This year my school had received a grant of $25,000 in order to implement a program intended to improve the overall environment and performance of the school. This program is called "The Leader in Me" (LiM). Last year for our monthly meetings we had to read chapters in the book written for this program and discuss ways it would help improve our methods and strategies. This year we have a coach that is sent from the program to help implement its model into our current curriculum.
After reading this week's course readings on curriculum development I started to wonder if all schools adopted this method into its curriculum. Because goal setting is so important in developing and changing curriculum, I thought about this program and the goals that I started in the training of this program. I realized that LiM is aimed to empower individuality and create leaders in students to make education more student- centered and less teacher- led. The model is based on The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, which is a book written by Stephen Covey. This model was originally made to improve workers in the business world and increase profits which ultimately creates successful individuals. Now with this program we are about to introduce it to schools.
About Leader in Me
About Leader in Me
Please check out the resources on the web site and watch the video labeled Why Leader in Me Works.
Would you want to implement this program in your school?
How would you apply the model to your own life?
How can we teach students how to become leaders in their own education?
Why is this model important to you?
Do you predict this will work in your school?
This sounds like a very interesting program and definitely think that it would be a beneficial program for your school. However, I am still having a hard time envisioning how this would work in a school setting, and what would need to change in order for it to be successful.
ReplyDeleteI could use this model in my own life by reminding myself that everyone has the opportunity to be a leader and that everyone has potential. This model is important to me because I think that it is necessary for all students to believe that they can succeed. I could bring this model into my teaching by having students become leaders within my classroom. I think that a great example of this is giving students classroom jobs and having them be responsible for completing the tasks that are assigned to them.
A larger way to have students become leaders in their own education is to give students assignments in which they are solving problems about issues that are important to them. Students can interact and learn from students across the globe. They can find global issues that they want to raise awareness of and that they want to create a project on.
I think that some aspects of this model would work in my school. I loved the idea of global interactions in the video. This is something that the students in my school could really benefit from. I am very intrigued and curious to see how this works in your school and how it will play out.
Christine Joannidis
Christine, thank you for sharing this resource. I had never heard about this program and enjoyed browsing the site. I think too often schools are seen as cells and not part of the "real world." It's like we're a separate entity of all other professions and businesses. When in fact, public education is a huge business. This idea of leadership has been in business forever. Why should education be any different? This ties back to Paul's post about inequity in pay for teachers. If we were seen in the same light as professionals who run businesses (our classrooms) and build brands (our students) would that change the image of educators and in turn, our pay? I believe so.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of taking the model of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen Covey and turn-keying that to our classrooms. Isn't that what we want our students to be, "highly effective?" When we consider the quote from, Richard Riley, former Secretary of Education, I believe that it should open our minds to different ways to instruct and new ideas when it comes to curriculum.
“We are currently preparing students for jobs that don’t yet exist,
Using technologies that haven’t been invented,
In order to solve problems we don’t even know are problems yet.”
I appreciate you sharing this with us! I have read the book 7 Habits of Highly Effective people, and believe in its principals. I believe my district shifted to a more student-led environment and instructional model; however I have never heard of this program.
ReplyDeleteI feel like this model is a bigger program than what I am experiencing. If I'm understanding this correctly, students choose to learn about what they're interested in; in my school its more investigated based and workshop based to encourage students' thinking and their process of learning so that they can understand more cohesively. I am just unsure of how this would work in a classroom setting when given a specific curriculum to teach, or does that become student choice too? The idea is great, but I feel like that can work as an enrichment program, I have trouble visioning that model in an elementary classroom though.