Leadership
Education for the Elementary School Classroom
INTRODUCTION
Much
research has gone into adult and adolescent leadership development. Many theories and programs exist for them,
but these opportunities fall short when it comes to younger children. The
elementary school level is an important age for students to start becoming more
aware of themselves, their role in a community, and to start giving them the
skills they need to take on the challenges of school and the world. Leadership education can take character
education one step further, and a strong commitment to teaching children about
character and collaboration in this way will help students develop leadership
skills from a younger age. Students should
be given the tools they need at a younger age so that they can function better
in school, at home, and in their communities, and to prepare them for the
future. This paper explores a leadership
education model that has been implemented, and offers a modified and updated
proposal of a model to be implemented in the 2013-2014. The models in this paper are based on
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (1943), Tuckman’s Stages of Group Development
(1965), The 7 Habits of Happy Kids (Covey, 2008), Tribes Learning Communities (Gibbs,
2006), Heifetz’s model of adaptive leadership (Klau, 2006), and personal
leadership facilitation and experience of the researcher.
The
aim of this project is to evaluate elements of leadership education that were
implemented in a third grade (8 and 9 years old) classroom from January- June
2013. The researcher will evaluate the effectiveness of the implementation of
the theories that were used. It will
analyze the findings with regard to student responses to the program, as well
as the researcher’s observations of what was successful and what needs to be
improved. Next, the paper proposes a
modified leadership curriculum that will be used from the start of the next
school year. The author’s role in the
process is both teacher implementer and researcher. She implemented the first program from
January- June 2013. From this
experience, she modified and improved the program for the August 2013- June
2014 school year.
LITERATURE
REVIEW
While there is a
plethora of research dedicated to leadership development and teambuilding in
teenagers and adults, there is limited research that delves into the benefits
and effects of implementing it in elementary school aged children. This segment describes literature that was
used to prepare for the program. It is organized into five sections: (1) what
opportunities exist, (2) positive personal benefits, (3) positive benefits for
the school, (4) methods, (5) gaps in the literature. The literature study will
conclude with an analysis of the limitations in the literature and how the leadership
curriculum attempted to fill those gaps.
What Opportunities Exist for Students
Currently,
most elementary schools have some sort of character education or life skills
program that is being implemented (Gibbs, 2006; Hess, 2010) which is used
inconsistently throughout the school year.
Educators refer to the programs perhaps once or twice a month, and there
is usually not a school-wide commitment to it.
Some schools have started offering more opportunities for student
leadership such as student councils, Student Ambassadors, Community Life, and
Creative Partnerships Teams (Pedersen, Yager, & Yager, 2012; Smith, 2012;
Thomson, 2012). Other extra curricular
programs that schools offer include Destination Imagination and Distributive
Education Clubs of Ameriac (DECA) (Rice, 2011).
These types of programs offer students the chance to lead, work with
others, be creative, organize events, and communicate. However, the downfall is that only a select
group of students are given these opportunities. It is also important to note that some of
these opportunities are only open to high school students such as DECA and
Community Life. It would be interesting
to see if these great programs could be adapted and applied to students of a
younger age.
Tribes
is a program that takes character education to the next level (Gibbs 2006). Ideally it is implemented daily in the
classroom. It is aimed at the elementary
school age group and includes many fun activities. It would be very successful if it was used
correctly and if the staff was committed to using it. Unfortunately, most teachers only use it to
put their students in groups and do not make use of the collaborative
strategies it promotes. Tribes can help
students be better problem solvers, get to know each other better, and create a
more inclusive atmosphere.
The
most integrated and thorough implementation of leadership and teambuilding
education into elementary schools stems from Stephen R. Covey’s concepts of the
7 Habits of Highly Effective People (2008).
Schools in the United States have created leadership themed schools that
infuse the 7 Habits into every day learning.
Through their approach, each and every student is given leadership
opportunities on a regular basis. Staff
is fully committed to carrying out the theme, and even parents are on board
with the program. It is a whole
community approach that has had great success in many different schools in the
United States, and now around the world.
There
is a wide spectrum of leadership and teambuilding implementation in elementary
schools. While many still struggle with
a consistent approach, some schools offer great programs to select
students. It is clear in the research
that to get the most positive and successful results, a community-wide
implementation and commitment is needed.
