Teacher Leadership: Activism

Howdy,

I've never met most of you, but I need your help.

I'm attending a phone conference on Thursday with the director of Stand for Children, a national organization dedicated to advocacy for children. He has been asked to write an article for a future issue of Ed. Leadership. The issue will be focused on teachers as leaders, and the article toward which our conversation will be directed will address teacher activism.

When I was invited to join the conversation, part of the request was that I relate anecdotal evidence of educators (particularly teachers) changing policy (written or not). I immediately thought of Classroom 2.0, as the posts I read here are universally insightful, charged, and eloquent.

I am particularly interested to know how, as a teacher-leader, your energy for exploring the possibilities around School 2.0 have shaped policy in your sphere of influence.

Two examples I am already thinking of including:

1. Chris Lehman's school in Philadelphia -- SLA empowers teachers to explore pedagogical boundaries by breaking down traditional barriers to student engagement, embracing open source ideology in the name of inquiry.

2. Karl Fisch's "Did You Know" presentation. It has pushed me and caused me to share it with just about anybody who will listen.

So, what are you doing? How has your activism, your teacher-leadership, affected educational policy (on any level)?

This post will be duplicated on my blog at edhocracy.

Look forward to hearing from you!

jeremiah