Three Ways to Get Involved with Teacher Leader Opportunities?

Answer 1

Did you have a positive experience your first year of teaching? How did you feel about the abundance of support that you received? If you responded with positive responses to these two questions, then you should strongly consider getting involved with helping teachers. Below are three ways to get involved with teacher leader opportunities:

1.

Become a Content Team Leader:

By becoming either a content or team leader, it will serve as the first step to meeting one of your professional goals. There is a distinct difference between a content and team leader. A team leader is responsible for their team when it comes to grade level concerns, meetings, and administrative duties. On the other hand, content leaders are responsible for specific content for assigned grade levels and content-related responsibilities such as meetings, alignment, and assessments. Both of these roles will provide insight into more ways to help teachers.

2.

Become a Teacher Mentor:

A teacher mentor works with new teachers by helping them focus on classroom management, student achievement, and self-reflections in the classroom. Teacher mentors often provide feedback on lessons taught, identify professional development opportunities in which you may benefit, and serve as a sounding board to help new teachers learn how to process information. One key concept is that teacher mentors are not to cause professional harm to new teachers. Instead, everything that is discussed should be constructive, in nature, resulting in new teachers exercising their free will. In other words, they should be afforded the opportunity to choose their own professional destiny.

3.

Become an Instructional Coach:

The role of an instructional coach is to serve grade levels of teachers and work closely with grade level team leaders. Depending on how the principal designate their instructional coaches’ time, it will depend on how they support teachers. For example, instructional coaches can focus solely on teaching teachers how to teach a certain subject. In addition to this, instructional coaches can help with finding relevant lessons and providing student data to teachers. Last but not least, instructional coaches could be assigned to work with a select group of students who need academic support in a specific subject area.

Each of these opportunities will definitely provide a sense of worth and value. Not to mention, individuals will be able to still be viewed as a reputable and respected colleague who are impacting students and teachers one day at a time.