question:        leadership q47

I am doing a research project on student leadership and I need some numbers on the effectiveness of schools with strong student leadership programs or if just having leadership programs make a difference in and of itself. An example would be percentages show (79%) of schools with student leadership as a part of their school has less behavioral problems.

D. Maloney

dmmalone@stcs.org

answer:

Sorry but I don't have actual numbers. We started a Leadership 12 course here last year and I know there has been a strong increase in school spirit and activities. This could have also been the effect of time as well. We began our school three years ago and studies say it takes three years to establish school climate or effect change. We faced controversy when we opened because we took students from the two existing high schools and they were not pleased about the move. However, we have spent lots of time using ideas from Dave Conlon and Tam Fawcett as well as the many speakers at national conference and today we have a dynamic student body and great spirit. We had 16 students running for 4 positions on council in grade 11 alone. The increased interest in students to be a part of our council and to take our Leadership course is gratifying. I wish I had the stats for you, I can only offer this anecdotal affirmation that we have strong leadership here at our school in Council, Free the Children, Newspaper, Yearbook, Leadership 12, and many fundraising projects to benefit the charities in our community. To see if there is any data concerning student behavior you would have to speak with our administration. I will forward your e-mail to them.

Nancy O'Brien

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question:        leadership q46

My middle school student council spends most of its time and energy on dances, talent shows and fun stuff. While I enjoy them, I would like to see more service to the community or even in the school. I though to kids helping out kids that need more help, such as the ones in life-skills. I would appreciate any ideas and suggestions for doing something not popular.

Steve Richards

steveburk56@yahoo.com

answers:

Our suggestion would be is something like pen pals. They would appreciate the letters and both sides would learn from them as well.

Another thing is just going out in the community and volunteer at local food shelters or animal shelters etc. Hope this helps a bit

Maples Collegiate Vice President Team

Yo. Middle school student councils are really tough, I found. I'd suggest to you to begin another club/organization separate from your school's council. All you need is the support of a teacher, and a few friends and you're good to go.

If you would like to start a Peer Mentoring program (for example), ask a teacher/ counselor for help to supervise, a friend for help to organize and then just give 'er. This way, you can reach kids who wish to be involved but who aren't really natural leaders. More kids could be involved on both ends of the spectrum, and then you can also get experience with running a club. It's a lot of work, but you sound like a motivated school. Give it a shot. If it doesn't work out, so be it, but it's better than not trying at all, right? Good luck!

Caitlyn McC

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question:        leadership q45

Greetings to all. I am in search of challenging Group leadership projects for college students. Do you know a good source or have examples of for small group projects that contain a scenario that are designed to be solved within 30-60 minutes.

D. Dornbusch

ddornbusch@mail.unomaha.edu

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question:        leadership q44

I am presently the student council president at Elliot Lake Secondary School. I had been avidly looking forward to this year as my council is a bunch of fun and cool and good-looking girls. However, as the school season came around not only I, but my council as well has feeling increasingly bummed out. Our school does lack support in our student council but it feels as though too much responsibility for things out of our control are being put on our shoulders. To make matters worse, our teacher supervisors want to run council THEIR way, which is adding to our everyday stress level. Is there any way out of this evil trend of frustration?

Craig

craigy_101@hotmail.com

answers:

Hi Craig!

I'm the Leadership Doctor, and I've got a few suggestions to your problems...

There is a lot of responsibility being on student's council, as you most definitely found out the first day back at school. First of all, the worst thing that you can do organizing any club is feeling bummed out. Think about all the great stuff that you did... Money raised? Theme Days? Dances? What about the fun stuff you did for your school? There are some great things... I know it... don't deny it.

Next, your school doesn't support student council because it's not 'it's not

cool to support the school..." You have to look past those people. You'll get hundreds of kids saying "I don't wanna!" You have to forget about them because they'll never support you... you have to target those who do wanna participate... and there always is. But, if you feel that you still need to target the "too cool" kids, then you have to do something that they think is fun. Dress a teacher up in funny clothes for a day or something... but I still suggest to stick to the people who WANT to get involved. The others will tag along.

Now onto your teacher supervisors. They can be hell if your not running on the same brain waves (chances are, you're not). The best thing I learnt was that you have to go ahead and do things if you absolutely are SURE that's the way you want it. When you're not sure which way to go, that's when you run to them. What you need to make your advisors understand is that your not babies, and it's your council. If you screw it up, it will look bad on you not them. They are there only to guide you into the right direction, but only if you ask for it. You need to TELL your advisors that you (and the rest of your council) wish to run it a different way. That way, all the stuff above would fall into place, you'll have a great year, and you won't look back and regret a single moment. In the words of Ms. Frizzle (The Magic School Bus): "Take chances, make mistakes, and get messy!" That's the best motto you can have on student's council.

I hope this helps you, Craig. Please e-mail me at leadershipdoctor@hotmail.com if you need any more information or wish to bounce off ideas, I'd love to help!

The Leadership Doctor

Hi Craig !

I'm not a doctor, but .... :)

I agree with previous replies to your plea that you and your group should focus on the positive things that have happened. In our school of 800, when we run a dance and get only 200 to attend, we try to make it the best dance ever. The best ambassadors we have are those who have attended a successful event. Word of mouth is a very powerful thing.

