Educators frequently bemoan the senior year of high school as a great wasteland—especially the second semester, when many students, with college acceptances in hand, lose all sense of engagement (Kirst, 2000). At New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois, we struggled with “senioritis” until we changed how we viewed senior year—and our seniors.
Seniors are the most knowledgeable and developed learners in the school. Instead of strategizing how we might prod them through a “status quo” senior year, we decided instead to view our seniors as a valuable source of leadership who could enhance how our teachers deliver instruction.
New Trier's Senior Instructional Leadership Corps (SILC), which puts any willing New Trier senior into a partnership assisting a classroom teacher, has infused vitality into our senior year. This leadership program, which involved 26 seniors in its first year, now enables more than 150 seniors to work with a teacher mentor each year. To date, 684 students have assumed a SILC role in their senior year, and 186 teachers have served as mentors.
Recasting Our View
The power of serving as a senior instructional leader is evident in Chris's reflection on his experience assisting a teacher in a sophomore acting class: Wow! That is how I feel when I look back at my semester as a SILC leader in Acting Workshop. . . . The connections that I made with students were incredible. . . . I truly got a sense of what it meant to be a teacher. It takes more than just a general knowledge of the material: It takes planning, flexibility, and understanding.
Such engagement through leadership is what we were after in creating SILC. The program evolved in the late 1990s out of concern over the lack of leadership opportunities available to New Trier seniors. New Trier is a large high school in an affluent suburban community north of Chicago, with a predominantly white student population. Among our 4,000-plus students, competition has always been fierce for a few coveted leadership roles in student government, clubs, service organizations, and athletics. Each year, when the rounds of applications and interviews came to a close, we were concerned to see so many fine students turned away, dejected by an apparent belief that they did not measure up. Too often, we saw students' failure to acquire a leadership position lead to the beginnings of the disengagement on which senioritis feeds. In response to teachers, students, and parents who voiced concern about this problem, we established a schoolwide committee to create new leadership opportunities for seniors. As the guidance personnel for the senior class, we were in on the ground floor of creating and developing the program, and have been the SILC coordinators since its inception.
After only two meetings, a seemingly obvious idea surfaced: Given that our seniors admirably fulfilled leadership roles in athletics, government, and other extracurricular activities, they should have the opportunity to assume leadership roles in the classroom. Why not tap this resource and provide a whole new arena of learning for seniors themselves?
This approach to senior year is rare. Many schools offer leadership programs in which senior students serve as teacher assistants to physical education teachers and coaches. But we are not aware of any student programs other than SILC that extend student leadership into the classroom and curriculum delivery.
Our goal was not only to provide meaningful leadership opportunities for seniors, but also to enhance the delivery of our curriculum through their talents. Participating teachers would mentor seniors, who would in turn serve as mentors to students in a given teacher's classroom.
Initial Explorations and Growth
After much discussion and planning, New Trier launched a semester-long pilot program in fall 1998. We introduced the program concept at a spring faculty meeting, and interested teachers immediately volunteered to approach potential SILC candidates. Twenty-six students and their mentor teachers enthusiastically initiated the first SILC session.
- Work in a classroom with a mentor teacher two to five times a week, assisting in whatever curricular activities that the teacher deems appropriate.
- Meet with their mentor teacher once a week outside of class to plan these activities.
- Attend monthly seminars with the program coordinators for focused training and discussion of issues germane to their leadership role.
- Keep a journal of weekly activities and reflections.
- Write a self-evaluation at the end of their semester experience.
- Confer at semester's end with both the mentor teacher and a program coordinator.
- Adhere at all times to the SILC code of ethics.
Senior instructional leaders who fulfilled these expectations and received a positive teacher mentor evaluation would earn .25 credit in independent study from the department in which they worked.
