How do you teach leadership in high school?
I was recently asked by a high school teacher about ideas for teaching leadership to teenagers (She heard about Making things happen, and is considering applying some of its content). They start in middle-school and the students are hand picked to continue throughout highschool:
The Middle School Leadership students are in seventh and eighth grade (12-14 years old). Every year they are hand picked or re-picked. If they demonstrate “leadership skills” they may apply to the High School Leadership class. These are the students who will primarily benefit from your perspectives on project management and leadership.
In an effort to stave off senioritis I would also like to incorporate some of the project management and leadership lessons in my twelfth grade honors and regular curriculum this year. Any suggestions?
I have my own ideas, but I’m hoping some of you will offer thoughts or experience. Anyone know of other programs like this? Or have experience running leadership programs for high school age students? Please leave a comment. Cheers.
Sir Ken Robinson gave a talk at TED about creativity in education (or the stifling of it as the case may be). I have always been passionate about teaching and have taught both in corporate America as well as at the Junior College level. After listening to Sir Robinson, it came to mind that I would love to have students pick an issue facing the world (Malaria, fresh water shortages, energy shortages, etc). And have students come up with a solution. Plan the project from start to finish. It can’t just be something where one side essentially donates the solution. No, it must be a solution that can be viable from a business sense. The instructor’s responsibility would be to guide them thru the considerations that they would have to make in having a truly viable solution. I believe we may be surprised at the ideas and solutions that come out of that class.
One of the big aspects of the Boy Scouts program is leadership development. They have a week long training program that is called National Youth Leadership Training. Both of my sons, now 18 and 22 years old, have attended it and gave it high marks as far as the leadership skills they received from the course.
For more information, here is the link to an entry in Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Youth_Leadership_Training
@snarky comment: Wouldn’t it be better to offer leadership and project management classes to the students who do not display “leadership skills?”
Project Management is a skill which is separate from leadership. Things like management of scope and expectations at the low end, to EVM and cost accounting at the high end.
Being good at one is not the same thing as being good at the other, and those who get the two confused are usually doomed to failure.
Either can be fun to chuckle at though – watching a leader confidently lead his team off a cliff he doesn’t know about, or watching a manager measure predict how bad his failure will be and not being able to convince his team to change things.
I think I would try and teach them a slightly different class – project survival skills. Stress:
– Promising things is dangerous.
– How to regnegotiate when things go wrong.
– How to present requests for change.
– Calculating risk and reward.
– How to work out who to keep informed.
But then this line of work turns you cynical fast :)
@Sam
But then, who would the followers be? A society full of leaders isn’t going anywhere ;)
On Topic:
I don’t think leadership can be taught, per se. But it is possible to give an individual the opportunity to develop it. A baptism by fire, perhaps, would work well.
A series of projects, rotating groups members and leaders. Then each leader is evaluated by the group members. After a sufficient number of projects, you’ll have comments (anonymous, preferably) that rate the leadership skills of each individual. Assign individuals who are lacking specific assignments that induce them to develop skills they need to improve on.
How does that sound?
There are different kinds of leadership. There’s technical leadership (pick a random Nobel prize winner in science), charismatic leadership (Gen’l Patton), positional leadership (General George Meade, the failure who preceded Ulysses S. Grant), functional leadership (every member of a group is a team lead in a complex project with 10 people, 20 teams, and one or two people on each team). I think there were two more, I’m reaching back to a class at the Naval Academy from 12 or 13 years ago.
What they all have in common is responsibility and accountability. Those Nobel prize winners: they did what they did on a budget. Generals are responsible for their soldiers, and accountable for the actions of their soldiers. You don’t get a group of 10 people to work on a complex task unless there was a need they wanted to help fill (choose any non-profit).
You need to find ways to create a sense of responsiblity, a goal-directed environment, and the goal has to involve something the students value. That’s one of the great things about competition, which I hear is wildly out of fashion in education these days, but creating a goal-directed environment is a great way to motivate people to clearly identify a leader and followers with responsibilities. It may seem trivial, but I think that Trump show did a damn good job of that. The potential for a downside other than the reverse of the upside is also helpful.
