Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/561083
ISEA Communiqué • isea.org September 2015 5 COLLEEN'S CORNER Greetings! I am the second ISEA Teaching & Learning Specialist. This is a new position which was added to support the great work already being done by the ISEA Teaching & Learning Department (Cindy Swanson and Rhonda Plimmer), as well as focus on additional teaching and learning projects. Let me introduce myself before I get to the topic I'm going to update you on in "Colleen's Corner." I grew up in western Nebraska where I received my Bachelor's degree at Chadron State College. Next, I headed to Washington, D.C., for two years where I served as the National Education Association Student Program chairperson. My next move was to Colorado where I received my Master's degree at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley. I began my teaching career in Fort Morgan, Colorado, where I taught Elementary Music, Beginning Band, and an assignment of Ed Tech Coach working with District staff. Over the years I served in various local, state and national governance leadership positions. The past couple of years, I began my journey as Association staff as a UniServ Director in the West Central Colorado UniServ Unit with the office being in Grand Junction. On my first day of this new adventure in Iowa, I was given the specific job assignments of staff support for National Board Certified Teachers (NBCT) Network and Jump Start plus Teacher Leadership Initiative (TLI). As some of you may recall, we used the TLI curriculum strands for our breakout session strands for the 2015 ISEA Summer Leadership Conference (Instructional Leadership, Association Leadership, Policy Leadership, and Overarching Competencies). ISEA is honored to be one of the pilot states participating in TLI. We will be working with 25 teachers in our Year 3 cohort. Some of you may have been Year 1 or Year 2 participants and are already sharing with others about the journey you went on through the capstone project process. Some of you may be our Year 3 participants who are just beginning this new adventure. Throughout this next year, we hope to highlight the growth projects (capstones) from all three years. Who? Through the Teacher Leadership Initiative (TLI), the NEA is partnering with the Center for Teaching Quality (CTQ) and the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (National Board) to support 300 teachers across 14 sites in advancing as leaders in the profession. TLI is designed for teachers who want to expand his/her impact by building on knowledge and skills and then activating his/her leadership through a culminating capstone experience. TLI is a joint product of the organizations' shared vision of teacher leadership advancing the profession. What? Each participant will engage with other TLI participants through an interactive curriculum designed and facilitated by other expert teachers. All participants will begin by identifying his/her passions, strengths, and interests as teacher leaders through the Innovative Teacher Leadership curriculum. Participants will then delve deeply into one of four content strands: (1) Common Core, (2) School Redesign, (3) Social Justice and Equity, or (4) Teacher Evaluation. Background readings and reflective activities will provide the foundation for these curricula. When, Where, and How? This learning takes place primarily on CTQ's collaboratory virtual platform through discussion threads, webinars, and videoconferences (approximately two to three virtual meetings per month). ISEA also holds three face-to-face meetings throughout the 2015-16 school year. These are not traditional "sit-and-get" workshops. Why? Once a participant has successfully completed TLI, he/she will be on the path to using his/her leadership experiences to help advance student learning, strengthen the teaching profession, and provide vision and direction to the association through your capstone project. In addition, the partners will develop systems to support participant's ongoing professional growth in instructional, policy, and association leadership. TLI is a learning opportunity to expand learning on a specific focus with support from ISEA and two Iowa teacher leader coaches, as well as the three national organization partners. Our Iowa coaches are Sue Cahill, Marshalltown, and Mark Sovers, Solon. As the TLI coaches, they provide encouragement, guidance, and support throughout the year as participants go through their TLI growth year. Best wishes from the ISEA Teaching & Learning Department for a successful 2015-2016 school year! Growing teacher leaders TEACHING & LEARNING by Colleen Heinz, ISEA Teaching & Learning Specialist colleen.heinz@isea.org Teaching and Learning Specialist Colleen Heinz listens during an Ethics in Education class at the Iowa State Education Association headquarters in Des Moines.