As an advisor, I tend to get more involved with my students' activities if I feel that they are not really ready for an event that has been advertised. Talk is cheap, so a group's actions speak volumes. Hosting activities that are organized in EVERY respect, including approval from administration if necessary, are a no-brainer for me as an advisor if I see that a group is focused, well organized, and ready. The best events for me are the ones where I just show up out of curiosity, and not because I'm looking over anyone's shoulder. The best advice I could give would be to run an event that is the most organized that an event has ever been for your group. Let your effort and actions SHOW your willingness to make a difference at your school.

Chris Korte

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question:        leadership q43

We are "reinventing" our student's council and are in the process of developing a mission statement and set of policies regarding fundraising and awareness initiatives for groups both inside and out of the school. Does any other school have a set of policies such as this?

Marilee H

mehunt@cbe.ab.ca

answers:

Our Students' Council is going through the same thing. We are trying to distinguish ourselves from Leadership. The basic difference is that Leadership, at our school, is a credit course and Students' Council is a highly involved club. We have our constitution up on our website http://oakbay.sd61.bc.ca/~council

It may be helpful to you in making your set of policies. In terms of a mission statement, we don't have our own yet. We're thinking along the lines of making our school a better place for everyone in the school community. We'll have it up on our website too sooner or later. I hope that gets you started.

Rebecca B

The CASAA resource, "Making it Work Workbook", has an awesome mission statement building section. It is called "Relationship" because a good mission statement affects, establishes and enhances all of the relationships in your school. You will not have a single-line statement as a result, but you will have definite directions on what needs to be done by your leadership group. Check out the CASAA resources section on this website.

Dave C.

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question:        leadership q42

I need some information about nominating petitions, sample ballots, and a list of the duties of a member of a middle school student council officer. Thanks

Laraine Pavarini

JL910@aol.com

answer:

The CASAA Student Activity Sourcebook has a basic outline of the election process and duties of members. The Washington State Leadership group has an excellent book entitled "Starting in the Middle", you should find some help in there as well.

Dave C.

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question:        leadership q41

I recently became the ASB President and I'm trying to find information about upcoming leadership conferences, both state and nation wide. Do you have any suggestions on how I could find that information? I appreciate your time.

Erika

froggie3_@hotmail.com

answer:

This site lists all of the provincial student leadership conferences in Canada along with our CSLC. For conferences in the US, try the NASC (National Association of Student Councils). Try the student leadership links on this site for other conferences such as HOBY.

Dave C.

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question:        leadership q40

One of my students who attended CSLC wants to use a prop that the workshop presenter used. It was some kind of long skinny plastic bag that could be blown up in one breath if it is shaken out to capture some air. She would like to use it at the junior high leadership conference our school is hosting. Does anyone know what they are called and where in Edmonton I can purchase them? Thanks!

Judith Boyle, Edmonton, Alberta

jboyle@epsb.ca

answer:

Judith

You can buy them direct from Steve Spangler in US$ at his science store. Try the website: http://www.stevespangler.com/ They are called wind bags and are about $5 US for four bags.

I have seen them in specialty toy stores and balloon stores as well. They are called Gorilla balloons in some places.

Dave C

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question:        leadership q39

I was just asked to start a student leadership program for my elementary school (ages 6-11). I have no idea where to begin, elections? How to do them? How to organize the student council- in terms of what positions to have? How often to have meetings and how often to schedule events? And most importantly what kind of activities to organize? I would greatly appreciate any advice!!!

Meghan

answer:

At this age, you are best to offer leadership as a club activity. Don't deny access to anyone, and allow the students to decide what type of events they will run. They will likely have the most fun with theme days (wacky hair) and holiday themed activities.

You will probably find that these students will attend meetings more regularly than secondary students and be willing to run all aspects of an event.

I don't think that set positions matter for these students other than a "responsible student in charge." The students will choose leadership easily at this age.

This is a great opportunity for these students to experience leadership. Congratulations on supporting them in their endeavours!

Dave C.

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question:        leadership q38

I've just been assigned to take over the SCA program this year in our Middle School. I feel extremely overwhelmed because I don't have any information about the program and have no idea where to begin. I'm not too happy taking on a project that I am not familiar with, but I will give it a try. Do you have any information that I can find in regards to the operation of an SCA program for a Middle School? I know that elections should have begun by this time, but as I mentioned earlier...this all fell into my lap just recently. What is the easiest way to run the elections that are most successful and fun for the students (and less stressful for me)? I'd appreciate any suggestions you could pass on. Thank you.

Sandie

answer:

At Vedder Middle our Student Council consists of the representatives from each Advisory. This provides us with an interesting cross-section of individuals, and ensures that every Advisory group has representation in the process. We meet monthly to discuss issues, share information, and approve service projects submitted by the advisory classes.

Chuck Bloch

Vedder Middle, Chilliwack, BC

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question:        leadership q37

I'm the Student Council President at Meadowridge School, and we only have 140 students from grade 8-12. Because it's so small, we have an overwhelming problem with the small amount of students who come out to our activities. We get a lot of the "I’m to cool" people who never want to participate. Is there any way to talk to them or a good way to resolve this issue?

