Leadership Training: must-read for teachers

[Kerry]

Most every "good" teacher knows of one or more fellow teachers that are disliked by many students. These objectionable "teachers" are not "disliked" because they are strict or demanding but because there's something about his/her leadership-communication skills that don't inspire learning. The wannabe teacher is in fact mirroring the leadership-communication skills of everyone (principal, admin, teachers, maintenance and food service, and of course parents)—all of whom vote non-verbally to submit students to an ineffective teacher for yet another day. It begs the question—what could students learn if their teachers had been required to complete a Leadership Training Program before being awarded a teaching degree?

Someone stuck in the process of becoming a leader will daily vote, non-verbally, to have incompetent fellow teachers.¹ Put another way, most teachers who receive awards for being the best, or the most influential, continue to submit students to another day of the incompetence of a fellow teacher.

If you are a teacher or a principal and know of a teacher who is performing poorly, then you would serve your school by arranging for a [free] weekend-long Leadership-Training² for your school's personnel (principal, admin, kitchen personnel, custodians, and teachers).

A leader communicates effectively and as such ensures that students are in-communication with each of their teachers. I for one (eight different schools K-12) never experienced being in-communication with any teacher. There are millions and millions of students like myself, who have attended high school, who, when asked to name teachers they truly admired, often only come up with one name.³

1 "incompetent" Approximately 25% of our nation's college freshmen require remedial reading and comprehension classes to learn what their teachers failed to teach; the list of reasons for these results never address the truth—a failure to communicate. 

2 I'm unaware of any college or university that includes Leadership Training as a requirement for education and health care majors. All military Privates and Corporals have more leadership skills than most teachers.

3 One good test for incompetency is, each Friday, hand students, a list of all the school's staff and have them rank each 1-10 (no signature required). It's an excellent tool for principals when coaching teachers, before they become truly ineffective (read Leadership Tips for Teachers).

Last edited 11/7/23