Leadership
Classroom Leadership Power for Totalitarian, Laise-faire, and Democratic classrooms
A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.
Overview
- Five characteristics which can give power to leaders
- Observable characteristics for different sources of power
- Different percentages of each can lead to any of three type of power or range between them
Introduction
This page describes five characteristics of leadership which can be used to explain three general types of classroom leaderships: totalitarian, laissez-faire, and democratic classrooms. Observable characteristics for each source of power is included for a classroom environment, behavioral interactions, and atmosphere. A chart is also included to identify personal leadership goals.
Five characteristics which can give power to leaders
Different combinations of these five characteristics can lead to: Totalitarian, Laise-faire, and Democratic classrooms:
- Attractive: charisma, good looking, socially fun to be with, has a genuine regard for people - created with positive self regard and a caring attitude
- Expert: have superior knowledge, enthusiasm, love of learning, academic environment, desire to solve problems and learn alone and together
- Reward: grades, recess, stickers, privileges, activities, praise, pat
- Coercive: removal of recess, time-out, stay after school, sarcasm, put downs, humiliation, damages self-esteem, reduces self-reliance, and builds barriers. Causes students to feel resentment, desire to rebel, withdraw from participation, play power games, seek retribution, plan revenge, strike back for revenge, commit vandalism, or assault to cause personal damage.
- Authority: student believes the educator is fair, has a risk free environment will not allow another person to harm another person physically or verbally. Empower students through goal setting with little to no use of the coercive or reward base allowed by the school system, which will vary from community to community.
Source of Power | Observable Characteristics | ||
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Environment | Behavioral Interactions | Atmosphere | |
Expert Percentage of time: 70% |
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Attractive Percentage of time: 25% |
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Authority Percentage of time: 3% |
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Reward Percentage of time: 2% |
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Coercive Percentage of time: 0% |
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Three general types of classroom leaderships: totalitarian, laissez-faire, and democratic classrooms
Different percentages of each can lead to different kinds of power that can lean towards one of the three or range between them.
Totalitarian | Lase-faire | Democratic |
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Strict with excessive control | Permissive with no limits: Anarchy | Consistent with dignity & respect |
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Personal leadership goals
Fill in the chart with your personal goals for what learners and visitors will see related to leadership in your classroom or learning space.
Source of Power | Observable Characteristics as | ||
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Environment | Behavioral Interactions | Atmosphere | |
Expert Percentage of time:
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Attractive Percentage of time:
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Authority Percentage of time:
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Coercive Percentage of time:
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Pedagogy - curriculum, teaching, learning, human development, & planning
Management - Self Development & Individual, Group, & Classroom Management