Jessica

answers:

Have your school advisor check into initiating a Renaissance program in your school. It is a philosophy not just an event. You will need staff support. If you contact Jostens Canada you can get further info. We are a 7 - 12 school with 180 students and just started it this year and it is definitely helping.

M. Brown

Jessica,

There will always be negative folks--those too cool to participate in anything. You can't escape it. We live in a pretty negative world. (Pick up your local daily newspaper and rate the headlines... you'll find 95% of what is written is negative or has a negative spin).

That's the bad news.

The good news is there IS hope. You.

The hardest hurdle you'll need to overcome is the belief that you CAN make a difference. You have done two amazing things in my opinion.

1. You've taken on the challenge. You've already started with what we call in goal setting a strong intention/outcome. You know what you want to do. Congratulations. Most people *don't* even get that far!

2. You realized that you know what you want, but you also realize that you don't have the knowledge/tools. That's excellent. You reached out here to ask for help. Obviously, if few do step one above, even fewer do this. Congratulations again.

(Henry Ford wanted to build a V8 engine [intention]. His engineers said that it couldn't be done. He told them that that was okay with him, but their job was to invent a new way. It took several years, but it happened. He knew what he wanted and sought out the help to do it. But that's not enough... read on).

The most important thing that Ford did, and you must do, is take action.

Pick an event. Promote it like crazy. Blast everyone with your enthusiasm!!! If someone says something negative, do what my Dad used to say... "kill them with kindness"... in other words, if they say something negative ("this is going to suck"), then BLAST them with your enthusiasm ("too bad you are going to miss out on a GREAT event").

Here's another technique for you. When you promote, put up an insane amount of posters. Everywhere. Go nuts. In halls, classrooms, bathrooms (put 'em in the stalls so they can read when... you know). Put one on the bathroom ceiling that says "what the heck are you looking up here for? Go get tickets for XXXXX!!!"

Now, here's the trick. LEAVE the posters up after the event, at least for a day or two. Why? So that you remind *everyone* who went how great it was and you RUB it in to those who are too cool what they missed!

The biggest mistake ever is to take posters down the day of the event. No, no, no. Leave 'em up.

I've rambled on long enough. Jessica, you'll do great. I know it. You might not be able to turn the school around 180 degrees, but you'll make a difference. Trust me, you will. And ALL great leaders look to the distant future, not the immediate present, to measure success.

One last thing. I'm a big believer in pumping my head with positive thoughts. My personal favorite motivational speaker is a man by the name of Jim Rohn. He has a FREE e-zine that is absolutely great. Yes, his organization does try to sell products (and they are great, btw, I've got them all). But the free content is terrific. Every week you can get a great boost. Go to www.jimrohn.com and subscribe. Thank me later. :-)

Sincerely,

Blair Robertson

Hypnotist & Mindreader

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question:        leadership q36

We are starting a student council for the first time. Does anyone have any sort of material on how to go about doing this?

Kathy Schreiber

answers:

Kathy

The first thing that you should decide is what is the purpose of your student council. Is it to run events for students? Is it to fundraise? Is it to provide a student voice? Is it to enhance community involvement? Is it to provide leadership training? Is it a social club? What is your mission?

When you are starting out as a council, it is important to do one or two of these things well rather than to try to be a all of the above. You should build the student council according to the needs of your students.

The "CASAA Student Activity Sourcebook has a very comprehensive basis for starting a student council, providing activities, running fundraisers and teaching leadership. Remember to start small and build upon your strengths.

Dave C.

Hey! I wish you the best of luck. My memories of student council are all very positive ones. It will definitely take a lot of work to get the ball rolling. A good staff advisor will help a lot! You'll eventually need to throw some dances-when you do I suggest you call me DJ Ben. (That is if you are in Ontario.) Please email me if you have any interest. High school dances are my specialty! I can't believe I found this site. When I was the Minister of Social Activities at my high school-I wish we had this resource!

Benjamin F Lampkin

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question:        leadership q35

Hey, we're in the process of developing a leadership workshop and I wanted to get some feedback on the best approach to use in teaching others their strengths and how to utilize them to the best of their potential. Help!! input from everyone would be appreciated.

Tanya

answer:

Hey Tanya. I just finished reading a very helpful book: "NOW Discover Your Strengths" by Marcus Buckingham and Donald Clifton. This is something that will help you recognize the strengths of people you work with... it's not really effective on the masses but it may be very helpful for you to start looking where you need to for the right people to do the right things. Best of luck.

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question:        leadership q34

We are looking for fun ways to raise students' awareness of their personal strengths as a way to create teams in our leadership class. For example, I have heard of an activity where students answer questions and then create "hats" that let others know what strengths they have; then groups are formed where each group is made up of a combination of the different strengths. Anyone heard of this, or of an activity like it? :)

kelda

answers:

Their is an activity called True Colours that leads you through a variety of questions and activities to show you your "colour" and then it points out your strengths as one of these colours. I've used this workshop a couple of times. You could try contacting your school board or the local youth employment centre; they sometimes have workshop facilitators available.

Lori

True colours is a great concept. I've run workshops on it for my peers when I was in high school and it was always really well received. Something else that is almost exactly the same in every way is talked about in Sean Covey's book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens. Same ideas, a little twist. Good luck!

