Empowering a Teacher Leader Corps

The Final Step: Empowering Teacher Leaders to Share Best Practices Broadly

TLC members regularly drive innovation within their own classrooms. However, their impact can extend far beyond a single classroom. While not all teachers aspire to become national conference presenters or social media influencers, there are numerous smaller-scale opportunities for them to expand their spheres of influence. These opportunities can occur at various levels. By providing teacher leaders with diverse opportunities to extend their leadership, we unlock their full potential to influence and inspire positive change well beyond their classroom walls. Some of these opportunities might include:

• Organizing classroom visits. TLC members can host classroom visits for other teachers to observe and exchange techniques (like this Pineapple Chart Strategy). This How-to Guide provides considerations for setting up a pineapple chart classroom visit initiative. Watching a TLC member implement a strategy in real time with real students is a great way for other teachers to gain the confidence they need to try something new.
• Publishing newsletters. A great way to share information with a lot of people quickly is a newsletter. TLC members can share tool tips, success stories, upcoming professional development opportunities, and much more through a staff newsletter. Thinking more broadly, how might you communicate with families about the Powerful Learning propelled by technology happening in your building? How about having TLC members contribute to a community newsletter or social media posts? If contributing to newsletters will be part of your TLC strategy, consider adding it to the Roles and Responsibilities Sign-up you create as part of onboarding.
• Promoting teacher-led professional development. TLC members are often experts in platforms, software, or classroom management related to educational technology. They are well-positioned to lead professional development for their peers. This teacher-led professional development resource suggests several types of professional development a TLC member could lead at the school, community, regional, or national level. Empowering TLC members to lead professional development will continue to build their leadership skills.

Toolkit Empowering Resources

• Pineapple Chart How-To Guide
• Staff Newsletter Template
• Community Newsletter Template
• Teacher-Led Professional Development Examples

Ready to get started? Download the TLC Toolkit 1-pager for a list of editable resources.