I recently started letting the students be the "teachers" in class. During reading time I let the students mirror vocabulary words and the say "teach." The students have so much fun thinking of creative ways to say "teach." They love being the teacher and teaching their peers!! The other students respond really well to this. When it's time to mirror words, almost every hand in the room is up. The students feel so confident being able to do this. It has brought a lot of excitement into our room!!!

TOni~
This is great! We are calling this "leaders" and trying out having student leaders to lead out the "Teach!Okay!" and even the "Class! Yes!" and other procedural tasks. It is awesome to build leadership skills this way:)!!!
Andrea

I do this first thing as a review of previous day activities/objectives for science. Students love being the teacher and watching me be a student (and they are paying attention to the review:) Love it!!!I've also noticed they are best at teaching me a gesture for the vocabulary words we are using. They are taking ownership of their learning!! So excited for this year!

Thank you Andrea for letting me know we are using "leaders". I agree that the students are great at creating their own gestures for vocabulary words. It's nice to see their creative side. I am also picking a leader every morning to review the 5 rules. The students love it!

Leadership is really, as Biff says, such an untapped resource in our students, and I think we'll really begin to discover that classroom leadership becomes an integral piece in our classroom communities. The truth is, our classrooms already have leaders in it. We simply need to identify those leaders, nurture those abilities, and use those leadership talents for good in our classroom communities. It's just one further step to self-managing classroom!

guess what? It works for adults too:)
Biff can attest to how this is working in his college courses, and I can tell you it was a blast at the conference I just taught in FLorida. This was the first time I had used it in a conference ever~ other than when I had teachers come in and "lead" the rules. At the conference I used it only for Class! Yes! and Teach! Okay!. You shoulda seen all the creativity that was coming out with the different voices, gestures, and variations. I got alot of fun ideas to steal:)! It is getting me excited to use this with my kinders. In the past, I have let them lead the rules, something that they love because they get to choose the voice they use. But this is opening up a whole new opportunity for them, and I just know they are going to LOVE it:)!

Students love to feel important. I call my leaders "Lead Student Instructors", or LSI's.

Since I have started adding more opportunities for students to be "leaders" I have seen an improvement in their interest, behavior, and test scores. I have slowly been adding chances for the students to lead through each of the subjects. I have noticed that the students are more interested and their behavior has improved because they all want to be given the opportunity to get up there, and they enjoy seeing their friends teach them...it interests them! Since their behavior has been so much better, they have been gaining more points on the scoreboard. They are starting to see the fact that they get (small)incentives when they work hard and win the scoreboard game. The fact that they are "leading" makes them more accountable, so in turn they are retaining more of it. At first, I wasn't too sure how my class would handle this technique, but adding this piece to my classroom has been one of the best things I have done. I now get to step back and enjoy seeing them smile as they are learning. Thanks WBT!

slinkonna,

You write that you are seeing an improvement with the test scores. Are you in a position to share the changes? I have been asked by several teachers and other administrators for changes in test scores and grades and am having difficulty getting any information. It does not have to be scientific or well documented. Even anecdotal information would be helpful.

Thanks
Jason

I have the kids sitting in groups of four. I will call choose a team, and give them three terms or concepts that we have been working on. They talk amongst the team, and then each team stands and teaches the class the connections between the concepts.

For example:

Me: Team Two, teach the connections between ribosomes, golgi bodies and the endoplasmic reticulum!

Team Two members: Class! Mirror Gestures! The connections are ribosomes assemble proteins, golgi bodies package them for transport, and the packaged proteins move through the cell across the endoplasmic reticulum....Teach!

The kids need to have a strong understanding of the job of each part before they do this. Some mess up, and of course we say "It's cool" and correct as class, and then they teach successfully before the class tries it.

Right after I graduated, I began subbing b/c it was in the middle of the school year. I remember crying on the way to teach kindergartners...the thought of a classroom full of five year olds scared me more than thinking I might grow old, fat, and be alone for the rest of my life. But I was in luck...it was Groundhog Day. Even with the specialness of the day, the kids knew their routine so well, I basically was there to make sure a little boy named Jason didn't run.

All that to say...Chris Rekstead made a great point at a seminar he taught this past Monday. He was talking about student leaders leading the class during our absence....This got me thinking...five year olds can do that, so surely fifth graders can, too. And letting my students lead a great review would sure beat the heck out of all the busy work I have to run off so I know they aren't getting in trouble when I'm gone. AND, it makes them feel important, AND it shows how involved they are in their own learning, AND it really does mold our future leaders.....if I do this well enough, I basically could seriously have a future president sitting in my classroom.

Just think....a State of the Union Address that would do anything but make you want to change the channel....

Absolutely agree with you - having the kids lead the morning routine would save the sub a huge headache trying to figure out how to do things!!

I am still having continued success with classroom leaders. Since I have started using classroom leaders, I have seen the confidence in my students increase and increase. Students who were once shy and quiet, are now eager to have a turn to lead. It is truly amazing! It really allows students take part in their learning. Whenever visitors come in our class, they are always impressed to see children leading a classroom. For me, it is more impressive to see how engaged the students are when being led by their peers.

Reading this post gave me some new direction. We did a whole slew of benchmarks (that's what we do best in the Great State of Texas) and my students scored lower than ever....I know I know I know they know this stuff, so why aren't they performing? My boss wants to know what plan we have to get our kiddos up to where they need to be...so I'm wracking my brains.....and then I come up with all these fabulous ideas of course, but I'm still wondering, how I can I get them MOTIVATED????????????????? Then I read this post and it hit me like a big brick of "DUH!" I need to completely put it back on them, even more than I have. I need to step back and let them do the hard work-- learning. They need to lead even more. I think that is the key to get their motivation and knowledge on the same track. Pray for me, people!