Remember a teacher who was a good leader. What features made her effective?

Scrolling back through the years, I find that Miss Richardson stands out as a strong leader. She was a PE teacher. I hated PE, but she made it a little less painful.

I’ve had a handful of good teachers over the years, but I don’t think of them as leaders per se. Though they did “lead” their classrooms, they didn’t attend much (or at all) to group dynamics, which I think is a key characteristic of leadership.

By definition, PE class is an arena for active participation and group interaction. My academic classes were not (though they could have been).

It wasn’t just that PE was based in activity. Miss Rich led with strength and compassion. This is in contrast to the other PE teachers, whom I didn’t like and who made it clear they didn’t like me.

Miss Rich loved what she did and didn’t play favorites. She was:

• Dynamic
• Full of contagious enthusiasm
• Inventive in her activities
• Encouraging when things were hard
• Full of praise over even minor successes
• Equally attentive to those lacking skill and coordination as she was to the athletes
• Good at pointing out the best in each student
• Inclusive
• Attentive to cliques and peer-nastiness, and aware of the need to redirect them

What kind of leader would I like to be as a teacher?

I’m not exactly sure what this question is asking. I want to be a good leader.

Oh, alright: I want to — and be perceived as: strong but flexible; imaginative but concrete; sensitive but not a pushover.

I want to have a presence that makes people want to watch: to be imbued with energy and an element of surprise (but stability). I want to lead by holding my students’ attention.

In our Approaches class today, people described some of their favorite teachers. Some had aspects I hope to have as a leader: sincere, focused and creative.