Promoting student leadership in the classroom
Education is all about preparing students for the future. Teachers do this in many ways – by teaching the basics of math, science, and civics, by maintaining discipline and having standards of decorum in the classroom, and by providing a positive example to their students.
One important facet of preparing students for the future is through student leadership programs. From kindergarten until high school graduation, providing opportunities for student leadership gives students a place to work on the skills they need to effectively work as members of a team.
“A student’s K-12 career is their chance to explore and find where they fit in their community,” said Laura Scheibe, director of College, Career, and Student Success at the Department of Education (DOE). “Life will call upon our youth to step up – be it as a team coach, a business owner, a legislator, or any of the myriad other ways our communities need leaders. Preparing for those chances while they are still within the safe walls of school, finding and refining those leadership skills while they have caring adults around them, can make all the difference to whether they succeed years later.”
Schools offer students a variety of ways to work on their leadership skills, both formally and informally. Clubs, athletics, student government, and everyday student life can be important for building confidence in leadership and a sense of civic responsibility.
The DOE has programs that aim to specifically develop leadership qualities in students. The Career and Technical Student Organization (CTSO) Center seeks to help students with professional development and leadership skills. It particularly works with Career and Technical Education (CTE) teachers to help students prepare for careers post-graduation. Some of the organizations that CTSO partners with include Future Farmers of America, Future Business Leaders of America, and Educators Rising.
Another program that has been successfully building leaders in South Dakota is JAG, or Jobs for America’s Graduates. JAG seeks to find students who are facing barriers to success and works with them from 7th to 12th grade to develop leadership qualities that can help them find their voice and a path to success.
Although most leadership opportunities come in middle and high school, teachers in elementary schools can also work to foster leadership qualities in their students. Steph Marquardt, a 5th grade teacher at Bridgewater-Emery Elementary School, leads her school’s 5th grade student council. She and her co-leader Gary Thury have developed a program that helps students lead in community outreach programs. Their students serve meals at senior centers, visit nursing homes, organize fundraisers, and take part in other activities that allow the kids to be a part of solutions in the community. The program is very successful: her school gained recognition as a National Blue Ribbon School this year, and the school’s principal, Kim Aman, credits the student council program as a major part of the school’s academic success.
Marquardt has suggestions for elementary teachers looking to develop leaders in the classroom: “Encourage your students to be problem solvers,” she said. “Allow student-led learning where you focus on student needs and value their independence in learning.”
Thury has seen the benefits of fostering leadership abilities in elementary students. “It gives them a sense of belonging,” he said. “We allow them that leadership to help make changes, and that gives them a sense of ownership, or responsibility, of their own lives. And it grows from there.”
To learn more about DOE’s Career and Technical Student Organization Center and its programming, contact Katie Paulson at (605)882-5284.