Could I Lead? #SAVMP

(Photo by Richard Shaw)

When I saw the #SAVMP description I thought, "That is amazing, I wish I could be a part of this!"  Getting connected with teachers using social media has been the highlight of my summer, and I was extremely jealous of all the administrators that would get a chance to "organize" around the principles of mentoring and connecting.  

Always looking to stretch the limits, I signed-up even though I am not an administrator.

I have spent the last year trying to figure out my place in education.  I am a teacher, but I have been involved in a number of different projects allowed me to expand professional roles. I worked with the non-profit Digital Harbor Foundation, working hard to be a digital leader and take innovative risks in my classroom.  This allowed me to see myself in leadership roles such as organizing professional development and influencing the practice of other teachers.  I also started mentoring student teachers and found this to be extremely rewarding and really stretched me to become a better teacher in so many ways.

I have always said that I would never become an administrator.  As I read so many blogs from #SAVMP mentors and mentees about why they lead, I keep seeing mentions and tributes to the leaders that have come before them- the influencers, the outstanding mentors that inspired them to do more and lead the way for others.

Early in my career I was so afraid of administrators and people in leadership.  This probably stemmed from my first interview ever as a teacher.  Nervous and unsure, at 22 years old and one month out of college, I arrived to my interview early, with my high heels and a smile. 

When the principal came out of his office, I stood and introduced myself.  He did not hold out his hand to shake mine, and in fact took a step back.  He frowned and said, "You could never teach here.  You are too young and way too small." He turned around, walked back into his office, and shut his door.

As ridiculous as this was, I would find that the sentiments of principals during my next few interviews would be strikingly similar. I went on to have an array of experiences with my administrators, ranging from disengaged to intimidating, some all together frightening in their approach to leadership. 

Until I started working at Patterson Park Public Charter School, I had never gotten the chance to work in a school community that believed in shared leadership and encouraged, even fostered, all staff to be leaders. PPPCS has amazing leadership, and equally as important, a strong community among the staff.  Everyone looks out for one another, there is shared support, and everyone's strengths are valued.  

This is where I learned what true leadership could be like, when a community forms around a common goal, and the leader is not as important as the communal effort.  For our team, it is about supporting everyone to ensure our students get the best our school can offer them.

I joined #SAVMP because I am at a crossroads.  I love teaching and being in the classroom, but I am starting to gain the courage to think that there may be a place for me outside of that space. The reality is that I want to lead for the same reasons I want to teach.  With my students, I lead them to discovery, understanding, and growth. I would want to lead for those same exact goals.  Rather than why do I lead, often I am thinking could I lead?

So while I figure this out, I am here as a mentee, in the most green form.  I hope to discover, gain new understandings, and grow.  The most exciting part is that there are so many people in this community that have been in the place that I stand, trying to figure out their direction and path.  Lucky for me, I don't have to do it alone.  

And hopefully, in the process, I can add something of value to the experiences of others.

The Teacher Brand: Breaking Down the Traditional Perception

(Photo by Richard Shaw)

How many time have you been in either a personal or professional situation in which someone asked you what you do for a living?  As educators, how many of us have become used to answering, "Oh, I'm just a teacher..."  For the last couple of years, this has been my default answer, as if being a teacher was somehow beneath whatever it was that everyone else in the room was doing on a daily basis.

I think, for me, I always felt like I wasn't really part of the adult professional world.  I interact with kids all day long, and very rarely do I get to play with the "big kids" at business or corporate events.  I also fell into the trap of having to justify what I do over the summer when everyone else is working, or explaining how my schedule was not really 8-3pm, although it does appear that way on paper.

The feelings teachers have about themselves became really clear to me during my first week of work with the Digital Harbor Foundation. The foundation took us all to our first ISTE in 2012, and they surprised us with MacBook Airs when we arrived in San Diego. The video below shows the surprise in action. 

If you pay close attention in the video, you will probably notice something striking about this event. Every single teacher in the room is excited, clapping and laughing.  But every single one of us are holding and staring at our new business cards.  Not a single person picks up their computer until they have unpacked these cards.  At the end, one fellow even states, "It's like I'm a real person." This small card did more to empower us than any piece of technology could have ever done.

To many of us educators, we rarely get the chance to feel like professionals.  Yet, the work we do, our experiences, and our opinions are vitally important.  This was brought to the front of my mind again this past weekend as I attended the Education Technology Innovation Summit in New York City.  I was one of (approximately) five teachers in attendance at this event. This seemed so strange to me because without teachers and students, educational technology can't really exist.

I found myself having to respond to the question, "So, what is your business?" or "What's your product?"  There was also a lot of explaining around the fact that I was not leaving the classroom to join a start-up or create an EdTech app.  Some people, at first, were not completely sure why I was even in attendance.

But at this event, I was not just a teacher.  I was my own brand.  Educator, Technology Leader, Mentor Teacher.  What I do each day in my school moves far beyond the scope of just teaching, and I was able to clearly articulate that to the people that are creating, developing, and selling products and ideas in the EdTech world.

I came away from this experience realizing that we as teachers hold so much influence and power. People want our perspective and our advice.  They need our experience.  This is not limited to EdTech businesses, but also the leverage we have to influence change within our own schools and districts. While we can wait around and hope whatever it is we want to fall into our laps, the alternative is to go out and make change happen.  We, as educators, have the power to make this happen.  If we are direct, dedicated, and brand ourselves in smart and powerful ways, people will be knocking down our doors for our expertise. It starts with the confidence to believe that what we do each day is important for everyone else to understand, and then we explain it to them.

So, I challenge teachers to dig deeper next time you are tempted to respond that you are just a teacher. Reevaluate how you present your professional self and people might start to reimagine what exactly the profession of teaching is all about.