Niels: Trump’s show was a travesty in that it rewarded cutthroat behavior for no purpose other than to create drama to serve the needs of a reality TV show. There was so much posturing and trying to look like a leader, rather than actual leadership, that I couldn’t watch it as anything other than a game show.
But specific to children, which kind of leadership do you think a teenager can learn at 13 or 14? And how, in the context of school could it be taught? That’s the question I’m asking here.
Niels makes a good point. Singling individual students out in any way, even a good way, is frowned upon. All you’re doing is risking lawsuits from the ones who *weren’t* singled out.
Why yes, I am feeling cynical today.
The West is already far to full of “leadership”. Everyone without talent wants to be a “leader” (since it’s the easiest thing to fake in the absence of skill). Just think of the countless hollow souls that are “leaders” of companies. Do we really want more such people and do you (the reader) really want such uninspiring people to tell you what to do?
We should be teaching our kids to think and to make things happen. These things are the antithesis of leadership (since you’re not waiting for one “leader”‘s blessing). These require individualism and freedom of thought.
Let’s make leadership disrespectable and replace it with cooperation & creativity.
Love the opinions guys, I really do – but I’m hoping for some practical advice for this teacher.
So double bonus points for references, links or stories related to teaching high school kids about leadership. Thx.
I’ve seen high school activities director positions that oversee different events and lead/teach the leadership class on campus. That would be an idea. I don’t know how many schools or locations offer it though…
Fraternities do a lot of leadership work, and they’re not *too* much different in age. I’d contact some national fraternal organization and ask them for ideas. When I was in college, we did a “ropes course”, which was a ton of fun, and apparently are popular for teaching leadership.
Shamiq: “But then, who would the followers be? A society full of leaders isn’t going anywhere ;)”
The same people. It’s a poor leader who can’t also follow, and nobody is a leader at everything.
Niels: “You need to find ways to create a sense of responsiblity, a goal-directed environment, and the goal has to involve something the students value. That’s one of the great things about competition”
Competition may be one way to do it, but it’s certainly not the only way. I wouldn’t even say it’s the most valuable way, since cooperative win/win ventures seem to far outnumber win/lose competitive ventures in real life. I find it hard to follow a leader whose primary methods are competitive in nature.
When in college I was in AFROTC, an officer training program for the Air Force. The primary purpose of this course was to teach leadership and I thought they did a good job of it. A similar program called JROTC exists for the high school level.
In a nutshell, the program works like this: first year students are followers and taught basic military *stuff*, second year students are mentors to the first year students… third and fourth year students are organized into a formal structure with a reporting hierarchy and individual job assignments. Students are in charge of other students providing the most demanding group you can ask to lead, your own peers.
I know this sounds well and good for a 4 year program. What about something more short term?
Juniors take a leadership development course. At my university there is a large festival that takes place every February with 30 days of work and preparation leading up to it. During this time the students of the leadership development class are put in charge of all the students in AFROTC to prepare for and participate in this event. Everyone has a sizable piece to lead with one lucky student conducting all of them. Participation is voluntary for people not taking the class meaning a lot of leadership by example is necessary. This 30 day experience was one of the most transforming for me while I was in the AFROTC program.
I’ve since left the AF but found the lessons I learned as a cadet stick with me. Whatever your thoughts are on the military, what they do here is something worth looking into.
I think we have so much “required” stuff for High Schoolers. They need more choices, I really like “Michael Minella” points on the first comment about trying to get them passionate about something. I like the whole concept of getting them to buy in.
I give talks to highschool students and have been successful in reaching them. I wrote a book on leadership and the subject of this book really is appealing to the students because many have not experienced great role models for personal leadership.
One chapter titled, “Remember, Everyone Matters really strikes home with the students as well as one titled, “Be Careful What You Say and Do.” One young 11th grader came up to me after my talk with them and said,” Thank you for coming today. Until today I did not know I could be a leader.”
This is why we need to find relevant messages that inspire these young students to believe in themselves and understand “how” they can reach levels higher than they currently think are possible…Lee Cockerell
Which book of yours are you referring to?
