Next Steps
I would have loved to pursue my research into additional phases, but time was against me as the school year ended shortly after Phase 2, following a successful exhibition night.
If time wasn’t a factor, I would implement a third phase by creating a stronger learning environment and measure how students positioned as leaders continued to affect student motivation and ability to revise. The environment could revolve around students’ motivation and ability to revise written assignments such as persuasive or creative papers, but without the prospect of an audience, thus reducing the number of external factors which can skew data. I would also monitor whether students positioned as leaders encouraged their peers to adopt leadership roles. A crucial factor of Phase 3 would be coaching students how to be leaders. My student feedback form included the question, “What makes an effective leader?” eliciting such responses as:
Someone who knows what they're doing, has the confidence to speak out, and the charisma that people listen to.
An effective leader is someone who is willing to listen to group concerns, is flexible, and brings a positive energy to the group.
Sharing the work. Getting your hands dirty like the rest of us.
An effective leader is someone who can motivate and organize a group into working at their peak and produce the greatest product they can while still keeping the group sane and not hateful.
In order for a leader to be effective they must be assertive and not afraid to speak up when necessary. They should also be knowledgeable in the topic they are teaching and a likable person, so people want to do their best to comply.
Responses indicate a wide variety of skills students look for in a leader, highlighting the complex, multi-faceted role of a leader, emphasizing the need for formal coaching to master all these skills. This could lead to students formally creating their own leadership style encouraging the revision process.
Beyond the revision process it would also be interesting to further explore how students as leaders affects their ability to collaborate. Many highlighted areas of improvement as:
Encouraging peers
Working one-on-one with the other actors, not just leading all the time. And being more attentive to quieter students
Giving people space
Giving other more opportunities to be a leader
Recognizing the need to
Invest myself more in the group
Take myself out of the picture more, be more of an observer with intermittent comments
Although collaboration and peer interaction increased, there is room for further improvement. Therefore, my Phase 3 question may look something like:
How is student learning affected when students receive leadership coaching?
My role would be to provide coaching in mini-workshops. It could be done subtly, providing leadership coaching to all students, without an expressed expectation of them adopting taught skills, but implicitly providing opportunities for students to take on more responsibility. I could then monitor who takes advantage of these opportunities, and how effective they are at leading. These workshops could take a variety of forms, but one might be to use Ted Talks to promote leadership values. There are a wealth of videos, including these:
If time wasn’t a factor, I would implement a third phase by creating a stronger learning environment and measure how students positioned as leaders continued to affect student motivation and ability to revise. The environment could revolve around students’ motivation and ability to revise written assignments such as persuasive or creative papers, but without the prospect of an audience, thus reducing the number of external factors which can skew data. I would also monitor whether students positioned as leaders encouraged their peers to adopt leadership roles. A crucial factor of Phase 3 would be coaching students how to be leaders. My student feedback form included the question, “What makes an effective leader?” eliciting such responses as:
Someone who knows what they're doing, has the confidence to speak out, and the charisma that people listen to.
An effective leader is someone who is willing to listen to group concerns, is flexible, and brings a positive energy to the group.
Sharing the work. Getting your hands dirty like the rest of us.
An effective leader is someone who can motivate and organize a group into working at their peak and produce the greatest product they can while still keeping the group sane and not hateful.
In order for a leader to be effective they must be assertive and not afraid to speak up when necessary. They should also be knowledgeable in the topic they are teaching and a likable person, so people want to do their best to comply.
Responses indicate a wide variety of skills students look for in a leader, highlighting the complex, multi-faceted role of a leader, emphasizing the need for formal coaching to master all these skills. This could lead to students formally creating their own leadership style encouraging the revision process.
Beyond the revision process it would also be interesting to further explore how students as leaders affects their ability to collaborate. Many highlighted areas of improvement as:
Encouraging peers
Working one-on-one with the other actors, not just leading all the time. And being more attentive to quieter students
Giving people space
Giving other more opportunities to be a leader
Recognizing the need to
Invest myself more in the group
Take myself out of the picture more, be more of an observer with intermittent comments
Although collaboration and peer interaction increased, there is room for further improvement. Therefore, my Phase 3 question may look something like:
How is student learning affected when students receive leadership coaching?
- How is student motivation to revise affected?
- How is student ability to revise affected?
- How is student collaboration affected?
- What is the impact on how students perceive themselves?
- What is the impact on how students perceive their peers?
My role would be to provide coaching in mini-workshops. It could be done subtly, providing leadership coaching to all students, without an expressed expectation of them adopting taught skills, but implicitly providing opportunities for students to take on more responsibility. I could then monitor who takes advantage of these opportunities, and how effective they are at leading. These workshops could take a variety of forms, but one might be to use Ted Talks to promote leadership values. There are a wealth of videos, including these:
|
|
Coaching leadership in a safe environment such as the classroom, allows students to become effective leaders in the workplace. Leadership skills are crucial to a successful career and certainly something Yong Zhao, mentioned throughout my literature review, would promote in order to create entrepreneurs.