Dr. Sonya Hayes, Associate Professor in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, has always seen teaching as part of her future. “As a little girl, I would line my stuffed animals up in little chairs and use markers to draw on my bedroom walls to teach them (yes, I did get into trouble for drawing on my walls)!” Her journey to the University of Tennessee, Knoxville includes several formative professional experiences. She taught high school English for 9 years, served as an assistant principal for 6 years at a large high school and served as a principal for 9 years in a Title I middle school in Austin, Texas.” While serving as a principal, she was asked to serve as a mentor for aspiring principals and novice principals. This sparked a desire to return to teaching to work with future school administrators in university principal preparation programs. She applied and was accepted into Texas A&M University’s educational leadership program. Her experience of teaching adult learners as a teaching assistant, solidified her desire to enter the professoriate. After graduating from Texas A&M, she held a faculty position at Louisiana State University. While she enjoyed it, she felt that something was missing.
“I wanted more engagement and collaboration with exemplary peers in my field. I was frequently citing some key researchers from the University of Tennessee, and when I researched UTK, I learned of all the tremendous opportunities the faculty were affording their students in the educational leadership program. I thought to myself, this is the university where I want to work and grow as a researcher and a teacher.”
When an assistant professor position at UTK opened, she immediately applied. “During my campus visit, I fell in love with the University of Tennessee.” Dr. Hayes has found that coming to UTK was the right choice for her. “UTK has proven to be everything I thought it would be. I have grown into a prolific researcher and a successful teacher of graduate students, and I was recently awarded tenure and promotion. UTK is my academic home, and I love being a VOL!”
When asked about her teaching philosophy, Dr. Hayes stated that she is a “constructivist” and a “relationship-oriented teacher.”
“I truly believe that learning occurs when students are actively involved in a process of meaning and knowledge construction as opposed to passively receiving information. As a teacher, I am a facilitator of learning and encourage my students to work together to create knowledge based on their own research, experiences, classroom discussion, and reflection.”
She also emphasized the importance of building trust with and among her students, “so that we can have courageous conversations about change, diversity, equity, and social justice. As a teacher of aspiring school leaders, it is my job to facilitate their understanding of the inequities that plague public schools and help my students become social justice advocates through both organizational and instructional leadership. My goal is to create open, safe, and collaborative climates, while modeling lifelong learning. I expect that students will learn from the readings, from me, and from each other.”
Her teaching philosophy and ability to create the learning environments mentioned above emerge from her previous professional and academic experiences. “My past experiences of serving in K-12 schools has afforded me the practical wisdom to teach aspiring school administrators. My doctoral degree and my research in K-12 schools enable me to connect the theory behind the practice.” She sees herself “charged with developing the theoretical and technical minds of my students for the betterment of society in its entirety.”
Dr. Hayes also recognized that one’s teaching practice is always evolving, “Teaching is both an art and a craft, and I am constantly learning and transforming my teaching craft based on what school stakeholders say is needed to lead 21st century schools. As a teacher, I welcome my students’ authentic selves, while providing the space and the freedom for an open exchange of dialogue and ideas.”
One of the goals that Dr. Hayes has for her students is that they “become agents of change— authentic leaders who are committed to expanding access and creating opportunity for all K-12 students to achieve and succeed.” She shared examples of her students doing exactly that.
“One of my students became the principal of a school for the deaf immediately after graduating, and another became a principal of a Muslim charter school after graduating. After visiting and observing them during their first years as principals, she recalled, I noticed that they had a strong sense of purpose, and they had established a learning community for their campuses where both their students and teachers were all learning and growing.”
Both principals supported the professional development of their teachers through action research, book studies, and professional learning communities. Dr. Hayes also observed that both created spaces where teachers and students felt included and belonged. Each of the principals shared with Dr. Hayes what they took away from their interactions with her. One principal had carved out instructional time in her schedule every day to be in classrooms and work with teachers “She remembered that I said in class, “instructional leadership is non-negotiable and being in classrooms every day is critical in school improvement.”” The other principal set a goal to build the leadership capacity of her faculty, Dr. Hayes remarked, “She embraced the concept of shared leadership that she learned from my Principalship class. I so proud to have been a small influence on their careers.”
For Dr. Hayes, a career-defining moment came when she taught Intro to Research Scholarship and Qualitative Methods. “I am a qualitative researcher, and I was taught by one of the gurus of qualitative methods at TAMU. I have always felt confident in my abilities as a qualitative researcher; however, once I started teaching qualitative methods, I became a better researcher and writer. Dr. Hayes went on to say, “Teaching qualitative methods to my doctoral students helped me to reflect on how they were learning about research. When they did not understand a concept, then I had to change my teaching approach to help them learn it.” She indicated that her students taught her. “I love the reciprocal learning that occurs in my classes, and I continue to create the space for my students to critically think and reflect about their learning—by doing so, we all learn and grow from each other.”
When asked about the future of higher education, Dr. Hayes shared,
“I believe that distant and online learning has become more prevalent in higher education spaces. As faculty, we will need to continue to embrace technology and discover new and innovative ways to engage students in an online platform. I think that as AI becomes more accessible, faculty will also need to find innovative ways to use AI in the classroom.”
However, she also commented on the value of face-to face instruction. “I love teaching students in a traditional face-to-face (F2F) classroom. I am able to create learning opportunities in a F2F class that do not always translate well to an asynchronous online class (e.g. field trips, guest speakers, varying group collaborations).” She concluded by saying, “I hope that in the future, university faculty will continue to embrace traditional learning communities, while simultaneously learning to embrace new opportunities in online learning as well. I see the need for both in our future.”