Leadership

CAIS is dedicated to fostering leadership for students and faculty.  We encourage member schools to support  The 2007 CAIS Canadian Student Leadership Conference, being held April 11-14 and hosted by Appleby College, and the CAIS Leadership Institute for educators, hosted by Brentwood College from July 5-8.

The Student Leadership Diagnostics Manual

The Student Leadership Diagnostics manual below was prepared for CAIS by Sarah Wiley, Director of Student Life at Strathcona-TweedsmuirSchool, in February 2005. This resource provides background information on leadership, checklists, sample practices at member schools, exercises and questionnaires and a case study. 

Innovative Idea of the Month

February 2007

Cross Divisional/Cross Grade peer leadership opportunities- Strathcona-TweedsmuirSchool’s flagship Outdoor Education program provides leadership opportunities for students in more ways than one. All students at STS are involved with the Outdoor Education program whether though all grade camps and trips, the year long grade 10 course in Outdoor Leadership or through optional co-curricular trips. Leadership opportunities are particularly highlighted for those older students who apply to be a student leader on a trip for younger students. Grade 9 students can apply to be a student leader at camps for grades 4 – 7 or on the grade 7 outdoor education ski week. Grade 12 students can apply to be student leaders for grade 10 camp. Grade 10 Outdoor Education students help to run the Outdoor Education program for the primary grades. These cross division and cross grade peer leadership opportunities reinforce leadership skills learned on trips and develop student leadership skills further. Students apply to be selected for this leadership opportunity to the Director of Student Life. Their application must be approved by their advisor, divisional principal, and parents. 

January 2007

Kindness Krew – start a Kindness Krew club in your school. Students in this club are responsible for collecting nominations for “random acts of kindness” in the school. One name is chosen each week and is announced in assembly. Create a board in your school with all of the names displayed. Turn this into a house competition and give students house points for getting chosen.

Recommended Books

If you have read a good book related to leadership, please let us know and we will add it to our list!

How Good People Make Tough Choices, Rushworth M. Kidder

Leadership, Rudolph W. Giuliani

Good to Great, Jim Collins

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen R. Covey

Twenty Principles for Teaching Excellence, M. Walker Buckalew, Ph.D.

Recommended Articles

Teaching Leadership in Schools

e-Learning - Websites of Interest

The following websites provide information related to leadership. Specific trainers and speakers are also noted here. While they are not endorsed by CAIS they may prove to be of interest.  If you have information that you would like to share via this space please e-mail support@cais.ca.

The JamesMacGregorBurnsAcademyof Leadership - http://www.academy.umd.edu/home/index.htm

Klingenstein Centre for Independent School Education

Leadership Now – www.leadershipnow.com

The Center for Creative Leadership – www.ccl.org

The  websites below are aimed at  teachers and administrators to provide information about leadership development, workshops and seminars as well as access to articles about leadership

Canadian Association of Student Activity Advisors (CASAA) - http://www.casaaleadership.ca/

• Provides ideas and resources about student leadership and student activities.

Facing the Future – People and the Planet - http://www.facingthefuture.org/

• Global issues education and action opportunities.

Girl Guides of Canada- www.girlguides.ca

• A wide variety of program and activity ideas.

The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation  – www.actsofkindness.org

• Ideas and lesson plans about how to introduce a celebration of random acts of kindness into your school.

The Attribute – www.theattribute.ca

• A character based e-newsletter with ideas, and information about conferences and other websites dedicated to character education.

The Conflict Resolution Network - http://www.crnhq.org/

• Conflict resolution skills, strategies and attitudes.

CanadaOnline -

• Icebreakers and warm-up activities for Canadian teachers.

Free the Children – www.freethechildren.com

• Global network of children helping children, founded by activist Craig Kielburger.