Post by ellen on Oct 27, 2016 18:07:25 GMT 8
A lot has been told about creating a leader in the classroom. Probably I'm going to repeat a lot of what was said.
To start with, when I saw this topic immediately I recalled my first day in i2. 1 on 3 class, three boys, and one of them is a manifest leader - if he likes the game everyone enjoys it. If he is bored, everyone says "tai wuliao" (too boring). The problem was worsened by his level which was higher than that of the other boys. The leader was bored; the class was a total disaster. The third time I came to class, the situation was saved by an approach similar to Lucas's (even though it didn't have this level of perfection
) Interestingly, my "troublemaker" was the one who gave this idea. Before the class, he whispered to his mother that he wanted to be a teacher that day. So he was allowed to draw and erase stars, to choose a student to give the answer and so on. It was a perfect class, and we used the system of choosing a leader at the beginning of the class every time since then.
It was just a preamble
I can hardly think of anything to add to what was said before, as I use approximately the same methods. The thing that I mostly use is good old "You are the teacher." But there is one more thing I'd like to point at speaking about creating a classroom leader.
Assigning a leader role for a student we need to understand his/her personal traits and specialties. Being a leader shouldn't go against the principles listed on page 11, including 'feeling at home,' feeling happy and safe. Be a leader may be a serious stress and trial especially for some younger students (3-4-year-olds). It doesn't mean that we are giving up on these students. What's the purpose of assigning a leader in the classroom? From my point of view, the aim is to make a student comfortable with leading role in the conversation, confident and easy using language (apart from benefits it provides for daily life like self-reliance for example). So how to trick shy students into being a leader? (Whether for the whole lesson or just for one activity.) Here's what I think. (The following is going just to summarize other posts' ideas).
The first way to do this is to settle routines for the 'leader' (or helper) in the classroom so that even the shyest and quietest student can feel comfortable with all the tasks (or better privileges) that the leader does. While setting the routines let more confident, and outgoing students be a helper. The role of the helper can include some standard questions in the beginning of the lesson (ask every student "How are you?", "What day is today?", "How is the weather?" and so on), handing out worksheets (using proper language), counting stars at the end of the class etc.
The other way is to use games as a disguise for leading role. In some cases the phrase 'You're the teacher' itself causes reluctance to continue the game. Some games don't require any commands to change over. That's why I like "monsters (sharks/lions/tigers)" games, where the monster (aka leader) gives directions to the students and 'eats' those making mistakes or being too slow or anything else depending on the game (causing them becoming the next "monster"). Of course, the teacher needs to monitor the process (for example becoming the monster from time to time to 'eat' those students who never participate).
In conclusion, I wanted to mention that every community, group of people, and every class have leaders. This is just the way it is; we can assign a leader for a game or the whole class, but there will always be a kid whose opinion and ideas are more valuable for his/her classmates, who wants to show an example or try new activity first. It is our responsibility to use it for the benefit of the lesson and to get the “leadership energy” flowing in the right direction.
To start with, when I saw this topic immediately I recalled my first day in i2. 1 on 3 class, three boys, and one of them is a manifest leader - if he likes the game everyone enjoys it. If he is bored, everyone says "tai wuliao" (too boring). The problem was worsened by his level which was higher than that of the other boys. The leader was bored; the class was a total disaster. The third time I came to class, the situation was saved by an approach similar to Lucas's (even though it didn't have this level of perfection
) Interestingly, my "troublemaker" was the one who gave this idea. Before the class, he whispered to his mother that he wanted to be a teacher that day. So he was allowed to draw and erase stars, to choose a student to give the answer and so on. It was a perfect class, and we used the system of choosing a leader at the beginning of the class every time since then.It was just a preamble
I can hardly think of anything to add to what was said before, as I use approximately the same methods. The thing that I mostly use is good old "You are the teacher." But there is one more thing I'd like to point at speaking about creating a classroom leader.
Assigning a leader role for a student we need to understand his/her personal traits and specialties. Being a leader shouldn't go against the principles listed on page 11, including 'feeling at home,' feeling happy and safe. Be a leader may be a serious stress and trial especially for some younger students (3-4-year-olds). It doesn't mean that we are giving up on these students. What's the purpose of assigning a leader in the classroom? From my point of view, the aim is to make a student comfortable with leading role in the conversation, confident and easy using language (apart from benefits it provides for daily life like self-reliance for example). So how to trick shy students into being a leader? (Whether for the whole lesson or just for one activity.) Here's what I think. (The following is going just to summarize other posts' ideas).
The first way to do this is to settle routines for the 'leader' (or helper) in the classroom so that even the shyest and quietest student can feel comfortable with all the tasks (or better privileges) that the leader does. While setting the routines let more confident, and outgoing students be a helper. The role of the helper can include some standard questions in the beginning of the lesson (ask every student "How are you?", "What day is today?", "How is the weather?" and so on), handing out worksheets (using proper language), counting stars at the end of the class etc.
The other way is to use games as a disguise for leading role. In some cases the phrase 'You're the teacher' itself causes reluctance to continue the game. Some games don't require any commands to change over. That's why I like "monsters (sharks/lions/tigers)" games, where the monster (aka leader) gives directions to the students and 'eats' those making mistakes or being too slow or anything else depending on the game (causing them becoming the next "monster"). Of course, the teacher needs to monitor the process (for example becoming the monster from time to time to 'eat' those students who never participate).
In conclusion, I wanted to mention that every community, group of people, and every class have leaders. This is just the way it is; we can assign a leader for a game or the whole class, but there will always be a kid whose opinion and ideas are more valuable for his/her classmates, who wants to show an example or try new activity first. It is our responsibility to use it for the benefit of the lesson and to get the “leadership energy” flowing in the right direction.
