When we discuss leadership with young people we almost exclusively focus on success. We help them envision success, plan for success, and even celebrate success. But when do we talk to young people about what to do with failure?
Ironically, I think young people think (and worry) about failure far more than success, so the fact that few teachers, parents or other adult leaders address the topic leaves kids without useful strategies or attitudes for when – not if – failure occurs.
Check out this video from BluefishTV about failure and think about how you could use it to have a discussion with students about how to expect for and use failures as a springboard for greater things.
Leadership Development Tip for the Week of April 13, 2009
Showing posts with label leadership development. Show all posts
Showing posts with label leadership development. Show all posts
Teach Kids to Fail (or at least understand that failure is unavoidable when taking risks)
And the “Oscar” goes to…
What a show last night, eh? The Academy Awards are the most watched award show of the year. Celebrating success is an important part of creating culture. America treasures motion pictures so it makes sense that we all love to watch the celebration of movie making success.
What skills are important in your classroom; what are you trying to promote beyond academic success? How about effort, teamwork, compassion, service to others, or critical thinking?
If these are important skills then celebrate them. You might ask, “But an awards ceremony…really?” Well, maybe or maybe it’s a personal note or maybe a phone call home to a parent praising the student’s efforts. The key to celebrating success is that it is heartfelt, meaningful to the recipient, and conveys importance of the award itself.
What skills are important in your classroom; what are you trying to promote beyond academic success? How about effort, teamwork, compassion, service to others, or critical thinking?
If these are important skills then celebrate them. You might ask, “But an awards ceremony…really?” Well, maybe or maybe it’s a personal note or maybe a phone call home to a parent praising the student’s efforts. The key to celebrating success is that it is heartfelt, meaningful to the recipient, and conveys importance of the award itself.
Take a minute to identify ways to celebrate the success you see in your students. The red carpet is optional.
Leadership Development Tip for the Week of February 23, 2009
That's What I'm Looking For!
We’ve discussed Positive Psychology and Positive Behavior Support in prior postings. Both programs share a common element of placing focus on desired behaviors in our students. I don’t think that means you can let little Jimmy disrupt class for 15 minutes with his not-so-desired behaviors, but you can make a concerted effort to praise good behaviors.
Appropriate praise varies from situation to situation and student to student. If you have a brand new group of students this semester, it may take you awhile to determine what each responds well to. Here are a few options of varying degrees to get you started (Click on the table to increase its size):
Appropriate praise varies from situation to situation and student to student. If you have a brand new group of students this semester, it may take you awhile to determine what each responds well to. Here are a few options of varying degrees to get you started (Click on the table to increase its size):
The last suggestion, positive note home, reminds me of a random progress report and note my freshman English teacher mailed to my parents sharing how impressed he was with my first poetry analysis. He was hard to snag a compliment from, and it meant a lot to my mom and me.
Commit to focusing on the positive in your classes this next week or so. It can really make a difference. Besides, it’s much more fun to be the bearer of good news than bad!
Leadership Development Tip for January 15, 2009
The Leadership Link, from Tim Elmore
A client recently shared a monthly article on Leadership called The Leadership Link. We really enjoyed the content and have since read more. The articles are written by Dr. Tim Elmore, founder of Growing Leaders, a non-profit dedicated to equipping and mobilizing youth to serve and share their talents with the world. If you’re familiar with Habitudes®, he also produced those as well. If you’re not familiar with Elmore, you should take a quick peek at his resources. They are great for those passionate about fostering leadership skills in today’s youth.
Click the icon to view a past article or sign up for the monthly Leadership Link email from Dr. Elmore.
Leadership Development Tip for January 8, 2009
Celebrate the Year
We’re quickly approaching the time of year when resolutions are set and we put what we want to do better at the top of our list. How often, though, do we invest as much thought in celebrating all of the things we’ve done well over the past year? In these few days before the Holiday break, help your students celebrate their growth and achievements in the past year (or semester!). Think of the good deeds you’ve witnessed, the improvement in grades, all of the effort that went into that “ah-ha!”, the positive outlook… Follow this link to a template you can print off and jot a quick note to individual students.
