School-Wide Leadership Summit

Believe in Leadership
Belhaven Middle School, Linwood, NJ
Submitted by Christina Lonergan ChrisLonergan@linwoodschools.org and
Amy Winterbottom AmyWinterbottom@linwoodschools.org
“Leaders don’t create followers, they create more leaders.” –Tom Peters
With “Believe” as our 2011-12 JostensRenaissance theme, Belhaven held our third annual full day Leadership Summit. Students from fifth to eighth grade not only participated in leadership activities, but led them as well. Because we are a JostensRenaissance Leadership school, we held a day where students focused on the four categories of leadership and 21st century skills: 1) Self-Management – Organization, 2) Communication – Listening, 3) Critical Thinking, Problem Solving & Team Building, 4) Character Education – Service Learning. Our middle school students actually prepared, directed, and facilitated breakout sessions for the day.
In fifth grade, the day was guided by the teachers and older students. Fifth graders started with rotations that focused on the starfish video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wuSaNCIde4 then they created a starfish that depicted character traits about themselves or another person of their choice. Following that rotation, the 8th graders acted out leadership skits for the fifth graders that focused on bullying prevention and student interaction.
Sixth grade activities were facilitated by a combination of students and teachers. These students participated in rotations as well, with activities such as rewriting the lyrics to Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing”. Students recorded their new song and then created signs that reflected in three words what they “Believe” in. Students videotaped each other holding up their signs and then put the video to the newly recorded lyrics.
Seventh grade students brainstormed ideas for their own breakout sessions within their own grade level. They paired up and wrote lesson plans which were then approved by their cooperating teachers. Different teachers worked with each pair to ensure the plans were grade appropriate and that they were prepared to make their presentations to the rest of the students. These students then facilitated a rotation of leadership activities, self- reflecting after each to adjust and make improvements.

Eighth grade students took their leadership skills to the next level. Some students went on field trips to teach at our district elementary school. Other eighth graders presented Leadership and Character skits with our 5th graders. Service projects (holiday cards for troops and a food drive) connected our students to the community.

Team building and problem-solving facilitated by the students themselves made the day more meaningful, and other students were eager to participate in activities led by their peers. Our student leaders embraced the opportunity to make this day their own. It was a truly authentic school-wide Leadership Summit. This day can be fine-tuned by any school to make it their own.