What is Classroom Leadership?

There are a lot of terms used for how teachers lead their classrooms: classroom management, behavior management, classroom discipline…but the term I prefer most is Classroom Leadership. Classroom leadership is about more than “making children behave” or “getting children to do their work”. It is about building a community that models the real world, and helping children decide to be productive citizens because it feels right–not because of promised rewards or fear of punishment.

Classroom leadership is about modeling, thoughtful dialogue, and perspective-taking. Montessori Classroom Leadership involves taking a longer view than immediate obedience or results. It means investing time and energy into helping the children feel empowered and proud to be contributing members of a successful community of peers.

Modeling

Through modeling, effective classroom leadership not only helps our own classes run smoothly but also develops leadership skills in our students. These students will then enter the larger world ready to make a positive impact on society.

Dialogue

Thoughtful dialogue with explicit lessons on community and leadership help build academic and emotional intelligence from even the earliest ages. Stories with social-emotional lessons and grace and courtesy curricula help build agreements and expectations as a community with shared accountability. Compared to traditional “top-down” rules, this network of social expectations more closely parallels life in the community outside of school. In real life, there are rarely clear rules to navigate each ethics question that may come up. Instead, we prepare children by helping them think critically and apply their value systems to novel situations to determine the right thing to do.

Related Montessori Minds articles on thoughtful dialogue:

• Classroom Conflict Resolution Strategies
• Meaningful Encouragement Vs. Praise

Perspective-taking

Lastly, perspective-taking is the skill of being able to look beyond our own experience and empathize with the point-of-view of others, even when different from our own. This is a skill that can be learned and honed and one that research shows can help us make better decisions and expand our world view and deepen relationships. The goal of a community is not to be a group of many people with one perspective but to thrive as a unified group of many diverse perspectives. In this way, classroom life prepares us to be global citizens.

Dr. Montessori believed that classroom leadership was about much more than running an effective school day. She believed the classroom was a preparation for life, and by creating a harmonious and productive classroom community we were preparing the children in our care to create a harmonious and productive future. A 2020 literature review, Montessori Literature Through the Lens of Leadership, shows that Maria Montessori had a unique perspective on leadership that “has a biological base but incorporates elements of service and morality that guide social reform with a peaceful telos” (Bennetts and Bone, 2020). This Interview with Peter Piche on Leadership discusses how leaders are not born, but grown. This illuminates the importance of daily teacher leadership and reminds us that slowing down and savoring teachable moments in the workings of a community of learners is not only worth the effort for a pleasant classroom–it is activism for change.