Thanks,
Kevin Schmidt
Hey there :)
I run a leadership program for that age group here in Australia, (and overseas in Singapore and Hong Kong).
Happy to share some of my program ideas and activities if it helps…
.. or give you a copy of my Year 7 Co-ordinator’s Teambuilding Guide for developing leadership and community at school.
send me an email to taki (at) allstarslive (dot com, and I’ll help in any way I can.
To your success,
Taki Moore
Allstars | Leadership for kids
Just been given a leadership class and have no idea what to do(grades 11/12)
Please help me!
Patty
corrected email
Interesting topic.
1. Most, if not all, of the leadership theory will be wasted on the students, because might not tend to have antecedent experience in leading and following, or b/c the theory itself may be vapid.
2. I think the main insight of problem-based learning may apply here: form or allow the students to self-select into small groups, and give them problems they are challenging enough to be just out of reach. Provide some small incentives, and stand back. Observe.
3. Meet periodically to discuss your observations, and link what you saw to theory, where it applies. This creates more vivid and memorable impressions.
4. Allow some chaos and frustration to be produced, and resist the urge to step in, up to the point of derailment.
5. There may be a natural opportunity for HS-age students to design and implement modest programs, activities for younger schoolchildren. This yields some value, and may be intrinsically motivating.
6. I don’t really have references for this, but it is a sort of amalgam of service learning, problem-based learning, and some innovative practices I’ve seen in engineering education and military junior officer development.
HTH,
James
Perhaps it is premature to focus on group leadership while a kid is in school. A child’s energy is nearly all expended on growing up, and feeling OK with peers, and so precious little energy remains for group tasks. Thus college age groups for, say, saving the black footed ferret are always more effective that a comparable high school endeavor.
“Accepting responsibility” was something I associated with nerds, not with popular students (with Buffy, not Cordelia)…. I recall an eight a.m. class in first year college where the folding desks were not light but bizarrely heavy. Noisy to unfold. Our small class number was constant, but every class the number of chairs unfolded chairs varied. And, it being morning, you could be sure that some students would be late. I could have counted heads and unfolded any needed chairs to avoid noisy class disruption but I never did. Memory is dim but I believe I was afraid to look uncool and responsible. Oh, and if my first-year peers gave a party? It was not cool to plan, not even, say, for counting ashtrays needed.
If leadership for a group first requires group commitment to a task, and if kids, judging by their group behavior, are task/commitment phobic, (they have a million ways of running away from the task) then perhaps the solution is to develop not so much leadership in terms of projects and followers, but in self management. As Ben Franklin noted, Caesar did not deserve a triumph as much as a person who conquered himself. Call it pre-leadership training.
During my NCO training we made a list of all the qualities of a good soldier. Then a list of what a good NCO did. The latter list was not much longer than the first. Meaning: To be a good leader you must first be a good follower.
At the student level this means the basics: cleaning up any mess, keeping your word, being punctual, neat and clear in writing and speaking, polite… without excuses. Perhaps students could support each other in this.
At my university toastmaster club the actual speeches were less than a quarter of the meeting time. The rest was people being accountable for little speaking roles that helped the meeting to run. They had to- without excuses- show up on time, be clear, be prepared… maybe that is what this teacher could facilitate her students doing.
Scott, I am the chair of the Education Committee at a private Christian pcollege prpe school in Ohio and we’re instituting a program now. Our best vetted resource has been Blanchard’s Situational Leadership for Teens as content, but we’re blessed with a lot of talented parents who will also bring in fundamentals like mission statement writing (might want to look at Laurie Beth Jones’ Path4Teens as a start), goal setting, communications and presentation skills, collaboration, influence, and negotiation skills. The objective and final deliverable for seniors could be anything from a true Senior Research seminar (put together along the lines of one response here: build a solution to a world problem, sophomore year through senior year, in a team setting) to a Senior Capstone presentation. It can be done and can be very powerful! By the way – a leader leads from wherever she sits – it’s not a hierarchical title – so you can never have too many truly effective leaders!! :-) Good luck!
Hi.
I teach 2 Leadership Classes at Aloha High School in Beaverton, Oregon. If you are still interested in hearing ideas, let me know!
