What ways has leadership empowered you to become a better teacher?

By Scott McLeod: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mcleod/6684760745/

 

 

At the end of the month I'll be giving a talk at the State of Now 140 conference. It will be a 10 minute talk loosely based on this blog post. I'll be exploring the nature and value of teachers sharing online and the power of transparent, open learning. I also want to look at the way in which leadership can provide opportunity and create a culture of trust and empowerment for teachers and students to thrive. While I have a few examples and experiences to share I'm wondering if you might be able to add something to my understanding and perhaps include in my talk. The questions I have for you are:

What ways has leadership empowered you to become a better teacher? 

or if you're in a position of leadership

How have you empowered teachers to become better?

I'm looking for policy, words, attitudes or really any action that you've witnessed that's helped position people to excel. It doesn't have to be anything grand, it could be something as simple as the way a principal seeks input from staff. Anything really that you think makes you do your job better. While I don't want to focus on the negative, I'd be interested in those things you've seen which have done the opposite. 

Thanks for sharing your ideas. I'll post my talk after the conference, which looks to be an exciting couple of days.