Paper Authors

Abstract

NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract

Main Menu Session 3150

The Teacher as a Leader and Mentor

Jerry W. Samples University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown

Abstract

Teachers have great influence on the students they see each day. The responsibilities and the associated influence are great and involve such things as grades, ethics, fostering learning, mentoring, and other facets of student’s lives. Students ask that teachers have character, competence and compassion in dealing with everyday classroom situations. They expect to be treated as adults, and to be respected as they respect the teachers. This relationship, based upon respect, places the teacher in a position of power, and with this power comes the responsibility to exercise the power fairly.

Inherent in this discussion is the fact that teachers are now leaders and mentors of their students. Some would say that this is not the place of a teacher at the University; others understand that this is a natural extension of the position called teacher. It is necessary for teachers to establish standards, standards used in assessment of both the course and the students. It is important that teachers make the classroom a place that provides the optimum learning environment. To some the responsibilities of the job of teacher are already overwhelming.

This paper will address aspects of the teacher as a leader, the teacher as a mentor, and the teacher in the role of friend and counselor when necessary. It is important that teachers determine who they are as teachers and where they are going as they develop the sk ills of students necessary for success in the professional world. Teachers are in fact the leaders that students meet today so that they may prepare themselves for employment in their future. Although some believe that this influence is excessive, it is in fact real. How teachers teach students to survive in college will help them survive after graduation.

Introduction

Watch carefully. Listen intently. The sights you may see and the sounds you may hear are teachers abdicating their roles as leaders in the classroom. Discussions and concerns over the “power” of the teacher and the adjudication of that power in the classroom echo from educational meetings. Concern over the power of the syllabus, the exams, the grades, and the rights of a teacher to impose standards on the students and the concern that this power detracts from student learning and adversely impacts on student evaluations of teachers is of constant concern. Some teachers protest that they are not leaders and that their job is to enlighten young minds by revealing the world through critical thinking and development of creative thought. Watch and listen, it is around all of us; the movement away from classroom leadership.

In her presentation "Reflections on Power: Changing How We Use Our Power in the Classroom"1, Heather W. Hackman provided a thought piece about power and its tie to the

Proceedings of the 2002 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright Ó 2002, American Society for Engineering Education

Main Menu

• Citation

• Format
  • APA
  • APA - LaTeX bibitem
  • MLA
  • MLA - LaTeX bibitem
  • Bibtex
  • EndNote - RIS

Samples, J. (2002, June), The Teacher As A Leader And Mentor Paper presented at 2002 Annual Conference, Montreal, Canada. 10.18260/1-2--10529