The best leaders set an example by their own behavior.

• DO rather than TELL.
• It is not what we say, but rather what we do, that others will emulate.
• All of us are teachers -- as parents, friends, and faculty -- to all those around us. We all learn form each other.
• No matter what we preach to others, it is what we do that they will do.

Leadership in the Classroom [from INSIDE: Fall/Winter 1992]

1. Paul Barrett, US and urban history...
   ...throws out a topic for discussion, related to a reading assignment. This triggers debate, argument, discussion in class, so students ultimately are encouraged to think for themselves rather than regurgitate the opinions of others. Students play an active role in their own learning in the classroom, rather than passive.
2. Peter Johnson, freshman chemistry ...
   ..."I have fun." If the professor enjoys the subject, and lets his enthusiasm, interest, and excitement show, then his students likely will also. (Setting an example by behavior!) Telling students that the subject is exciting does not communicate as effectively as being excited yourself. "Learning is fun". I believe "...that the students in your class can make it. You have to believe in your students." i.e., students tend to achieve no more than you expect of them. Have high expectations.
3. Hamid Arastoopour, chemical engineering
   ..."The best teachers don't teach. Students learn by being involved, not by having the material force-fed to them. By working together as a team, students gain confidence which enables them to grow intellectually and creatively."  "Breeding leadership skills is important, if not the most important, concept of university teaching.

Project Help [a classroom approach developed by Earl Zwicker]

• The idea is to get the students who understand the subject best to help those who understand it least well.
• This idea was used for more than ten years in freshman physics at IIT, and seemed to be helpful to most of those who needed help.

Here is how it worked:

• Immediately after the first exam (there were three during the semester, plus a final), one identifies those who got A's and those who got D's and E's.
• Those who got A's are asked to show up in the classroom on a given day at, say, 12:15 pm. those who got D's and E's are asked to be there at 12:30 pm.
• At 12:15 pm one hands each of the "expert" students six slips of paper and asks each to fill in his name and phone number as student number one on all six slips. One then asks the students if they are willing to help three or four other "weak" students in the subject. They would do this by helping them to understand the homework and to prepare for quizzes and exams.
• Each group, consisting of the expert student and 3 - 4 others, must meet at least one hour per week, at a time and place which is mutually agreeable (a dorm, fraternity, classroom, cafeteria, etc).

One explains the pros and cons of participation to the expert students:

Cons:
• It takes away some of your time, which can be serious if you have a job or other commitments.
• It makes it more difficult to get a good grade in the course, in the sense that you are helping competitors.

Pros:
• You are almost certainly guaranteed an A in the course, since "to teach is to learn". Your time is not being wasted at all, but rather you are investing it to learn the subject even better than you would otherwise.
• You are learning about "small group interaction". This is a very important skill. Whatever you do in your life, you will almost certainly be working with small groups of other people. (Can you name a job where this is not so?) You must learn how to get the shyest or weakest member of your to understand the subject by being actively involved in the group.
• You will be sharpening your own communication skills, both oral and written. Of all the human variables (more than 140 cognitive variables) that can be measured by pencil-and-paper tests, there is one that correlates more strongly than any other with success. This is true whether one measures success in terms of material possessions (money) or in terms of personal happiness, or both. What is that variable?
  

  Communication skills, oral and written!
  Start practicing yours now!

• If you are stuck on a problem and need help, here are my office and home phone numbers. Please keep the home number confidential and only for your personal use. This is part of your "reward" if you are able to volunteer.
• If you receive and A in the course -- as likely you will if you volunteer (and the A will be earned, just like everyone else -- not given to you just because you agree to help!) -- then next semester you will be recommended to ETC [Educational Technology Center] to become a student tutor, which will pay you for doing this sort of thing.
• Besides all this, you have the satisfaction of knowing that you are doing something worthwhile by helping others who -- for whatever reasons -- are not as good at the subject as you happen to be.

Results:

SMILE (Science and Mathematics Initiative for Learning Enhancement)

• A program begun in 1986 for K - 12 teachers to help them become better teachers; i.e., to find what they need to do to help their students to learn better.
• Teachers told us what they needed; we supplied the opportunities, appealed to the best teachers to help in the various capacities where they showed individual strengths.
• They helped each other both with subject-matter and pedagogy, and we all grew together.
• A significant number have become recognized by their peers as leaders, due largely to the examples they set.

Some key ingredients are the following:

1. Freedom to try new ideas and improve old ones without fear of ridicule.
2. Many carrots; no sticks.
3. Open enjoyment of what they do. (Fun!)