Week Fourteen - No response needed, I just want to share my reflection on this class

Photo Credits Bent: The Welcome Rock, St. Patrick, Grenada, British West Indies

I chose this picture because it was a hike my daughter, Nyla, and I took last August.  It was a hike I did not think I would ever be able to do once I was diagnosed with RA, but it was a hike I was determined to try.  My point is you all took a risk this semester, and sometimes you faltered, but you all picked yourselves up, carried on,  and learned a little more about yourselves along the way. 

I remember all 26 faces that first day of second semester.  Most of you had no idea what strengths you had because you had never really challenged yourselves before.  Look at you now, you made it, and you all have had success with your project/internships.  This speaks volumes to who you are, and who you will become as adults.

Good teaching starts with willing students, and you have been some of the most willing and risk taking students I have had over the years.  So thank you for allowing me to share in your journeys this semester.

So as the sun sets on your time in high school, take your new found skills, continue to work on them, and always remember that you can accomplish anything you put your mind to.  You proved it here in Experiential Leadership.

Photo Credits Bent: Grand Anse Beach, St. George's Grenada, British West Indies 

Week 13 - THE FINAL BLOG - due May 10th @ 11:59 pm -responses to others due by May 12th @ 11 59 pm

Bristol Harbor, RI, (photo credits Bent)

This is it!  Your final full week of school as a high school senior.  You can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and you have so much  to look forward to in the future.  Whether you are entering the workforce, the armed services, or going to college, your future is what you make of it from here on out.  Promise yourself that you will make good choices, and when you slip, get back up and correct the wrongs.  

In addition to this FINAL BLOG, you have your presentations (due on the presentation date you chose), and your final reflection (due May 19th).  If there is anything else still due, see me please.

What I want you to do for this blog is to choose a strength you have developed in this class and tell me about it.  Short and sweet, but it should be about a paragraph long.  

Enjoy the few remaining days as a senior, but still work hard.  Relax over the summer, and then jump right back into your own education and/or work.  You have all the skills, but the question is, will you use them?

Sunset on the Caribbean Sea, Grenada, British West Indies (photo credit Bent)

Week Twelve - Leadership and Fear - due Friday May 3rd @ 11:59 pm

YIKES !!!! You have approximately 13 school days left.  Although the end is a good thing, it can also be a little bit scary because your high school life gives way to a more adult-by yourself-type of living regardless of whether you go to college, enter the armed services, or join the workforce.  You are your own leader starting NOW!!!!!

Leaders are not necessarily fearless, but they have learned how to deal with their fears.  It takes courage to live his/her convictions, persevere, take risks, tell the truth, apologize, and to admit mistakes.  Courage is about pushing through one's fears to live a most authentic life and do what one believes is right (Myers, 209).

Bristol, RI harbor at sunset (photo credit Bent)

Now that you are beginning to work in the field, or wrapping up your projects,  I am sure there is some "fear" about your success or failure, and this is normal.  All good leaders, as the Myers states, "learn to deal with their fears" (2011).

Please answer the following questions as they pertain to leadership and fear.  Make sure that the answers are substantial, and are not just "one sentence wonders".

1. Having to move on to unfamiliar territory and/or new adventures is what allows leaders to stretch and grow.  So, does, (or did),  your project stretch, challenge, and/or  engage you?  Explain

2. Sometimes the greatest act of courage is to follow one's heart and do the right thing, even if it is not popular or does not seem politically correct.  What is your "North Star", that thing that most drives you when you have to make a hard decision? Do you give yourself permission to make hard decisions without necessarily having it all figured out?  Are you willing to step into ambiguity when the occasion calls for it?  (Once you summon the courage to take this step, it often opens up wonderful new possibilities that otherwise might have remained closed or hidden.)  Share your answer, thoughts, and examples.

3. Are you willing to risk being wrong?  Sometimes leadership takes having the courage to make hard decisions based on the best information you have, knowing that you could be wrong.  Do you have an example of this? (Share)

4.  Do you give yourself credit for those tough decisions that nobody else sees? Explain.

Week Eleven - RESPECT due Friday April 26th @ 11:59 pm

"Red sky in morn, sailors be warned..." (Photo Credit Bent)

Sometimes those beautiful sunrises lead to a tumultuous day...as in nature, we too find ourselves peaceful one minute, and "stormy" the next.  This is the first week that you are on your own, so make sure you choose wisely and do the work that is expected of you.  Do not be like Tim, in the procrastination video (from two weeks ago).  Take the time, make a plan with yourself, and get it all done.  Planning and follow through are leadership qualities.  So RESPECT yourself and others by following through and working instead of putting it all off until the last minute.  


