The Greatest Leaders are in the Classroom Teaching Future Great Leaders

       As a society, we would like to believe that our most influential leaders truly have our best interests at heart.  There is a naivety in all of us that we are electing good people who want to put the public’s needs first, make decisions based on ethical principles, and to place themselves second to the promotion of the greater good, but that is simply not the case.  I had a friend who is in politics who told me many times that you cannot get ahead in politics without being highly self-centered because a better part of a political career is about promoting yourself and your interests.  People travel to listen to these people speak, pay massive amounts of money to fund their campaigns, and rally around them like a pack of high school cheerleaders throughout elections, so it is no wonder that these individuals begin to buy into themselves and see their personal importance as greater than the constituents who support them.  Trends and tendencies indicate that the individuals that we put in political leadership positions are not going to keep their promises and will choose to serve themselves before serving their public, yet, for those of us who believe in democracy and consensus, hope springs eternal.  We hope for the best and brace for the worse in a political vicious circle of optimism, disappointment, and cynicism, but we continuously find ourselves back in the optimism phase because we all want to believe in the idea and existence of true, ethical, and honorable leadership.

        While reading Kendra Cherry’s article, Leadership Theories: Eight Major Leadership Theories, it occurred to me that many politicians buy into the “Great Man” theory of leadership because they have to have that kind of unabashed level of self-confidence and belief in their own extraordinarily unique gifts to ask people to donate time, money, and energy to support their personal causes. Like many Great Men who everyone assumes will live up to their Great Man reputation, many of these political leaders fall short of their promise when events become convoluted and issues become problematic.  The “Great Man” theory of leadership revolves around personal and public perception, but it does not take character traits that revolve around integrity and principle into account as a viable component of being a leader.  This leadership theory is a self-serving form of governance where personal promotion is the priority, making the good of the masses secondary to the welfare of the leader.

        Teachers are transformational leaders.  We take our leadership position as a role of guidance and facilitation as opposed to one of authority and grandeur.  Successful leadership revolves around the growth and accomplishments met by our students as opposed to personal accolades and honors.  Our students come first.  We come to school early, we stay at school late, and we work on weekends to create appropriate lessons, individualized supports, and effective curriculum to allow all of our students to meet their full potential. Our personal success is found in our students’ success. Cherry notes, “These leaders are focused on the performance of group members, but also want each person to fulfill his or her potential. Leaders with this style often have high ethical and moral standards (2015).” Teachers do not pick education as a career for monetary gain.  We do not pick it for the prestige of the career.  We choose to be teachers because we want to make a difference in children’s lives.  We choose this profession because we want to have a positive effect on the future, but in reality, education chooses us. The nature of this wonderful vocation carefully selects its members, filters out the individuals who may not be up for this calling, and settles comfortably in the hearts, minds, and spirits of those who were placed on this Earth to pass on knowledge, care, and compassion to our students, who we hope will grow into future "Great Men".

References

Cherry, K. (2019, October 11). The Major Leadership Theories: The Eight Major Theories of Leadership. Retrieved from Very Well Mind: https://www.verywellmind.com/leadership-theories-2795323

The First Amendment | The National Constitution Center | US government a...

The Fifth Amendment | The National Constitution Center | US government a...

Haters Gonna Hate...and then they Just Might Advocate

I hated school as a kid. If you had told me as a high schooler that one day I would not only be a teacher but have a doctorate in education and choose to work as an advocate for both teachers and students, I would have thought you were insane. I did not like teachers, I did not like studying, and I did not like reading, writing, or math. I attended Catholic schools in the '70s and '80s and this setting did not cultivate the liberal arts environment that I loved or the liberal philosophies that I endorsed. I rarely kept a thought to myself which did not play well in an arena that promoted the policy of children being seen and not heard. It definitely did not fly for a girl who felt gender equality was not only fair but socially mandatory. (In third grade, I went to our pastor and told him that there should be altar girls as well as altar boys, to which he responded by laughing while noting that that would never happen.) In addition to being an outspoken, dramatic, and avant-garde child, I also struggled with undiagnosed learning challenges, focusing deficits, and hyperactivity, which not only frustrated teachers but my mother (who was also a teacher) as well.
My early experiences with teachers were not awesome because they did not understand how to teach me in a manner that would engage me as a learner. Before the 21st century, student engagement was not of particular importance or concern since the philosophy of time was that students were to acclimate to the teacher opposed to the more current belief that teachers should be accommodating their students' learning style. Where the students seemed helplessly at the mercy of their teachers' inclinations, today's student is accommodated and acquiesced by a system that is paralyzed by a litigious society that is willing to undermine the one system that is responsible for preparing our future generations.
I frequently reference the societal pendulum that is a response to the way previous generations have managed areas of life, and the educational system is no stranger to this pendulum oriented responsiveness. Unfortunately, the casualties of the new age system are the teachers who give their time, energy, and money (yes, money!) to individualize for student learning while jumping through hoops set up by well-meaning government initiatives such as NCLB (No Child Left Behind) and ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act). Teacher responsibilities have steadily increased while teacher support has decreased over the past few decades and this perilous combination has resulted in a mighty exodus of new educators fleeing the system within three years of their first service year and seasoned teachers seeking professional refuge in new professions that offer more money and less stress. We are losing teachers at such a rapid rate that the system is now dependent on emergency certification programs to keep teacher to student ratios at an acceptable level.
As a teacher, I have been a great advocate for children, especially the academic outliers who struggle with big personalities, learning disabilities, and attention deficits. Now as a doctor of education, I am advocating for the welfare of those who have devoted their lives to the betterment of children because you cannot comprehensively support children without compassionately supporting educators. This is the mission of "L'educateur Moderne", the vision of Papillion Press, LLC, and the purpose of this blog, "Using My Teacher Voice"!
Welcome to my attempt to make the world a kinder, gentler place for both students and teachers through the power of the written word!