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question:        leadership q33

Hi! We are in the process of developing a Leadership course at our school and are in search of a textbook. The course is geared towards members of students' council. Any suggestions? Both student and advisor input would be greatly appreciated.

answers:

In my school, our leadership course uses a book called "The Seven Habits" this may help you in your leadership course, other than that, check out the CASAA site http://www.casaaleadership.ca/ to see what they have.

rOiSiN

Lauren,

Do check out the CASAA resources. I use most if not all of the resources they have available at different points throughout my class. Ask Dave, he'll tell you which ones he likes best.

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question:        leadership q32

I am currently the Student Director of our Athletics Council (Students Athletic Association) at my secondary school in Elliot Lake, Ontario. During the school year our association holds regular meetings every Monday. Over the last 2 1/2 months the attendance at our meetings has been on the decline. We have slowly had members not showing up and at one point in September, our attendance was around 40 members.

At our school, we have morning announcements on our Public Address (PA) system that all students hear throughout the school. Unfortunately the morning announcements are often not heard and many students are oblivious to them. We have had suggestions for posters but the main question I have is:

IS THERE ANY CREATIVE METHODS OF GETTING YOUR MESSAGE ACROSS FOR MEETIGS AND OTHER PROGRAMS?

Any suggestions, comments or ideas would be great and helpful. Hopefully someone has overcome this obstacle and been successful! Hope to hear from some of you soon!

Please e-mail if you would like at or post your message on the board at this site!

Thank-you

answers:

Jonathan

The members of your Athletic Council are speaking with their feet. They are telling you that you meet too often and don't have anything for them to contribute to. This is not a slam against you and your executive, but even big business won't try to meet every week with that many people.

The PA system plays throughout almost every school in North America but it is probably heard by less than 10 people per school. If you have to announce a weekly meeting, then you are telling your people that they can't remember that the meeting is on Monday. (It's kind of like your mom always telling you to clean your room -- is it clean?)

One suggestion is to make a database of your members and then make invitation/notice/announcement slips that get passed out in homeroom to the specific people involved. Our Guidance department and VP's use this method in our school and most people make their appointments (those that don't are speaking with their feet again.)

Dave C.

We have a "coming attractions" board in our main foyer that highlights all events. The announcers merely say and now for "coming attractions" if you are involved with...please check the coming attractions board. The benefits are two fold. Much shorter announcements without all those meetings being read and even if students don't listen to announcements (a common problem) they know the board is there and pass it on a daily basis. It is the responsibility of the club, team, and activity to keep the board current with their particular information.

Regarding your particular problem with meeting attendance. Was it clearly stated that meetings are held every Monday, are mandatory and that a valid reason must accompany an absence? Are meetings productive? Do you have an agenda? Do all students feel that they are part of the "team" ? Do they feel that they are getting something out of being there? Do they have something to accomplish when they leave? Just a few questions to ponder that may help determine where to go from here.

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question:        leadership q31

It's not really about leadership or anything like that, it's more of a question for everybody who would be kind enough to answer it, I was wondering if you thought that companies should be allowed to advertise their products in high schools?

Thanks,

Lindsay

answers:

Companies should absolutely not be able to advertise in schools. Schools are for learning, not for profit. As a high school student, I would be resentful to any company who found advertising space in my gym or cafeteria, not to mention the administrative team at school.

Robyn Ecclestone

I agree with you, but does this mean that we should ban the Nike and Adida clothing that students wear to class? Our school population is a branded billboard from head to toe that moves about the school on a daily basis.

Is there a difference between advertising and sponsorship? If Coke agrees to pay for the $5000 scoreboard in your gym and all they want in return is a Coke sign on the board, do you say no? This falls into the sponsorship area in my mind.

The "advertising" that I resent is through the DJ's that we hire. We pay them to come to our school and play music and videos, and yet they advertise for companies with banners and giveaways during the dance (which they have received money for). This is the advertising area that I think should be questioned.

Dave C.

I feel companies should absolutely be allowed to advertise in schools, since funding has been slashed and schools and school groups are looking for new and innovative ways to pay for computers, books, course materials, etc.

Advertising is pervasive. Everywhere you turn, advertising is around us everywhere. Young people grow up around advertising. Walking down a street you see billboards. On TV you see commercials. Flipping through a magazine you see ads. Even in bathrooms now, you can find advertisements.

People develop skills to selectively block or pay attention to messages that are pertinent to them. Why is school a sacred cow? If it helps raise necessary funds, then by all means it should be allowed. After all, colleges, universities, and even hospitals have advertising. Private vendors can even rent space and sell their products at university. If you want to teach young people about the real world, then having advertising in school and teaching them about it would be a boon, not an obstruction.

