Lead Educator

SPECIFICATION

The primary function of Lead Teachers is to work with parents, administrators and other teachers to improve students’ experience and meet teaching objectives, all while teaching their own classes and mentoring new and inexperienced teachers.

Lead Teachers can work at an elementary school, middle school or secondary (high) school. They may be employed by either a public or private school, and will work almost exclusively in a classroom environment. They may also need to spend their time in an office environment in order to perform work independently.

Responsibilities

• Observe Classrooms
• A major part of a Lead Teacher’s job is helping newer or less experienced teachers solve problems in the classroom. Thus, they must spend time in other teachers’ classrooms during class time in order to identify issues.

• Problem-Solve
• After observing the teaching styles and classroom environment of other teachers, they must take what they’ve seen and analyze it to come up with potential solutions. These could include modified teaching techniques, improved communication between the students and teachers and new processes for helping students.
• Track Progress
• After proposing possible solutions, Lead Teachers must continue to monitor student and teacher progress by tracking the goings-on in every classroom they’ve previously evaluated. This can include looking at grade averages, observing more classes in person or getting feedback directly from students.
• Connect with Stakeholders
• Thanks to their unique insight into the progress of their department’s classes, Lead Teachers will often act as a liaison, either between administrators and teachers, teachers and parents, students and teachers or any other combination. As liaison, they will be responsible for clarifying objectives and keeping the lines of communication open.
• Provide Guidance
• Thanks to their experience and practical knowledge, Lead Teachers will often be turned to as a source of guidance, especially by other teachers. They may help those teachers develop lesson plans, select textbooks, coordinate meetings or develop course curriculums.

Qualifications

• Communication skills – Since their work will involve corresponding with students, teachers, administrators and parents in detail, it’s important that Lead Teachers have excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Analytical skills – To properly evaluate the performance of other teachers as well as the efficacy of alternate teaching methods, Lead Teachers need to have refined analytical skills.
• Problem-solving skills – Since Lead Teachers will often be presented with a variety of difficult situations (sometimes simultaneously), it’s important that they be able to come up with creative and constructive solutions under pressure