D3 (Discover-Develop-Deliver)

Gestalt Community Schools

The mission of Gestalt Community Schools (GCS) is to leverage community assets to empower citizens who will be college ready, career ready, and community ready. Collaboration is the key to personal growth and neighborhood revitalization. Gestalt believes that consistently high performing schools embrace shared leadership as a model. Opportunities for teachers and administrators to partner in leading a school are at the heart of the D3

Teacher Leader Model. A teacher leader is an effective teacher whose influence creates collaboration, trust, encouragement, and systemic change that ultimately drives student achievement. This program will build learning leaders by increasing teachers’ knowledge and skills to meet the unique and pressing needs of their individual schools and the network.

Competencies and Beliefs

Gestalt teacher leaders believe...

  • in promoting a growth mindset.
  • in modeling our expectations.
  • in supporting others in the work.
  • in speaking to inspire others.
  • In learning to become better teachers.

Gestalt teacher leaders have the capacity to...

  • create conditions that encourage reflection among peers, administrators, and central office staff members.
  • capitalize on their own strengths, leadership styles, and passions, and engage in ethical practice, developing trust and credibility with others.
  • communicate messages that will spur others to pursue positive change.
  • build relationships intended to promote action based on a shared vision, deeply rooted in the needs of students
  • effectively use data to make instructional decisions that lead to improved student learning.
  • establish strong content knowledge and pedagogy in themselves and others.
tln-gestalt-roles

Roles and Responsibilities

Cultural Broker

  • Supports the school leader in assessing, creating, and refining school culture
  • Sells the vision to their schools and the network                                                                      

Content Leader

  • Works together with other leaders to impact their classroom practices in ways that will lead to better results for their students, team, and school
  • Leads school and network professional learning communities (PLCs)
  • Participates in action research projects
  • Presents workshops and demonstrates GLOE signature strategies

Instructional Coach

  • Improves student achievement by building teachers capacity and understand of instructional practices through co-planning, modeling, and providing feedback to teachers
  • Supports the instructional development of all teachers
  • Improves instructional quality across all subject areas

Master Teacher

  • Provides mentoring and coaching to new teachers during an entire school year
  • Helps others achieve their potential
  • Provides a strong start for a novice teacher 

Cost and Sustainability

The funding for teacher leadership positions will be sustained through general-purpose funds set aside for stipends, grants, and fundraising efforts. The chief academic officer and school board have dedicated budgeted funds of $76,000 for teacher leadership positions through a grant that lasts through 2018.