Another way to work with RESPECT is to keep your eyes open to people around you and making sure that they feel truly heard.  It means approaching everyone you meet from a perspective that says people matter.  Take the time to really talk with people and become conscious of what is going on in their lives...this is more than just being nice, it also gets results (meaning people who are respected or feel respected are often more receptive to work for you, or with you).  Remember this while you are working with others.

Please read, consider, and react to the following questions:

Are you willing to listen to others and let others have their voice, even when it might be inconvenient, difficult, or painful to do so?

When you find yourself in disagreement with someone, do you focus on making your own views heard, or do you stay open to the other person's point of view?

In situations of conflict, do you try to win agreement, or do you seek first to establish trust?

Do you sometimes feel unheard?

Do you take care to keep your relationships alive?

**Please take note: these are not meant to be one word answers, instead I want you to reflect, explain, and share.**  If you have examples to share...SHARE them here...we can all learn from one another.

Week Ten-Procrastination is really a four letter word- Due Friday April 12 @ 11:59 pm

The end is in sight, but you still have miles to get there....(Photo Credit Bent, Chester, NH)

I would like you to watch  Tim Urban's TED Talk "Inside the Mind of a Procrastinator"

https://www.ted.com/talks/tim_urban_inside_the_mind_of_a_master_procrastinator#t-812

1.Once you have watched it, write a short reflection on if you see yourself in this talk.

2. He makes an interesting point at the end what is it?

3. How did the boxes strike you?

4. Why would I think it is important for you to watch a rather funny video on procrastination?

5. Show me, or tell me, what your procrastination looks like....one year, in graduate school, I addressed all my Christmas cards (in late August) instead of writing....then I wrote beautiful notes in each card the following month...that year I sent out over 100 cards...avoided writing until October-it wasn't pretty.

Week Nine-Authenticity and you-due Friday April 5th @ 11:59 pm

Have you ever stopped and listened to the roll of the pebbles on the beach as they wash in and out with the ebb and flow of the tide?  Have you ever considered just you, meaning taken time to just stop and think about you? Not the "you" people see, or the "you" - you try to be for others?

Rye, NH (Photo Credit Bent)

This week I want you to find "the real you" through authenticity. What does that mean? Roughly it means finding YOU within yourself and being comfortable in your skin.  Leaders need to be comfortable with themselves before they can help others.

According to autor Betsy Myers of Take the Lead ,"when you step into who you truly are, you access a source of inexhaustible power.  People see you as real, and that causes them to feel a level of trust and confidence that no amount of spin. or PR can possibly manufacture" (37). 










Consider the following question, and please be honest with your answers.  Make sure you answer beyond the yes or no of the answer. (EXPLAIN)

1. Do you feel passionate about your project? (How you answer this  might give you some clues about who you are and where you might want to focus yourself in the future....)

2.Do you put energy  into trying to live up to others' expectations?  AND Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

3. Do you feel you bring your authentic self to your relationships (bosses, parents, friends, co-workers, teachers)?

4. Do you regularly give yourself time and space to listen to your own instinctive sense? (Part of learning to trust your  internal compass is to allow yourself the room to step back and hear what your instincts are telling you.)

5. Why do you think I asked you to respond to these types of questions?

6. How do they connect to leadership class?

Week Eight- Reflections and Forward Motion due Friday March 29th @ 11:59 pm

Reflections on Second Connecticut Lake, Pittsburg, NH (photo credit Bent)

1. What have you learned about yourself so far in the class?  Too much freedom, not enough???? Explain

2. How has it been in terms of finding a place/person to do your project? (frustrating, easy, scary, etc...share)  

3. Thinking reflectively, what have you done right,and what went wrong (maybe nothing)...what would you do differently if you could do it again?

4. What has the experience of reaching out, on your own, to people you do not know taught you about yourself as a leader?

5. Upload a picture of what the remainder of this month looks like on your calendar, and what next month looks like. (So I want pictures of March and April)