Chapters 1 & 2
The Leader In Me
Chapters 1 & 2
Chapters 1: Too Good To Be True?
- How and why leadership principles fit today's realities
Chapter 2 : How It Started - And Why
- How and why The Leader In Me got started.
Questions:
1. What are the "people skills" that were highlighted? Do you agree that these skills are more importnat than ever? Why?
2. Why did Muriel need to reinvent her school?
1. The people skills that were highlighted in chapter one were being a good listener and a team builder. These skills have always made an individual more appealing when applying for jobs and will make an individual more successful not only in school but in the work force as well. Because more and more students are using cell phones, online games, and social media sites to communicate from a young age and on, I do feel that they are not practicing face to face communication skills as much as earlier generations. Teaching and practicing these skills in school will benefit them and can be easily added to daily lesson plans through group work and partner/group discussions.
ReplyDelete2. The current specialization being promoted for Muriel's magnet school was not attracting many students, and enrollment was low for A.B. Combs. Muriel was told that she needed to create a new magnet that would increase enrollment or risk converting back into a traditional school. Muriel worked with her staff, students, and parents to come up with "Leadership" as the new magnet for A.B. Combs.
1. The author highlighted active listening and team building as the essential skills needed for success in today's society. I definitely agree that being a good listener is a necessary skill in our world. Listening allows you to notice those around you and benefit from other's strengths. Team-building is fundamental to success in work, sports, academics, family-life, education, and leadership. I think the best leaders are those that build strong teams...capitalizing on the strengths of those around them ultimately creating a "community of leaders"...a contagious force. People inherently follow those that make them feel competent, smart, and successful.
DeleteMuriel needed to reinvent her magnate school because the enrollment was down and students weren't "attracted" to it. She needed to change the perception of the school for stakeholders and the reality of the school for employees and students.
DeleteI agree with what Jessie said about the use of digital means to communicate at a younger and younger age that students are not practicing and need to practice more face to face communication and that it can be incorporated in daily lesson plans.
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ReplyDeleteWhat are the "people skills" that were highlighted? Do you agree that these skills are more important than ever? Why?
ReplyDeleteGood listening skills and team building were the "people skills" highlighted in chapter 1. I do agree that these skills are more important than ever because many people don't listen to understand anymore. They listen to give the first answer that comes to their mind (to reply) versus really understanding the situation. Or they listen and assume what they're hearing is correct when in most cases we hear something completely different.
A favorite quote: The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that is has taken place.
In today's society, we don't really listen due to the ability to communicate through social media, text messaging and email. We read, we respond. I feel communication (really face to face communication) is becoming a lost art along with everything that comes with it!
Listening skills and team building go hand in hand. I think the best leaders and the best teams do well because of their listening skills. In order to have an effective team, everyone must listen to the ideas of the group in order to make the best decisions for the sum of the group. The best groups are the ones who appreciate each individual's qualities and work together using those individual skills to become a cohesive group.
Why did Muriel need to reinvent her school?
Muriel was in charge of a magnet school that was designed to attract students to the school. She was informed by her superintendent that they weren't attracting enough students and she needed to either come up with a new magnet theme or go back to being a traditional school. Muriel decided to question people in the community to see what they "wanted" in a school and with the combined information concluded that their new theme be "Leadership."
I like how you pointed out that people don't really listen to understand anymore. I see this in not only my students but in adults (including myself) as well. We respond quickly in conversations without completely considering what has been said or even genuinely considering our response and the affect it will have on the conversation or individuals in the conversation.
DeleteIn addition to being a good listener and team builder, other people skills highlighted in Chapter 1 include setting and pursuing goals, resolving conflicts maturely and communicating with others (other than digitally).
ReplyDeleteYes these skills are more important than ever!! At a recent conference I attended Dr. Steve Staples, retired Virginia Superintendent of Public Instruction, talked at length about the Profile of a Virginia Graduate.
In Virginia, the Life Ready Individual will, during his or her K-12 educational experience:
• Content Knowledge – Achieve and apply appropriate academic and technical knowledge
• Workplace Skills – Demonstrate productive workplace skills, qualities, and behaviors
• Community Engagement and Civic Responsibility – Build connections and value for interactions, as a responsible and responsive citizen
• Career Exploration – Align knowledge, skills, and personal interests with career opportunities
Integrated within these areas are skills known as the "5 Cs" - Critical thinking, Creative thinking, Collaboration, Communications, and Citizenship.
In developing the profile the question posed to all sorts of audiences was "Are Virginia's high school graduates prepared for what comes next?" ALL of the stakeholder groups said NO. What Virginia policy makers recognized and have written into legislation aligns completely with the tenets of The Leader In Me.
Muriel had to redesign her school to attract and increase enrollment. Virginia K-12 schools need to redesign how they teach and what they teach in order to meet the mission of preparing students for job opportunities in tomorrow's economy and to be successful in work and in life.
