I taught for several years at my previous school. During my second year there, our school received a grant to become a Leader in Me school. You've probably heard of this program... it's based on Stephen Covey's popular
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. The Leader in Me program brings those habits into the school setting, teaching that ALL students can be leaders in their own way.
So what did I think of this program? Like everything else, it definitely has its pros and cons. I did love how the language of the 7 Habits was everywhere in our school- it really helped put everyone on the same page, as far as expectations. I loved that every single child in my class had a classroom leadership job. I loved our student-led conferences, where parents came to hear their children explain data and goals and my only job was to literally smile and say, "Thanks for coming!"
What didn't I like? It was a lot of work, especially upfront. A ton of training, followed by a lot of trial and error to figure out what worked best. Each student had to keep leadership binders, filled with weekly data keeping, goal-setting and other logistical nightmares (I taught 1st and then 2nd grade, but even my daughter, who was in pre-k, had a binder and goals to keep up with). Each year our school hosted a Leadership Day, which was fantastic from an outsider's point of view but, again, a lot of work on the part of the teachers. I imagine it may have been a bit more self-sufficient in the upper grades, but it took a lot of practice with the younger kids.
After a couple years of Leader in Me, I ended up creating several products to help myself, my team and everyone else out there who is new to this program!
This page was one of the very first items I ever created. My students each had a classroom leadership job. The jobs changed only after Christmas. Part of the process of choosing a new job was having my students reflect on the job they had just completed. This reflection went into their Leadership Binder.
In my classroom, we would brainstorm all the possible jobs we needed (board eraser, floor sweeper, class library organizer, line leader, pencil sharpener, etc.). The jobs are basically the normal classroom jobs that you've always had, just with the twist that the students help you determine which ones are needed AND you have enough for every single student to have a job (however, some of these jobs- like returning library books our class had checked out- were only performed on a weekly basis). Once we brainstormed the jobs, my class would "apply" for the job of their choice. It was a great real world connection.
Probably the biggest lifesaver I created were my Leadership Binder covers and dividers. Some classes called these Leadership Notebooks or Leadership Folders. I always found binders were most helpful as far as storage and keeping everything "together." Every Friday afternoon, we would have "Binder Time", where we pulled our binders out and kept up with our data- graphing math pre-test or post-test scores, marked any sight words students were still working on, updated goals, etc. I really tried hard to schedule time into our Fridays for this- some of my teammates would get behind and have to spend days catching up on their binders before sharing them at our student-led conferences. Having "Binder Time" each week was more meaningful for my students and less frustrating for me!
So, final thoughts on Leader in Me... was it a lot of work? Absolutely, but the first year was the hardest. Was it wonderful to watch students become empowered and able to vocalize goals they wanted to achieve? Completely!
Do you teach at a Leader in Me school? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments!
