This ASCD Study Guide is designed to enhance your understanding of How to Thrive as a Teacher Leader, an ASCD book written by John G. Gabriel and published in January 2005. It will help you make connections between the text and your personal and professional experiences, whether you aspire to a position of leadership or are in a position to inspire others. The author, a former English teacher and department chair, provides practical advice and resources for becoming an effective, dynamic teacher leader.

You can use the study guide after you have read the entire book or as you finish each chapter. The questions provided are not meant to cover all aspects of the book; rather, they address selected ideas that might warrant further reflection. Most of the questions are ones you can think about on your own, but you might consider pairing with a colleague or forming a group of people who have read (or are reading) How to Thrive as a Teacher Leader.

If you have any questions or comments about this study guide or about the book, you may contact the author at gabrielresearch@msn.com.

Preface

1. What does leadership mean to you? How would you define it?
2. What makes a good leader? A good teacher leader?
3. Gabriel identifies four areas of teacher leadership. What might each area involve? Do these areas ever overlap? Are there additional areas?

Chapter 1: Organizational Leadership: Nurturing Leadership in Your School

1. Do you agree with Gabriel's brief characterization of how schools function? Why or why not?
2. Reflect on and discuss the following quotation from the School Leadership for the 21st Century Initiative (2001): "Mischaracterized though they often are as incompetent know–nothings, teachers are, paradoxically, also widely viewed as . . . indispensable but unappreciated leaders in the truest meaning of the word. . . . It would be difficult to find a more authentic but unacknowledged example of leadership in modern life" (p. 1).
3. Gabriel notes that department chairs and team leaders usually do not have any formal power. How do you feel about this? Is this true in your school? Is being a leader different from being a manager?
4. Gabriel discusses numerous roles for teacher leaders. Which roles best suit your personality and skills? Which roles are you most interested in pursuing? Why? How else could teacher leaders be used to support and advance the school's mission?
5. Is there a formal mentoring or peer–coaching program in your department or on your team? How might you implement or improve such a program? How might you use the program to encourage teacher leadership?
6. Do you agree with Gabriel's assessment of the qualities necessary for leadership? Which quality do you think is most important? Least important? What qualities would you add to the list? Based on these leadership qualities, evaluate your own leadership or the leadership in your school.
7. Recall three different leaders you've worked for. Whom did you like working with the best? Whom did you respect the most? Why? What made each leader different? Were all three successful? What could they have done better?
8. What does Gabriel mean by "The Leadership Choice" at the end of the chapter? Do you agree with his judgment about who should (or should not) hold leadership positions?

Chapter 2: Strategic Leadership: Assembling Your Team

1. Should teacher leaders be involved or take the lead role in interviewing applicants? Discuss the advantages and disadvantages. If you are excluded from participating in interviews, how else might you go about building your team?
2. Consider the scenario on pp. 24–25 in relation to your school or department. Are there similarities? Differences? What might improve the hiring process at your school?
3. What do you think are the characteristics of a good team? Assess the effectiveness of your department or team. What do you do well? What are your successes? What needs to be changed? What kind of person would be the best fit for your team? Why?
4. Gabriel discusses several ways to expand the applicant pool. What are other methods for finding or recruiting strong candidates?
5. Think back to your student teaching experience. Did it make you want to work at that school? Why or why not? How does it compare to the student teacher program at your current school?
6. Do you agree with Gabriel's assessment of what to look for in a candidate? What characteristic do you think is the most significant? What qualities would most discourage you from hiring someone?
7. With your team, brainstorm questions for potential applicants. What do you believe are the three most important questions to ask? Reflect on Gabriel's sample questions on pp. 35–36 and, if relevant, the content–specific questions on pp. 166–169. How would you answer them? Also, develop a list of questions to ask an applicant's reference.
8. Think about an interview you went on for a teaching job. What kinds of questions were asked? Were any questions inappropriate or illegal? How was the interview structured? What aspects of the interview would you like to model? Discard?
9. Do you agree with Gabriel's general guidelines for placing teachers? What other guidelines might you include? What is on your own "wish list" for next year?

Chapter 3: Interpersonal Leadership: Communicating Your Leadership

1. Review examples of e–mails, memos, or letters that you find particularly effective or ineffective. What makes them stand out? What might make them better? Can you recall any instances where poor communication created confusion or influenced teacher morale?
2. Gabriel briefly identifies different personality types present at meetings. What others would you add to the list? How do you see yourself working with these kinds of people? How do you see the personalities on your team?
3. What other communication techniques could you use to defuse situations? Build confidence? Come to agreement? Which of these strategies might also be effective in dealing with students? With parents?
4. Make a list of common nonverbal signals and what they might indicate. How do you react when confronted with such behaviors? In your next meeting, pay special attention to the way your team communicates. What body language do you notice? What can you learn from the facial expressions of your team members? Consider asking a colleague to observe you during meetings for any "tells" that you might have.
5. Do you have too many meetings or too few? Are they too short or too long? Use the checklist on pp. 182–183 to assess your team meetings. What conducive and non–conducive behaviors have you noticed? How might you use your time together more efficiently? As a team, review recent meeting agendas and minutes and brainstorm ground rules to improve communication.
6. How are decisions in your school made? In your department? On your team? What about in your classes? What can you learn from this?
7. What are your school's goals? Your team's goals? How do you know? Why these goals? What steps will you and your team take to achieve them? Review the GoalAction Sheet on p. 184. How might you modify this form to best suit your team?
8. Does your team or department have a mission? If so, does it need refinement? Why or why not? If your team does not have an explicit and specific mission, brainstorm your team's purpose. What does your team value? How does it serve students? What is your team committed to? How does it demonstrate its purpose?

