Skills and Dispositions Needed for a Teacher

Skills and Dispositions
Skills and dispositions are important in any line of work, but as a teacher leader there are set skills and dispositions that you need to have in order to be successful. These are skills and dispositions that teachers have, but are intensified in teachers that show leadership skills and want to become a teacher leader. Teacher leaders go above and beyond and possess skills and dispositions differently than a regular classroom teacher. Skills and dispositions together is what make up a person. As stated by Danielson stated in Teacher Leadership That Strengthens Professional Practice, together, these two are the heart of what is meant by teacher leadership.
The four skills that I felt were the most important to me are using evidence and data in decision making, recognizing opportunity and taking initiative, monitoring progress and adjusting the approach as conditions change, and marshaling resources and taking action. I narrowed my skills down to relationship building, collaboration, recognizing opportunities and taking initiative, and using evidence and data in decision-making. I gave myself a three on using evidence and data in decision-making. This is a skill that wasn’t developed on my own. My school has recently become a TAP school (Teacher and Student Advancement Program), this has made me look at data deeper and focus my lessons around that data. As I think back on my teaching style before TAP, I taught for the curriculum and now I teach for the student’s success. This has made me grow as a teacher and has made my students grow as learners. I also gave myself a three on monitoring progress and adjusting the approach as conditions change. This also grew, as our school became a TAP school. I think that these two skills go hand in hand. Through our TAP program we have learned that by using your students data and monitoring their growth you should monitor your lessons and change as needed.
The skills that I gave myself a two on are recognizing opportunity and taking initiative and marshaling resources and taking action. I gave myself a two on recognizing opportunity and taking action because although I recognize things that are opportunities or things that need to be changed I am sometimes afraid to take the initiative. I want to work on this because I want to be the one to take initiative and take the reigns. I want my goal for this year to take more initiative and step up to the plate more. I also gave myself a two on marshaling resources and taking action. I found this as an important skill because teaching at a school that has a 98% poverty rate we lack a lot of resources and material that we need. As a teacher leader I should step up to the plate to find a way to provide these resources for our students. “Teacher leaders can do their homework, they can talk to colleagues, and they can conduct research, but they may have to simply commit to a course of action without fully knowing its consequences” (Danielson, 31). I haven’t ever been a teacher to solicit help from places, but this should be a goal for me. I want to do some research for some grants or places that will donate items to our school and students. I want our school to have the resources and supplies that they need to succeed and this can be done by me taken the lead trying to make a difference.
Danielson defines dispositions in Teacher Leadership That Strengthens Professional Practice, as an individuals approach to situations; when we think about a person, we recall less about a persons skills or even interest than we do about their traits such and optimism and energy (Danielson, 2006, p. 36). The four dispositions that I feel are most important are deep commitment to student learning, confidence and decisiveness, tolerance and ambiguity and willingness to work hard. I rated myself a 3 on commitment to student learning and willingness to work hard. As Danielson stated in Teacher Leadership That Strengthens Professional Practice, It is not sufficient to espouse, as many educators do, that “all children can learn” and then continue to work in schools where many students are not learning or at least are not learning to their potential or even close to it (Danielson, 2006, p. 36). A teacher leader sees the potential of all students and teaches to that student. Also a teacher leader sees the potential of students throughout the school and comes up with a plan to help the school go in the right direction to make sure that ALL students are learning. I use many different teaching approaches in my classroom and bring my students in small groups when whole group is not the best for them. I also bring in different materials to reach all students. As the veteran teacher on my team I also look at my teams data and help them to develop plans for their students. This will help the new teachers on my team come up with ways to reach their students as well. Every child learns differently and it is important that we as teachers focus on that and teach to the individual student. Willingness to work hard, I feel, goes without saying. An educator has to make sacrifices for the good of the students. I take the task given to me each August very serious and I feel like I go above and beyond for my students. I also give my all to my school. I make myself available for my principal and assistant principal for other projects that will make my school the best it can be.
Confidence and decisiveness, tolerance and ambiguity I rated myself as a two. I did this because I do not think I am very creative. My reasoning for this is that I always second-guess myself. I always start out feeling that the idea is good and one that will work, but then I worry. I also find myself worrying about sharing my ideas with my fellow teachers, because of the fear of the idea not being good enough. I want to work on this by putting my ideas out there and using them. Even if they don’t work at least I shared. I want to be more willing to stand up for my ideas and the reasons for why I feel that they will work. I also rated tolerance and ambiguity as a two because I sometimes find myself not being very tolerant. I have been in faculty meetings or staff development thinking to myself that I don’t understand why everyone doesn’t just catch on. I need to be tolerant with the idea that some people need to have things explained in different ways. I want to work on this and become more tolerant. As a teacher leader I need to be a person that is understanding of all people students as well as fellow teachers.
The skills and dispositions described by Danielson in Teacher Leadership That Strengthens Professional Practice are all important to teacher leaders. Great teachers already possess many of these skills, but they are intensified in teacher leaders. We as teacher leaders need to go above and beyond the duties of just being a good teacher. Teacher leaders are not only there for the students, but also their fellow teachers.

