Student Leadership

Early in the school year, some students express interest in taking leadership roles in class.  For the 7th and 8th grade choirs, this could include being a class officer (president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer,) acting as a section leader, or finding other opportunities as they arise (creating the concert program, creating spreadsheets or google docs to help organize the class, file music, organize classroom space, etc.)   In show choir, students get a chance to create choreography alone or with a partner, by volunteering and working with me to find a song or medley section in the repertoire that they're interested in.

In music theater class, there were students who arranged with me, during auditions, to be stage manager and lead choreographer.  Other students stepped in along the way to take on the jobs of costume manager, hair/makeup committee, set design, props, and other necessities.

Middle school is a great time to develop this kind of leadership and ownership in the performance classes.  Students are capable of being creative, working with their peers, and developing skills to communicate clearly.  All students learn how to respect each others’ different leadership and learning styles, performance abilities, and supportive strengths to make the show come together.  Sometimes, students have difficulty receiving direction from their peers and have disagreements, but this is yet another opportunity to learn how to compromise and build necessary life skills.

Student leadership is also logistically very beneficial to classroom efficiency.  I am a one-person team as the middle school choir and drama teacher.  There is only so much one person can accomplish in the couple hours a day allotted for each emphasis.  Parents are busy with their own careers and family lives—it’s unreasonable to expect a huge time commitment from them.  I have invited parents to participate in the process, and have had some success with it, but scheduling is difficult when most of the work gets done during the school day.

When it comes down to it, I'm more focused on the learning experience than producing a professional-level show.  We of course strive to do both, but this is a year-long class in a middle school setting.  Many of the students enjoy taking part behind the scenes, and can take initiative to have a bigger part in our success.