Social Studies Samurai

I am curious as to what constitutes an instructional leader and what makes them most credible through the eyes of teachers.  Do teachers trust, follow, and believe in principals as instructional leaders based on years in the classroom?  Would core subject teachers trust someone with similar teaching experiences over a principal with an elective background?  And vice-versa?  I use the word trust because in many cases instructional leader principals are also teacher evaluators.  Can all teachers trust their principal evaluators to help them become better eductors?  If your answer is no, then why not? 

I am trying to pin-point the exact time and place where the light-bulb when off above my head.  I guess it can be traced to a collection of experiences from a Professional Learning Communities class I took through Lindenwood University or the involvement in McREL’s “Closing the Achievement Gap” consortium.  It just might have been right after I picked up Thomas L. Friedman’s The World is Flat  during Christmas 2006.  Or was it when my district installed a Promethean, interactive white board for my students to use in the spring of 07?

Its hard getting side-tracked by the past when the present is moving so fast.  How did the future become the past so quickly?  I hope this will help me log my thoughts and ideas and share them with you.  With your feedback, we can all learn together to help students learn new information in new ways.