Teacher Leadership. Behaviors and Importance of Teacher Leaders Essay

Teacher Leadership. Behaviors and Importance of Teacher Leaders - Essay Example Teacher leadership is believed to have played a major role in the act of changes in education. The concept of teacher leadership has played a vital role in changing the professional nature of teachers, changing the reward system of teachers, improvement in the teaching profession with the concept of continuous change and elevating participation of the teachers in the process of making effective decisions. When researchers started researching the notion of teacher leadership, they associated the notion with those teachers who are situated in the formal leadership roles such as teachers working as experienced teachers and teachers working as the department heads (Saha, 2009). Teachers who have assumed these formal position were found to conduct their leadership responsibility outside the class rooms and were given extra time to conduct these responsibilities. Teachers who had assumed formal position as leaders helped other teachers in problem solving and improving school conditions. Te achers assumed these position only with the aim of gaining growth in their professional life or if it was necessary to help their students and classrooms. Teachers who assume these positions do not act as a superior being, they rather work with other teachers as partners or teammates. When teachers assume these leadership positions their roles as teachers increased and these roles enhanced their professional life and teachers started gaining increased say in administrative as well as curriculum aspects of the educational institute. The main point that needs to be taken into consideration is that the effects of this kind of leadership of teachers was obtained because these teachers assumed formal leadership positions in educational institutes and they did not practice leadership roles inside the classroom setting. Researchers have figured out that more positive impact of teacher leadership can be obtained if teachers practice leadership roles within their classrooms (Muijs, 2007). Th e authority structure of schools and educational institutes has been altered in such a way that responsibilities of teachers of these institutes have been increased and these responsibilities promote the notion of teacher leaders within the context of classrooms. Body According to Muijs, the concept of teacher leadership refers to the various behaviors and activities that are together conducted by teachers within an educational institute(Muijs, 2007). This definition of teacher leadership differentiates between the leadership roles played by a teacher within the class and outside the class. The difference is that teacher leaders make use of their relationship with students and colleagues along with curriculum to bring improvement to the educational institute. According to Rinn, the leadership behaviors that are exhibited by the teachers result in enhanced performance of the educational center and the students inside the institute as well as outside the institute but these behaviors are exhibited by teachers within the classroom only(Rinn, 2003). These behaviors are quite informal as compared to the formal behaviors that a teacher exhibits while she is conducting leadership roles outside the classroom. The leadership roles that are conducted outside the classroom are conducted with the aim of enhancing performance of other teachers. The difference between conducting teacher leadership roles within and outside the classrooms does not clearly explain or simplify the notion of teacher leadership. Various activities have been referred to activities conducted by teacher leaders. These activities include: development of the

Slave owners Thesis Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Slave owners - Thesis Example This research will begin with the statement that the institution of slavery was a dark era in the history of the American nation. Although now criticized as morally intolerable, several in colonial America believed that the economic growth of the United States was dependent upon forced laborers. Although it was a very popular form of labor during the early stages of American growth, it was very cruel and evil type of labor and Americans understood this; to be a slave owner you had to of had a mindset that was just purely focused on wealth and status and no respect for the black race at all. The owner and slave relationship was characterized by the domination of the owner over the slave. Force was the basis of this relationship and this idea was clearly articulated in the 1829 decision by a judge in North Carolina concerning the relationship between an owner and a slave. He wrote: With slavery ... the end is the profit of the master, his security and the public safety; the subject, one doomed in his own person, and his posterity, to live without knowledge, and without the capacity to make anything his own, and to toil that another may reap his fruits†¦. The power of the master must be absolute, to render the submission of the slave perfect. Another common aspect of American slavery was isolation. Africans were stolen away from their homes, families, and culture. Everything that was familiar to them was stripped away and they were then isolated in a new world.... laims of birth, they were also denied the right of creating family ties that would be recognized by the law.5 Selling children away from their parents was a common practice. The law did not recognize African slave relationships, and families could be ripped apart if masters desired. Selling husbands away from wives or children away from mothers was a common practice in America and was sometimes used as a threat of punishment.6 Some masters tried to keep families together; however this was rare. "Kenneth Stamp forcefully insists that the great majority of slaveholders chose business over sentiment and broke up families when under financial pressure."7 For most masters, monetary success tended to be more important than the happiness of slaves. African slaves in America were deemed social outcasts. They were thought to be strange and assumed to be savage. These were the major components in that sense of difference that provided the mental margin between masters and African slaves. They were never considered equals to whites and were placed at the bottom of the social hierarchy. As Winthrop Jordan wrote: They did not belong to the same community as Christians, or civilized Europeans. The focus of this "we-they" distinction was at first religious, later racial. †¦to be Christian was to be civilized rather than barbarous, English rather than African, white rather than black.8 African slaves were considered strangers by the white population and also among each other. They were taken from various areas throughout Africa and the chances of being enslaved with others from the same area or clan were slim.9 Owners could use slaves for whatever they pleased; slaves had no rights. They could not make basic decisions on their own such as what or when to eat. Slaves could not choose