The Start of a Teacher Leader Legacy: NIET Fellows Program Begins

The inaugural NIET Fellows cohort, comprised of a dozen educators from across the country, gathered together this July to kick off the start to the fellowship. The National Institute for Excellence in Teaching is among the largest trainers of teacher leaders, with more than 35,000 teacher leaders trained to date. The new NIET Fellows Program selects teacher leaders for a one-year program to deepen their knowledge of instructional best practices and more effectively support the work taking place within and beyond their schools and districts.

During their introductory week in Phoenix, Arizona, the NIET Fellows focused on two professional learning sessions: Advancing Instructional Practice and Student Learning, and Facilitating Collaborative Professional Learning. The week began with the fellows learning more about the history of NIET’s work with teacher leaders and the greater context of teacher leadership in the education field, with exercises to identify their own stories and purpose in becoming a teacher leader. 

Through sessions, team activities and discussions, the fellows strengthened their leadership capacity in order to identify and implement practices to support strong classroom instruction in their schools and districts. Haley Wood, a fellow from Tennessee’s Warren County School District, described the learning of the week as an impactful transition from the “why” of teacher leadership, to the “how” of actually implementing effective structures for their schools. All of the work was centered around how the fellows would return to their schools and implement their newly learned strategies in their own communities as the new school year unfolds.

“As we created the NIET Fellows Program, it was important for us to consider how to make this a truly transformational experience,” said NIET CEO Dr. Joshua Barnett. “The NIET Fellows Program starts with a week-long boot camp where they get an understanding of what the program is about, but also meet and interact with the other fellows for that particular cohort. Throughout the year, they will then have an opportunity to shadow NIET specialists so that they can see what the work looks and sounds like in areas that are reflective of their school and community.”

During this week’s trainings, the fellows were mindful of how they may apply strategies and practices in their own schools. Many said that learning how other teacher leaders approach challenges and find success in different systems was an eye opening experience. The varying strengths and academic interests of the fellows - from math, science, literacy and reading - also meant that each educator could support each other in different ways depending on subjects and strategies they use in their own classrooms or in supporting other teachers. 

“These fellows, they are passionate about students, about education and reform and its very empowering to be in a room where all of us are from different parts of the country, yet we're coming together with the same goal of students first,” Sarah Phillips, a teacher leader at Perry Township Schools in Indiana, said. “It is so powerful to know that not one of us sticks out as being more knowledgeable than the other, but the room collectively is like a beacon of extremely knowledgeable educators, and we're building each other up through that process.”

As the fellows return to their schools, the NIET Fellows Boot Camp will serve as a foundation for them to apply their learnings in their school plans and instructional strategies. On top of the session content, some learned from others how to build data walls to track student work and progress, others reflected on how they could support new teachers in their district, and others shared how they help English Language Learners improve their literacy skills.

“I have been learning so much from my peers. These are some wonderful educators that come with tons of experience, tons of knowledge on different systems and systematic approaches that they have in their districts and schools,” said Paloma Peralta, a Master Teacher at Gadsden Elementary School District #32 in Arizona. “We've been learning a lot on how to refine our practices in instructional strategies, but also reflecting on what we bring as leaders to our teachers - and what we can pull from other’s experiences to improve ourselves.”

With full notebooks and minds, they excitedly discussed applying their learnings in their own schools and districts.

“I’ve seen really incredible collaborative conversations where the fellows have learned the session content and learned from each other. They are so quick to ask each other questions and are already developing action plans for making a bigger impact as a teacher leader,” Erin Foster, NIET Senior Specialist, said. “They're finding new relationships and a network of colleagues engaged in the same transformative work among other fellows and at here at NIET. This week was a powerful experience where teacher leaders built connections to others across the country who they can rely on in the future to continue to sharpen each other and hone their skills even more.”

Learn more about the 2024 NIET Fellows here.