Meet Dr. Gale Neal, a lover of life-long learning, and a Thomas University Assistant Professor, Graduate Coordinator, and Program Director for Teacher Leadership.
What programs do you teach at Thomas University? What drew you to this field of study? What keeps you excited about it?
At Thomas University, I am an Assistant Professor who is the Graduate Coordinator and the Program Director for Teacher Leadership. I teach courses in the M.Ed. Teacher Leadership and Ed.S. Teacher Leadership programs, the M.Ed. Curriculum & Instruction (C&I) program, the content area M.Ed. programs for E.C.E., M.G.E., and S.E.C., the M.A.T. in Elementary Education program, and the undergraduate teaching program.
However, most of the courses I teach are in the Teacher Leadership program since this is the area I was hired to lead and where I have the greatest level of expertise. In this program I teach:
- Both residency courses (EDU630 & EDU631)
- Building Collaborative Teams course (EDU618)
- Observation and Analysis (EDU604)
- Leading a Professional Learning Community (EDU611)
- Introduction to Graduate Programs course (RSC600)
In C&I and the content area M.Ed. programs, the main course I teach is Collaborative Classrooms for Social Emotional Learning (EDU624). In the M.A.T. and undergraduate programs, I teach the Math Curriculum Development course (ECE470/EDU670).
Since I was a little girl, I have always been drawn to teaching, have always loved school, and have always loved learning. The beautiful thing about learning is that you can never know it all, so there is always something new to learn – no matter how much you know in any particular area.
One of the most exciting things about teaching is watching your students grow and learn; I have chills just saying that. It is a magical experience to teach students something new and amazing that you know will change the way they see the world, the way they see people, or the way they feel about their career or themselves. That experience never gets old.
How will your programs better prepare/equip educators for the current climate they are facing? How will it help them tackle today’s education challenges?
I hope we are nearing the end of the dangerous part of the COVID-19 pandemic era. But, for the past two years, I have watched my Teacher Leadership students do some amazing things in their schools! When schools had to move to virtual learning in 2020, teacher leaders were the first ones who stepped up to lead the training that needed to be done almost immediately for all teachers in schools.
The Teacher Leadership students at Thomas University had already been using Zoom for their leadership courses, so they knew what to do at once when the pandemic struck. They put their skills to use creating and conducting small groups of teachers online, demonstrating and letting them practice how to make learning possible, active, and exciting through platforms like Zoom.
They showed teachers how to use digital tools like Google Slides and Google Docs to make their teaching more interactive and make collaborative team meetings possible through the pandemic. The teachers they taught have used those skills to keep students learning online for the past two years.
Teacher Leadership students learn how to go into their schools, study their school improvement plans, and then bring a small collaborative group of teachers together to make things better for everyone.
What attracted you to teach at Thomas University? What sets them apart?
The Thomas University Division of Education is a unique place, especially because of leadership by Dr. Susan Lynn and because of exceptional full and part-time faculty and staff. Thomas University values the art of teaching and learning. The focus is continually placed on teachers being the best they can be so students can learn the most possible.
In addition to this shared mission, Dr. Lynn has created a format for curriculum-relevant classes that is exceptionally teacher-friendly. The graduate program has an eight-week hybrid course format that teachers enjoy because they can focus on one class at a time, for the most part.
Teachers have the opportunity to learn relevant content both online and face-to-face by interacting with their peers and professors during bi-weekly Zoom meetings in the evenings when they get home from teaching their PK-12 classes. When Dr. Lynn explained her programs to me, described the format, and told me about Teacher Leadership, I was anxious to get started!
What is your professional background as an educator?
After graduating from Leon High School, I went to the University of Florida for my Bachelor’s in Elementary Education. I went back to Tallahassee (FSU) for my Master’s in Elementary Education and taught elementary school (fourth through sixth grades) for 18 years at the beginning of my career.
In 2005, I decided to go back to school to work on an Ed.S. and Ph.D. in Educational Leadership/Administration. I loved learning again, so I went slowly through my Ph.D. program, while also teaching a few classes at FSU and working part-time as a graduate assistant in the Department of Educational Leadership.
In 2016, Dr. Lynn approached me with the idea of leading the graduate program, emphasizing Teacher Leadership. Teacher Leadership combines two of my favorite topics – teachers and leadership! It was as if my whole career had been leading up to this point. I felt I had been fully prepared to do the job I was hired for, almost as if some “all-knowing force” had been guiding me to this point for all these years.
Tell us a little about yourself. Why did you become interested in education?
I am a Tallahassee, Florida native who grew up on Lake Jackson – boating, climbing trees, playing school, and playing softball on the corner lot with neighborhood children. We romped all over the neighborhood on our bikes until the street lights came on, and we knew it was time to head home.
I am a first-generation college student, as my parents were not able to attend college; they had to go to work as soon as they got out of high school. Even so, I loved school and never had to be told to do my homework. When I got home each day, I would go straight to my room and sit on my bed in the quiet and get it all completed.
This practice helped me to get good grades and succeed in school through high school. As a first-generation college student, luckily, there were low-interest school loans available for me to borrow money to go to college, which I did. I first declared my major as engineering because I loved math, but later changed it to education after fighting with Calculus Two for several semesters.
The moment I started education courses, I knew I was “home.” I did not have a car, so I learned to take the city bus to various schools around Gainesville for my field experiences. I loved those experiences and still remember them.
What would you tell prospective students considering your programs about yourself? What’s something that students and colleagues should know about you?
The students who have taken my courses can probably tell you that I am very serious about teaching and learning. I have high standards and high expectations of myself and my students. I genuinely believe that everyone can learn, particularly with some scaffolding to help them stretch to meet the goal.
I love teaching and still get nervous the day of every class I teach; I spend the whole day preparing for an evening class. I like to get students involved in the content, interact with each other in discussion groups, and I think they work hard in my classes and learn a lot.
What advice do you have for students interested in pursuing their teacher leadership degree? How can people stand out in this field?
Teacher Leadership is a program that is for anyone who truly loves teaching and wants to stay close to the classroom. However, teacher leaders want to go beyond the classroom as well, leading efforts across the campus that will improve their colleagues and their schools. Teacher leaders see things that need improvement around them and do something about it – in a positive and productive way.
Georgia has created a wonderful definition of teacher leadership that says a lot about what it means:
“Teacher Leadership is the process by which highly effective and empowered teachers serve as catalysts to facilitate continuous improvement resulting in an enhanced culture of teacher engagement, student learning, and achievement.”
If this statement makes you feel passionate about your education career, come see us!