Visions of facials and crocodile heads

Today was all about putting your visions to paper.  And boy did you succeed!  It was great to get inside your heads for a bit as you presented your activity vision boards.  Now it is time to MAKE IT HAPPEN.  Every week you need to be working on your planning!  Your activity will be here before you know it.  Sage will hit the ground running with her scholar activity that is happening in THREE weeks!  YES, THREE weeks!  Remember the leadership class is her support system.   As leaders you want to see and buoy people to success.  Even if that means being at the church at 8 AM to help set-up.  And in that case that IS what it means!  So mark your calendars for March 21st!

Also, how fun would it be to make a vision board for your future.  Teacher Genne was kind enough to share her visions with us.  AND WOW!  Her advice to think BIG was spot on!  She thought BIG and look what she has accomplished.  Now maybe this year she will work on her facial goal. (Not that she needs a facial.)  Maybe a personal vision board will be your next homework assignment.....YES, I think it will!!!  So start cracking on your personal vision boards : )!!!

Don't forget that Teacher Genne also talked about thinking outside of the box.  One of the most important points she made (at least in my opinion) is that growth comes out of mistakes.  Using our mistakes to change and develop is a POWERFUL tool!

Next week we will be playing catch-up!

The following presentations should be ready to go:

-Haley

-David

-Hannah

Also, the following debates should be ready to go:

-David and Paige with the missing children dept. debate

-John and Hannah with the mental health debate

As for homework, today as you completed the mistake diagnosis assignment I counted you as complete for your mistake journal.  So good job!  John, you are the only one missing that assignment.

Last week you were assigned to come up with a topic for a self debate.

Paige said she would like to debate the immunization bill. (Great topic!)

That means the rest of you still need to come up with something.  The sky's the limit!!

Lastly,  THIS WEEK'S ASSIGNMENT- create a personal vision board to share with the class!!  I can't wait to see these.  I see such great things in store for each of you.  It will be interesting to see what YOU aspire to.

Great job in class today.  I hope your vision board didn't leave you seeing double.  I hope you caught the vision of what we see in you.           (We missed CNN Student News, so I wanted to leave you with a few bad puns!)   Have a wonderful weekend.  I hope you spend it working and thinking about your VISION BOARDS!!! : )

Measles, Drones and Self Debate

Excerpt from Jennifer's Mistake Journal:

 - I failed to write and publish an entry for our class blog last week.

 -This mistake was completely due to laziness and avoidance and a huge dose of procrastination.

 -Students were left Leadership blog-less the entire weekend.  I hope they can recover.

 - I pledge to do better next week.

 -I realize that life has gone on.

Thursday's class started with a quick 20 minutes of great service in the church's garden.  There was weeding and pruning galore.  A little science observation was thrown in when a dead bird was discovered.  Has anyone come up with a hypothesis for what happened?

But anyway, count yourselves as 20 minutes closer to meeting your service hour goals.  Josh, thank you for your enthusiasm when this activity was announced.  Haley, I hope your moccassins were not ruined!  How did Sacagewea manage to dig roots everyday and NOT ruin her mocassins?

After watching CNN Student news and a rousing discussion about Mars' colonization, Teacher Jen treated us to a viewing of the public hearing for HB2009 concerning exemptions from immunizations for school-age children.  We got to see people from all walks of life standing up and defending their position on the bill.  It was such a great opportunity to hone our own debate and public speaking skills.

We saw nerves, emotion, facts, personal stories, etc.....

If you missed it here it is:

http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=2009&year=2015

Next up, was the first of the three bill debates.  Haley and Josh did GREAT!  They have shown massive amounts of growth since their first in-class debate.  Teacher Jen was IMPRESSED!

This prompted a discussion about the possibility of a "self debate" of sorts.  Each of you will have the opportunity to debate the pro and con side of a debate.  HOW FUN!!  

And this leads into this week's homework.

1) Mistake Journal and mistake autopsy - Josh is the only one who completed this

2) Prepare for your bill debate if you have not already

3)Come up with a topic that you or a classmate can use to "self -debate"

This Thursday, we will be delighted with presentations from Haley and David.

We can't wait.

Building Bill Arguments, Making Mistakes, and David's Ballroom Journey

So with the absence of Teacher Jen (we sure miss her), we talked about where we stand on our debate prep.  A few of you were ready to "fight" it out with your arguments, but a few were still working it out.  Hopefully, talking with each other gave you great ideas.  Remember to start out by DEFINING!!  Hannah, this might help you. Start by coming up with a definition.  Then find statistics (and personal stories) to back up what the bill wants to do.  I know you can do this!!

We moved on to our lesson delivered by Teacher Genne.  It was such a great lesson about embracing our mistakes.  She also suggested keeping a mistake journal.  What a great idea!!  This will help you to 1)realize the world is still spinning despite your mistake(s), 2) help you see that tomorrow is another day, and 3) help you to know that God still loves you despite your mistakes.

