I just posted a whole list of things that Walker Buckalew had stated were characteristics of “teachers whose approaches are associated with high levels of student performance in moderate stress contexts.” In my own words, teachers who lead students to high performance without stressing them out. He is not saying education can be “stress free” but rather that the lower the stress levels, the better the learning. His main point is that the same characteristics that his study suggested make great teachers are those things we commonly believe make great leaders, hence we have gotten back to the beginning of things by realizing that teachers must be those who educare which in Latin means “to lead out.” Teachers are leaders, de facto.
This notion that we are leaders brings on the common discussion of “job vs. calling,” which I just don’t argue too much any more. I have yet to meet a teacher who viewed their position as a job who fulfilled my notions of teacher. They were a hireling, not the shepherd. As teaching is a vocation, requires a certain manner of life, namely that of leadership. So all that follows in this list of Walker’s is the stuff that make leaders in the classroom.
Filed under: Educational Theory, Staff Development
