Lead Like A Teacher How To Elevate Expertise In Your School

For the sake of students, close the empathy gap between the classroom and the front office. Far too often, teachers and administrators are adversaries within a school or district and display a mutual distrust and disrespect for each other’s perspectives. Yet when this dissonance can be overcome, the result is a more-harmonious school environment that promotes student achievement. In Lead Like a Teacher, instructional specialist Miriam Plotinsky urges secondary school administrators to lead more effectively by actively listening to teachers and welcoming their expertise. Each chapter examines one of nine key aspects of leadership and offers specific, creative solutions to the complex challenge of empowering change. Moving from a micro to a macro focus as the book progresses—from classroom instruction to schoolwide initiatives—Plotinsky provides administrators with the tools to build and maintain collaborative leadership structures. This thoughtful approach to secondary leadership provides an actionable plan to dismantle some of the biggest barriers to achieving school excellence.

For the sake of students, close the empathy gap between the classroom and the front office. Far too often, teachers and administrators are adversaries within a school or district and display a mutual distrust and disrespect for each other’s perspectives. Yet when this dissonance can be overcome, the result is a more-harmonious school environment that promotes student achievement. In Lead Like a Teacher, instructional specialist Miriam Plotinsky urges secondary school administrators to lead more effectively by actively listening to teachers and welcoming their expertise. Each chapter examines one of nine key aspects of leadership and offers specific, creative solutions to the complex challenge of empowering change. Moving from a micro to a macro focus as the book progresses—from classroom instruction to schoolwide initiatives—Plotinsky provides administrators with the tools to build and maintain collaborative leadership structures. This thoughtful approach to secondary leadership provides an actionable plan to dismantle some of the biggest barriers to achieving school excellence.

A hover-free classroom starts with a dynamic class community. Our image of a classroom community in secondary education is rapidly evolving. The experience of remote learning during a pandemic has altered our mental picture of students occupying rows of desks with a teacher nearby, closely monitoring their activities. But even when teachers are able to be in physical proximity to their students, the research is clear that students need to be empowered to take ownership of their learning in order to be fully engaged. The question this book explores is: How can teachers step back, stop micromanaging, and allow students more agency? In this engaging guide, instructional specialist Miriam Plotinsky breaks hover-free teaching down into four sequential stages: mindset, deeper relationships, planning for engagement, and choice-based instruction. Her book shows how teachers can free themselves from helicopter habits and allow students greater control of their own learning, while still managing and maximizing classroom time effectively.

Expand your leadership capacity to help your school reach its potential All schools have the capacity for schoolwide instructional excellence. Schools with leaders who adopt a coaching stance as part of their practice are more likely to realize this success. Leaders achieve success with their teachers, their students, and their families, not alone. Leading like a C.O.A.C.H. reframes the approach to schoolwide change from a leader acting alone to a leader working with a community in which each member contributes their strengths and ideas to improving instruction. Renwick, a well-known blogger and writer on literacy and leadership, encourages school leaders to embody five practices: 1. Create confidence through trust; 2. Organize around a priority; 3. Affirm promising practices; 4. Communicate feedback; and 5. Help teachers become leaders and learners. Throughout this practical guide, readers will find Reflective questions Activities Indicators of success Examples of leaders coaching teachers to excellence Wisdom from the field This book provides new and veteran leaders with a practical approach and easily adoptable ideas for helping their schools realize their full potential.

Whatever subject you teach, you can encourage students’ sense of self-worth. “I’m a bad writer” is a disclaimer every secondary teacher has heard many times. Overcoming that negative self-image, Plotinsky argues, is key to helping students build a positive academic identity—and because of the vulnerability associated with sharing what we write, the benefits of interrupting this particular form of deficit thinking extend far beyond English class. Drawing on her years of experience as an English teacher and literacy specialist, Miriam Plotinsky uses writing instruction as a powerful vehicle to examine how teachers can help students build a sense of themselves as legitimate, valuable contributors to the world around them. The chapters move fluidly through ways to build capacity such as celebrating student voice, separating grading from class participation, giving feedback that inspires trust, and avoiding the labeling of students. Along the way, teachers in other content areas contribute insights into how the identity-building strategies in the book can be applied to their own disciplines.

"Develop teacher leadership in your school with the real-world, on-the-job ideas in this book. Principals and other leaders will embrace the practical Lead Now and Do Now sections as they promote shared leadership and improve their own skills. Strategies will help you to motivate teachers to work together, dramatically raising student achievement."--Publisher's description

Discover the secrets of successful teacher leadership! Whether you’re a teacher who’s ready to take on new roles or an administrator looking to develop strong leaders, this content-driven handbook is here to help you make distributed school leadership a reality. Inside you’ll find specific how-tos for the essential skills teacher leaders need most: running meetings, teaching colleagues, providing feedback, conducting needs assessments, delivering effective professional development, resolving conflicts, employing technology, and more. The book features: Well-tested content and activities Reflective writing prompts Scenarios for discussion Self-evaluations Two companion guides: one for teachers, and one for administrators

A road map for teachers who strive to be highly effective leaders in our nation's classrooms Teach For America has fought the daunting battle of educational equity for the last twenty years. Based on evidence from classrooms across the country, they've discovered much about effective teaching practice, and distilled these findings into the six principles presented in this book. The Teaching As Leadership framework inspires teachers to: Set Big Goals; Invest Students and Their Families; Plan Purposefully; Execute Effectively; Continuously Increase Effectiveness; Work Relentlessly. The results are better educational outcomes for our nation's children, particularly those who live in low-income communities. Inspires educators to be leaders in their classrooms and schools Demystifies what it means to be an effective teacher, describes key elements of practice and provides a clear vision of success Addresses the challenges every teacher, in every classroom, faces on a daily basis An accompanying website includes a wealth of tools, videos, sample lessons, discussion boards, and case studies.