These essential elements of the SILC program have changed little since the program's inception, but we have witnessed over and over students far exceeding these basic expectations. Many SILC leaders take their leadership beyond the classroom, offering individual and group tutoring sessions during the week. They have been incredible role models for freshmen from the very start. One of our first SILCers, Jessica, offered a special weekend review session at her house when she became aware of the confusion of freshman World History students who were preparing for their final exam. Nearly half the class showed up on her doorstep. For more than two hours, she helped them outline chapters, review terms, create timelines, and generally organize their materials for review.
Once a few teachers had had successful experiences with senior leaders, others were eager to give the program a try. Within two years after we launched the pilot, the use of instructional leaders in the classroom had become a powerful and pervasive instructional practice in our school. Students played a primary role in helping SILC flourish. They actively promoted the program to one another because they clearly perceived the role as an honored leadership position. Younger students who had seen SILC leaders at work in their classes emulated these role models when they became seniors.
Two years into the program, we faced a significant challenge when increased enrollment forced New Trier to open a separate freshman campus. Having witnessed the tremendous impact SILC leaders were having on freshmen, we felt it was worth making accommodations in scheduling and bus transportation to enable our senior leaders to continue to work with our youngest students.
How SILC Forms Leaders
Casting the Net Wide
A key way SILC departs from the conventional model of student leadership for seniors is that instead of just going for the “cream,” we invite as many youth as possible to lead. Although many high school leadership programs have rigorous, often arbitrary standards for selection—such as specified grade point averages, test scores, teacher recommendations, or grueling interviews—we have deliberately avoided such gatekeeping. The only criterion for entry into the program is that an applicant must secure a teacher who wants his or her assistance in working with a specific class in the fall.
The model of SILC that has evolved over the years is much more comprehensive than our early vision. We had imagined high-profile seniors working predominantly with freshman and sophomore classes. Within the first year, however, we saw seniors work effectively with classes at all grade and ability levels, even working with other seniors in advanced classes. Further, we discovered that it was not just the high-performing students and obvious leaders who made successful SILCers. Many students who are by nature quiet, studious, and conscientious stepped up in remarkable ways to help deliver the curriculum and serve as role models. A SILC leader named Tom, who had always been introverted, proved especially effective at explaining lab procedures and giving demonstrations in science class. He marveled, I became able to interact with people better, not only in class but also in everyday life. SILC forced me to develop communication skills in situations that I would not have been able to handle normally.
In the final weeks of each school year, we discuss the program with all New Trier juniors during the teacher advisory period, and invite applications. Although most students now approach teachers to ask about serving as a SILC leader, many teachers initiate the connection as they did in the pilot year, and at times SILC coordinators simply make the match. Contrary to our expectations, we have found that a prior relationship between a student and teacher is not necessary for a successful partnership to evolve. What is most needed is a mutual desire between student and teacher to work together.
Orienting Leaders to Service
Each fall, SILC carries out an orientation for student leaders and teacher mentors. The orientation for seniors focuses on the seriousness of the commitment, adherence to a code of ethics, and an explanation of SILC's program goals. Each year's group creates the code of ethics to guide its work. Although codes vary slightly from year to year, they tend to consistently include a few key principles: maintaining student confidentiality, respecting the teacher's authority, and, most important, striving continually to contribute to the educational effectiveness of the classroom.
We emphasize that being a SILC leader is, above all, about service, not about enhancing a student's résumé. In assuming a role as instructional assistant, seniors must understand that teachers and classrooms full of students are counting on them. In addition to assisting with all the basics of providing instruction, each SILC leader is explicitly asked to identify someone who is clearly disengaged and underachieving in that leader's assigned classroom and to try to make a real difference for that student. The senior leader is urged to do whatever she or he can, without becoming obvious or overbearing, to improve that student's performance, attitude, comfort level, and engagement in class. SILCers reflect on progress with the struggling student in their journals and apply what they learn about teaching in SILC's monthly seminars to their work with that student.
Caroline, an instructional leader in a sophomore French class, reflected on the rewards of reaching out to one learner: I am most proud of my work with one student who was very bright but did not have the same maturity level as others in the class. He frequently would act out to simply get attention. I showed him how to study effectively for tests, organize his homework, and participate actively without acting out. I believe that the student made a lot of progress throughout the first semester, and I have seen improvement in him. To know that I may have helped that student succeed is a wonderful feeling.
