Leaders in a Classroom by Awatif M. Al-Ameeri

Leadership is the action of leading a group of people or an organization. It is a skill that can be taught, sharpened, and even developed in every human being. Each person has the potential to lead if they find the right mentor. Therefore, the best place to start this mentoring is in our classrooms today.
If we look at many of our students today, they are mostly how unmotivated, and entertainment driven. That is why action must be taking immediately. They are too engrossed in their tablets and cell phones. They seek entertainment constantly and demand short cuts to get everything they want at any cost. Fortunately, classrooms today are the best environment to model and introduce leadership skills and values into our students. Accordingly, I will mention five essential leadership characteristics that I believe must be reinforced in our students today to create stronger leaders of tomorrow.
First of all, leaders are confident and assertive. This should be the first trait we build in our students these days. If they are confident, they will be assertive. They can believe in themselves and recognize their potentials. They will openly express what they want and talk without hesitation. They will address their decisions without the influence or effect of others. They are comfortable with who they are and what they want. They can easily excel in their lives using their potentials and abilities to the max. As educators we can do so by communicating and interacting with our students respectfully and listening to them compassionately. Students mirror what they receive continuously from adults. Hence, how we treat them will affect their attitude, behaviour, and self-respect.
Second of all, leaders are brave. Bravery is the quality or state of having or showing mental or moral strength to face danger, fear, or difficulty. In other words, bravery is courage. Students and young ones nowadays avoid hard situations and shy away from facing problems because they have not been taught how to do so. They believe they are not strong enough. They fear making mistakes, being blamed and disappointing others. We as adults know that they will inevitably face hardship in their future. For that we must eliminate these fears and replace them with how to be bravery, how to have courage, and how to build their strength. So, how can we do so? Talk to them about it. Give them case studies. Read historical biographies. Introduce people in history that have been through common situations, and how they overcame obstacles successfully. In addition, they need to learn how to accept criticism and mentoring from others. Also, that failure is not a flaw in their personalities but more of a lesson yet to be learned.
Third of all, leaders are creative. Creativity is practised daily in our daily lives and in our in-class activities. The more students try to create ideas and projects, the more they practise and expand their creative skills and hidden potentials. Creativity pushes a student to use their imagination and original ideas. It keeps their mind continuously active and dares them to invent new things. The more the student’s creativity is acknowledged and appreciated the more their characteristics such as confidence and bravery will grow.
Fourth of all, leaders are self-disciplined. They control their lives and feelings as well as they overcome their weaknesses. In other words, they have self-control. That is the fourth trait we must enhance in our students. Guide them and mentor them to be less emotional and less impulsive. Help them understand that emotions are very powerful and that their strong reactions, if not dealt with well, can result in harmful irrational decisions such as skipping exams, excessive absence or attending classes late. Consequences must be taught not only by the use of punishment, but also, by showing them how these habits will continue even after they graduate and negatively affect their jobs, family and career.
Fifth of all, leaders are resourceful. They have great knowledge in their specialty fields and people rely on them for information. Educators should encourage their students to love learning and gain knowledge. Students nowadays are too distracted by entertainment such as social media and online games that they dislike learning anything else. Although they can easily learn strategies on how to gain money from online games and social media applications, they still lack the ability to provide the right informative content. On that account, an educator can reinforce the importance of reading to find the right content, developing their writing skills, and watching educational videos for a few minutes daily or weekly to enrich their search for knowledge. Also, group discussions, presentations, case studies, research, and essays are great activities to enhance and support the students’ knowledge and education as well. They will gain information, practise learning, enjoy their achievements. Once they have the right knowledge, as teachers we can encourage them to continue and share with others what they have learned. Moreover, we can consider these students in the class as specialists on those certain topics and be considered as references within their classmates. This experience will reflect on the importance of expanding their knowledge and how to become unique, resourceful, and reliable between their peers.
In conclusion, I believe reinforcing these characteristics in our students shall guide them to have better futures, stronger personalities and become wiser leaders of tomorrow.

 Awatif M. Al-Ameeri

PAAET