Al Jiwa

I am a strong believer in advertising (corporate sponsorship) I have been working in a high school for 12 years now and I have personally seen the erosion of our education system. One hand the ministry of education tells us we must integrate technology into the classroom and on the other hand they keep slashing our budgets. How are we supposed to educate our youngsters to be technically literate when we are not supported financially. Our school has been very lucky so far and I have fought very hard to have the technology we have but our school in not the norm, I see school after school having trouble getting computers, video equipment, not to mention things like art supplies and science equipment... the money is not there, so when I see an opportunity to partner with a corporate sponsor I do everything in my power to act on it. now lets be clear I don't support companies flying their banners all over the school but if they are supporting our curriculum by providing either equipment or well needed dollars then by all means they deserve to be recognized and that's not to say a student will see their ad and run out and by their product... it's all about educating our students to understand the advertising. I teach my students to make educated decisions when buying things... don't buy it because of the ad you saw, buy it because it meets your needs and you have done some research so you know what you are buying. We are in a society where we are surrounded by advertisements, even in our schools weather it is the pop machines, candy bar machines, our cafeteria’s (which are run by one of the biggest food service providers) ...advertising in here for good we need to teach our students how to deal with it.

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question:        leadership q30

We are ordering sweatshirts and sweatpants for our leadership class. We want a word or something funky to put on the back of our pants. Does anyone have any ideas?

Alicia

answers:

On the front:  Leader or Follower?

On the back:  Follow Me!

Holly Doidge

GOYA ...Give Only Your All

Christina

"Because You Only Live Once!"

Katie

volvo60@hotmail.com

"You are following a leader!"

Spinner

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question:        leadership q29

Have you ever heard the comparison between a "Herd mentality and a Flock mentality?" I had some information about this comparison and now I am having difficulty finding my notes. I'm doing a workshop for a conference in a few weeks and I want to incorporate this comparison in the workshop. If you don't have information in your resource files about this, do you know of any good Internet resources I could check out?

It's a concept I heard regarding leadership where we should avoid a herd mentality where everyone follows the leader without question. A flock of geese, on the other hand, take turns in the front of the V when they fly. As a result, they are able to fly a much great distance.

Maureen Sigler

answer:

My school uses that philosophy  in every leadership camp we do. SO here's what it is:

You start off say a power point presentation with a picture of a heard of buffalo. You then explain that the OLD way to be a leader was to have ONE person and one person ONLY in charge, that way everyone could follow that person and things could get done better that way. Now we usually give the analogy that all an hunter would have to do was kill the LEADER of the buffalo herd and the rest of the buffalo would then roam around aimlessly. This way it was easier to kill the buffalo because not one of them would take the initiative and lead the rest of the heard to safety. It is like leadership where only the ONE leader knows the direction and the way to go, or the answer and without that leader .. the rest of the group is lost. On the OTHER hand there is the flock of geese. In this analogy every geese knows the direction as to where to go. The lead goose(the one in the front of the V) follows the course and breaks the wind for the geese behind her, once he/she gets tired, the goose drops back to the end of the V and the next goose in line takes over. This way when the goose is tired, the rest of the geese take over, block the wind and allow the goose to rest, BUT they continue on their course just as strong as before. This is like leadership where EVERYONE knows what’s going on, and have a "blueprint" in his or her mind where they can see the plan, process and end result. Each leader in the group has the skills and materials to complete the task at hand, thus it is the SUPERIOR style of leadership.

The Teacher who FIRST introduced me to this concept used PowerPoint to give visuals and written summaries to his speech, it was a GREAT way of explaining the leadership Styles and I recommend it HIGHLY!!

Hope that helped, if you have ANY more questions, please e-mail me at u2martian@aol.com

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question:        leadership q28

My name is Carissa D'andrade from Esquimalt Community School at Victoria, BC. Our Stu Co has been trying for the past 2 years to get a student rep(s) on our staff meetings. We are aware that they are student sensitive issues that, legally, we are not allowed to hear, however we want to be there for any issues that will have an impact on the school and the students. Myself, along with my council, were wondering if your school or if you know of a school that is allowed to have a student representative that is allowed to sit on the staff meetings at you school. Thank you very much for your time.

answers:

Hi Carissa. I am a teacher in Manitoba and I have seen very few schools that allow students at staff meetings. I agree with you that students should be in on conversations that impact them directly - but I wonder if staff meetings are the best venue for this? At most schools I've worked at staff meetings are not problem solving sessions, but instead are venues where teachers simply share information around what is happening (i.e.- important dates that are coming up, how to fill out forms, etc.). Unfortunately that's what most are like. One suggestion I have is to talk with your principal and a few teachers to find out where and how decisions are made in your school (through the principal? through committees?), and then ask them to ask the other staff members if you could be involved in those conversations on an ongoing basis. Explain that you would like to work with the teachers and that it will be great for the teachers because you can help get other students in the larger population of your school onboard. I have worked with many students on school-based committees because that is the main way ideas are researched in those schools. Good luck. Let me know what you find out!

Samantha Ursel

As a leadership teacher and a V-P now, I have often had student leadership/council reps attend the beginning of staff meetings - mainly to make a report on upcoming events and to thank the staff for past month's support. Staff can also ask any questions of the reps while they are there. Then the reps leave - the remainder of the staff meeting business is seldom relevant to students and if an issue does arise that student input is needed on, the leadership teacher would then take it to the next meeting of the students.

Karalee

Our school has staff advisors that relate info back to the students' council. If student council has announcements to make they are invited to present them at the beginning of the meeting but because of sensitive issues they are not permitted to stay. It's not the perfect answer but it works.

