Team work is a good foundation for building on leadership skills.
Some children are born leaders, and some children tend to take on the role of followers. Although not all children will be leaders, it is is still important to teach them leadership skills. There may be times where they will need to act as leaders, and having leadership qualities will assist in this process.
Line Leader Activity
Students in elementary schools will often leave the classrooms in groups. At this time, the teacher will instruct the students to create a single file line. She will appoint a leader to lead the way to the destination while behaving properly. Draw names from a hat, and the order they are chosen will be the order that they will take a turn as line leader. Line leaders will assist the teacher, and this teaches responsibility because they hold some responsibility if the students in line do not behave appropriately.
Monitor Activity
A student monitor is a student that oversees other children while the teacher is not present. During lunch and recess times, the monitor will be the classroom helper. This activity will teach responsibility and leadership skills to students that hold the monitor position. Children in older grades can be assigned to classrooms of children in a younger grade level. This activity can be volunteer or required work by the students. When students participate as monitors, they will learn to communicate with the other students as an authority figure.
Classroom Politics Activity
Although schools may already hold elections for class officials, create smaller elections to offer more opportunities to other students. These small elections can take place monthly and can delegate positions of power over smaller matters. Some ideas for classroom politics include taking attendance, reading announcements, writing information on a chalkboard and making certain decisions on homework. These positions can also be randomly assigned, but a small election will teach students more about run for office. Holding a position of power will have a positive impact on students interested in politics.
Team Activities
Placing students on randomly selected teams for activities will help diversify groups. Students will not be working with their friends, so there will not be a popularity vote when choosing a leader. Require the students to decide on a leader by themselves. If the group wants to succeed, the students will work together and find out each others strengths and weaknesses to determine who will play what part. This not only helps them display their leadership skills, but it also helps students to communicate well with other people they may not know.
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