A few notes I jotted down were:

-Learn to admit your mistakes (own up to them)

-Forgive yourself for your mistakes past and present

- Be able to handle criticism and work through criticism

As homework this week you are to write three mistakes (or more) in your Leadership Notebook.  And then choose one and do a mistake autopsy on it. Also, it would be truly INCREDIBLE if you can go out and meet FIVE people you have never talked to in FILA.  It can be mentors, scholars, love of learners and even core kids.  Go introduce yourself! They will LOVE it  : )!

Now that we have our list of FANCY PARTY requirements(thank you, Genevieve), I KNOW you will be quick to complete your assignments. 

Good job on last week's assignment.  Keep thinking about your priorities!  Have they changed?  Make a schedule for the week putting the most critical items at the top.  Hopefully, your debate prep and mistake journal will be somewhere near the top!

Great job on your ISIS research.  It was awesome to see you research something that interests you.  I enjoyed hearing about this AWFUL group! Thank you!!

Finally, don't forget to keep on top of your activity planning.  Don't let it get away from you.  Paige and John, our FILA Event Coordinator, Becky Owen, will be joining your planning team for the field day.

Haley presents next week!!  YAY!  I can't wait to hear all about Abigail Adams.

One more thing!!  Thank you, David, for showing us your dance videos.  Do you guys realize that by just watching the videos and asking David questions, we were well into LEVEL 2 of our leadership steps?  We were building our relationships, seeing through other people's eyes, and David was certainly including us in his journey!  See how easy leadership development is!!!

See you next Thursday!

Joan of Arc, Bills, Priorities and a FANCY Party

 

An in-depth discussion of ISIS (or should I say IS) opened class today.  It was AWESOME to hear Teacher Genevieve's insight and research into the situation.  Go forth and research on your own.  We are extremely blessed to have boundless information at our fingertips.  But what good is it, if we don't utilize it.  Sort out all the details and bring them to class next week.  Haley is planning to figure out WHERE ISIS is.  John is going to look into the situation in Egypt.  Paige is researching the reasoning behind the ISIS acts (is there any reasoning?).  David is going to look into the military involvement against ISIS.  And Josh is going to surprise us!!  Maybe by next class time we can offer some solutions to the new US Defense Secretary (whoever it is.)

Paige went first and Paige rocked!  What an insightful presentation on Joan of Arc!  Thanks, Paige. We are looking forward to your further enlightenment when you read a book about amazing Joan.  Overall, you did a great job diagnosing Joan of Arc as a leader.  I enjoyed the background information and as you said, it definitely shaped her character and ability to go forth and lead.  I also like the time period information you gave.  Would she had a chance to lead or would she have been called to lead if there was not a Hundred Years War going on?  Her life would have been completely different.   Think about the kinds of events happening now that will affect your choices and opportunities in life.  There are many battles being fought, will you be called to spearhead one of them?

I don't know about you, but I feel like I know the FILA Constitution A LOT better!  Thank you, Josh, for the excellent effort you put forth in your homework.  And bravo to the rest of you whom checked off the assignment.  I hope your love and respect for the people of FILA has grown.  Don't stop with that small assignment, keep it growing!  Maybe this time get to know someone you have no ties to (other than FILA).  This means NO FAMILY MEMBERS or FRIENDS. 

Boy did we miss Teacher Jen!  But she is going to be so proud of us: )!  We actually had four bills to choose from.  Sorry, Hannah!  Your bill did not make the cut.  (But we sure missed you in class!)

The following are the debate assignments:

Drones – Bill SHB1093 – CON – Haley   PRO – Josh

Mental Health – Bill SB5078 – CON – John PRO – Hannah

Missing Children – Bill 1311 – PRO – David CON – Paige

GO forth and build your arguments.

 

Successfully arguing these bills is part of the incentive program.  Do you want to come to the FANCIEST of FANCY parties?  Get cracking'!

This is what will get you entry into the party:

-Bill Debate

-Leadership Presentation

-Read a book of your choice on a leader (the leader of whom you present) and report it to the class

-Weekly assignments

-Attend a legislative session (fieldtrip to the Capitol or Tacoma City Council meeting)

-6 Hours of service

-Lead and successfully carry out a FILA activity

 

And finally, this week you are going to get your PRIORITIES in order!!  Whether it's ballroom dancing or Science Olympiad, do the big things first!  Then fill in your life with all the secondary priorities.  Fill out your priority handouts and USE your LISTS!!  See if you can fulfill all of your high importance/high urgency priorities FIRST and then concentrate on the others.  But first you need to distinguish WHAT these are.  YOU CAN DO IT!!! 

So in short, research your bills, build your arguments, figure out your priorities, make and live by your priority lists this week, and we will see you Thursday!

 

Hannah and David, I am attaching the priority documents to the email.