Sadly, I agree that most of our students are not prepared for life after high school. I wonder what they are learning (or not learning) at home. I can see the need to teach life skills as part of our content. It doesn't have to be another class, but we do need to incorporate the goals for the Life Ready Individual into what we already teach.
DeleteWe could use field trips to build/enhance civic duty (require volunteer hours from all kids somehow?) Allison told me about an awesome career exploration program she learned about...could we build off her information on that? I agree students MUST know what it takes to make it in the work force. There are teachers taking kids to other countries and enhancing there knowledge...so the question is how to we reach all of them. School garden? School bake sale (kids must bake) I would say some of the teachers are exposing kids to "workplace skills"...robotics? I create a classroom environment to encourage collaboration. Growth mindset is another perspective we can explore and is mentioned in the book.
DeleteCarrie and I started the year off with activities centered around growth mindset last year. We were able to lay a good foundation that we could refer to and build upon throughout the year. I plan to do the same in the upcoming year. I like your other ideas as well. You can easily link content with life skills in activities such as the bake sale you mentioned (fundraiser for a charity, writing to persuade in advertising, writing directions, public speaking, communication skills which are all part of our content).
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ReplyDeleteListening and team building are important people skills highlighted in the text, but the author goes on to clarify that analytical, critical-thinking, and creativity skills are needed for today's students to be successful. Also, the text states that life skills such as having optimism, the ability to lead an independent life, or interact with other people successfully are needed. The text mentions empathy skills and the ability to find joy and help others to do so as well.
DeleteThere are so many things that our students need to know to be able to navigate society well, and it is not necessarily the content we teach. I liked what the text said about our ability to use data to pinpoint exactly where a student is weak in academics and how things might be different if we were to identify student strengths and virtues. The text suggests that we nurture people skills, hope, courage, optimism and work-ethic in our students. Sounds like a good idea to me.
The magnet school led by Muriel was faced with low enrollment, and possible loss of magnet school status. She had to reinvent her school to make it a school where people wanted their children to attend, a school to be proud of, and a school where students were self-motivated and taught the skills employers most want to see.
I read this book a few years ago before I started teaching, and I'm really glad I'm reading it again now that I am two years into my new career of teaching. As a mom of two small children and a teacher of teenagers, the reality of how kids are raised today versus how I was raised is really hitting home hard and I'm finding myself often wondering if my kids are learning the same life skills I learned at an early age. As a teacher, I'm seeing students every day who lack these skills and want to know what we can do to help. I went to a small town private school that was very strict and the focus was college prep and discipline. We were automatically taught similar life skills as are mentioned in the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People simply by how we were held accountable for our actions in school whether we forgot a pencil, were not prepared, treated someone poorly, disrespected an adult or turned in an assignment late. As education has changed over the years, the focus has changed many times as stated in the book. In order for our students to become productive citizens in society and in order for them to have successful careers, the skills highlighted in the text (listening, team building, analytical, critical thinking, creativity, etc.) are vital to their success.
ReplyDeleteIn my previous job I interviewed and hired hundreds of people each year at all different levels within the company. Some were hourly wage retail employees while others were district and regional managers who would be in charge of managing others as well as very large budgets and who would have a lot of responsibility. Knowledge and skill were not always at the top of my list of what I was looking for in a candidate. Communication skills, people skills, the ability to think critically and analytically, to be able to problem solve were more important as I could train anyone with those skills with the knowledge they needed to do the job at hand. These are all things that our kids are not necessarily getting at home anymore as more kids have single parent homes, both parents working and are in the digital age of no face to face communication and there is often a lack of accountability. Times have changed which is our reality, but our kids still need to get these skills somehow not only for their current success, but for the future.
Muriel had to reinvent her school in order to save the school from closing. It was genius of her to seek out answers within the community and from her teachers in order to formulate a plan. And I'm anxious to read further since it's been a while since I read this to see how exactly the plan was implemented and made successful.
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ReplyDeleteHappy summer all. As you've no doubt noticed, I am considerably late to the soiree, but I shall try to make up for that in my postings and no over-burden the discussion with unnecessary assumptions.
ReplyDeleteFrom my reading, I found that Covey's "7 Habits" seem to be the star of the text, and not without reason. With goals such as developing critical-thinking students, problem solvers, and developing students with foresight, I find that a focus on building a successful mentality is key. The majority of our battle, as people, is with ourselves and among those around us. If we can use the strategies embedded in these habits and teach them at a young age, we are preparing our students for the most difficult part of their journey, all the wile remaining in a situation where there is a degree of safety allowing them to do so.
Something I have spent the last couple years doing is twisting how I teach my lessons so as to help students understand its importance. Ancient and Medieval history, on the surface, is not the most applicable subject to an 8th grader aspiring to Marine-biology. I have my students examine periods of history to "understand" why people were acting, thinking, reacting, writing, and living a certain way, and then I try to show they that they should be examining their own actions through that same lens. With that in mind, I find the "7 Habits" of Covey to be something easily understood and accessible to be the grout for our students sculpture.