Leadership Development Tip for December 22, 2008
Ready for Resolutions
Tis the season to start thinking about New Year’s resolutions. Here’s a great You Tube video we found to get you in the mood.
While the video suggest forgetting resolutions, we think they provide a great opportunity o promote leadership development with your students. Here’s an idea we brainstormed:
Announce during class that New Year’s is around the corner and that part of your tradition (at least starting this year) is to have each class come to a consensus about a New Year’s Resolution. Here are the rules:
- The resolution must increase positive behavior that can be applied in this class
- Everyone in the class must support the resolution
- The resolution must be realistic
Use the opportunity to teach about how to build consensus and work together in accomplishing a common goal.
Once the resolution is settled, write it down and post in the room for all to see. Your task is to help hold the group accountable through the weeks and months of the new year. Each time you reference the resolution they made use the opportunity to speak about the importance of follow-through and commitment to excellence; all traits of effective leaders.
Leadership Development tip for the week of December 15, 2008
Who’s On First – A Quick Communication Activity
Employers continue to cite communication as an important skill for successful careers. Consider using this short 10-minute activity to begin a discussion about effective communication in your classroom or during a student organization meeting. To prepare, ask two students to read through the script prior to the class or meeting. As you select students to act out the story remind them that practice, enthusiasm and careful enunciation are important for success. Have the two students read the following script and then ask them the debrief questions that follow.
Script for Activity:
- Abbott: Alright, now whaddya want?
- Costello: Now look, I’m the head of the sports department. I got know the baseball players’ names. Do you know the guys’ names?
- Abbott: Oh sure.
- Costello: So you go ahead and tell me some of their names.
- Abbott: We have Who’s on first, What’s on second, I Don’t Know’s on third.
- Costello: That’s what I wanna find out.
- Abbott: I say Who’s on First, What’s on second, I Don’t Know’s on third.
- Costello: You know the fellows’ names?
- Abbott: Certainly!
- Costello: Well then who’s on first?
- Abbott: Yes!
- Costello: I mean the fellow’s name!
- Abbott: Who!
- Costello: The guy on first!
- Abbott: Who!
- Costello: The first baseman!
- Abbott: Who!
- Costello: The guy playing first!
- Abbott: Who is on first!
- Costello: Now whaddya askin’ me for?
- Abbott: I’m telling you Who is on first!
- Costello: Well, I’m asking YOU who’s on first!
- Abbott: That’s the man’s name.
- Costello: That’s who’s name?
- Abbott: Yes.
- Costello: Well go ahead and tell me.
- Abbott: Who.
- Costello: The guy on first.
- Abbott: Who!
- Costello: The first baseman.
- Abbott: Who is on first!
- What happened?
- What was the source of the confusion?
- Where do you see this kind of communication confusion in real life?
- Based upon this experience, what can we do to improve our communication with others?
Company Visions Activity
Last week’s posting included a tip on personal branding. It reminded me of a fun activity on visioning we put together for a youth leadership conference. The activity had students match vision statements to familiar companies. It led into a discussion on a vision for their leadership teams. If you’re not familiar with the concept of vision statements, they are essentially a collaboratively developed statement that expresses where an individual, organization or company wants to be within a certain time period.
I think a small version of the activity would be a great bell work activity and/or could be used to tie in your school’s vision, your vision for your classes or to help students develop a vision for the semester/year.
Here's a few to get you started:
Personal Growth Plan Template
How will you help your students grow the skills necessary for positively leading and influencing others? While conferences and one-time leadership experiences provide a springboard for student growth and development they do not suffice as the only growth experience prepare your students with the skills they need to lead and influence in the 21st century. Meaningful growth and improvement happens over time – not in one or two days!
This post offers a basic personal growth plan template to use with your students. Here’s how to use it effectively:
- Offer students a meaningful leadership experience. This may be achieved through a service-learning event, participating in a workshop/seminar, participation in a student organization, etc.
- After students complete an experience encourage them to reflect and identify areas for growth.
- Provide students with a copy of the personal growth plan template and work with them to complete the template.
- Mentor and meet with the student as they work to achieve the goals stated in their plan.
Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit. – Conrad Hilton, Hotel Executive.
