The Leader in Me
By Stephen R. Covey
The Leader in Me Habits were originally designed to help instill leadership qualities in every student. Teachers were instructed to make the effort to find ways that each student, regardless of their shyness or boldness, could be leaders.
Students who are strong in one skill are asked to be tutors or to give presentations to the class. The habits were used to encourage students to respect each other for their best qualities and to build their self esteem up. It prevents them from mocking their differences or disadvantages. The habits are an instructional based program that is meant to build self-confidence as well as create a safe and secure school.
The Leader in Me program was discussed extensively during my interviews, as well as in scholarly articles that deal with Elementary leadership programs. I have outlined some of the program’s key elements below during my analysis.
Every child deserves the right to leadership. Give permission to be a leader to all students, especially in what he/she does best.
1.
The teachers leadership role is all about communicating what people’s worth and potential is, and doing so in such a clear way that it inspires the child to see it themselves.
2.
The program believes that all teachers must hold students to the same set of standards or expectations. It is important to be unified in your expectations and to hold the student accountable for their actions.
3.
The book discusses an approach called the “Ubiquitous strategy”. It is built into everything the school does. It is designed to motivate students to reach their true potential. It is important that the schools strive to go beyond the academic skills to instill in children the leadership skills and life skills that prepare them for the challenges that they will inevitably face.
4.
Covey says that children spend way too much time in front of the television. He believes that if they are not challenged in school, they will not be ready to stand on their own two feet when the time comes for them to be independent. I believe there is some truth to this, and I think that we need to be working towards more independence early on. We can prepare our students by allowing them to engage in meaningful leadership activities and by allowing them to participate in activities that are similar to what we expect adults to do. These activities be as simple engaging in assigned taskings, coordinating an activity or project on their own, working in the community to help others, and various other taskings similar to this.
5.
In the later chapters of this book, Covey talks about the independence (point 5). A key phrase he uses is that parents or teachers need to focus on making their children "Interdependent" so they can work on their own, as well as on a team. Practicing these teamwork skills may be as important or more important to their future career success.
6.
Covey believes that we need to focus on the culture element when developing leadership. We need to remember how people behave and treate each other consistently on a day to day basis. You can feel, see and hear culture every day if you just stop and listen. By focusing on these interactions between people and making an effort towards developing balance (7 Habits), we can learn positive language that will push our development along as leaders. We can reinforce those habits by highlighting them and use artwork that portrays the leadership theme (Artifacts).
7.
Provide opportunities for the student to be a leader. Create windows of opportunities for them to shine and to demonstrate their innate abilities. This can be as simple as allowing them to lead group projects, or you can act as advisor to a larger group project that they head up in the community. Allowing them to engage in these roles also allows them to build their relationship skills, reinforces their school values, and creates lasting memories that they will draw on for future leadership inspiration.
8.