-by Taylor Thomas, Ashley HS
Becoming a leader as a classroom teacher is a challenging road to navigate, one that requires finding balance in how you devote your time because, as we all know, our role in the classroom reigns supreme. Or, at least, it should. This is a realization I had to learn the hard way.
When you find your first teaching job after college—when you are bright-eyed and overly idealistic—you are, unknowingly, a prime candidate to take over a myriad of leadership roles. You will be approached with an opportunity to serve on attendance committees, to give feedback on a new tardy policy, to become the new advisor for the woodworking club.
“You have no experience with woodworking? No worries! It will be fine! We just need a faculty member to sponsor the club on paper. It will only require a monthly meeting, maintaining communication with the members, organizing fundraisers, handling public relations for the group, making sure all paperwork is submitted to the County in order to operate as a school-sponsored club….”
You will agree to it because if you don’t, who will? The students need you! Your résumé will grow! And you will be so proud of yourself for finally being recognized as the distinguished and promising leader that you are!
Unfortunately, your well-meaning desire to better your school and “really help the students” will blind you from considering the fact that these positions have been left abandoned by much wiser and more seasoned educators than you.
Now, not only are you learning how to plan for and assess the learning of your 80+ students, you now have to juggle keeping all of these new—and impressive!—leadership responsibilities so that you don’t let anyone down. Before you know it, you have less time on your hands, you’re behind on grading, you’re stressed about what you may have forgotten to do, and, worst of all, you aren’t enjoying your job.
The reason is simple: you’ve lost focus.
I see it happen every year. Energetic young teachers enter the classroom with high hopes and so much promise. They are using effective instructional strategies I have never seen before, they have more content knowledge than they know what to do with (in a good way), they aren’t jaded by standardized tests and “that kid” behaviors. These young teachers want to help so they volunteer for this committee and that extra duty, thinking they can balance it all effectively.
I was this teacher.
My first year teaching, fresh out of college, at the ripe young age of twenty-one, I was assigned to teach on-level and remedial (year-long) English I, which was an EOC-tested course at the time. This is already a challenge in itself. Before the first nine-weeks were over, I began serving on a student support team, helping with student government, working with a committee to revise our attendance policy (just to name a few), and…get ready for it…advising the dance team.
Now, I can hold my own on the dance floor of a wedding reception, but this 6’3” lanky frame has no business trying to be the advisor of any organized dance group. But the students needed me; no one else would commit to sponsoring their club. I couldn’t let them down!
I was blinded by the ego stroke of being singled out for leadership roles. In my mind, the more the merrier—or, at least, the more impressive. Perhaps it was my subconscious desire to prove my worth and establish myself as an integral part of the faculty. However, I soon found myself spending more time fulfilling responsibilities for these various leadership roles than I was trying to craft effective lessons to help the students for whom I was responsible for educating every day. It took a few conversations with colleagues I greatly admired to realize that I was overworking myself and expediting potential burn-out.
Now, I by no means am trying to say that teachers should not take on leadership roles within their schools. The important lesson I learned is to find the leadership opportunities that capitalize on your skills and add to your life as a teacher rather than drain it.
From that first entertaining and eventful first year to now my seventh year at the same school, I have tried on various other leadership roles, seeing how they fit and assessing whether or not I was the man for the job or if someone else could do it better. I am now the Lead Mentor for my schools Beginning Teacher program and serve as a co-chair for our English department. And that’s it! What I am now left with are titles that I find true value in, focused on the quality of leadership roles rather than quantity.
If you are in the position of being offered leadership roles, or you are seeking ways to improve your rating in the “Standard I: Teacher Demonstrates Leadership” field of your observation, my advice is to not jump on the first opportunity you come across. Think critically about what you can bring to that role and whether or not you are able—or willing—to give it your all. If you aren’t, no one benefits.
We as educators need to position ourselves to be as effective as possible, and sometimes that means doing less and simplifying our focus to remain within the four walls of our classrooms. -by Taylor Thomas, Ashley HS
Wise words well said.
ReplyDelete