A few years ago, I started a little thing that had a major impact on my teaching and classroom management. I had no idea at the time how important it was and I am so happy that this seemingly insignificant strategy crept its way into my teaching. Caught your attention, have I?
Putting students ‘in charge’ of centers or group probably started out of desperation and being under staffed. I can’t remember the specific situation but I can probably picture it going down pretty well. I sit down to run a group. Student A gets upset in corner across the room. Student B needs to be taken to the bathroom. Student C starts throwing all the work out of his work bin. One para is at lunch and the other was pulled to translate a meeting. Sound familiar? While running to put out fires around the room, I put the most component student in my group ‘in charge.’ After sprinting manically around the room and sweating through my shirt, I come back to the group to surprisingly find my group of students playing nicely together. The student who was put ‘in charge’ unknowingly mimics the teacher tone of voice and compliments his peers. Amazing. Life changing. Press repeat.
You’d be surprised by how much your students pick up on your behavior. You are modeling good leadership, team management, and social skills. When you throw your student the ball and give them the chance to play teacher, they are ready. And suddenly – you have a group of students working nicely together. Giving one student the leader reins helps our kiddos who struggle with social norms have some structure to this group dynamic. Think about how often in one week you need to step away from your group. Remember drama is our job. We are constantly pulled away to deal with incidents, train staff, or go to meeting. Having the ability to put students ‘in charge’ will majorly change your classroom management. While putting out other fires, you are ensuring that no new fires pop up.
So I encourage you – put your students ‘in charge.’ Start small. Model. Prompt. Observe. You will be wowed 🙂
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5 Responses
Loved this!
Like you I work for the same school district and due to the to all the budget cuts I too had to rely on students to help out with some classroom duties. I call it the “peer buddy system.” At first, I felt guilty on relying on my kiddos to help out however, they stepped up to the challenge and were/are absolutely awesome. I believe it works on so many levels and boosts their self-esteem, confidence, and helps with socialization. Some of my students respond better with their friends than the with staff. We use this system to train the younger students just starting Special Olympics and it works wonderfully. I even have a few of my middle school students working with the general ed kindergartners and 1st graders with reviewing reading and math skills. It’s a win win situation for all.
Great concept!
Thanks for reading!
Love this! Thanks for sharing. I had the same initial reaction too – feeling a little guilty. But then you see all of the amazing results and wonder why you hadn’t been doing it for year! I love the Special Olympics idea – may have to steal that 😉