Jerry Berridge

Hi! At my school, we offer a position just for this in our ASB cabinet...Site Council Commissioner. This student sits in at monthly meetings with the principals, teachers, and a few parents and discusses important issues being brought up at staff meetings. The student then reports to ASB and tells them what was discussed.

Joey

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question:        leadership q27

I am a new activities/government teacher- 2nd week on the job and I am having difficulty coming up with leadership activities to do with my students. Any ideas? We do a good job with our committees and planning fun things for the school , but there is class time to use too.

Lydia

answers:

The final major project for our leadership class is putting on a leadership conference for students in our junior high schools. Students determine, organize and run all aspects of the day from conference theme, conference tee shirt design, preparing delegate handbooks, visiting the schools to promote the conference, contacting businesses for sponsorship, deciding the menu for lunch and dinner, serving lunch and dinner, keynote speaker, workshop topics (they are the workshop leaders), activities, running the closing dance etc. We have around 150 delegates for the day. It is a lot of work and a lot of advance preparation but a great experience for the class, a lot of fun on that day and as their teacher rewarding to witness their pride at having pulled something like this off.

Tam Fawcett

My leadership class just finished running a school memorial service for a young man who was killed in a car accident -- trust me it's an activity you don't want them to become good at. I'm not trying to be morbid, but you can see that a leadership class can create and organize events that are particular to your school.

The following are activities that have been performed by leadership classes:

* morning announcements * managing display cases and bulletin boards

* blood donor clinic * school tour guides for guests and parents

* peer helping * assembly set-up and takedown

* poster making * envelope stuffing for charities

* organize party for local seniors * introduce speakers

* run BBQ's at lunch * proctors for Parent Nights

* welcome newcomers to school * run library orientation

* timers and scorers for athletic events * set-up for activity days

* run noon hour intramurals * guides for Open House

* co-ordinate assemblies * ushers for school play

* run home form contests * run canned food drive

* Big Brothers or Sisters to elementary students

Have a look at what your school needs and then direct your students (according to their abilities) to make good things happen at your school.

Dave C.

In my leadership class in BC, we took a little retreat and had fun. We played little games and talked. Once we were having fun the ideas of what we could do came pouring out. We found new ideas and improved old ones. Another thing we did was separate into two groups and make it a contest to see who came up with the best ideas. Valentines day is coming up so we thought that if we gave each girl a paper heart to pin on her shirt, it could be a contest , If a guy manages to get a girl to talk to them outside of class time he would win her heart. Take this advice, maybe modify it a bit and you will have lots of fun. Good luck

Chris Harris

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question:        leadership q26

My school denied me a position in student government because of my religious obligations. I could do everything but go to dances,  a rock show, and a bodybuilding show. Do they have the right to do that, My student's rights handbook says I have the right to be in student gov. I'm the hardest worker there, and its not like I wouldn't go, but my religious duties have to be carried out. I don't understand, and the board should've kept me, but none of them know my religion or understand it. If there was a person of my religion there, I bet the decision would've been in my favor, somewhat, rather than being shot down. I worked so hard, and I'm so dedicated, and I think I should be able to hold a position. I love my school. But if I am denied a position, does that mean all religious abiding people have no right to be in any form of student gov? Please indulge me with your responses, Keep in mind one of the student's rights to be exempt from activities that go against one's religion, email me please ASAP!!!!!! Thank you

Yasmin

answers:

I presume that your council offers many activities that as a whole provide opportunities for all students. I am sure that it would be impossible to have every student or student leader in your school participate in every activity...if they could perhaps the scope of your council activities should be examined.

Having worked with students with similar concerns, I can tell you flat out that exclusion was never considered....rather the whole student leadership team found solutions that worked for everyone.

Frankly, there are a multitude of conflicts that arise be they religious, academic, athletic, family, work...as a student leader and as an advisor I feel my job is to find ways to include everyone so they are in a position to contribute and enjoy the fruits of their contributions....exclusion is a brutally blunt solution that causes ill will and creates divisions.

This is another time when a council constitution, as dry as they are, can come to the rescue if it is comprehensive enough...

Add my voice to those who do not support exclusion according to the situation that you have described.

Dave Garvie

As far as legality, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms clearly states that no person can be banned from participating in society due to religious beliefs. Your dismissal has no solid basis in law, and was wrong.

In your desire to serve God, there will always be struggles like these, because His ways and the world's ways are often at odds. Put your desire to know Him and serve Him above all else. "He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."

CHUCK

Yasmin:

I commend you on your dedication in pursuing what is "right". My gut feeling is that the Exec. made an incorrect decision. You should not be penalized based on your belief system. The point of fact is that you are dedicated, enthusiastic, willing to provide your school with spirit and hard work. That should be the issue, not whether your religion gets in the way of certain school events. If you feel strong enough, I would try and find a school ally who is familiar with your religion, or a community leader is that fails. Even if this does nothing for your situation now, it may have an effect of how others are treated in the future. All the best to you and believe in yourself!

Kim Disbury

disbury@earthlink.net

Yasmin,

Your question is a good one but difficult to put "just a yes or no to". Not knowing all the details means I am limited to my "gut reaction" which is that the Executive was wrong.

