{"id":32976,"date":"2020-11-10T15:53:57","date_gmt":"2020-11-10T12:53:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zaednovchas.bg\/?p=32976"},"modified":"2020-11-27T15:56:08","modified_gmt":"2020-11-27T12:56:08","slug":"how-and-why-to-delegate-responsibilities-to-our-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zaednovchas.bg\/en\/how-and-why-to-delegate-responsibilities-to-our-students\/","title":{"rendered":"How and Why to Delegate Responsibilities to Our Students?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One of the pitfalls of teaching is that teachers unintentionally start doing everything for or even instead of their students sooner or later in their career. This is very easy to observe in a typical classroom: the teacher usually prepares, hands out, and collects materials, answers all questions, decides what to hang on the walls, designs the interior of the room, decides on the optimal classroom arrangement – the teacher is single-handedly responsible for the entire learning process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This trend can also be noticed on a school level as well. The decors for school plays and celebrations are typically created by the art teacher. The scripts are written by the Bulgarian language and literature teacher. It is usually the school counselor, principal, or some of the head teachers who reads the important announcements on the radio. Sports events are planned and organized by the PE teacher, etc. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This isn\u2019t just an additional burden for the teachers. It deprives children from a variety of valuable opportunities for personal and academic growth. In this article we\u2019ll share the benefits of delegating responsibilities to students and we\u2019ll give you a few specific examples from classrooms in Teach For Bulgaria\u2019s community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The benefits of delegating leadership roles<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Leadership roles help teachers build a positive classroom culture and are a great instrument for the development of different skills. Leadership roles are delegated based on students\u2019 competences, the specific needs in the classroom. They also depend on the age of your students. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you want to have your students work in groups, for example, you can assign a moderator, a timekeeper, and someone who takes notes to each group. If you know that you are about to practice some challenging tasks, you can split the class into pairs and make sure to pair less confident students with a partner who has mastered this knowledge or skill, so that they could help each other during practice. You\u2019re not sure what the topic for your next extracurricular club meeting should be? Ask a student to do some research and give you three suggestions which you can then present to the club members and have them vote. Every decision about the classroom interior, the posters you hang on the walls, even the potted plants you have in the room can be taken with the help of your students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The red pens Maya gave to her student interns<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

You can also have your students help with some of the classroom procedures you have established. Your students can help you hand out materials, rearrange the desks for group work, prepare your classroom for the beginning of a new class, or clean up after school.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I taught English as a second language to 8th-grade students I had 7 or 8 interns. They were responsible for grading our weekly unit tests, editing, selecting, and publishing essays written in class on our creative writing blog, and finding online grammar and vocabulary exercises which their classmates could do on their smartphones at home.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every intern had a special red pen and at the end of the school year they all received a certificate for completing my internship program. To keep them motivated throughout the school year I also organized an intern-of-the-month competition. They could track their progress on a special board which we put by the whiteboard in their classroom. The intern who had the highest number of points for the month could pick a prize – an A, a chocolate bar, or something else. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This gives students ownership of their own learning, gives them agency and allows them to see the impact of their own actions and choices. The more responsibilities you delegate, the more their engagement and motivation will grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Examples from Teach For Bulgaria\u2019s community<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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The leadership roles in Stanislava\u2019s classroom<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Stanislava Stefanova, \u201cA New Way to Teaching\u201d alumna and science teacher at Private Secondary School \u201cTsar Simeon the Great\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are four leadership roles in Stanislava\u2019s classroom: an assistant teacher, a tracker keeper, a timekeeper, and a \u201cclean room\u201d manager. You can see the activities which fall under each role in the picture from her classroom. Every student has the role for one week and must execute it diligently. Stanislava says that her students take turns, but if a student has a penalty red point in the behavior tracker, they skip a turn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Valeria Simeonova, \u201cA New Way to Teaching\u201d alumna and teacher trainer in Teach For Bulgaria\u2019s \u201cModel Schools\u201d program<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Valeria and her second-graders are another wonderful example of delegating leadership roles to primary school students. Her students turn into managers, hosts, and trainers. This allows Valeria to accomplish three goals: she helps her students learn the material fast, teaches them to work independently, and builds their success skills.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watch this interview with Valeria and her second-graders who will tell you more about their leadership roles:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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