Teacher Leadership Ed.S at Valdosta State

When I was considering working on my Ed.S in Teacher Leadership, I looked around to see if I could find blogs or social media posts where students shared their experiences. I couldn't find any, so I decided that I would share my experience in hope that someone might find it helpful. I completed my Ed.S in Teacher Leadership through an on-line program at Valdosta State University, Here are a few of my thoughts:

• On-line learning. This was my first experience with a program that was completely on-line. Honestly, it was very convenient, but I discovered that I don't really enjoy this way of teaching and learning. It felt very isolating to me. Learning from other educators is important to me, so the classes I enjoyed most encouraged that type of interaction by making on-line discussion forums more informal rather than "term paper" type reading response posts. I was also surprised by the lack of original video content used in the coursework. Dr. Martin had a video explaining some Excel statistical computations, and that was about it. All other videos were re-posted TED talks or the like. Creating short videos of course content even just a simple narration of a  Powerpoint or a live webinar format would be a great way to connect with students. 

• Helpful professors. My teachers were very helpful. I was dealing with my father's long illness and death during my coursework and I really appreciate the way that my professors worked with me to help me complete the program. I was tempted to drop out several times because between home, school, and this degree something had to give! I'm glad that my professors were helpful and that I did finish! 

• What I learned (and what I wanted to learn!) The focus in this program was completion of a teacher action research project and tasks that were part of the internship classes. These tasks were built around the six tasks that are required to be submitted to pass the GACE portfolio assessment for Teacher Leadership. I enjoyed putting together the tasks and tried to fit them into what I was already doing at school. The Teacher Leadership internship courses required me to conference with my administrative support person and my professor. This was fine, and my administrator was supportive, but we had five people working on Teacher Leadership programs at three different universities at the same time! I felt like I was inconveniencing my administrators when so many of us needed to put together projects for our courses. We worked it out, but you really can't complete this program without administrative support. I don't know that the people who put this program together considered the administrative burden if several teachers were working on these projects at the same time in a building! The program requires that the teacher action research program be something related to your classroom instruction. No arguments there as this is certainly a worthy focus;however, I was surprised (and puzzled!) by the lack of attention to research in the field of leadership, specifically teacher leadership. There is a small body of research about teacher leadership, and I would have loved to work on a teacher action research project that would have added to that knowledge base. As a classroom teacher, I work on improving those skills everyday. I would like to have spent more time delving into or adding to the research about teacher leadership.

          Overall, I had a good experience. The GACE assessment for Teacher Leadership is difficult, but after completing that challenge, I could see all the ways that I had grown as a teacher and as a leader. If you have questions about my experience, feel free to contact me through this blog or at the Teacher Leaders of Georgia Facebook page.