Every Teacher Can Lead: Finding Your Niche as a Strengths-Based Teacher Leader

All teachers are capable of impacting student growth and systemic change, both within and beyond their own classroom. In this interactive session, we will use a strengths-based approach to explore the various ways you can bring your passion, knowledge, and equity-focused orientation to a variety of teacher leadership roles, ranging from leading teams to coaching and mentoring colleagues, and much more. We will look at the unique dispositions and skills that promote collegial learning among teaching peers, with a specific focus on why teacher leadership is more important now than ever. This course is recommended for classroom teachers, teacher-leaders, instructional coaches, or administrators hoping to gain an understanding of how they might promote teacher leadership at their school site(s).

Course Objectives

Participants will...

  • Learn what is meant by the term “teacher leadership” and how teachers can serve in a variety of roles, both formally and informally.
  • Explore why and how teacher leaders play a critical role in promoting collaborative, equity-focused learning opportunities at their school site and beyond.
  • Determine their personal passion areas and goals for teacher leadership, and next steps to take.

Course Details

  • Participants will meet in three online synchronous sessions (July 25, 26, 27,  9:00-11:00am). Participants will also complete approximately 3 hours of asynchronous reading and coursework between sessions. 
  • The registration fee for this course is $150. Teachers paying for their own registration out-of-pocket may select the discounted $125 rate.
  • Registration includes up to 9 clock hours for full participation in the course.
  • Space is limited. Please join our waitlist if the course becomes full. We will contact you in the event that a seat becomes available or an additional date/time of the course is created.  For questions, please contact ConnectEd@uw.edu.

Meet the Instructors

Sylvia Bagley, Ph.D. is Director of the Teacher Leadership Master’s Specialization in the UW College of Education. She has worked with teacher leaders in grade spans ranging from Pre-K to college for 15 years, and has a special interest in helping teachers discover their passion areas for leading, both within and beyond the classroom. She was formerly an elementary school teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District, where she also served as English Learner Coordinator and Instructional Math Coach for her school.

Kjell Stroomer-Rowe, Ph.D. has been a Mentor for Novice Teachers in Kent Unified School District for the last 12 years. She trains mentors through OSPI’s Beginning Educator Support Team (BEST) and runs a monthly BEST Mentor Roundtable. She is a National Board Certified teacher who formerly taught high school English in San Diego, Tukwila, and Renton. She is passionate about building capacity in school systems for teacher leaders, and has taught numerous courses through the UW.