Caleb Hatfield
Teacher, Mentor, Leader
Artifact 1: Team Leader Meeting Minutes
My first formal leadership role was when I served as the grade 5 team head of department (HOD). I was wrapping up my time in this role when I began my masters in educational leadership. However, even in those few months of overlap, I saw a deeper challenge in my role as the HOD. Through our weekly grade level meetings I began to not only discuss the managerial side of leadership, but began to shift our conversations toward our vision and goals for our students. I began to ask questions like "How are we going to reach these goals?" I used these times to promote instructional practices that I found effective not only my own classroom but in the rooms of other highly effective teachers. Ultimately, I made it our team's main goal to raise student learning through improved teaching practices.
Artifact 2: MS Assistant Principal
Serving in the role of an assistant principal has given me several opportunities to facilitate improvements in instruction and student learning. One such way is in our monthly faculty meetings. During these meetings I address curricular expectations for our staff and point out our diverse student learning needs. I work side-by-side with the head principal to facilitate and collect school based data to identify opportunities to improve instruction, assessment, and our school's culture. Often times information is passed onto teachers through more immediate means such as email, however, relaying information in a faculty meeting gives the teachers the opportunity to give immediate feedback. These faculty meetings are essential in creating a culture of reflective dialogue.
An effective teacher leader is continuously inviting others into a dialogue that is focused on raising student achievement. They are not only concerned with the improvement of their own teaching, but that of others as well.