Week Seven-Lollipop Moments - due Friday March 22 @ 11:59pm

Head Waters of the Connecticut River, Pittsburg, NH (photo credit Bent)

Part One:
Please respond to the following:

As of this publication, there are 10 more school days in the third quarter....how are things working out for you?  Do you feel a little rushed, like the river pictured above, or are you in a good spot? Explain

Part Two:

Please watch the TED Talk in the link below.

https://www.ted.com/talks/drew_dudley_everyday_leadership#t-357842

Part Three:
Please respond to the following questions, as they pertain to the TED talk.

What does Drew Dudley say about people and leadership in this video?

I am pretty sure that we have all had one of these lollipop moments, share one here please.

Why do you think I wanted you to watch this talk?

Week Six-Body Language/TED talk - due Friday March 15th @ 11:59

Photo Credits Bent East Inlet, Pittsburg, NH

Highlight and click on the link below.  It is a 20 minute TED talk by Amy Cuddy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks-_Mh1QhMc

Please listen to and take notes, (trust me it will help you frame your answer better and I need to see evidence that you were actually listening to the talk and not trying to do 40 other things at once), and answer the following questions:

1. How does this TED talk relate to me, (meaning you), in this class? (be specific...think about your project)



2. How does this TED talk relate to me, (meaning you), moving forward after graduation from high school?


3. Spend some time observing others....maybe at a mall, or in the cafe here at school, or at your place of employment.  What do you see for body language in others....can you conclude anything from your observations? Explain


4. Why do you think I wanted you to watch the video, and why do you think I thought it was important to break down your responses in three different ways?

Week Five - Nose to the grindstone - due Friday March 8th by 11:59 pm

  I know that the end of the semester looks as tough as navigating these steps at times, but with proper planning you will make it to end relatively stress free.   

What I want you to remember is that you have chosen what you want to do with this class, so be PROUD of what your plan is, and follow through with all the details.  This is your time to shine as an independent, strong, young adult.  Do not disappoint yourself, "stay the course" and finish strong with something to share and celebrate in May. 

This week I want you to work on either firming up the connections or creating connections (real people connections) for your project AND I want you to start fleshing out just what you will be doing for the project.  I do not want vague ideas like, "I am going to work with kids in a school".  I want step by step plans...you have at least 20 hours of work in the field after April break.  What will those 20 hours look like?  How will you schedule your days? What are you doing?  If you are teaching someone a sport, set up a schedule of what to teach and when, and set a series of goals to check your progress. The final project plan will not be given to anyone until you have submitted it to me for a grade and possible corrections....this means that you are looking at giving it to your community member(s) as early as the week of March 18th, but no later than March 25th.

You should also be about a third the way through your research book.  As of the end of this week you will have almost half your annotated bibliographies completed.

The month of March is for refining the project details (a formal guide to what you are doing) and prepping to write the research paper. 

So, my requests for blogging this week are short and sweet:

1. Where are you at in the process?  Do not be vague, tell me in great detail what you have done to further yourself in your project and your research.  If you have done nothing or very little, be honest, and share your realistic plan on how you are going to get back on track. I have noticed that this first week of annotated bibliographies are slim....by Sunday morning only six students have turned them in.  Considering you have the week, in and out of class, to do them this is disappointing.  I would suggest that you share a plan of how you are going to tackle these each week so that they are submitted before Sunday.  (Stop leaving things for the last minute...this is a bad habit that becomes both bad and expensive in college).

2. Then find me a picture that represents you working through the process....it can be a real picture or a cartoon, or even an original drawing.  Attach it to your post. No explanation needed, the picture should tell me everything.

Week Four - Back to work folks - due Friday March 1 by 11:59 pm

Cairnes, Queensland, Australia (photo-Bent)

Week Four is here, and that means when we come back from February vacation, you will only have another seven (7) weeks of "seat" time in class.  YIKES!  You are beginning to think more deeply and looking forward towards the horizon, or at least I hope you are.

1. Where does the project and the research paper overlap? Tell me about it. 

2. Make a plan for yourself for the month of March....write a real plan on your calendar.  Make time for the research, the reading, working on your project proposal, and making project connections. Use this month wisely because it is your LAST FULL MONTH of high school.  Accomplish what you will be proud of and what you want others to be proud of you for. Take a picture of the calendar and paste it here.

3. Tell me how I can help....what do you need from me? Share that here. 

You do not want to be caught...out of breath and in a knot, just hanging around waiting for the work to be done... (Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, Australia. (photo Bent)

Week Three: Perspective,Time Management, and Challenges due Friday February 15th by 11:59 pm

Looking at the world through different perspectives, Narragansett, RI ( photo credit Bent)

Perspective:

Have you thought about how you look at things, or approach tasks?  If you notice this beautiful stone structure above has a variety of windows.  They all look out over Scarborough Beach in Narragansett, but each window provides a different view.  What I would like you to do this week is work on different ways to approach your tasks....find a different "view".  For example, when you are researching the topic for your paper, try a variety of sources.  Do not just stick with one, shop around the data bases, and see what you can find.  Yes, you will have to do a little tedious work, meaning reading so that you can make an informed decision as to whether you will use it or not.  No getting around this folks. 

1.  Respond:

How do you approach data base searches?  Be honest here.g

How much time have you and will you spend on these searches?

Which data bases did you use and why?

