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These past twelve months have been a challenge for TESOL practitioners around the globe because of the pandemic, pushing teachers, affiliates, associations, and administrations all to think outside the box. The challenges that teachers face were quickly overcome through teamwork, innovative solutions, and creative ideas that ensured that our learners would not be robbed of their education and teachers would not get left behind because of gaps in their competencies. As a result, teacher associations have continued working to ensure that their members were not left alone, providing them with an array of online workshops and 1-, 2-, or 3-day conferences, connecting teachers within regions or across the globe. These formal and informal professional development scenarios served as support systems to help teachers navigate unfamiliar remote teaching contexts, gave them tools for their virtual classes, and even showed teachers that mindfulness during these times was even more important and that mental health issues needed to be carefully factored into many of our lesson plans. Nevertheless, these initiatives empowered TESOL practitioners to do more by working smarter rather than harder during this past year, renewing their energies and upgrading their competencies while discovering new ways to do old things, thereby innovating their teaching practices. All of this could not have been possible without leadership, direction, and guidance.
As a reminder, a leader is someone who rules, guides, leads, and inspires others—which sounds a lot like what we do in classrooms daily as teachers. Yet, when asked if they are leaders, teachers often shy away from responding. However, their actions speak for them. Leadership is a skill or competence often overlooked in education, yet it is the very essence of this skill that makes us thrive and perform in the classroom, leading learners through battles, helping learners achieve victories at all levels, all through careful planning and strategy. Leadership is crucial in helping teachers bring about change in the teaching and learning process and leading teacher associations, though which large groups of teachers can make a difference to thousands of learners, impacting their lives and, in turn, society. Russell and Von Esch (2018) remind us that teacher leaders can be effective advocates for better instruction and services for English Language Learners, and the leaders within TESOL associations worldwide continuously illustrate this through clear examples and successful leadership models that keep the torch for bilingual education burning.
Furthermore, as the number of English Language Learners (ELL) increases, the challenges that teachers encounter are also proportionally increased. Leaders bring about change, and teacher-leaders are at the heart of such change, often taking a bottom-up approach to making differences in their teaching practices. Hence, the urgency to focus on developing leadership practices that are easily accepted and replicated by more ELT practitioners. This, however, in turn, increases the capacity to support ELL teaching and learning, which are essential (Mcgee, Haworth, & Macintyre, 2015).
Some successful leaderships practices that have emerged include using SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable/Attainable/Action-orientated, Relevant/Realistic and Time-based/Timely), serving as role models, understanding the power of building community, empowering others to experiment, innovate and essentially lead (Harrison & Killion, 2008; Lathan, 2021; Polizzi et al., 2018; Tengku Ariffin, Bush, & Nordin, 2018). Other teacher-leader practices promote collaborative learning environments and promote risk-taking while, finally, teachers who lead by example within their organizations present clearly defined cases of leadership practices that teacher associations can add to their agendas, policies, outreach strategies, and professional development programs.
This issue of the newsletter is full of updates, stories, and articles that describe how TESOL Associations around the world have used their leadership to promote professional development at all levels of education, creating virtual conferences, employing new strategies to increase memberships, and providing diverse networking strategies throughout these challenging times, all the while preparing future teacher-leaders. This issue is a response to the questions, concerns, and doubts that were presented in the prior issue of the ANPC newsletter, providing readers and affiliates with real, authentic context-oriented solutions that can be adapted to fill the gaps that will continue to surface in our teaching practices.
References
Harrison, C., & Killion, J. (2008). Ten roles for teacher leaders. Educational Leadership.
Lathan, J. (2021). 10 Traits of successful school leaders. Retrieved from https://onlinedegrees.sandiego.edu/effective-educational-leadership/
Mcgee, A., Haworth, P., & Macintyre, L. (2015). Leadership practices to support teaching and learning for English language learners. TESOL Quarterly, 49(1), 92–114. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.162
Polizzi, S. J., Head, M., Barrett-Williams, D., Ellis, J., Roehrig, G. H., & Rushton, G. T. (2018). The use of teacher leader roles in an online induction support system. Teaching and Teacher Education, 75, 174–186. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2018.06.010
Russell, F. A., & Von Esch, K. S. (2018). Teacher leadership to support English language learners. The Phi Delta Kappan, 99(7), 52–56. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/26552383
Tengku Ariffin, T. F., Bush, T., & Nordin, H. (2018). Framing the roles and responsibilities of excellent teachers: Evidence from Malaysia. Teaching and Teacher Education, 73, 14–23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2018.03.005
Biodata
Jermaine S. McDougald is Director of ELT Business Development at the International Center of Foreign Languages & Cultures, Universidad de La Sabana (Bogotá, Colombia). Currently the Liaison Officer for TESOL Colombia and a member of the TESOL International Affiliate Network Professional Council (ANPC). |
