Leadership Activities For Students

Tap to Read ➤ Omkar Phatak

Leadership activities are great ways of preparing students for the real world, that they must eventually face. Here are some activity ideas that will surely be enjoyable and instructive at the same time.

Students must face real life challenges one day, when they venture out of their protected life. Therefore, it is essential that they are prepared for it in student life. They are our future leaders in various fields of human endeavor.

Leadership activities are ways of creating simulated conditions, similar to real world, where students are given a chance to develop their skills. These activities should be designed to develop each and every quality, that makes a good leader.

They need to be wide-ranging and equally challenging, to bring out that one thing which is most important, that is 'Character'.

Leadership Activity Ideas

If we are trying to simulate conditions of the real world outside, through activities, they need to be well-designed. Essentially, most problems that students will face, when they venture out, are going to be people problems.

Being a leader is all about understanding the people around you and bringing out the best in your team. So, the activities mentioned here are focused on developing communication skills, team building skills, time management skills and finally, skills of planning and executing strategy.

For Middle School Students

Here are some activities for students in middle school, focused on molding their personalities and letting them have a lot of fun in the process.

Essay Contest

Firstly, have a discussion about what leadership means in class and ask students to research on American or world leaders. Hold an essay contest about 'My Favorite Leader' or 'My Role Model'. Make it compulsory that they must justify their choice. Let the best essay be read in the class.

Extempore Speech

Hold an extempore speech contest, wherein, various topics that deal with contemporary issues are talked about. Let children be given sufficient time to prepare themselves.

After every speech, let there be a question and answer session about the topic, where the student who's speaking, justifies his take on the issue. Grade students on the basis of how well they articulate their thoughts and how well are they able to answer questions hurled at them.

Projects

Hold a project exhibition contest on a given theme of your choice. The projects should be research-based and presented in the form of charts. Create groups of three or two students and ask them to present one topic, related to the theme.

For High School Students

Debate

Hold a debate contest in the class. Divide the whole class in teams of four, out of which, two argue for, and two argue against an idea. Give them adequate time for research and preparation. Let the topics be contentious issues of national importance, which will force them to read, research, and think.

Enterprise

Create small groups in class and ask them to come up with ideas to sell a product of their own. In short, ask each team to come up with a business plan. Ask them to make a presentation of their complete business plan in class. Grade them on the basis of originality and planning.

Then, let them actually run the business for some days, in the school itself. After an adequate time of enterprise, let them share their experiences about the business in class.

Theater Activity

Make groups of students in class and give every group a situation, to enact in the form of a play. Let the topics be such, that they leave sufficient room for imagination. Let them enact the play in class, without using props.

For College Students

Students in college are at the apex of their educational journey. The activities for them, need to be more reflective of real world and challenging enough. Here are some ideas.

Fundraiser/Awareness Campaign

Ask the students to organize a fundraising campaign for a cause and create awareness for it. They can create posters and slogans related to it. They could even enact street plays for creating awareness about the issues.

Run a Campus Newspaper/Periodical

Select students to run a campus paper. Choose editors and reporters for the same, through a contest. Let the periodical cover all the happenings in and around the college. Provide them with the requisite publishing and research facilities.

Organize a Cultural/Sports Event

Give the students an opportunity to organize a whole cultural or sports event on their own. Let them plan and execute the whole thing for themselves. This way, they will get a real taste of managing events and people.

Teachers need to take up the roles of facilitators, who learn along with the students through these activities. With every experience that you have from these activities, you can improve them for the future batches that come under your instruction.