How was/is the frustration level during your search?
If you change the way you search, would that alleviate your frustration? Explain what you can do....

Be honest, how much progress are you making on acquiring journal articles to read?

Time:

It is one of those things that we either think we have a lot of it, or we think we do not have enough of it.

2. Respond:
How do you manage time? Think about this questions in terms of "activities you like"and activities you must do".

Give me a typical day, and how you designate time before and after school?

Where and how can you improve your time management? Be realistic, and be truthful.
What does time management look like to you? Show me a picture......What I want here is YOUR CALENDAR filled out...yes, the one I gave you.

Challenges:

Dana's (my daughter) roommate, Emily,  is a member of the Bristol Fire Department.  When I asked her, (Emily), how and why she joined the department, she said that she had the same type of opportunity you, (yes you my class), had when she was a senior in high school.  At the time she could not imagine joining a fire department.  After some consideration, and a willingness to do something so far out of her comfort zone, she joined a junior fire academy in her home town as part of her leadership class.  Fast forward to college:  she liked the experience in high school, so she joined the department in Bristol., and has been a member for the past three years.  In addition, she added EMT to her resume because of an opportunity in the Bristol Fire Department.

How one connection leads to an opportunity....

My daughter, pictured in Emily's firefighter outfit, is also part of the Bristol Fire Department.  Because of Emily, she too decided to go WAY out of her comfort zone last year.  She is now in her second year as a member of the rescue squad.  She is an ambulance driver/first responder.....she too took a chance, challenged herself, and chose to do something really out of her comfort zone.

By the way, Emily is a public health major, and Dana is an education major...neither one wants a career in fire fighting, but they wanted something new and different for the experience.  My point is, make yourself uncomfortable, and try to do something that challenges you in this class.

Taking a risk, trying something new...getting out of your comfort zone (photo credit Bisanti)

Bristol Fire and Rescue giving back in the Bristol-Warren School District (photo credit Bristol FD)

3. Respond...think about Emily and Dana stories.
What will you do that is challenging and out of your comfort zone during this class....or what do you think you will do?

What might scare you about this challenge? (Being uncomfortable is good....it means you are challenging yourself)

What sounds exciting and do able during this class?

What might hold you back?

Initial responses due by Friday February 15th by 11:59 pm, with secondary responses due Sunday February 17th by 11:59. 

Week Two-Digging deeper into ideas....formulating plans Due Friday February 8 @ 11:59

Heading into week two should not look as relaxing as Ollie's pose...(photo credit Bent)

By the end of week two you will need to have a basic idea of a project and a basic idea of a research topic. This does not mean that you need to have the whole thing hammered out, but you will need to be able to show effective progress.  This will look like:

1. A simple plan born of your original idea-written out and uploaded to Google classroom

• In a sentence or two, put your project plan here, so we can all see it and be excited for you.

2. A book that you will be reading connected in some way to your project.

• Show me a picture of your book, and tell me why you decided to read it-your thoughts might help others to find a book.

3. An idea for a research paper that connects to the project and the book you are reading.  For example if you are interested in landscaping, you might have a plan to do some landscaping, and you have decided to read a book about a famous landscaper.....your research project could be about how the history of professional landscaping or how flowers and plants improve people's moods

• What is your idea? Tell us, and share a picture that connects to your research

4. How are you feeling week two? Be honest-we are all in this together and are here to help one another.  You might be surprised how many others share some of your feelings of success or frustration in week two of this class.

5. As you have already discovered, there is time on your own in this class.  How are you going to commit to "time used wisely" here?  Explain

Week One: Early Exploration due by Friday February 1 @ 11:59pm

Think beyond the confines of a regular classroom (Scarborough Beach, Narragansett, R.I. photo credits Bent)

Welcome to Experiential Leadership.  This is a class where you flex that independent streak you know you have.  Although it might seem a little scary, or you might think this is a piece of cake, it is a class where you prove to yourself you can do whatever you set your mind to!

In this first week of class you will be thinking differently than a traditional English classroom.  I want you to:

1) Introduce yourself to me:
-tell me your reason for wanting to join this class...do not tell me you joined because it sounded easy...
-tell me your interests....(not your life plan)....what you like to do and maybe even what you are passionate about
-tell me about what you want to do after high school...trade school, college, workforce, the armed forces...
-tell me what you have most proud of doing so far in your life
-tell me about your time management or lack of time management
-tell me something I would not normally know about you...especially if I had you as an English student junior year

2) I want you to go to your local library and do the following:
-obtain a library card, if you do not already have one
-renew your library card, if it needs to be renewed
-take a selfie with the librarian and post it to your blog this week....and yes I do mean a selfie with the librarian (not Ms. Costello....the librarian in your town).  If the librarian will not do that with you, take a selfie of you and your library card inside the library and post it to your blog.

3) If you have an idea for this class (what you might like to do...or where you might like to focus), tell me about it.  (If you do not have an idea....what are you thinking about...even if it is wild...one of my students in last year's class came up with this wild idea about Cat Yoga...I laughed, and she did too....but you know what, she did it!)

4) Connections: Choose another form of social media and CONNECT your blog so that others may share in your journey through this class.....screen shot this AND post a picture of this share in your blog.

You must respond to at least TWO (2) other people by 11:59 pm the week the blog is due.  (Our class week runs Monday to Sunday...so if the blog is due on Friday, you must read two other people's blog by Sunday and respond to them).