Classroom Leadership

This week I’ve been doing some thinking and research on leadership within the classroom. While doing my research I stumbled across a leadership theory called, ‘Situational leadership theory.' It was developed byPaul Hersey and Ken Blanchard. The

 basic principle is; to be able to change your leadership type depending on your situation, environment and the people around you. I believe this is what all teachers should be doing in the classroom. We, as teachers, should be able to make a quick call while we are teaching and change how we approach a problem when it occurs. For example; if I’m teaching a class and giving them a correction on a pirouette, but I can see that the student doesn’t understand what I’m trying to say then I should be able to change the way I’m saying the correction. It sounds simple, doesn’t it? But does it always happen? In my experience, no. I’ve had teachers tell me over and over the same thing, in the same way, but it just hasn’t made sense, and it’s not like I wasn’t trying. Obviously, the student has to be willing to try your correction out. So whose fault is it? The students or teachers? In my opinion, the teacher has a duty as the leader in that classroom to change their approach. Give the information differently. Change the imagery. Not everything works for everyone. From my experience above, once another teacher had explained the correction differently, I got it. It was like a light switch went off in my head. To me, this makes and a great teacher. Being able to change the way you teach depending on the situation. As teachers, we are leading the class, as such, it’s essential the keep our student’s interested and progressing. Have you experienced this in your classroom? Either as a student or teacher? Do you agree with the concept?