I like the idea of the "dream" to make a difference. Certainly, we all have decided to be educators for that reason. Sometimes the opportunity to collaborate and reflect on teaching practices can reawaken the passion to make a difference in student's lives and community.

My takeaway comes from the one word I chose on page 7.

Craft. Leadership is a craft; it takes hard work. The way I do it will look different from how others do it, but it needs to be something I am proud of and can always improve.

Teacher leaders are those who want to help the school community, not just their classroom. They care about student achievement, school success, and the culture/climate of the school and greater community.

How can I best support/encourage colleagues with different leadership styles than mine to keep leading confidently?

The idea that we are leading each other and contributing to each other in order see not only academic success, but improvement within ourselves and our school culture.

How do I empower others to be brave enough to be leaders and how do I empower leaders to allow new voices to be heard?

This will be new for not just me this year but my school. How does this actually start? Who is implementation on and are their plans already established?

It is my job as a teacher leader to influence those around me to be a "life-long learner". As teachers, we often get stuck in our own ways of doing things and we forget that we are responsible for learning just as much, if not more, than our students are. We have to be flexible and willing to make changes that will improve the way we reach our students.

How do you begin to initiate a new leadership model when others are so determined for it to be strictly traditional? That we don't have to have the one leader, we can share that role to prevent burn out.

What is the best way to incorporate traits from different leadership models so my team is successful?

Leaders are there to lead not discourage. We are there to not only make the students dreams come alive but to help our fellow teachers who have amazing dreams of being leaders, the best leaders that they can be also.

Something that I have experienced several times in PLCs is that some teachers become stagnant or want to keep a "traditional way of doing things." As a future leader, how do you get these teachers on board with new concepts, strategies, etc., without being that leader that people see as a controller?

My key takeaway is that leading doesn't stop in the classroom. The first quote on pg. 7 says that "leaders lead within and beyond the classroom" and that really resonated with me the importance of what we do and the impact we, as teachers, can have.

How do we know when and how to use the different leadership methods to achieve desired results?

Teacher leaders are constantly seeking positive growth/impacts in their profession and ways to inspire colleagues through collaboration and relationships in effort to keep a strong community for learning.

As a leader, how do I address teachers who have a negative perspective regarding the school, other teachers, or the decisions that are made?

I need help knowing how to communicate when a problem that I see needs to be addressed without hindering the teacher. I don't want them to see me as a someone who is out to get them. I care and want to help. This is my 30th year and I am a relationship builder not a tearer downer. This is hard for me!

How can I help other teachers not lose their drive or help ones who have already lost their drive?

Second lingering question: How do you get other leaders to understand that there are more than one way to lead?

The quote, "They (lead teachers) are reflective inquisitive, focused on improving their craft, and action oriented; they accept responsibility for student learning and have a strong sense of self." stood out to me as I believe it is the overall goal. It is very interesting to me that I see myself in several of the models. As I read through the different models, names of individual teachers came to mind. This has allowed me to understand their thoughts and in turn I hope to be able to, " influence others toward improved educational practice" while we engage in collaboration.

Teacher leaders should influence others and empower them to improve themselves and our craft.

As someone whose strength is executing, how do I balance getting the job done in an efficient manner when collaborating with our team yet empathetic and build relationships?

Does teacher leadership have to focus solely on student achievement?

• As a new "Teacher Lead," what are some common mistakes made during the beginning of this new position?

How do you take in everyone's opinion through collaboration but still maintain leadership?

"Translate" - the ability to take a concept and give it to someone else in a helpful way. (Dooley's Definition) :)

One word- Collaboration