Background

Nathan Emrick had been teaching at a school when he received an offer to teach somewhere else. He Was happy where he was but something was lacking. With the new offer, he added one caveat, there needed to be a Leadership Teaching Component as part of the new position or he would not take it.

Nathan had seen how powerful and impactful leadership development had been with the teams he coached in the past. He wanted that to be part of his new program at the school for all students.

Implementation

Given the restraints of at-home learning, Nathan and Holland waited to implement Lead ‘Em Up Classroom once students were back in the classroom. Along with their custom-built materials, they immediately saw a complete change in how the materials and discussions were going.

ASSESSMENT

The LEAD Class involves a lot of discussion on hard subjects and requires a lot of trust between those discussing it. Not just trust between the students, but also between the students and the teachers facilitating the discussions. The materials they developed were good; but once they implemented more of the Lead ‘Em Up Classroom curriculum they started to see a difference in how the students were engaging.

Utilizing the exercises in Lead ‘Em Up Classroom they witnessed students opening up and feeling more comfortable with the topics they were discussing. The exercises helped build a relationship of trust needed between the students that they had previously not been able to attain and was needed for the depth of conversations they were having in the lead class. This depth of trust extended between the students and teacher as well, further building the student-teacher relationships.

Evaluation

Where are they Now?

Lead ‘Em Up Classroom was a game changer in year one and was even more effective in year two when they were able to teach the program in person.

A highlight (and student favorite) of the Lead ‘Em Up program are Green Verifications. Green Verification is a character performance-level students strive to reach through the program. It is celebrated by their peers and approved by their teachers. Implementing Green Verifications in the first year was challenging due to the teaching circumstances, but in the second year, it built a lot of momentum among the students.

Conclusion

Implementing Lead ‘Em Up Classroom in the LEAD program at Carterville High School has proven to be a transformative experience for teachers and students. Despite the challenges posed by the sudden shift to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, Nathan Emrick and Holland Neally adapted and utilized the Lead ‘Em Up Classroom exercises to engage and connect with their students more effectively. By incorporating these exercises at the beginning of each LEAD class, they discovered that the materials provided a seamless transition into the more challenging topics covered in the LEAD curriculum.

As the students returned to the classroom, the impact of teaching leadership and using Lead ‘Em Up face-to-face became even more apparent. The discussions on complex subjects required a high level of trust between students and teachers, and the implementation of Lead ‘Em Up Classroom significantly enhanced this trust and engagement among the students. The integration of Green Verifications, where students strive to reach a character performance level celebrated by their peers and approved by their teachers, further motivated the students and generated momentum within the program.