Teaching/Learning/Leading: Synonyms for Change

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to describe our approach to teacher leadership that is far from an oxymoron. Instead we believe that teaching, learning, and leading are synonymous. We will support our views with related data from a school improvement project in central Florida. Our data reveals multiple manifestations of teacher leadership embedded within the landscapes of inquiry, collaboration, and research and that there are easily-identified dilemmas associated with being identified as an Academy Scholar teacher leader. We claim that teaching, learning, and leading are inextricably linked and that facilitating this linkage supports sustainable changes that assist schools to find ways to meet the needs of all students. The successes of this Academy cadre of teachers, who we believe represent a significant and often untapped reservoir of educational leadership, are evident as they provide direction and vision for their classroom, school, and district efforts to improve.