Triadic Teacher Leadership Webb, P Term Paper

Influence is important in transactional leadership, not pure dictatorship.

Still, deciding upon a new mode of curriculum instruction to improve scores on a school wide basis would best be served by soliciting input from a number of sources in the triadic mode, according to the article. The need to facilitate effective and equal dialogue between teaching colleagues in the field is one of the strengths of a sharing approach to leadership. Teachers can pool resources, for example, as to what methods they currently use and what changes might be helpful. Parents can provide input about student frustrations, and administrators can examine the feasibility of new programs. Breaking down barriers is another positive aspect of this mode, as well as giving teachers leadership roles outside of their immediate classroom domains.

The article persuades the reader that changes must take place from the ground up, focusing on individual classrooms, although there is a district-wide goal to provide motivation and inspiration.In a purely transactional mode, when taught by professional leaders: "The teacher leaders identified here believed the work they were doing with their colleagues would help bring about changes in mathematics teaching that would improve students' learning in their district. As a result, when the leaders persuaded other teachers to participate in the professional development experience, all the teachers involved were motivated to develop a shared vision for teaching mathematics" (Webb, Neumann & Jones, 2004: 4). But triadic leadership requires a broader concern for individual actors, as in a purely transactional mode: "teacher leaders never considered questions such as, 'Will all [my] students benefit equally from the new curriculum?' And 'Are all teachers equally served by the new professional development plan?'" (Webb, Neumann & Jones, 2004: 5). Input from parents, teacher's organizations, and special education students as well as the teachers leading the professional development plan can help answer these critical questions in….....