Leadership Development Tip for 10.2.08
Pass It On!
As I was driving home from the airport the other day, a very cool billboard caught my eye. The image was simple – members of a little league team sitting in the dugout cheering on their team with the phrase, “Unity: Pass It On” written in the bottom corner. By now, you have likely seen these billboards near your community too. They are the work of a group called The Foundation for a Better Life.
The nationwide billboard campaign launched in 2001 and has grown ever since. Today, there are “Pass It On” messages on the Internet, Television, in Theaters and now available through Podcasts. The Foundation’s mission is simple – “to encourage adherence to a set of quality values through personal accountability and by raising the level of expectations of performance for all individuals.” (The Foundation for a Better Life Web site).
Strong values and leadership go hand-in-hand. Here are some simple ways you can “pass it on” in your classroom:
- Choose a value per week or month. During that period introduce the value, what it means and identify real-world examples of people who embody that particular value.
- Send students on a mission to notice a certain value in themselves, their classmates, the school and the surrounding community. During bell-work, have students share where they’ve noticed the value displayed. Encourage students to identify ways they can embody the value too.
- Reward individual students when you notice them demonstrating a particular value. Make sure you label the value for them and highlight the example publicly to providing a learning opportunity for all students.
- Have students listen to a Podcast on one of the values highlighted at http://www.forbetterlife.org/be-inspired/podcasts.asp Then ask students to choose a value and create their own pod- or vod-cast about the value. There are a number of free resources available to help them begin on The Foundation for a Better Life Web site.
Inspire your students to pass it on!
Leadership Development Tip for 9.25.08
Rule the School: Learning the Art of Constructive Feedback
Hopefully we’re all settled into the new school year and have our routines down again. Students, whether new to the district or established in the culture, certainly have opinions about the environment they’re required to live in throughout the day. Next time you have 10 minutes left in class, harness that knowledge to help improve the school and share some insight with your class on giving constructive feedback. Your teaching team, counselor(s), administration and others will appreciate knowing students’ thoughts and students will have a better understanding of an invaluable life skill!
Context to Provide Students (from Giving Feedback for Dummies):
·Let your students know up front that all the feedback they provide will be anonymous (as long as they leave their name off their paper) and will be shared with staff in the school so they can work to make it a better place.
Context to Provide Students (from Giving Feedback for Dummies):
·Let your students know up front that all the feedback they provide will be anonymous (as long as they leave their name off their paper) and will be shared with staff in the school so they can work to make it a better place.
·Constructive feedback should be specific, centered on issues and based on observations they’ve made.
·When sharing their feedback, they must clearly identify the topic or issue for the feedback and then provide details to back it up.
·Their feedback should be shared by starting out with “I.” Example: “I have noticed…”
Possible Questions to Ask:
·If you could change one thing about the environment at this school, what would it be?
Possible Questions to Ask:
·If you could change one thing about the environment at this school, what would it be?
·Do you feel safe at school? Why or why not?
·What specifically would make this school a better place to be?What’s your favorite thing about this school? If you don’t have an answer to that question, what keeps you from being able to respond?
Leadership Development Tip for September 18, 2008
So that’s what they meant!
Quotes from famous folks or those who impacted the world in some way resonate with many of us. Often our students cling to the words of others even more than we do as they look for descriptors for their dynamic, changing lives. So, take the opportunity to bring context to what your students are reading and hearing!
If you’re a music teacher, have students find a quote that resonates with them from a famous musician. What was the musician referring to when she said it? What was happening in the world at that time? What is the underlying message? Why does that particular quote stick? Does it still mean as much after learning more about the events surrounding it? If you’re teaching biology, search out the words of scientists. Quotations by noted historians abound. Have fun! Sneaking in learning is perfectly legal in all 50 states.
Leadership Development Tip for September 11, 2008
If you’re a music teacher, have students find a quote that resonates with them from a famous musician. What was the musician referring to when she said it? What was happening in the world at that time? What is the underlying message? Why does that particular quote stick? Does it still mean as much after learning more about the events surrounding it? If you’re teaching biology, search out the words of scientists. Quotations by noted historians abound. Have fun! Sneaking in learning is perfectly legal in all 50 states.
