Saturday, November 26, 2011

Leadership Articles

I've been reading leadership articles for over a year now, and though these articles are basically intended for more of a business audience, I've found them to be quite useful and applicable to the teaching profession. The art of teaching can be broken down in the same way the art of leadership can be. A great leader has to possess the same qualities in which a great teacher does. The inspiration to look outside the teaching profession and education world for tips on becoming a better teacher and leader came to me about a year ago. Unfortunately, I don't have an exciting story that goes with this.

It wasn't like some great event caused my curiosity. I simply wanted to get better, and thought perhaps I could find some untapped resource that would assist me. Now when I say untapped, I mean with regards to the teaching profession and education world. Naturally, the articles I have been reading are well-known by business leaders around the world, but I wonder how many teachers are reading them. I almost feel like I'm doing something sneaky. I feel like I'm searching for a treasure that others don't even know about yet. I basically feel innovative. And in the teaching profession, whenever you feel innovative, it's a good thing!

When I'm done reading each article, I usually record the most useful information on a separate document. From time to time, I like to read back over what I have copied, and see how I can apply it to my teaching. I can proucdly say my teaching has gotten much stronger because of these articles. Hopefully I will be able to encourage other teachers to consider these articles as a resource. Maybe if I do a good enough job, they will want to know what my secret is. Then I will tell them...leaderhip articles.