I don’t want to type for a while if you got it all figured out!
e
Hello! I know it was a while ago, but do you still have any resources or information you can send? I am starting to teach a leadership class and I am looking for information to make the class even better.
Hi Erin,
I teach special education (SLD) students in Chandler, Arizona. I deal with so many different levels of learning that I feel confused at times on what leadership strategies to teach. I want to give my students the best responsibility/accountability lessons for their futures, success training, and life skills. If you have anything or any advice, I am wide open.
Thank you so very much!
Russell Scott
Hi there
I work in east and south LA counseling at-risk, undeserved elementary and high school students. One of the administrators of a local high school is trying to create a leadership class (ASAP>>>of course!) at his school where is has just been named principal. We would appreciate any and all help you can offer.
thanks so much
therese funk
counseling partners of los angeles
therese@counselingpartnersofla.org
310 489 5551
we are starting a leadership type class at the high school I teach at and I have no idea where to start, we have no resources,could I get some help?
I’m very interested. I was assigned our Leadership class one day before school began this year.
How do I reach you Erin… I am very interested in learning more.
Thank you
I teach leadership to HS and MS students and it is best to do experiential activities that have a powerful debrief. email me for activities and i can send them your way.
Jill
Hi there,
I read your reply to this teacher needing resources for his/her leadership program. I am in a similar place and was interested in what you have going on in your program. Would you be able to send me some of your material?
Thanks a lot.
Jared
I would love to receive resources as well nrucker@ywlcs.org
I will also be teaching a leadership class in the fall and would love any information and activities that anyone can pass along. Jmmota13@gmail.com
I would love any info and activities that you are willing to send. Jmmota13@gmail.com
If anyone has received the resouces or project info., I would appreciate if it was sent along to me at hurleyk@gischools.org. Thanks
I would also appreciate to get the resource materials on leadership being talked about here
Hi Jill,
I am a School Principal. Am really keen to start a leadership programme for middle and high school students. Would be glad to have the activitties you’ve used. Thanks Rijeng.
I want to start a teen leadership group on my campus and I would love your ideas.
Jill, please send me more information on activities I can use with my students in my Leadership class. Thank you!
would you mind sending my your information. I would like both for ms and hs. thanks
I would love to get help…any resources you can send my way I put would be greatly appreciated. Ficek_adventures@ yahoo.com
I would love for you to send me some of the Leadership Activities you have that you mentioned on your post on scottberkun.com on March 19, 2009. I am currently in a brand new school and have an hour to work with our first year level, Year 7 students, on Leadership. Leadership is something that we will discuss for the next 6 years so anything that you could email me would be greatly appreciated!
Hi Jill
I’ll need your email address to discuss further…
Thank you.
I’d love any ideas you might be willing to share!
I am trying to get a curriculum together to teach a Leadership class at a high school in Virginia. I would appreciate any help the you can pass along. Thanks Deb
While most high schools do not offer leadership or project management programs, offering these classes could be beneficial to the students in college and beyond.
Leadership is a skill…. a combination of Art and Science. It is rooted in Values and Goals. You can teach leadership therory … mamagement what ever you care to call it. True leadership is not developed until you identify how your position of leadership impacts the needs of those you are leading and how your Values impact the leader you choose to be! Leadership is based in Presence – who you are and how others precieve you based in character – your values do you live it or just talk itr and leadership is based in Competence – what you know and how you help others learn. If you apply these competencies ito your cririculum and have a mechanism to evaluate it… until our High Schools develop an experiencial learning methodology I do not know if it is possible to develop leadership skills in High School.
I am currently developing a similar program. Some of you offered to email some information – I would appreciate any activities and tips!
Scott,
There is a book called “Leadership Games” by Stephen Kagaan. The activities within are designed for use in large organizations but can be altered for use with high school students. There are 25 activities in the book. It is a bit pricey, but I found it for $20.00 on Albiris. Hope this helps.
