ANN
BIANCHETTI
Diary #10
What
We're Learning from Student Council
Last year around this same time, I started a brand new student council (student government) in my building. Student Councils are rare in my district and my fellow students and I were in unchartered territory. I wanted to give kids a voice in school and believe student governments are invaluable in teaching about democracy and, more simply, how to get along with one another.
When I began this endeavor I was nervous, as I had never been an advisor for student council before. I ordered a few books from the National Association of Student Councils and studied the procedures and protocols of student government. Most of the information was written for high school students and had to be reworked for my middle school kids. We had a rough start. We all were feeling our way in the dark; but now, one year later, I can say we are a huge success. I owe it all to the kids!
Why does it work so well? It is totally student driven (with a little guidance from me).
Here's how we do it
I am frequently in awe of my students at what they have accomplished.
Let's begin with elections. Each class was to elect four students from their homeroom to be class representatives. An additional four students from the seventh and eighth grades were to be elected officers (president, vice-president, secretary, and treasurer) of the student council.
The candidates conducted an election that rivaled any presidential campaign. Candidates covered the halls with campaign posters, met students as they came off the bus to shake hands, and some even handed out lollipops with their names printed on the packages!
On Election Day the candidates gave speeches about why they would be good choices to represent their class. I expected to hear things like, "If you elect me I will give more time at recess," or "Elect me and I will make a 'no homework on Friday' rule." Instead, the student candidates were dedicated to improving their school. Becoming a student council member, to them, was more than parties and dances. I heard things like, "If you elect me I will try to get donations from Home Depot to fix up our playground," "I will work to get water fountains installed on every floor," and "I will create a peer tutoring program to help kids who need extra study time."
After the moving speeches, I was still worried that students would vote for only those kids who were popular and had sway with the class. I reminded the students to vote for those they felt would best serve the needs of the whole school. I was happily surprised to find that, over and over again, the students had voted for the candidates who had the best speeches and who exuded responsibility and a fair commitment to all students, not just to their friends.
Students who might be considered unpopular and who did not run with the social leaders of the class managed to win some positions. When I asked a few students why they voted for who they did, they said, "Well, she seems like she'd be fair, you know, like she won't just give good stuff to her friends, she work for the whole school." I was proud of my middle school kids bucking the assumptions most people have of them as gossipy, moody, socially driven preteens with no thought to the greater good.
Our first year
Over the course of the year the student council put on numerous dances and student activities. At first the meetings were run by me with the officers shadowing me. I met with the officers and taught them how to create an agenda and run a meeting. I also met with the class representatives and taught them how to make motions, second motions, pass items and give committee reports.
The council delegated responsibilities among itself in various committees such as public relations, dance, student activities, school spirit and honor committee. In this way, every student on the council had a chance to be a leader in something. If not an officer, they were heads of the various committees. I slowly phased out my active involvement until the officers and representatives were running the meetings entirely on their own.
Learning about leadership
The students in my student council are honing their leadership skills and facing the many challenges of leadership. They often wrestle with tough issues; for example, whether to "vote someone out of the council" who was not following the rules, even if that person was your friend.
Quite a few times the student council students put the good of the council and the good of the school ahead of their personal relationship needs. This is amazing when you remember its middle school kids doing it.
A year into our effort, the students are blossoming even more. I am just the advisor. I quietly grade papers while the students conduct the meetings. I am occasionally called on to clarify a student council procedure, but for the most part I am silent. The students handle everything from obtaining the principal's permission to hold events, to organizing activities, to raising money, to delegating jobs and responsibilities and to maintaining a spirit of community in the council and the school.
We have traveled to Baltimore for a national student council conference and have traveled locally to other New Jersey student councils. These have been great opportunities for my students to meet other student leaders in schools and districts much different from theirs. After attending a leadership-training day with an all-white and affluent school (we are all minority and a poor district) we debriefed our feelings.
Some of my students were uncomfortable with "how the white kids danced" and "how they talk." We explored the possibility that perhaps the white kids were uncomfortable with them as well. We discussed why learning to get along and work with others of different cultures and ethnicities is important after which one student summed it up well: "We are all student leaders. We all have goals for our schools. That's all that should matter."
Building confidence and responsibility
Being in student council has served to create strong, confident student leaders through the process of a hands-off strategy on my part. Students run it, are in charge of its goals, and have ownership of their successes and failures. After one of our events did not go so well and the student body was complaining, the officers held a "what went wrong and how can we fix it for next year" meeting. Instead of placing blame on me or other students, they pinpointed specific things that did not work and brainstormed strategies to avoid or change them in the future. Student council has been a wonderful place to make mistakes, learn from them, and move on.
What are the implications for the classroom? How can I take the lessons I'm learning from my students in student council and apply them in my teaching? What can I do to give my classroom students ownership of their work/products as in student council? What specific strategies can I use to create a more student centered and less teacher centered classroom?
I want each
and every one of my students, whether they are in student council or not,
to feel that they can be a leader; in fact, that they are leaders in their
own lives. I am currently on this quest and I do not have all the answers
yet.