Positive Personal Benefits
The leadership literature,
for all age groups, points to positive results in behavior and the development
of critical life skills that will prepare students for the future. Many studies found that leadership and
teambuilding curricula helped to increase student confidence, collaboration,
accountability, responsibility, creativity, conflict resolution, and perceived
individual value (Covey, 2008; Hess, 2010; Rice, 2011; Thomson, 2012;
Weissbourd & Jones, 2012). Not only
will these help students perform better in school, but they will give students the
skills they need to compete for jobs in the twenty-first century workplace as
it moves to a more conceptual age that requires more “right brain” skills
(Covey, 2008; Hess, 2010; Pedersen, Yager, & Yager, 2012). Employers are looking for innovative
employees with great collaborative skills on top of a college degree. A list of top skills employers seek in
employees listed in Covey’s book (2008) identifies the same types of skills
students learn through leadership and teambuilding education. Studies have also shown that leadership and
youth development programs lead to “decreased negative behaviors…and increased
positive behaviors (such as motivation, academic performance, self-esteem,
problem solving, positive health decisions, and interpersonal skills)” (Gill,
2005, p.1). Studies done on leadership
camps and week-long programs showed significant positive changes that
complement those above, such as positive self concept and identity, better
social skills, and positive psychological development (Klau, 2006; MacNeil,
2006).
Positive Benefits for the School
Leadership
opportunities for students point to increased student engagement in class, a
higher commitment to learning, and better relationships between students and
faculty (Dempster and Lizzio, 2007).
Studies also show that when students are given leadership opportunities
it also leads to decreased behavior problems in students (Covey, 2008;
Weissbourd & Jones, 2012).
Weissbourd and Jones (2012) posit that a whole school community approach
could drastically reduce the amount of bullying that takes place in a
school. Covey (2008) gives many examples
of schools that have taken such an approach and found great success in the
reduction of misbehavior and the increase of positive relationships among
students.
Furthermore,
leadership and teambuilding education creates a positive school culture and
atmosphere (Covey, 2008; Pedersen, Yager, & Yager, 2012; Rice, 2011; Smith,
2012; Weissbourd & Jones, 2012).
This type of atmosphere provides a safe learning environment that
fosters increased learning and allows all students to thrive together. Increased learning is proven through higher
test scores in students as well as increased class engagement and participation
reported by teachers (Covey, 2008; Dempster & Lizzio, 2007).
Methods
Of
the types of implementation discussed above, a school wide approach has
reported the most successful results. It
must start from the top down. If the
administration is committed and provides the tools for the teachers, the
effects will trickle down to the students and out to the parents (Covey, 2008;
Smith, 2012; Weissbourd & Jones, 2012).
When there is 100% buy-in from the faculty, there is more success
(Covey, 2008; Pedersen, Yager, & Yager, 2012).
Other
methods of teaching leadership education that are more commonly used include
character education type programs that happen usually once a month (Hess,
2010). While these have value, much of
it is lost due to inconsistency and lack of exposure to real life examples of
the character traits. Some high schools have started offering leadership
classes as an elective (Dempster & Lizzio, 2007); however, these
opportunities only reach a small percentage of select students.
Leadership Development vs Youth Development
According
to Gill (2005), youth development “prepares young people to meet the challenges
of adolescence and adulthood through a coordinated progressive series of
activities and experiences that help them to become socially, morally,
emotionally, physically, and cognitively competent” (p. 1). Paul and Lefkovitz (2006) agree with this in
their definition, “youth being able to develop into self sufficient, caring,
and contributing adults” (p.1). Youth
development is important because it helps children grow and find their place in
their communities. While this article
was directed towards adolescents, this part of development is also crucial at
the elementary school level.
Specifically in the third grade, the researcher has observed that many
students start to become more aware of social situations, their roles in the
community, and start to take on more responsibilities. This type of development would give students
the tools they need to cope and grow in these facets.
Leadership
development, on the on the other hand, is more specific in that it is:
Both an internal
and external process leading to (1) the ability to guide or direct others on a
course of action, influence their opinion and behavior, and show the way by
going in advance; and (2) the ability to analyze one’s own strengths and
weaknesses, set personal and vocational goals, and have the self-esteem to
carry them out” (Gill, 2005, p.1).