Working Together and Nurturing Leadership
The role a SILC student plays in a given classroom is entirely up to the mentor teacher. Clearly, teachers have different comfort levels with regard to how much responsibility they are willing to extend to SILC leaders, and seniors vary in their capabilities and confidence levels. We have found that it's essential for the mentor teacher and the senior to meet weekly outside the classroom to plan activities and set tasks appropriate for the week.
Teachers recognize the assets these seniors bring. One New Trier drama teacher commented, “My SILC leader was another pair of eyes and gave me a new lens through which to view my students.” A math teacher noted, “The kids see how excited my SILC leader is to be working with them, and they respond to that. Her enthusiasm for the subject is contagious.”
On occasion, student leaders have unexpectedly assumed remarkable leadership roles, as Phil describes: One of my favorite memories of my first-semester SILC experience was a day in which my class had a substitute teacher. Our class was studying biomolecules on the Internet, and the sub really had no idea what was going on. I stepped forward and taught the class like it was my own. From that day on, I gained the confidence I needed to realize that I actually know what I am talking about in chemistry. The kids respected my leadership that day, and I could see a change in their attitudes toward me from then on.
We nurture these seniors' leadership and teaching skills at our monthly seminars, where we introduce topics and techniques associated with effective teaching practices, such as learning styles, group dynamics, personal relationship building, teacher expectations, and classroom management. The seminars offer SILCers the opportunity to share experiences and observations about their classwork. Seniors frequently discuss the difficulties they encounter in their classrooms; mutual support creates a strong bond as the leaders reflect on how to overcome challenges.
The seminars are instrumental in launching special SILC initiatives and reflective assignments, such as maintaining a journal of daily logs and weekly reflections, articulating the characteristics of an effective teacher, and formulating a vision of the ideal role students hope to assume in their SILC classrooms.
Status Quote
Status Quote - Let Seniors Lead
How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.
—Anne Frank
A Boon to School Culture
There is no question that New Trier's seniors have honed leadership skills, acquired insight into the art and science of teaching, and even sharpened their proficiency in the subjects in which they assist. Some seniors have indicated that they are seriously considering a career in education. The net result is students, in the capstone year of their high school experience, who are fully engaged, affirmed, and giving back to the community that nurtured them.
Beyond providing increased opportunities for senior leadership, the program has enhanced the culture and climate of our school. Most significantly, SILC leaders have become a vital force in helping to enhance and deliver our curriculum.
The program has also encouraged collegiality among teachers as they converse about how to bring SILC leaders into their classrooms and incorporate new teaching strategies. In addition, teachers now engage in a new kind of collegiality that brings students into the discussion of teaching and learning. These connections have deepened personal and professional relationships throughout our school community. Student relationships have benefited as well. As seniors go about their classroom leadership, interacting with students across grade levels, they engender a genuine spirit of good will. Younger students are now more likely to view seniors as approachable helpers rather than as agents of intimidation.
Insisting on a senior year that is essentially the same as the first three years of high school ignores seniors' developmental readiness to contribute to the world in significant ways. More than anything else, we have learned from our Senior Instructional Leadership Corps how capable seniors can be. Many seniors are ready to assume adult roles in their final year of high school, roles that provide the sense of purpose they so urgently need (National Commission on the High School Senior Year, 2001). The concluding paragraph of Molly's self-evaluation shows how helping in a freshman science class gave her a feeling of engagement of the highest order: I hope that I have helped these freshmen transition into high school as much as I know they have helped me transition into the real world. Next year I will be faced with many challenges and my newly learned leadership and personal relationship-building skills will be very useful. I look forward to each day with these students because they make me feel useful and appreciated. Some might say they helped me find joy. I would say they helped me find a purpose.
Seniors like Molly are incredible resources that can and should be called upon to serve the school. Recasting the senior year to allow our youth to lead creatively and invest in their community is the key to fostering meaningful engagement.
