Teachers: Do You Stop At Good?

A week before Christmas break, I planned to give my web page design class a small break from coding websites. I believe as a teacher that content is extremely important but it is also important to give your students skills that they can take when they leave school into the workforce.

The plan was to do a leadership activity where students reviewed  several definitions of what leadership means and why it is important. From the definitions they found, they were to create their own definition of leadership and put it on the board. We were to share them and move onto continuing to build our websites.

I had only allocated 15 minutes for this activity but it turned into the most phenomenal class discussion on leadership. Students were fascinated with all the different definitions of what it means to be a leader. It was interesting to see and hear that each student had a different view of what leadership meant and all were right! We talked about whether leaders are made or born. We discussed what characteristics great and bad leaders have and whether there is a difference between being a manager and a leader. Students brought up good and bad leaders in history and we discussed what made them great. Lastly, each student went around and shared one person that has been the most influential leader in their lives. In a class where students primarily work by themselves, the class came to life through energetic, thoughtful, and passionate ideas!

I could have stopped after the 15 minutes and moved onto the next activity but I knew the students were taking every piece of bait I threw at them. How was I to take the food out of the water? A lot of times as teachers we have so much to cover that we can't stop and have an engaging conversation for most of a class. Through this activity, I saw the passion in my students eyes. They were hungry for more and as a teacher, what else can you ask for? I didn't intent for this to take the whole class but sometimes as a teacher you can't stop when it is good...you just have to let it happen because it is challenging to gain most or all students interests. When you do, you have to make it count!

-RD