References
Danielson, C. (2006). Teacher leadership that strengthens professional practice. Alexandria,
VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Skills and Dispositions
Skills and dispositions are important in any line of work, but as a teacher leader there are set skills and dispositions that you need to have in order to be successful. These are skills and dispositions that teachers have, but are intensified in teachers that show leadership skills and want to become a teacher leader. Teacher leaders go above and beyond and possess skills and dispositions differently than a regular classroom teacher. Skills and dispositions together is what make up a person. As stated by Danielson stated in Teacher Leadership That Strengthens Professional Practice, together, these two are the heart of what is meant by teacher leadership.
The four skills that I felt were the most important to me are using evidence and data in decision making, recognizing opportunity and taking initiative, monitoring progress and adjusting the approach as conditions change, and marshaling resources and taking action. I narrowed my skills down to relationship building, collaboration, recognizing opportunities and taking initiative, and using evidence and data in decision-making. I gave myself a three on using evidence and data in decision-making. This is a skill that wasn’t developed on my own. My school has recently become a TAP school (Teacher and Student Advancement Program), this has made me look at data deeper and focus my lessons around that data. As I think back on my teaching style before TAP, I taught for the curriculum and now I teach for the student’s success. This has made me grow as a teacher and has made my students grow as learners. I also gave myself a three on monitoring progress and adjusting the approach as conditions change. This also grew, as our school became a TAP school. I think that these two skills go hand in hand. Through our TAP program we have learned that by using your students data and monitoring their growth you should monitor your lessons and change as needed.
The skills that I gave myself a two on are recognizing opportunity and taking initiative and marshaling resources and taking action. I gave myself a two on recognizing opportunity and taking action because although I recognize things that are opportunities or things that need to be changed I am sometimes afraid to take the initiative. I want to work on this because I want to be the one to take initiative and take the reigns. I want my goal for this year to take more initiative and step up to the plate more. I also gave myself a two on marshaling resources and taking action. I found this as an important skill because teaching at a school that has a 98% poverty rate we lack a lot of resources and material that we need. As a teacher leader I should step up to the plate to find a way to provide these resources for our students. “Teacher leaders can do their homework, they can talk to colleagues, and they can conduct research, but they may have to simply commit to a course of action without fully knowing its consequences” (Danielson, 31). I haven’t ever been a teacher to solicit help from places, but this should be a goal for me. I want to do some research for some grants or places that will donate items to our school and students. I want our school to have the resources and supplies that they need to succeed and this can be done by me taken the lead trying to make a difference.
Danielson defines dispositions in Teacher Leadership That Strengthens Professional Practice, as an individuals approach to situations; when we think about a person, we recall less about a persons skills or even interest than we do about their traits such and optimism and energy (Danielson, 2006, p. 36). The four dispositions that I feel are most important are deep commitment to student learning, confidence and decisiveness, tolerance and ambiguity and willingness to work hard. I rated myself a 3 on commitment to student learning and willingness to work hard. As Danielson stated in Teacher Leadership That Strengthens Professional Practice, It is not sufficient to espouse, as many educators do, that “all children can learn” and then continue to work in schools where many students are not learning or at least are not learning to their potential or even close to it (Danielson, 2006, p. 36). A teacher leader sees the potential of all students and teaches to that student. Also a teacher leader sees the potential of students throughout the school and comes up with a plan to help the school go in the right direction to make sure that ALL students are learning. I use many different teaching approaches in my classroom and bring my students in small groups when whole group is not the best for them. I also bring in different materials to reach all students. As the veteran teacher on my team I also look at my teams data and help them to develop plans for their students. This will help the new teachers on my team come up with ways to reach their students as well. Every child learns differently and it is important that we as teachers focus on that and teach to the individual student. Willingness to work hard, I feel, goes without saying. An educator has to make sacrifices for the good of the students. I take the task given to me each August very serious and I feel like I go above and beyond for my students. I also give my all to my school. I make myself available for my principal and assistant principal for other projects that will make my school the best it can be.
Confidence and decisiveness, tolerance and ambiguity I rated myself as a two. I did this because I do not think I am very creative. My reasoning for this is that I always second-guess myself. I always start out feeling that the idea is good and one that will work, but then I worry. I also find myself worrying about sharing my ideas with my fellow teachers, because of the fear of the idea not being good enough. I want to work on this by putting my ideas out there and using them. Even if they don’t work at least I shared. I want to be more willing to stand up for my ideas and the reasons for why I feel that they will work. I also rated tolerance and ambiguity as a two because I sometimes find myself not being very tolerant. I have been in faculty meetings or staff development thinking to myself that I don’t understand why everyone doesn’t just catch on. I need to be tolerant with the idea that some people need to have things explained in different ways. I want to work on this and become more tolerant. As a teacher leader I need to be a person that is understanding of all people students as well as fellow teachers.
The skills and dispositions described by Danielson in Teacher Leadership That Strengthens Professional Practice are all important to teacher leaders. Great teachers already possess many of these skills, but they are intensified in teacher leaders. We as teacher leaders need to go above and beyond the duties of just being a good teacher. Teacher leaders are not only there for the students, but also their fellow teachers.

References
Danielson, C. (2006). Teacher leadership that strengthens professional practice. Alexandria,
VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

References: Danielson, C. (2006). Teacher leadership that strengthens professional practice. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.