This concept of
developing leaders is congruent with the goals of the researcher’s leadership
curriculum. One of the most important
points from Gill’s definition is about how leaders should model the way. The new leadership curriculum will give
students more opportunities to do this and guide others. The second half of the definition covers the
ideas of personal awareness and growth, of which there is a big emphasis in the
leadership curriculum. These two
definitions are helpful in that they will help the researcher structure the new
curriculum and focus on both aspects.
Components of a Good Leadership Program
According
to the literature, a good leadership program should have clear goals, the
opportunity to practice leadership, and community connections (Gill, 2005;
Klau, 2006; Paul & Lefkovitz, 2006).
It is also important that the program is assessed in some way, which is
usually done through self-evaluation pre and post program by the participants
and supervisors (Barry, 2010; Paul & Lefkovitz, 2006). The first leadership curriculum developed by
the researcher did not include enough opportunities for students to practice
their leadership in authentic and meaningful ways (MacNeil & McClean, 2006,
p. 100), nor did it assess the program through evaluations. Both of these things will be included in the
new curriculum through self-evaluations and a culminating leadership project at
the end of the year that students will design and execute with teacher
guidance. Students will also be given
opportunities to help second graders during house integration days and do
service work to help members of the school community.
Limiting Factors of a Leadership Program
Some
common elements that were found to inhibit the success of a leadership program
include negative adult-youth relationships, unclear goals, focus on leadership
as authority, and not giving youth the opportunities to practice and reflect on
their leadership.
MacNeil
(2006), Ricketts and Rudd (2002), and Paul & Lefkovitz (2006) describe how
a negative adult-youth relationship (namely, adultism) can be detrimental to a
leadership program. While adults may be
in charge overall, the key is to shift attitudes so that adults see youth as
capable and active members of the group.
Many times adults view youth as being too young or too immature, but
these types of attitudes are stereotypes and only help to keep youth at that
level instead of empowering them to be more.
Leadership programs should be moving from adult-led with youth as
“objects” to including youth in major decisions and giving them voice and
power. This will give them the opportunities
to make meaningful decisions and practice the leadership skills the adults are
giving them. It is important to note
that the shift to sharing and giving power to youth is something that gets
greater as the youth grow older. In this
specific case of a third grade classroom, the teacher will have more power and
influence in the relationship as to introduce and model positive behaviors to
the students.
Klau
(2006) conducted case studies on three large leadership organizations in the
United States. He found that two of
those organizations had unclear goals about what leadership was. Staff were not able to answer the question
confidently, and this affected the overall outcomes of the programs. With an unfocused idea of what kind of
leaders they wanted to inspire, many programs (from Klau’s case studies and
from the researcher’s own experience) tend to focus on trivial things such as
cheering. While this promotes energy and
enthusiasm, it is not a core element of being a leader.
Sometimes
there is a misconception that leadership means authority, and this can be
misleading to youth. One can be a leader in many different ways without being
in a position of power, and as Klau (2006) points out, “young people rarely
wield formal authority in society” (p. 61).
With this in mind, it is important that leadership programs do not focus
on this, but show youth that there are many opportunities for them to take on
leadership roles that are not authoritative.
With this type of open mindset, youth are more likely to get involved in
their communities in different ways.
Multiple
studies have pointed to the importance of giving youth the opportunity to
practice their leadership. MacNeil and McClean (2006) push that “learning
leadership happens experientially” (p.99) and have noted great differences in
the outcomes of programs that involve youth in authentic and meaningful
experiences so that they can practice what they have learned. Paul and Lefkovitz (2006) agree with this and
say that, “youth benefit from leadership opportunities where the impact of what
they do is extended beyond themselves” (p. 21).
Klau (2006) uses Heifetz’s adaptive leadership model to evaluate
leadership programs. Heiftetz
“recognizes that the experience of exercising leadership is considerable more
intense than the experience of simply talking about leadership” (p. 62). There is also an emphasis on the importance
of reflective practice in leadership education, especially when exercising
leadership (Gill, 2005; Klau, 2006; Paul & Lefkovitz, 2006). Without the opportunities to practice and
reflect, youth are only left with knowledge; and what good is knowledge without
experience? The first implementation of leadership
curriculum gave room for reflection, but lacked opportunities for students to
practice.
