Leaders Must Build New Leaders

Educational leaders often think of the term “leader” in association with a title. In Dare to Lead, however, author Brené Brown challenges that idea: “Leadership is not about titles, status, and wielding power,” she writes. “A leader is anyone who takes responsibility for recognizing the potential in people and ideas and has the courage to develop that potential.”

Principals and assistant principals (APs) have the responsibility to participate in communities of practice for their own enrichment, but we have an additional responsibility: We need to provide these opportunities to the teachers we serve. And through coaching, mentoring, and supportive supervision, we can empower teachers as leaders, with or without a formal title.

The Role of Teacher Leaders

When I was a teacher leader, I brought the classroom perspective to my role. I benefited from a network of like-minded teacher leaders in my school, district, state, and network. Varied leadership experiences developed my potential and made me a stronger teacher, fostering leadership in my fellow teachers and students.

Now that I’m in an administrative role, I seek out leaders in school and district roles to be boots on the ground—servant teacher leaders who build potential in our students. At the school level, my principal and I have spent the last year supporting teacher leaders as integral parts of the school and district team.

I relied heavily on formal administrator mentors and teacher leaders to become an effective servant leader in my school. It’s my first pre-K–5 assignment in a new school in a new district, so working with teacher leaders was a necessity for me to be able to connect quickly and learn the landscape of my school.

Teacher Leaders Drive Change

My work with the Tennessee Department of Education and EdReports prepared me to support teacher leaders in writing instruction and alignment to state expectations. In building teacher efficacy, I worked with all grade 3–5 English language arts (ELA) teachers in the district. I didn’t have expertise in the culture of the schools where the initiatives would be implemented, so I relied heavily on my network of teacher leaders to support me. I brought ideas to the table, but it was the teacher leaders who made the change.

One experienced teacher leader with whom I worked closely in the past year has served through multiple iterations of teacher leadership programs. She said the experience has built her confidence because administrators honor her as an expert in her field and a hard-working leader. It also helps her in the classroom by encouraging her to seek out professional learning that builds her skills.

As administrators, we need to keep up to date with current educational research and leverage teacher leaders. Educational landscapes benefit from having the expertise of teacher leaders in the forefront, but we must go beyond volunteers to seek out strengths in teachers who have not sought formal leadership roles.

Informal Teacher Leaders

Formally recognized and titled teacher leaders are invaluable, but we must learn to see the same potential in others who might not be as bold and confident. Those teachers have power as leaders, too, and it is up to us to build their capacity.

One of the most powerful things I’ve done as a teacher leader and as a female AP is to work with my principal and district leaders to identify those teacher leaders and build their confidence and capacity so that they can share their knowledge. My leadership team quickly identified a likely candidate: a shy ELA teacher who is pedagogically and practically strong. We agreed that she needed to share her expertise with other teachers in our school and district.

At first, she was reluctant. After multiple informal observations and subsequent discussions, she agreed to present at a districtwide professional development session, showcasing her leadership to teachers from multiple schools. By the end of the school year, she noted that her leadership journey had given her the opportunity to grow as a leader, teacher, and reflective practitioner.

“It helped me show [students] how to be a leader, not just a follower,” she told me. “You cannot grow [your] students if you don’t show leadership in class.” She added that being identified as a teacher leader and having the ability to work with a mentor boosted her self-confidence, saying she had “become a new teacher again.”

Modeling Leadership

A leader’s responsibility is to develop leadership potential in others. My call to action for my peers in administration is this: Model what you want to see in others. We want teachers to be strong leaders in their classrooms and develop independent, powerful citizens who change our world for the better. And we need to identify and use their power to mentor, coach, and support one another.

By building capacity among a range of teachers in our buildings and districts, we can create a network of practitioners who are in the same situations every day, experiencing the same challenges and the same wins. Teachers can lead the work in supporting one another through those situations—serving others so that they can serve better.

We’ve all heard the aphorism “Be the change you want to see.” Live it by teaching others to be the leaders you want to see.

Rhiannon Hartman Dunn is assistant principal at Sullivan Heights Middle School in Kingsport, Tennessee.