Student Leadership Training Doesn’t End At Camp
Frank Troika – Conn-Selmer Division of Education, CSI Connect –
A pretty strong argument can be made that our student leaders have a tougher job of working with their peers than we do in working with our students. As teachers, we have inherent authority by way of our titles, our degrees, and to a large extent, our age and years of experience. All of those give us some measure of credibility before we ever get in front of our students. Then, with a great deal of planning and maybe a little luck, we somehow manage to get everyone together in the same place at the same time to rehearse. It can be a humbling experience when you look at those kids doing (mostly) whatever you ask them to do. What authority we have! But if we think about it, the only real authority we have is that which our students give us by their willingness to comply with our directions.
Keywords: Marching Band, Concert Band, Leadership