True believers in every faith (even the belief of not believing) have paid for their direction in life. Some dearly with bodily harm or even death. All people make choices and each choice bring with it consequences. You feel strongly about your religion. You also seem to be a very dedicated student with school spirit. I commend you on both counts.

In my life there have been many times when I could have anything I wanted but not everything I wanted. This may prove to be the case here. Perhaps a volunteer role on the committees you CAN participate on would allow you to "be involved" in student affairs and still give you the time needed for you religious responsibilities. Being on the executive may not work out (just now) but through committee volunteer work you can show others your ability to manage religious requirements with student activities. Then next year? go for it again! Keep up the positive attitude of wanting to help your school and maintain your beliefs? I'm sure you will find a way!

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question:        leadership q25

How can you get the people in your leadership class to do their part.

Tiffanie

answer:

The old saying, "You can lead a horse to water, but . . ." applies here. It is more properly stated, "You can lead your fellow students to opportunities, but you can't make them 'do their part.'" People will participate when they know what their job is and if that job makes a difference.

One way to lead fellow classmates to successful participation is to have your leadership class draw up a contract for behaviours and jobs within the class. The winter 2001 Above and Beyond newsletter has an example of a leadership contract that helps students define what is acceptable within the class. You can download the newsletter from this site in the resource section for the CASAA newsletter.

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question:        leadership q24

I am doing a speech on the necessity of being in college activities. I would like to know your opinion why college students should join activities.

Malinda

answer:

I am a member of the Association for Experiential Education, an organization for professionals and students that use experiences as learning. There is enormous value to having college students participate in activities. It can help increaser their sense of community and provide supports for them. It encourages healthy recreation choices, the more students feel connected with their school, and the chances are if they do experience stress or problems they will feel comfortable to go find support. There is tons of research in this area. I suggest going to the AEE web site for more resources on this topic. www.aee.org

Audra Campbell

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question:        leadership q23

What are the job descriptions for each office of the student council?

Natasha

answer:

President-to help plan agenda, preside over the meetings, to appoint committees, to oversee all the activities that are going on. etc.

Vice president- to perform all presidential duties in absence of the president, to serve as chairperson of committees. in my school we have two VPs on is Vice prez of activities and the other is vice prez of ICC(interclub council)

VP of Activities-look above at VP

VP of ICC-this person hold monthly meeting with all the VP of all school clubs and gets all the information to each club. for example if we have a door-decorating contest we can notify each club through these meeting. Also the clubs can be updated on student council events that are going on so they can then share that with its members.

Secretary- to record minutes of all official, called or special meetings. Keep a file on all activites. Handle all in-school and out of school correspondence

Treasurer- keeps accurate financial record for the club. Deals with all forms pertaining to money ex. purchase order, money transfers, check requests etc.

Senators- assist member of the board.

We also have secretary of state- process all mail and outgoing correspondence of student council assist the president and keep them informed of activities, keep an accurate record of all chairs and committees members, to complete grades and record hours of each member.

Public relations- to see all activities of student council are advertised and take pictures of all events and than complete a scrapbook.

Sec. of treasury-assist the treasurer and stand in case of an absence

i hope this helps, if you have any more questions ask i will be glad to help. ( please excuse my spelling mistakes)

Jamie

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question:        leadership q22

I am student body president this year. I really need your help. What I need is some really good ideas that will boost school spirit and will get the students interested in student council. Right now, students don't even think that student council exists, so I am trying to change that. I need fundraiser ideas, and also ideas for pep rallies, etc. If you can help, please, please respond.

Tavia Talley

answers:

If your problem is, that you don’t think you can handle being president you must ask yourself why you were elected....most peoples problem is that they don’t believe in themselves enough. I believe I have been in the same position as you, and someone who I least expected turned to me and said...'If you think you can, you can!' Believe in yourself and people will believe in you!!

Tappinfeet_2000

mtrax@tpg.com.au

Hi,

I don't claim to have the correct answers for you, you need to try them out and find out for yourself, but I do have a couple of suggestions for you...

In my experience, no two schools are ever the same. What works for school A, doesn't for school B. So, I would use the advice my father gave me and has proven over time to be a very successful tactic:

My Dad said "if you want to be rich, find out what people want and give it to them!" Simple, but effective. So, *ask* the students what they want. Find out ways to give it to them! The question doesn't need to be complex either. Simply ask them what you asked us... "what can we do to help boost school spirit and get you interested in student council activities?" will give you one heck of a lot of good info.

Make note of both the positive and negative answers. If someone answers with "this school sucks" then you reply in a positive tone "why? and what can we do about changing that?"

Based on only your typed text, you seem to be saying that morale is pretty bad at your school. Well, you have your work cut out for you! But you CAN make a difference by cultivating a powerful positive mental attitude.

In show business, the expression is "it isn't what you do, it's HOW you do it". Make everything that your council does *exciting* and *thrilling*. When someone throws something negative at the council or YOU, *you* throw back nothing but positive vibes....

Remember, you don't need anything except a positive mental attitude to succeed in life! Mother Theresa had about as little as you can get, and her positive attitude covered not only the world, but broke through religious boundaries as well.

