Navigating the Labyrinth

With over forty years in the education profession, Dr. Shirley Ann Smith has taught at several levels, produced multiple digital resources for teachers, and provided professional development for teachers across the country. Among the many experiences of her career, her favorite has been in classrooms observing teachers and children during the complex process of teaching and learning.

In spite of millions of dollars spent on professional development for teachers, the dream of providing every child with the great teacher they deserve always seems just out of reach. With each new education product and innovation promising to transform teaching and learning, the myth of a silver bullet to cure education's ills is perpetuated. But the silver bullet is already in the classroom: the teacher. Every teacher has the ability to transform their practice if he or she is willing to look inside themselves to make the changes necessary. By using methods described in Navigating the Labyrinth: Teacher Empowerment Through Instructional Leadership, educators can establish a metacognitive process for how they recognize what beliefs they have about how students learn, how they approach research so that it drives instructional decisions, and how they design and deliver instruction that ensures student learning at the highest level. This process is the foundation of effective pedagogy. Daily practice of these methods can establish a standard of professionalism that inoculates teachers against the everchanging "shiny things" in the profession and enable them to become strong instructional leaders.