Leadership Development Tip for September 11, 2008
Leadership Challenge Card: Communication Line Up
Here's a sample of one of our products from Relevant Classroom. The Leadership Challenge cards are a set of 40 activities. Thirty of the activities are 10-15 minutes in length and ten are a bit longer. All activities are very low material. The activities focus on leaderships skills ranging from time management and goal setting to decision making, morals and self respect. Click on the images below for a larger copy of the text.
Time Management
Have you ever tracked how you spend time at work or the time you spend behind your desk? It’s fairly eye-opening to see how long some tasks actually take and how quickly you can complete others.
Like many businesses, we try to track our hours by project. A few months ago we ran across a free program to assist in the process called Klok. Klok is time-tracking software with many features.
I don’t use Klok constantly anymore, but it certainly made me aware of where I’m wasting time and helped me rearrange a few tasks throughout my day to make me more efficient. As a small business, it has helped us better estimate the real-time needed to complete projects and budgets.
Time management is one of those skills we all would like to be just a little better at. As educators, we’d really like for our students to be better time managers! The first step to improving is to look at where you’re currently at. How about asking your students to track their work time over a certain timeframe: a few periods, during the school day, over the course of a unit or say during a select 48 hours? Follow up with a journal entry or discussion to reflect and provide time management strategies. If you’re into technology, test out Klok. If you need something simpler, use the good old pen-and-paper method.
Suggestions for Effective Time Tracking:
- Set up the general categories you want to track
-General category examples: sleep, homework/studying, in-class, non-school related computer or games, TV, hygene, etc.
-More specific examples would be broken out by subject or even by specific tasks within subject - Keep track while you’re doing the task (we are often off when we try to estimate after the fact)
- Be sure to sum totals for all categories (could be a good graphing exercise as well)
Reflection and Follow-Up Items:
- What surprises you about how you spend your time?
- What doesn’t surprise you about how you spend your time?
- In what areas could you easily be more efficient?
- How could you better balance your time?
- What tasks would you like to spend more time on?
- List 2 goals for how you would like to better allocate your time next week
Leadership Development Tip for August 28, 2008
Olympic-sized Leadership
The Olympics are a great opportunity to discuss traits of leadership and success with students since it is one of the few cultural events that most Americans follow (even more than American Idol). Here are a few discussion questions you might use with students:
- Who has inspired you in this Olympics? Why?
- Who has shown leadership during these Olympic games? Why?
- Are successful athletes leaders? Why or why not?
- What can we learn about leadership and teamwork from the Olympics?
- How is “real life” different than the competitions at the Olympic games?
- What traits do successful leaders and successful athletes have in common?
- Why do we cheer for some athletes/teams and not others?
Leadership Development tip for the week of August 21, 2008
Reflecting
Reflecting
Outside of reviewing a test, rarely do we ask students to reflect on learning. It’s understandable since by the time students have turned in an assignment, we must hurry on to the next topic. What is the payoff of asking students to reflect?
Let’s answer this question first: what do I mean by reflect? A few simple questions that students are expected to answer honestly about their learning process and the effort they contributed. It doesn’t have to be graded, but you do need to read (or listen) and respond either in conversation or writing. Below is an example of a form that could be used as a standard, post-assignment or evaluation reflection guide.
Outside of reviewing a test, rarely do we ask students to reflect on learning. It’s understandable since by the time students have turned in an assignment, we must hurry on to the next topic. What is the payoff of asking students to reflect?
Let’s answer this question first: what do I mean by reflect? A few simple questions that students are expected to answer honestly about their learning process and the effort they contributed. It doesn’t have to be graded, but you do need to read (or listen) and respond either in conversation or writing. Below is an example of a form that could be used as a standard, post-assignment or evaluation reflection guide.
Back to the question of payoff in asking students to reflect. For one, reflection helps hold students accountable. It’s more difficult for Jake to turn in poor work when he knows he will be asked to reflect on it. Second, reflecting is critical life skill. It forces students to articulate and review their thought processes. In the education world, this is called metacognition. For many students, it’s not a natural skill; they learn it from others and by practice. Helping students increase their metacognitive skills helps them to become more aware of their own strengths and weaknesses. This is a critically important leadership skill, too. Use the reflection exercise as an opportunity to discuss how leaders must learn to recognize what they are good at and what they aren't so they can use the talents of others to build great teams and produce outstanding results.
