PD That works: What type of Leader are you?

Of all of the things teachers are, first and foremost teachers are leaders. We lead school programs, other teachers, community organizations, and most importantly we are leaders in the classroom. Our students look to us to show them how to learn and how to operate in society. Our individual styles of leadership vary but there are 3 qualities that all leaders have:

1. Being an effective communicator - Master the art of verbal and written communications. Know how to be culturally fluent and interact with others from a wide variety of backgrounds.
2. Approachable - Being genuine and encouraging honesty will make your challenging, but achievable and straightforward vision a reality.
3. Clear Direction - Being clear about expectations, guidelines, and measurements enables collaboration.

Having these qualities and being a leader allows to make an impact in the lives of our students and help them become the people they are supposed to be.

Take this quiz to see what type of leader you are!

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Before school starts back up again it is important to think about our actions and behaviors and how to be the best leader we can for our students. Our leadership skills are what can make or break a school year. A teacher’s leadership skills impact student learning, behavior, and connection to school.

If you feel like you need to brush up or improve your leadership skills here are a few ideas from across the internet:

1. Take a Leadership Personality Test - For people that would like a little more constructive results or more detail than the fun one we provided. Check out this one from Skills You Need.
   
2. Journal - Journaling is a great way to reflect on the day-to-day of teaching. What are you interactions like with students, keep track behavior issues and how they were dealt with. It doesn’t have to be formal, but writing or typing down will help you process what is happening in the classroom.
   
3. Observations - Observe master teachers in your building or district. What are they doing? How do they interact with students. Having conversations with these master teachers can really help you build your leadership skills.
   
4. Build Communication Skills - How you communicate with students, teachers, administrators, parents, and community members is incredibly important to be being a leader. Even if you are good at everything else, not being a good communicator will keep you from advancing on your school goals. This is a skill that always needs to be kept sharp as well. It is not something that a leader can let slide.
   

There are tons of resources out there on how to build these skills if you are interested in working on your leadership skills for the classroom. It would be an investment well worth the time.