I am a teacher in a remote, rural school district in Alaska. A few years back we recognized that leadership within our district had drastically dropped off. Under the guidance of our School-to-Life program coordinator, several staff got together and formed the Student Leadership Advisory Committee (SLAC). We put together a leadership program that continually evolves as our students grow and their needs change. Our main goal is to expose all students in the district to the traits of a good leader, which were determined and described by our original group of leadership students. We expose students to these traits through lessons written by the members of the SLAC and implemented by the student leaders (though we are currently in the process of teaching our student leaders how to develop this curriculum themselves). Because our 13 village schools are spread out around 29,000 square miles, we have to fly our students into one village for athletic events, which we have turned into Leadership and Athletics Jamborees, adding an extra day to engage the students in leadership activities. Downtime between games is also filled with leadership activities. Plus, students in the leadership group also take time to present lessons to the younger kids in the classroom at the schools in which the jamborees are held (the jamborees are always in different villages so that all the students in the district get a chance at exposure to the leadership curriculum). The results have been awesome to watch, and our whole SLAC is incredibly proud of our leadership kids and the participants in the jamborees.
I currently teach high school leadership classes, and am very interested in your program, especially the student advisory committee. I love the idea of the older students mentoring younger ones. Could you share with me any resources or ideas you have found especially worthwhile?
Thank you!
could you share them with me too?
I would very much appreciate it if you would be willing to share the traits you identified as most important for teen leaders.
Thank you
Art
Contact your local Toastmasters International club. Toastmasters International offers a program of practicing leadership and public speaking in a supportive environment. Ask for someone who has an advanced designation to come to speak to your group.
hello! I am an Empowerment Coach for women, children and parents and also deliver leadership programs for businesses and organisations. I am in consultation with some schools now about running leadership programs in schools to empower young children. My aim is to teach life skills that is not taught at school. With the right help, right influence, role models and experience, I believe everyone can reach for their dreams with unshakeable confidence.
I have completed a Bachelor of Scinece (Hons) from UNSW and worked as a Social Scientist and studied human behaviour for 10 years in both the public and private sector in Sydney. I have worked extensively with organisations such as The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), News Limited (Newspoll) and Tourism Australia. I moved into Life and Performance coaching three years ago to assist and inspire people to become influential leaders and people.
I have featured in magazines and editorials and am also the resident Life Coach for an online company http://www.mumzone.com.au.
I am passionate about healing mothers, women, children from the inside out to be the best they can be. I am passionate about assiting children to overcome self limiting beliefs, setting and achieving goals, improving communication skills and confidence. I am also committed to working with leaders in communities to achieve positive change. My philosophy is to
Several years ago, I worked on a joint project between Hewlett-Packard Company and the Roseville Joint Union High School District to develop a teaching module to teach Project Management. Several teachers at Woodcreek High School in Roseville, CA put the unit to work successfully in Math and Science classes, but they were unable to continue with it for a long term due to the need to focus solely on state requirements. Another teacher from across the country put it to work for one of her English classes and showed measureable improvement in her class’ results, in both grades and productivity. The module and the research results can be found here: http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/grants/us/education/mission_proj_mgmt.html .
I am a grade twelve student and president of my High School. I think it would be better to leave it open to any students who want to join it. some may want to be leaders but just dont know how and need some help and when given the option instead of put in the class i think the students would enjoy it more.
Wynand: You claerly are not making a distinction between good leadership and poor leadership, which is what you seem to be ranting about.
Scott, email me, I have led practical leadership training for teenagers and young adults in Western and Central Europe and at US curruculum international schools. All projects work around current curruculae and do not require additional space, time or teachers. As this is a commercial venture for me I do not wish to discuss this in open, but happy to chat with you in private.
Duncan, would you mind if I contact you directly? where do I reach you?. I am starting a venture in LATAM over this subject and would very much appreciate to have a chat with you. Do you have a formal consulting business running? how is it called?
Hi
I’m very interested inthis teaching/training but how can u send me useful materials to study and work with?
The teacher could lead by example by getting involved with her community association, teacher’s union, a club and so forth. Then she could share real-world lessons and attitudes.
Sometimes it OK to not lead while having the willingness to stay aware of the big picture. A non-leader, in contrast, not only does not lead but truly prefers to be an uninformed cog in a machine. My catchphrase is “A leader is someone who will lift up her eyes.”
