concepts and Tools Sally J. Zepeda Staff Development: Practices That Promote Leadership in Learning Communities Sally J. Zepeda Teacher Leader Thomas S. Poetter and Bernard J. Badiali 101 “Answers” for New Teachers and Their Mentors: Effective Teaching Tips for Daily Classroom Use Annette L. Breaux Handbook on Teacher Portfolios for Evaluation and Professional Development (Includes CD-ROM) Pamela Tucker, James Stronge, and Christopher Gareis Coaching and Mentoring First-Year and Student Teachers India J. Podsen and Vicki Denmark Teaching Matters: Motivating & Inspiring Yourself Todd and Beth Whitaker Dealing with Difficult Teachers, Second Edition Todd Whitaker Dealing with Difficult Parents Todd Whitaker and Douglas Fiore Motivating And Inspiring Teachers: The Educator’s Guide For Building Staff Morale Todd Whitaker, Beth Whitaker, and Dale Lumpa Teacher Retention: What Is Your Weakest Link? India J. Podsen Data Analysis for Comprehensive Schoolwide Improvement Victoria L. Bernhardt This page intentionally left blank TABLE OF CONTENTS About the Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi Case Study Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii 1 Answering the Call to Teacher Leadership. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Introducing Teacher Leadership. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 The “Why” of Teacher Leadership. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 The Need for Teacher Leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Why Become a Teacher Leader? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 The “When” of Teacher Leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Taking A.I.M. at Teacher Leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Acumen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Interest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Motivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Responsibility to the Call to Teacher Leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 The “How” of Teacher Leadership. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Creating Opportunities for Leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Reference Groups, Action Streams, and Teacher Leadership . . . . . 12 Teacher Leadership, Empowerment, and Voice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 The Formal and Informal Authority of Teacher Leaders. . . . . . . . . . 15 New Work, New Responsibilities for Teacher Leaders . . . . . . . . . . 16 Chapter Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 2 The Thorny Issues of Teacher Leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Introducing Difficulties of Being a Teacher Leader. . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Lines of Authority: Are Teacher Leaders Powerless Leaders?. . . . . . . 22 Reward Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Coercive Power. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Legitimate Power. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Expert Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Referent Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Informational Power. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Connection Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 The “Magic” of Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Isolation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Teacher Leaders as Trust-Builders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 v vi The Call to Teacher Leadership MaintainingOpenCommunication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 FindingTimeforTeamBuilding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 InductingNewMembers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Isolation and Burnout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Teacher Leaders and the Nature of Isolation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Role Conflict and Role Ambiguity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Relationships with Colleagues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Managing Competing Site/District Demands . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Resolving Conflicts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Differentiation of Function among Parts of the Educational Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Power Struggles between Persons and Subsystems . . . . . . . . . . 35 Role Conflicts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Differences in Interpersonal Style among Educators. . . . . . . . . . 36 Stress Imposed on the Educational Organization by External Forces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Teacher Leaders and Higher-Level Decision Making: Inclusion or Intrusion? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Teacher Leaders and Higher-Level Decision Making . . . . . . . . . 38 The Inclusion of Teacher Leaders in Higher-Level Decision Making . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Intrusion into Higher-Level Decision Making: WorkingwithPrincipals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Chapter Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 3 Teacher Leadership in the Elementary School . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Introducing Teacher Leadership at the Elementary Level. . . . . . . . . 43 Partnerships with Parents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Curriculum Alignment and Vertical Teaming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Curriculum Analysis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Curriculum Alignment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Vertical Teaming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 The Work of Grade Level Leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Coordinating the Work of Teachers across Grade Levels . . . . . . . . . 55 Monitoring Vertical Alignment of the Curriculum. . . . . . . . . . . 55 Maintaining Consistent Classroom Discipline Policies . . . . . . . . 56 ACase Study from the Field: DeQueen Primary School, DeQueen, Arkansas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Grade Level Leaders at DeQueen Primary School . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Smart Start Facilitators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Cadre Persons and the Direct Instruction Coordinator. . . . . . . . . 58 The Work of a Teacher Facilitator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 The Unique Relationship between a Teacher Facilitator and the Principal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Table of Contents vii ACase Study from the Field: Teacher Leadership at Gunter Elementary School, Gunter, Texas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 AVision of Teacher Leadership. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Teacher Leadership at Gunter Elementary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 The Teacher Facilitator at Gunter Elementary School . . . . . . . . . 63 TheTeacherFacilitatorasanInstructionalLeader. . . . . . . . . . 64 TheTeacherFacilitatorasaStaffDeveloper . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 TeacherFacilitatorasCommunicator. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Teacher Leadership Creates Powerful Learning Opportunities for Teachers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Chapter Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 4 Teacher Leadership in the Middle Grades . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Introducing Teacher Leadership in the Middle Grades . . . . . . . . . . 67 The Instructional Lead Teacher (ILT) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Getting Started as an Instructional Lead Teacher—Learning the Ropes . 70 Network with Other ILTs in the District. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Meet with the Team Leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Provide Opportunities to Expand Interaction between and among Teams. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Credibility and Trust. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Objectivity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Accountability, the Middle School Philosophy, and the Work of the Instructional Lead Teacher. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 ACase Study from the Field: School Governance and Teacher Leadership at Coile Middle School, Athens, Georgia . . . . . . . . . 73 Shared Decision Making. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 The School. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Beginning Shared Governance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Evaluation of Effectiveness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Resources and Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Road Bumps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Effective Teaming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 ClearandThoroughCommunication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 TheImpactofNewInstructionalLeaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Continual Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Duties and Responsibilities of the Instructional Lead Teacher . . . . . . 79 Development of Site Goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 The Content of Middle School Professional Development . . . . . . 82 Demonstration Lessons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 Working with Team Leaders: Promoting the Conditions that Foster Interdisciplinary Cooperation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 The Middle School Team Leader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 What Do Team Leaders Do in the Middle School? . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Team Meetings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 viii The Call to Teacher Leadership Apples, Oranges, and Interdisciplinary Team Planning. . . . . . . . 86 Duties and Issues for the Team Leader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 Hiring New Staff Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 The Transition to and from the Middle School . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 ACase Study from the Field: Camp Turning Points at Whittier Middle School, Norman, Oklahoma. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Camp Turning Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 History. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 The People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 The Coordinator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 Team Leaders. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 National Guardsmen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 Parent Volunteers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 Evaluation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 Transitioning from Middle School to High School . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 Balancing the Core and Exploratory Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Award Ceremonies and Guest Speakers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Chapter Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 5 Teacher Leadership in the High School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Introducing Teacher Leadership in the High School . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Perspectives about Teacher Leadership at the High School Level . . . . 96 The High School Department Chair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 Secure a Copy of the Job Description. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 Review the Site Faculty Handbook. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 Schedule a Meeting with the Administration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 Find a Mentor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 The Work of Department Chairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Coordinating Activities for the Beginning and Ending of the School Year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Managing the Department Budget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 Managing Facilities and Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 Tracking Usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 MaintainingtheDepartment’sEquipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 ReplacingConsumableEquipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 Serving as a Content Specialist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 Conducting Department Meetings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 TipsforRunninganEffectiveDepartmentMeeting . . . . . . . . 106 Developing Curriculum Guides. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 Handling Student Placement Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 Sequential Courses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 HonorsandAdvancedPlacementClasses . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 TryoutsintheFineArtsandAthletics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 Table of Contents ix Interviewing Teacher Candidates for the Department . . . . . . . . 110 InterviewingTeachingCandidates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 InterviewingandtheLaw. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Writing Reports, Forecasting Needs: Profiling and Publicizing the Department’s Accomplishments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 CommunicationthatInforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 CommunicationthatHelpsPlan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 CommunicationthatAsks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 CommunicationthatEvaluates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 Balancing Departmental Work with the Duties of a Teacher. . . . . . . 114 ACase Study from the Field: TALENT—Teachers as Leaders: Encouraging New Thought—at Shiloh High School, Snellville, Georgia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 TALENT—Teachers as Leaders: Encouraging New Thought— ALeadership Opportunity for Veteran Teachers . . . . . . . . . 115 TALENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 What Does Teacher Leadership Mean for TALENT Teachers?. . . . 117 Chapter Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 6 Casting a Wide Net for Teacher Leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 ACall for Increased Leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 Scanning the Environment for Teacher Leadership Opportunities . . . 120 Identify Leadership Opportunities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 Cast a Wide Net. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 Teacher Leadership Is Invitational . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 Provide Professional Development and Mentoring for Teacher Leaders. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 Assuming Leadership Can Be Risky Business for the Newcomer to Leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 An Extended Case Study from the Field—Gwinnett County Public Schools, Georgia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 Philosophy of Teacher Leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 Teachers as Leaders, Inc. (TAL) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 Early Beginnings of TAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 TAL Today. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 The Philosophy of TAL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 TheGoalsofTAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 The Leadership Curriculum of TAL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 Program Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 Lessons Learned. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 Funding TAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 Networking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 Benefits of TAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132 Administrative Support Needed to Promote Teacher Leadership. . 134 Principals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134