Gaps in the Literature
As
stated before, there is quite a bit of literature around teen and adult
leadership and teambuilding education.
However, these theories and strategies must be adapted when working with
a younger elementary age group (Dempster & Lizzio, 2007). The field of student leadership is something
that is beginning to arise and take on more interest in education. Of the articles studied for this paper, many
of these articles did not have complete studies with tangible results. Most of the positive outcomes that were
stated came from observations and interviews and there was not a lot of hard
data. That is where the large gap in
this study occurs- in the lack of valid and reliable information and a general
lack of research done for the elementary age group.
Covey
(2008) talks about data notebooks that students keep to record their work. He stated that many of the leadership themed
schools keeps graphs of data in public places, such as by the school office, to
show the progress that students are making academically. Thomson (2012) has similar ideas and says
that using running records kept by students could be used as an assessment of
the effects of student leadership.
Thomson also conducted interviews with students, past and present, to
get a better understanding of what students get from student leadership now,
and how it has prepared them for the future.
Based on the research that was
reviewed, the author decided to combine some of the best practices and try them
in her third grade classroom. The hope
was that she would find success and that other classes would join in the next
school year.
FIRST
IMPLEMENTATION
The first
implementation of a leadership curriculum was based on Stephen R. Covey’s (1989)
7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Charter schools in the United States and
around the world have been using a modified program called the 7 Habits of
Happy Kids which makes the 7 habits kid-friendly and relatable for elementary
school aged students. This program was
complimented by the Tribes Learning Communities program (Gibbs, 2006) that Colegio
Bolivar already used, as well as many teambuilding activities pulled from the
researcher’s leadership facilitator experiences. With these ideas combined, the leadership
education in the classroom was built on the following elements: taking
responsibility for one’s own actions, expanding personal awareness to community
awareness, taking risks, being respectful, engaging in meaningful communication,
problem solving, resolving conflicts, and working together.
Each
of the Covey’s seven habits was introduced weekly. The teacher and students read stories about
each habit together, the habits were discussed and put into the students’ own
words, and students were always on the look out for real life examples. In the last seven weeks of school, awards
were given weekly for each habit. Students voted for their peers who embodied
the specific habit and recognition was given for examples of when they showed
the habit.
Teambuilding
activities were done in students’ tribes groups as well as other mixed
groups. As tribes groups, emphasis was
placed working together, communication, using each others’ strengths, and
showing respect. Many times students
chose roles (such as scribe, timekeeper, clarifier, materials manager, and so
on) to take leadership in.
Students enjoyed the leadership
education they received, especially the 7 Habits of Happy Kids and the
teambuilding activities. Most students’
favorite habit was Habit 1- Be Proactive.
One student said on his self-reflection about the habits: “The 7 habits have
taught me that solving problems is better to do it by talking and not by
violence and put downs. It is better to
apologize than fight. My favorite habit
is Be Proactive because sometimes I was reactive and solving problems in a bad
way.” The 7 Habits also helped students
reflect on themselves and their actions.
One student said this about Habit 5- Seek First to Understand, then to
be Understood: “I’m not the best listener of others and now I’m becoming better
and better and better everyday.”
Students thought that the teambuilding activities were fun, but also
challenging. One said, “It made me think
about problems differently. You could do
the same things in different ways. Like
all the groups didn’t do the same thing, but they still all did it.” In this way, the leadership education met the
goals of working together and thinking critically.
Overall,
students and their parents liked the leadership education in the classroom as
was demonstrated by written self-reflections by students, and conferences with
parents. Parents commented that they
noticed a positive change at home and asked for resources they could use at
home as well. Students understood the
concepts and were able to point out real life examples of the habits and
leadership around them. They gained a
greater awareness of things and people outside of their own personal bubbles.
The
researcher observed improved conflict resolution skills in the students and
less disruptive behavior in the classroom.
Students were more aware of their actions and their consequences. They were more reflective during and after
situations and were able to form more positive action plans to address similar
issues that might come up in the future. Students supported each other more in all
situations- both positive and negative, and both inside and outside the
classroom.
Leadership
education through the 7 Habits, Tribes, and teambuilding activities helped
students reach higher in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Physiological needs were not a problem in the
classroom because the students in the school are well off and had all physical
materials they needed. Safety needs were
met through conflict resolution skills that were taught through both Tribes and
the Habits, especially Habit 1- Be Proactive and Habit 4- Think Win Win. The love and belonging need was addressed
through many of the teambuilding areas.
