1: Nurturing and Leading the Soul of Teaching for Student Teachers With Servant Leadership

In order to promote servant leadership and a culture of service in a school community, this chapter explores servant leadership through the lens of Seven Stages of Enlightened Teaching. The exploratory study examines student teachers as servant leaders using the seven stages of enlightened teaching. By way of a learning community, student teachers share individual stages of enlightened teaching stages practiced during student teaching. As student teachers discovered stages of enlightened teaching in their own teaching, they identified strengths of servant leadership, and awakened holistic teaching, for the whole child in classrooms and the entire school community. The full chapter will include discussions and reflections from early childhood students regarding their vision of servant leadership during student teaching and the mindful connections with embracing the Seven Stages of Enlightened Teaching. By reflecting on the seven stages of enlightened teaching, student teachers improved an awareness of servant leadership through critical thinking, reflection, and commitment to their call and vocation of teaching and leadership.