Leadership Class

I had the great opportunity to work with a group of homeschool students this year in the area of leadership. We got together a dozen times and discussed some of the principles and guidelines for effective leadership. It was a new experience for me because the students were middle schoolers (grades 5-8). I am more comfortable sharing about leadership with adults – I have even taught a class a couple of times involving high school students, but 11-14 year-olds was a stretch for me.

I was a little unsure of what to share and at what level the students might be able to comprehend the material. Obviously their experience is limited and most of them have not been CEOs of major organizations. Only the other hand all of them have responsibilities at home, relationships to build, opportunities for teamwork. One of the keys to effective leadership is displaying authenticity and making decisions with integrity - everyone (no matter what the age) can grow in character development.

I learned a lot during the 12 sessions. We met two times a month so the sessions extended over six months of the school year. Some of the ideas I tried went well – some bombed, but the students were always gracious and kind. I found them to be very intelligent and willing to learn. I was even amazed at times at how attentive they were. I found the students willing to enter discussions and share their perspectives. And their perspectives were filled with really good insights.

We played some games with leadership lessons at the core – teamwork, communication skills, creativity, and problem solving. I think they enjoyed the games most of all - they loved to be involved and active. We enjoyed an Amazing Race with newspapers, putting together a jigsaw puzzle with no picture as a guide, brainstorming a name for a new soft drink, and playing “follow the leader.” I found that prizes, particularly food, really helped motivate the class.

We tried to identify leaders just by pictures and realized that leadership is much more about character than it is about looks. We took an imaginary trip to the South Pole choosing to join either the Norwegian expedition or the British team based upon planning decisions made by the original groups that raced to the pole in 1913. One expedition won the race and retuned without a major injury; the other made it to the pole but all five explorers died on the return journey. We took another mental field trip to the Grand Canyon and considered the many decisions that needed to be made for a hike from rim to rim of God’s Canyon. Having made the trip last summer, I was also able to share some of the leadership lessons (and some photos) I learned from the adventure.

We talked a lot about positive and negative examples of leadership in the Bible: Moses, Joshua, Caleb, Saul, David, Zacchaeus, and Nehemiah. As a group, we discussed some models of effective leadership including John Wooden’s pyramid of effective leadership and Jim Laub’s model of servant leadership. Vision was a topic of discussion several times during our sessions. By examining the lives of some incredible people (Mozart, Wesley, Braille, and King Josiah) who developed vision early in life, the students hopefully gained an appreciation for what they are capable of doing at a young age. We also took some time to look at John Goddard’s list of 127 goals that he made at 15 years of age.

I ran out of time most weeks and I think I missed the target with some of my material, but I really enjoyed the experience.