Thank you for your video.  I'm interested in measures of teacher leadership identity, too.

Hi Wendy and Nicole,

Thanks for watching and your interest in the project. I’ll start with the advice for MTF’s trying to be leaders in districts where support is hard to come by, then through that answer, I’ll try to address how we’ve looked at leadership and the data sources related to it. I’d say one of the reasons the program has been successful is the model of how leadership changes and grows. Our fellows start with a strong emphasis on their own practice and classrooms. They must adopt a reflective practitioner mentality and become an agent of change in their own classroom. And, that would be the advice, to start small in their own classroom. As the MTF’s confidence and capacity grew, the program pushed them to expand their sphere of influence. We moved from their classroom to coaching, to providing a professional learning experience in districts, and now in the final year, turned our eyes towards systemic changes. As for data measuring leadership, we focused more on the influence and lessons learned from he experiences fellows engaged in in their expanding spheres. The leadership team worked in collaboration with the program evaluators to ensure surveys and interviews assessed the influence of the opportunities fellows had to embody leaders (e.g. as coaches or researchers in their own classrooms).

Hi Kathy,

Thanks for watching and it’s great you shared a glimpse of some of your work (would love to hear more). In the final year of the program we make a shift towards a systemic view of STEM teaching and learning. The prior years had different foci, when in years one and two the focus is on learning, teaching, and the fellows practice. In years three and four there is a shift towards leadership. For example, one facet of the program that is the focus of this year is implementing a professional learning experience in fellows’ local districts. After conducting a needs assessment, fellows designed a professional learning experience and worked with administrators on implementing it. Then in the final year, fellows will reflect on their growth as leaders and determine a STEM reform initiative to work towards. They do the work of aligning their perceived strengths towards meaningful change.
As for following the current fellows, we’ve been fortunate to start a new MTF project (currently in year 1) and some of the fellows from this cohort will serve as senior fellows for the new group. By participating as Senior Fellows we’ll stay in close contact with a number of the fellows, and the rest with our work in districts. I’d love to hear thoughts and ideas about more sustained outreach. Thanks for asking!

This is a great question, and one the leadership team is grappling with.  We have a website (urnoyce.org) and try to highlight some of the fellows work through the site, but we have not settled on an efficient way to capture and share how the fellows have engaged in leadership roles.  One area that could help us is finding out what people would be interested in.  For instance, would it more useful to capture and share snapshots of the activities fellows have designed or engaged in, or would it be more useful to focus on a fellow and see how his or her perceptions about leadership have changed.  Both have merits to us, but require a different type of follow through.  Thanks for the interest!

Hi Irina,

Thanks for watching. And, I can appreciate the struggle. Our program is based on a cohort model where the teachers have similar experiences leading at the same time. That being said, it’s pretty safe to say that the fellows had their own comfort zones when leading. To help fellows grow as leaders, the program was structured to include a Leadership Seminar. This course (1 credit) runs the length of the project and shifts foci from year to year. For example the first two years focused on learning and teaching with support surrounding the Understanding by Design Process. In year three Leadership Seminar focused on supporting fellows growth as coaches. And in year four, the focus shifted towards supporting the design and implementation of a professional learning experience. In general, it provided a space for fellows to access a broader community working on similar problems and get lots of feedback. Through their interactions with the leadership team and each other, the space provided fellows with support and resources to grapple with leadership dilemmas. Let us know if you’d like more details and thanks for your interest.

Hi Cheryl,

Thanks for watching and sharing. And yes, we’ve used Lucy West’s approach of Content Focused Coaching as our base for coaching, where the collaborative nature of the model offsets some of the pressure on the teacher. Also, our MTF fellows took a course in the counseling department focused on communication. Their reflections reinforced how important fellows felt this course was and communication in their coaching cycles. In addition to building a relationship with the teacher being coached, fellows consistently referred to the importance of listening to the teacher they were working with. Through active listening fellows were able to find entryway and have difficult conversations with teachers when they needed to.

Hi Susan,
Thanks for watching and the question. This is our second Noyce MTF grant and we’ve tried to continually reflect on and refine the phases. The recruitment phase was multi-pronged. In addition to a usual application process, fellows were interviewed, allowed a classroom observation, and participated in a mandatory STEM Leadership Workshop where the leadership team could start getting to know fellows in a learner role. The leadership team also interviewed applications administrators. In the middle phase or during the bulk of the project fellows have opportunities to be recognized within their districts and are encouraged to present at various conferences. Some fellows also elected to pursue some additional coursework and earn various certificates (e.g. administrator or online teaching and learning certificates). And lastly shifting ownership to the fellows (great question), the project has focused on developing their identities and skills as teacher leaders. This emphasis on identity and leadership in the project weaved ownership throughout the project. In year five the fellows' major project can also be seen as a launch to work after the fellowship. Fellows will create an action plan aligned with local needs and their strengths as teacher leaders geared towards improving STEM education in their districts.

Thanks very much for this useful and inspiring information! 

Thanks for watching and the question! It’s difficult to describe the partnerships between districts and the project and fellows to administrators because they vary case by case. However, we agree that they are important and constantly are looking for ways to support these partnerships. Throughout the program, fellows engage in scaffolded experiences where they have opportunities to work with their administrators. For example, fellows design and implement a professional learning experience in their districts supporting local needs. This project involves collaboration between district admin. and fellows.