Chapter 4: Adaptive Leadership: Navigating Challenges and Effecting Change

1. What kind of administrator do you work for? What kind of leader is your administrator? Is shared decision making welcomed? How can you improve your interactions with your administrator?
2. Think of a successful and an unsuccessful administrator who initiated change. What sets them apart? How did they go about implementing and sustaining change? What did you learn to do (or not do) from observing them?
3. Have you ever been "dead right"? Which issues are you most willing to fight for on behalf of your team? Which problems are you most likely to take to your administrator? How do you make these decisions? Use the questions on p. 74 to work through a current issue or reflect on a past issue.
4. Do you agree that it's necessary to make your supervisor look good? Is this fair? Why or why not? How important is it to get credit for your ideas? If you supervise others, do you expect them to support you no matter what?
5. How do you feel about change? What changes have you initiated over the last year? What changes have you opposed? Why? Given the chance, would you do things the same way? What advice would you give those who must frequently adapt to change?
6. What sort of resistance do you encounter from other teachers? How do you react when your authority is challenged? Have you ever made threats that you later regretted or do you know someone who has?
7. Determine which kinds of issues in your department or on your team are best suited for consensus. Which are best suited for an executive decision?
8. When have you made a rushed decision? Why did you do so? What could you have done differently? Did you regret the decision?
9. How do you feel about team teaching situations? Have you had any problems in sharing a class? What other techniques or strategies could you use to avoid or mediate conflicts?

Chapter 5: Motivational Leadership: Building Climate and Community

1. Is climate and environment essential to success? Why or why not? How might a negative environment influence leadership? How might it influence teaching and learning?
2. What other team–building or trust–building activities have you tried with your team? What has worked best? What has not worked? What else might you do to promote trust and respect between team members?
3. How would you describe the culture of your team? Is there a strong sense of community? Is collaboration encouraged? Does the culture support your team's mission? How might you improve it?
4. Is your department a learning department? Why or why not? How might you facilitate the sharing of ideas and instructional material? What are the strengths of your teachers? What might they be able to give presentations on to the team? How might you use meetings to support staff development?
5. Evaluate the professional development opportunities in your school or on your team. Are individual and group needs addressed? Are teachers encouraged to grow and develop as professionals? What are the weaknesses of your teachers? What opportunities are being overlooked?
6. Do your teachers regularly reflect on their practices? How might you better equip them to do so? Is reflection important for morale?
7. What is the morale like in your school? Do you think your teachers would agree with your perception of school and team morale? How do you recognize individual and group successes? What else might you try?
8. Sit down with your team and plan a department newsletter or Web site. What will you include? Who will be in charge of gathering and posting material? How might you use the newsletter or site to support your teachers? If you already have a newsletter or Web site, how might you enhance it?
9. Ask your team to fill out the two surveys on pp. 188–191. How do team members view your leadership? What answers surprise you? What might you now do differently?

Chapter 6: Instructional Leadership: Improving Student and Teacher Achievement

1. Describe an effective classroom. An effective lesson. Effective classroom management plans. What do these have in common?
2. What is the best way to map out your curriculum? Evaluate the sample curriculum map on pp. 195–199. Are there any ideas you can take from it to help your mapping process? How well does the map answer the questions Gabriel raises on pp. 130–131? What are the essential questions that guide your team's instruction and your students' inquiry?
3. Gabriel lists a number of factors that contribute to students' failure. How would you rank them? Are there other factors? What remedial strategies address each of these factors best? How does your team deal with students who do not succeed?
4. Is a tutoring program needed in your school? Does the master schedule allow for a program during the school day, or does it need to be run before school, during lunch, after school, or on weekends? How might you get more students and teachers to participate?
5. What are the general skills that students need to succeed in all classes? Does your team or department address these skills? If not, then who does? Do they do so effectively? How might you and your team enhance such efforts?
6. How do you feel about homework? Does it facilitate learning? Should it be graded? What is your school's homework policy? Does homework in your department need to be more regularized (but not standardized)?
7. Do you believe external motivation should be used as a means to improve student achievement? Why or why not? What other ways could you motivate students? What partners will you need to help you subsidize your plans?
8. What systems does your team have in place for keeping students and parents aware of students' progress? In addition to frequent communication, how might you involve parents in their children's education? How might this influence achievement?
9. How and why do your teachers assess students? What are your teachers testing? How do your teachers feel about high–stakes testing? Your administrators? Your students and their parents? Do you think it is OK to "teach to the test"? Why or why not?
10. How does your team use data? What do the data seem to indicate? What plans will you develop to focus on the areas of need that the data reflect? How might you improve the collection and interpretation of data?

Afterword

1. After reading How to Thrive as a Teacher Leader, how has your definition of leadership altered or been reinforced? Your definition of teacher leadership?
2. What are your leadership goals? Has your opinion of your leadership potential changed?
3. Do you agree with Gabriel's assertion about "improving education from within"? If so, what will you do to help?

How to Thrive as a Teacher Leader was written by John G. Gabriel. This 220-page, 6" x 9" book (Stock #104150; ISBN 1-4166-0031-0) is available from ASCD for $21.95 (ASCD member) or $27.95 (nonmember). Copyright © 2005 by ASCD. To order a copy, call ASCD at 1-800-933-2723 (in Virginia 1-703-578-9600) and press 2 for the Service Center, or buy the book from ASCD's Online Store.