“What is the impact of building leadership skills with my students?”

Seminar Title

“What is the impact of building leadership skills with my students?”

Leadership

3rd Grade

Elementary

Reading

All Disciplines

Does this sound familiar? The independent work session has been primed for success. Exit directions have been posted, expectations have been communicated and questions have been answered. After an extra long period of M.I.T.S. (Most Important Twenty Seconds) to make sure all students have started their activity, work with a small group may finally begin. Glancing up from working with a small group of students, the scene around the room says it all. Angie has abandoned her task and moved on to coloring. She is at the top of the class, but chooses to waste time rather than accomplish the task at hand. Clearly this is a waste of her potential. Danielle has abandoned the most critical piece of work to settle for a low priority job. She chooses not to prioritize even when activities are listed by level of importance. And then there is Bob, who is bouncing around the room in the usual fashion pulling other students off task. On and on it goes. This was the case in my classroom. Leadership skills are what my students were lacking. Come join me to see how teaching leadership skills to my students has motivated them to take an active role in their own learning.

The question guiding my research is “What are leadership skills and in what ways might they impact my learners?” A review of literature helped identify areas of leadership that I can focus on in order to best support the individual growth of my students. My belief is that teaching leadership skills to my students will benefit them in the classroom and beyond. Some of the characteristics good leaders display is an understanding that they are in control of their own choices, how they choose to react to others is dependent solely on them. A leader is cognizant that control is relinquished to others only if they allow it. Leaders have a positive mindset about the work of education, accompanied with an understanding that mistakes are a productive part of learning. Common attributes which manifest in these young innovators are self control, the ability to think of other people, as well as good communication and collaboration skills. Leaders are invested in their learning and take responsibility for moving toward a goal they understand. As a result of the review of literature, I chose to teach my students the 7 Habits of Happy Kids. Through the teaching of these habits, I decided to focus on 3 main areas: control of self including Growth Mindset, goal setting and tracking, and working with others. Through my research I have learned to incorporate leadership skills into our daily classroom environment. These leadership skills have been introduced to the class as habits. Each habit helps students learn either independent (dealing with self) or interdependent (interacting with others) leadership skills. Setting and tracking goals and academic growth is a major focus of leading self. Leadership binders were given to each individual, allowing them to set and track independent goals as well as document classroom behavior. Basic everyday occurrences such as attendance, behavior and homework completion were documented to expose positive or negative habits. After teaching leadership skills to my students I have noticed an increase in student responsibility and ownership of learning. Students have been beginning with the end in mind and setting learning goals to achieve their own desired growth. I will continue to integrated teaching leadership schools