Middle School Leadership Training

Published in the Middle Level Education Newsletter, Dec. 2001

At Berg Middle School in Newton, a program that serves 520 7th and 8th grade students, we decided to tackle the issue of leadership in our building. The issue came to light after discussion with our Character Committee that emphasized the lack of positive leadership in our 8th grade class.

One of the critical points that was made during this discussion was that our middle school left leadership to the whims of our students - most, if not all, of our leadership positions (student council, etc.) were selected by student vote. As one 7th grader put it, "It's just a popularity contest."

We decided that it would be better to select students who show positive leadership skills and then not only use them as leaders in the building, but also provide training on leadership for those students. We have two 8th grade teams and the teachers from each team chose 14 students they felt were positive leaders. Those students were then interviewed to make sure that they would be interested in the leadership program (all were interested).

Our first step was to take the 28 students to a two-day leadership training retreat at Camp Hantesa in Boone. The first day focused on the confidence course at Camp Hantesa and was an excellent way to provide real-life examples that require both teamwork and leadership skills.

On the second day, we utilized a leadership training consultant that normally works with adults who have been targeted by their employers as potential leaders. The consultant, Susan Wilson, from Executive Strategiesfacilitated a five hour session entitled "Leadership With Class" that focused on many facets of emerging leadership. Although Susan normally works with adults, she worked very effectively with adolescents and our students responded to both her energy and professionalism. The final activity allowed the students to work in teams to solve a real-life problem at Berg Middle School while Susan facilitated each group's work.

At the end of the session, each student developed her/his own individual leadership plan. Each student is now assigned a teacher-mentor who will meet weekly with the student to discuss issues and continue to develop the student's individual leadership goals. The group of students will also meet monthly and will participate in at least one community service project this year. As a school, we plan to draw on these leaders as situations present themselves.

Although this program was one that was put together very quickly, we are very pleased with the efforts and results so far. I would highly recommend gong off-site with the group as well as using an outside consultant to do the leadership training. We plan to replicate this leadership training with our 7th graders this spring.

By Wendy Parker, MS, Assistant Principal, Berg Middle School in Newton, IA.

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