There can be some interesting ideas on POWER, as Gulnur has mentioned a couple of days ago! It made me think..

We all like having it, it helps our selfesteem. Having power means freedom, decision making, being in charge, controlling. Shifting the power on to students makes them feel important and can therefore serve many purposes, for instance:

1. Class “bobby” / monitor– you know who the troublemakers are, so use them! I am rarely called to get out of the classroom during session, but it happens, these few Ss are usually the ones I tell to “keep an eye on the rest”. This ensures that the ones who would otherwise make noise and problems maintain discipline and the working atmosphere. It is usually a couple of minutes but quite valuable. ;) Very useful during plays, various programs – make them orderlies, it works!
2. Teacher´s assistant – very useful with disruptive Ss and Ss with ADHD which usually need extra physical movement. Getting the chalk, cleaning the blackboard, handing out worksheets, organizing artwork on the pinboard (for me this was really useful with a disruptive girl which only after she had helped me with the Christmas decorations this year stopped disturbing class work.)
3. Evaluation monitors – very useful with younger Ss. During any kind of oral examination I ask them to listen very carefully at each other and pay attention to mistakes. At the end I ask them if there where any mistakes, what they were and what mark would they give to the pupil. Incredible how objective and even strict they can be! Of course I give the mark I believe is correct and explain why – nevertheless they like to be asked for their opinion.
4. Examiners – like younger Ss monitors, during oral examinations I sometimes ask my older students to pay attention and then to ask a question to the one being examined. They ask even more difficult questions than I would have asked! Puts them in my role, practices question making, evaluating, critical thinking…
5. Group moderator – has to lead group work and present it to the rest of the class. We can use it in two ways – recognize the “leader – like” students, assign them the role of group moderator and thus let them express their organizational and presentational skills OR recognize the more introvert students and by assigning the role encourage them to develop the skills.
6. Making choices – giving them the opportunity to decide, make a choice on something can make them really happy, cooperative and willing to work because when they do something they like they are more eager! It can be anything – choosing the type of exercises, types of texts, games, songs they like… you name it!
7. Correcting tests – this has already been mentioned in the blogathon, letting them correct each other´s works. I do it only with short evaluations because it takes time. Develops all kinds of skills, like the "examiners´". However, the teacher must pay attention, monitor it and check after them.

These are some of my experiences, what do you think? Any more ideas on Power shifting..? :)