To date, hundreds of individuals have completed our two-year Teacher Leadership Program, becoming “Ambassadors for Educational Equity.” More than 80% of our alumni continue to be engaged in mission-driven work, with 60% working in teaching, school leadership, or education management.
When surveyed, 100 of our alumni indicated that they want to continue to teach as Instructional-Leaders, making it one of the most preferred Leadership Pathways at Teach For Armenia.
WHAT IS INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERSHIP?
As one can imagine from the name, “instructional leadership” infers leadership within the teaching profession. To be an “instructional leader” means that you teach other teachers new teaching methods.
At Teach For Armenia, we use the term “Instructional-Leader” to refer to alumni who are engaged in teaching through strategic partnerships and special projects. Our Instructional-Leaders teach for part of the day. For the other part of the day, our Instructional-Leaders help to lead special projects related to education.
TESTIMONIALS
LIANA VARDUMYAN
Instructional Leader at Seroond (Takhta branch of the Dilijan N2 Secondary School)
“Seroond is an exciting journey that expanded the opportunities to uncover my full potential as a teacher; A teacher who empowers the students to live their own pathway in this life with human values and continuous self-improvement.”
GEVORG GHAMBARYAN
Instructional Leader at Seroond (Ijevan Gymnasium)
“With Seroond, I started observing not only the child holistically, but also the school environment. Each time I discover myself by discovering our children and I find it very important that I can contribute to the improvement of the academic environment of the school. My main goal is to create an environment that supports the specific needs of our children versus them adapting to the conditions.”
HOVHANNES HARUTYUNYAN
Former iWitness Instructional-Leader
“Working with iWitness gave me quite different skills as compared with those I had in college or self-guided learning. iWitness taught me various storytelling techniques that highly motivated the students. It also taught me to plan the material in a systematic, world-class, unique, and useful way. The most important thing was the experience of cooperating and making friends with a Diaspora Armenian compatriot, who shared her experience and we drew parallels in the educational systems of Armenia and the United States.”
ARMINE KHUDOYAN
Former UNHCR Instructional-Leader in Darbnik
“My name is Armine. After teaching for two years in the village of Arshaluys and seeing what changes could be made in the communities with the Teach For Armenia approaches, I was more excited to work as an Instructional-Leader at Darbnik School. The community is small, but like every village, it has its own uniqueness; children are full of bright eyes, optimism, and anticipation. It was with these very children we created our ‘Ankyun,’ a room for non-formal education. Here we organized discussions as well as focus groups, read books, and developed programs that would promote the development of our own community. That's how the idea of creating an educational game was born. The game introduces cultural diversity, gender discrimination, society stereotypes as well as their negative consequences. The game made us more tolerant. I am glad to have had the opportunity, as an Instructional-Leader, to contribute to bringing change through education. Moreover, the changes aimed at the development of our rural communities strengthen the foundations of our nation.”
WHAT DO INSTRUCTIONAL-LEADERS DO?
Seroond
Through Seroond, Teach For Armenia aims to cultivate the next generation of school leaders. For that reason, at each Seroond School, Teach For Armenia selects its best teachers to continue teaching as Instructional-Leaders.
iWitness
In partnership with the University of Southern California’s iWitness program through the Shoah Foundation, past Instructional-Leaders have designed lessons on the topics of the Armenian genocide and the recent Artsakh War.
Tumo-Boxes
As Tumo expands its Tumo-Box program across the nation, Teach For Armenia aims to provide our Instructional-Leaders the opportunity to serve as Learning Coaches with Tumo in rural communities.