Teaching leadership skills is key. My mission is currently to teach effective lifestyle habits that lead to a long term healthy life. Basically, if you are going to be a leader, you have to take care of yourself….walk the talk….be model. With a fitness, nutrition and motivational background, i work to empower students that successful leadership starts from within.
Let me know if I can assist!
thanks……Marie Baumuller Mozzi
This is my philosophy, also! Who can respect an obese, out-of-shape Physical Education teacher?! It’s truly about walking the walk. I have two high school level leadership classes, one with grades 9-10, one with grades 11-12. I would appreciate any resources you could share that will help me instill this philosophy in my classes.
Thanks!
Hi there…I currently teach 9th grade leadership, this is my first year. Next year I’m taking over 5 classes, 10th-11th mixed, and 12th alone. How do you make your courses different? do you have kids that take it all 4 years? Does it just keep repeating same material?
Thanks!
Hello,
I am looking for resources to teach a MS leadership class and do not know where to begin. I came across your comment on this blog
From reading the comments I see a couple of themes. 1) People want specific resources or things they can do in their class or program for high school students. 2) People think that HS leadership programs and courses can learn a lot from what is happening in colleges. There is a Root Down & Branch Out book at http://amzn.to/w5MnwW that lists best practices for student leadership programs (the research was done on college students). This might help in both of these areas. Some of the best practices relate to service learning, projects, student groups, one-on-one mentoring, reflection, student choice, “episodes of difference,” assessment, etc.
I am going to start leadership program for grade 11. Please guide me or give me ideas.
Regards
Hello all!
I am a Business Teacher in Upstate NY and next year we are implementing a 1/2 yr. Leadership course. If any of you can send information regarding the resources that you currently have to teach the course, I would greatly appreciate it.
Thanks again –
RoseMarie
Check out the Lead America Program of Mr Chris Salamone, who has formerly served as a faculty member at Loyola University Chicago School of Law and the National Institute of Trial Advocacy, and served as a leadership curriculum adviser at The University of Central Oklahoma. Chris Salamone works to improve the lives of young people around the world through his many philanthropic endeavors. LeadAmerica is one of our nation’s most respected youth leadership organizations with an unwavering commitment to quality and excellence in our academic offerings. Mission is to ‘inspire and empower our young people to achieve their full potential and instill in them a sense of purpose, integrity, self confidence, and personal responsibility.’ This is achieved through engaging students (high school for most programs and middle school for a few) in conferences that combine challenging academics with hands-on experiential learning.
http://bit.ly/1TUe62W
Hello,
I will be teaching a much needed Leadership class to a year long 50 min 8th grade class. Any materials, info websites, etc. that you think will help set up and keep this class going is much appreciated.
Thank you.
Leadership provides with the opportunity to lead. Especially it is important for college students to enroll themselves in leadership programs, as it helps them to learn and lead during their college years. Students go thorough complete transformation by attending such programs. It develop many attributes to their personality like it helps them to gain confidence, development of communication skills, expansion of their network, getting management skills, development of problem solving skill, getting recognized, enhance resume and many more. Mr Chris Salamone https://about.me/chrissalamone formerly served as a faculty member at Loyola University Chicago School of Law and the National Institute of Trial Advocacy, and served as a leadership curriculum adviser at The University of Central Oklahoma. Chris Salamone works to improve the lives of young people around the world through his many philanthropic endeavors. To this end, he functions as chairman of the Lead America Foundation and extends a considerable amount of financial support to fund the education of 300 children in Haiti.
Any resources to share would be hugely helpful! I’m a high school teacher wholl be teaching a gr. 12 university leadership course next year.
thx.
yvonne.bienko@yahoo.ca
I work with teens to help teach them leadership and personal growth, and I have noticed that most kids intuitively know what is right and what they SHOULD do, but they all seem to be waiting for the adults to tell them to do it or give them permission.
I think a lot of kids doubt themselves, and they end up going with the flow. If they just had a type of mentor, most kids would create way better results! https://www.preparemykid.com
Taking up leadership roles during high school will surely help students when they go to college. I have to agree with Katie here that this should be open to any students who want to join it.