Anna

Dengler EDUC 615 George Mason University

Reflection Point 5

EDUC 615 has been a great culminating class as it brings all areas of teaching

together in committing to being a teacher leader. A large part of being a teacher leader

is committing to consistently challenge yourself, doing what’s best for your students,

and challenging your colleagues. At the beginning of the semester we had to fill out a

questionaiire about our feelings on several educational topics, and at the end of the

semester we had to take it again. One of the biggest changes I noticed in my responses

was my influence on others and confidence. I am happy to report that this has changed

because one of the reasons I decided to go back to school to get my masters was

because I wanted to feel confident when talking to colleagues, principals, policy makers,

and families. I wanted to be able to make decisions for my students based on current

trends backed by data and I wanted to be able to explain my choices to whomever. Isn't

that how we know we're doing the right thing, when we can explain it through

research?

Another area that my responses changed was with my preference to work alone

and focus on my classroom. Unfortunately, I believe this is a product of our current

education system and something that needs to change. Katzenmeyer & Moller (2009)

defines teacher leaders as those that lead both within and beyond the classroom, which

leads to contributing to a community of teacher learners and leaders. In order to

appropriately educate my children and be the teacher they deserve I have to tackle

challenges outside of their room, challenge what others are doing, work with others to

come up with beneficial strategies/techniques. Committing to being a change agent is

Anna Dengler EDUC 615 George Mason University

one of our ASTL learning outcomes and something I believed we accomplished through

our course PBA. Our Equity Study really forced me to step outside of my comfort zone

in Room 8 and see my school beyond the 23 students sitting in front of me. My next

step as a teacher leader is to share what I’ve learned with colleagues and my

administration team.

Another area of growth for me this semester was in regards to my commitment

to student learning. Hargreaves and Fullan (2012) speak to the power of true learning

communities where improvements are driven by everyone’s commitment to improve

student learning. In order to truly improve my practice as well as my student’s abilities I

first must agree to only do within my classroom what is best for my students rather than

what is easiest. Then this can spread to colleagues and create a community of teachers

stepping outside of their rooms to make learning equitable for all.

The last area of growth for me this semester that I will speak to is my recognition

that inequities exist within our classrooms and schools and pretending they aren’t there

will only perpetuate our problematic education system. Another ASTL learning outcome

is that teachers attend to the needs of the diverse learners in and outside of their

classrooms. One inequity that I noticed in my Equity Audit was the underrepresentation

of ELL students in our gifted and talented program. In fact, they were underrepresented

in all school programs. I certainly entered this Audit feeling pretty confident that my

school did a great job including all. I did assume I would find some level of inequity but

certainly not to the extent I found. It certainly feels weird at first to find inequities and I
Anna Dengler EDUC 615 George Mason University

sort of felt defensive at first, until I looked at these inequities as areas of growth for

both me and my school. I think unfortunately this is a common attitude towards growth

and change because in order to find it we must look for things we aren’t good at.

Wheatley (2009) speaks to the idea of our ability to and willingness to be disturbed as

educators. We have to listen carefully to hear differences and areas of needed growth

but often times we are hesitant because change is scary. That feeling of being

“disturbed” is scary and hard to accept as an area of needed growth and something we

aren’t trained on how to do. But, the only way we will truly become teacher leaders is

to allow ourselves to be disturbed and take actions to remedy it.

As I end this learning journey at George Mason, I commit to becoming a teacher

pro. I definitely have moments where I see myself as a teacher pro but Hargreaves and

Fullan (2012) speak to the idea that teaching like a pro is not temporary, it isn’t a quick

fix or trying something for a few weeks after the training. It is ongoing and never

something you can say you don’t have time for. In order for me to push and pull my

peers I think they must trust me and see me putting in the work and doing the work

first. As I reflect on the things that I do in my classroom I can admit there are things I do

that aren’t “for” my students even though I may enter that activity or strategy thinking

this is for my kids. I feel committing to becoming a teacher pro will help me connect

everything I do to my kids. If I can truly become a teacher pro than I will be able to

begin changing the professional culture in my grade level and hopefully in my school.

Anna Dengler EDUC 615 George Mason University

References

Hargreaves, A., Fullan, M. (2012). Professional capital: Transforming teaching in every

school. New York: Teachers College Press.

Katzenmeyer, M., Moller, G. (2009). Awakening the sleeping giant: Helping teachers

develop as leaders (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Wheatley, M. (2009). Turning to one another: Simple conversations to restore hope to

the future (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.