Students made new friends, had to trust each other in different
scenarios, and were able to form a stronger community in the classroom. For the
esteem need, students increased their self-esteem as they realized their
strengths as leaders in different areas.
As different students excelled in different areas and activities, their
peers learned more about them and respected them for their talents. Appreciations were always given on Friday
afternoons, and also spontaneously when someone deserved it. Not all students
reached the level of Self-Actualization, but many were on the right path
towards it. At the age of 8 or 9, it can
be difficult for a child to be so self-aware.
Many of them are still learning how to reflect as they continue to grow
and learn more about themselves. They
are still discovering talents, preferences, and new perspectives.
Through
Tribes and teambuilding activities, the researcher observed that students went
through many of Tuckman’s stages of group development (1965). In Tribes,
students are placed in new groups of four or five people in their seating
arrangements. These groups are usually
kept for about 3 months, and in this time the stages of group development are
clearly demonstrated. Few groups at this
age group truly met the performance level, but many made it to a norming
stage. There always seemed to be one
tribe that never made it past storming, however. This is interesting and may be an indicator
to the researcher to make the groups more even in the future. The storming periods served as the greatest
lessons for the students as they were able to put conflict resolution
strategies to use and the teacher took a step back to give them to space to
solve their own problems (but also provided guidance throughout the process).
The
leadership education that was offered from January to June 2013 was successful
overall based on student reflections and teacher observations. The next step in the process will be to make
the second implementation more structured and data driven. Other weaknesses in the program included: not
enough integration between the different programs such as the 7 Habits and
Tribes; fully teacher-driven implementation (not enough student input); not
enough opportunities given to students to practice their leadership skills.
IMPROVING
THE PROGRAM
Based on findings
from the first implementation that consisted of student self-reflections,
conferences with parents, and teacher observations, as well as further research,
there were many ways for the new curriculum to be improved. First, the curriculum became an integrated
program that ran throughout the entire year.
This is what makes it different than many other character education
programs, and week-long programs that currently exist. The importance of integration and tying the
leadership themes into the everyday classroom were emphasized for
continuity. Students were able to find
opportunities for leadership, even if they were small, in the world around
them- in school, at home, in extracurricular activities. Character education tends to focus on themes
once a month, or so, and the ideas are not always carried over into their daily
lives. Most leadership programs that
exist for adolescents are week-long and very powerful, but not all participants
will take it home and put it into everyday use.
Some
other ways the curriculum was improved was to gather more qualitative data for
the second implementation, students completed self-evaluations at the
beginning, middle, and end of the year to track their growth in different
aspects of youth and leadership development.
The curriculum needed be more structured to have clearer goals. It integrated the main components better so
that the leadership education did not get in the way of students’ academic
education.
One
way for students to practice leadership skills was through teambuilding
activities, which helped them foster their communication, teamwork, and
creativity skills in fun ways. This was
effective practice for the age group of 8-9 year olds. However, to give them more authentic and
meaningful opportunities to practice, the students will be working towards a
classroom leadership service project at the end of the year. The researcher will work hard to create a
strong adult-youth relationship so that by the end of the year, the students have
more power and influence in what they do.
The students will formulate their own service project as a class, with
minimal help from the researcher.
To foster reflective practice,
students kept a Leadership Binder in the second implementation. Here they took notes on the 7 Habits, had
space to record real life examples of leadership, reflect on positive leaders
in their lives and in the world, and make journal responses. Debriefing sessions took place after
teambuilding activities to reflect on specific skills and experiences. A part of the Tribes program encourages
“community circles” where the class will met daily in a circle to discuss and
reflect on various things. Community
circles were done in the first implementation, but not on a regular basis. In the 2013-2014 school year, the class met
as a community circle daily.
The program is 4 months into its
run, and results this school year have been positive. Students are connecting with the 7 Habits,
are showing stronger conflict resolution skills, and are taking on small
leadership roles. They are excited to
revisit each habit again in trimester two of the school year. The researcher is excited to see more results
as the year goes on. Please see Leadership Project Documents for a brief curriculum outline and the self-evaluations that
were used in the 2013-2014 school year.
