Dr. Angela Gunter is one of 21 teachers named to the newly created Innovative Teacher Leader Cohort by The Fund for Transforming Education in Kentucky. Selection was based on a rigorous review process focusing on leadership ability in fostering a collaborative culture, promoting professional learning and publicizing teaching and learning.
Gunter was a finalist for 2013 Kentucky Teacher of the Year honors. She teaches junior and senior English, AP English Language, dual credit English 101 and 102 at Daviess County High School, and serves as dean of the DCHS liberal arts/English department. She has earned designation as a National Board Certified Teacher and received the Teacher Achievement Award from Ashland Inc. and the Kentucky Department of Education in 2013. Most recently, she has been working for the Center for Teaching Quality with a group of teachers and administrators in rethinking/reallocating teacher time.
The primary goal of the ITL cohort is to promote teacher leadership across Kentucky by first identifying what it means to be a teacher leader, which may include providing informal leadership in the education environment while remaining in the classroom.
The group will also consider national standards for teacher leadership and research addressing those standards.
Barbara Bellissimo, executive director of The Fund for Transforming Education in Kentucky, said the group will “bring necessary cohesion and publicity to the work already happening around the idea of teacher leadership.
“… There is an excellent opportunity here for this Innovative Teacher Leader Cohort to be a strong voice for the teacher leadership work that is happening across the state and to coordinate the efforts of various teacher leadership networks that are already in existence,” Bellissimo said. “It’s a tall order, but I’m confident we’ve chosen an outstanding group of educators to lead this effort.”
The first meeting of the cohort will be in Somerset on Friday, Oct. 24. The group will continue to meet each quarter at various locations across Kentucky.
“I love teaching so much that I cannot imagine not being in a classroom,” Gunter said. “Working with this cohort is a perfect opportunity to explore ways for instructors to still teach, but to also fill meaningful leadership roles and be decision makers in their schools, districts and states.”
In addition to Gunter, Region 2 is also represented by Jeff Sorce (Owensboro Public Schools) and Leslie Meeler-Bartow (Henderson County Schools).
For more information, visit https://www.thefundky.org/ David Adkisson, former mayor of Owensboro and now president and CEO of the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce; and Stu Silberman, former DCPS superintendent and now executive director of the Prichard Committee, are members of The Fund’s board of directors.