Leadership Development Tip for August 14, 2008
Base Teams
Base teams are teams of 3-5 students in your classroom who may do any of the following:
· Relay homework to students within their team who missed a class
· Help take attendance by noting who is missing from their team
· Take notes and provide them to students who missed a class
· Complete group projects
· Complete various classroom duties
Students love working with one another. Establish a routine on the first day of school that shows students how certain tasks will be completed in your classroom during the semester. They can create their own rules and procedures, vote for how to complete certain tasks and determine roles within their team. Students will feel good about the trust you place in them, and you’ll feel good when you can say, “base teams” and students move into their teams and get busy. In addition to all of the great content you teach, students will learn an incredible amount about team work, communication, accountability and responsibility.
Leadership Development for July 31, 2008
· Relay homework to students within their team who missed a class
· Help take attendance by noting who is missing from their team
· Take notes and provide them to students who missed a class
· Complete group projects
· Complete various classroom duties
Students love working with one another. Establish a routine on the first day of school that shows students how certain tasks will be completed in your classroom during the semester. They can create their own rules and procedures, vote for how to complete certain tasks and determine roles within their team. Students will feel good about the trust you place in them, and you’ll feel good when you can say, “base teams” and students move into their teams and get busy. In addition to all of the great content you teach, students will learn an incredible amount about team work, communication, accountability and responsibility.
Leadership Development for July 31, 2008
Leadership: Turning Resistance into Cooperation
Each one of us faces conflict in our daily lives, whether we like or not. Clearly, some of us like it more than others. There are those of us who try to avoid conflict at all costs but alas, it is inevitable. When we are equipped to handle conflict, it becomes much easier to manage. Here are some steps to turn resistance into cooperation. Don’t be hard on yourself if you don’t get it perfect the first time, it will get easier with practice. Have an attitude that allows you to be influenced:
1) Ask for what you want.
2) Listen to understand.
3) Reflect back your understanding: summarize or paraphrase to be sure you know what was said.
4) Focus on underlying interests: what does the other person really want?
5) Confront covert resistance by perception checking: state your observation.
6) Suggest a test or a trial run to enhance cooperation (and make a date to check back on the test).
7) Identify the cost of noncooperation: tell another what happens when they don’t cooperate.
8) Confront and clarify mixed messages: don’t let a mixed message slip away without addressing what was meant.
Public Speaking Strategies
Isn’t it amazing that more Americans are afraid of public speaking than death? Wouldn’t it be great to help alleviate those fears through activities in the classroom? Often times a student’s first public speaking experience is in a lengthy presentation in front of an entire class. It is helpful to allow students to have shorter, less stressful experiences in public speaking that add to their confidence and natural curiosity about sharing ideas in front of a group.
Here is one activity for students to take a small step into public speaking.
1. Ask students to take one minute to brainstorm simple everyday topics. Examples might be bubble gum, video games or summer vacation. Instruct students to write down each idea on a separate slip of paper and collect the papers.
2. Next ask students to choose a partner. Share that in just a moment they will select one of the topics from the brainstormed list. The partner that goes first will have one minute to share all that they know about that topic with their partner.
3. Once the student has finished with the first topic, instruct the same partner to draw a new topic to discuss in the next one minute segment. The change for the second minute is that the person must sit on his or her hands while talking. Once that partner finishes, repeat the same activity with the other partner.
Following the activity, facilitate a lively discussion about what the students experienced.
Discussion Questions:
1. What kinds of feelings did you experience during our activity?
2. How did it feel to speak about your topic when you could use your hands?
3. How did it feel the second round without using your hands?
4. Listeners, what differences did you notice in your partner’s speaking ability during each round?
5. What’s the difference between verbal and non-verbal communication?
6. What role do our gestures play in communicating with others?
7. What other discoveries did you make about speaking in public today?
Leadership Development Tip for July 10, 2008
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