History is filled with folks that had nothing and accomplished amazing tasks. You CAN make a huge difference at your school.

Assuming your schools attitude is bad, you'll find it very challenging and draining to stay positive all the time. So, surround yourself with positive people to help keep your attitude up. Never accept anything negative. Set goals and go for them with a positive unstoppable attitude!!! Your attitude will become contagious and eventually spread like a virus through your school.

Finally, remember these powerful words, spoken by Sir Winston Churchill. He was asked for one piece of advice to give to students wanting to be successful in life. His answer was in seven words. Those seven words were: "Never give up. Never, never give up."

I wish you massive success!

Blair

Blair Robertson Productions Inc. Hypnotist, Mindreader and Motivator

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question:        leadership q21

“Leaders are made and not born" This is a debate topic and I am proposing. Got any good points?. Many thanks.

Farah Shafeeq

imptech@eureka.lk

answer:

Ken Dryden spoke at the CSLC in Winnipeg, and he stated how uncomfortable he was with the term "leadership". He said that he felt that leaders just "did things." They weren't part of a royal line of leaders, but became part of that name because they listened to others and got things going in the right direction. I personally am more comfortable with "doership". This means that you are not born to leadership, but you do things that cause you to choose to lead others.

Dave C.

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question:        leadership q20

I am looking for inspiration and good quotes...so if you have so please post them here or e-mail them to me thanks...Kev

Kevin McFaul

answers:

Dementia is the mother of ingenuity. - Unknown source

Fashion may come and go, but style is eternal and universal. - Shaun Palmer

Andy Bramburger

bramburgera@dfo-mpo.gc.ca

"There are three keys to success in life: 1. Be happy to wake up in the morning 2. Be happy to go to work 3. Be happy to go home at night."

The Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons ( I forget his name!)

Stephen Telka

telkafam@kawartha.com

~When one door of happiness closes another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.-Helen Keller

~God creates us all in His image. There are no second-class citizens, no minorities, no human beings greater or lesser than any other. We are all the same in His eyes. (I'm not sure who said that.)

Anne

The CASAA newsletter, Above and Beyond, has great quotes each issue. You can find them right here on this site in the newsletter webpages.  Also try the website from Grant Bright http://www.brightquotes.com/intro.html

Dave C.

"the most important things in life cannot be learnt through books... you have to experience them."

Annie papadakis

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question:        leadership q19

hey,

next year our school council has decided to implement "colour houses" for grade 9s and 10's. A colour house is kind of like a big homeroom. It’s like a group of people that you are with kind of like a team that you learn to work with and do fun activities with.

I was just wondering if any of you have a similar thing at your schools? what works? what doesn't? what activities/ games do you use with the houses throughout the year? also what activities for grade 9 appreciation day do you find work well? sorry for all the questions, i look forward to reading your responses!

thank you so much!

Matt Gould

answer:

Thought I might make a couple of comments regarding the use of house systems....also, I would be happy to send you a student council constitution that includes some information that may prove useful (purpose)...just send me your address.

The house system is usually used by intramural athletic groups but it has a much wider potential. As I started teaching phys. ed. and was responsible for both intramurals and student council, I copied a couple of schools that seemed to be very strong in these kind of endeavors. In both cases they used house systems that worked very well. Last fall I started to work, for the fourth time, on building a house system in a high school with 1300 students. A few thoughts for you to consider:

- It takes two to three years for a house system to take root. It can be frustrating a times in the early stages.

- If you can combine house membership with homeroom/TA group or some other kind of configuration that is already present in your school it really helps...we are using TA groups because students stay in the same TA group for three years (TA = Teacher Advisor). The other advantage is that you don't need to sit down and come up with houses....I have done this and it takes a while and it is ever changing as students come and go. It is really nice when you can piggyback on existing structures.

- Your council make up should reflect the houses.....that are do you have house leaders....or house leader teams. For instance: our design has allowed us to develop teams that include all grades and boys and girls to act as house leaders...or actually a house leadership team of 6 students per house. This has many advantages the main one is continuity.

- How many houses....??? Experience has taught me that 200 students per house is maximum and I am not sure about the minimum. We are using six houses which is slightly larger than I would like but it is close enough....the house size is critical for the student leaders more than the house members, it just makes it more possible for leaders to get to know the members of their house by name.

- Data.....using check lists at dances, pep rallies, athletic events, intramural activities, fund raising activities.... gives you the ability to collect data on participation and provide feedback...we are producing six house point boards (4' x 8') that will serve to provide feedback on results....collecting and posting data is the job of the house leaders. Any points or feedback on participation is good.....make sure this is reflected in whatever way you communicate results.

- Does your council have an office or some location that they can call home???? This really really really helps.

- Another thing about you council structure, ensure that every member has a permanent task position. Avoid members at large....they may end up warming a chair and perhaps loosing interest or worse yet they may end up causing distention because they have little else to do and don't feel important. My experience has shown me the importance of ensuring that every member of the organization has at least one permanent responsibility...certainly we want them to help each other out as they carry out their responsibilities. Can you imagine having teachers in your school who just showed up at school each day without being charged with some kind of specific responsibility. I have used this same principle with other organizations and groups...it works well. Imagine a football team showing up to play a game with everyone dressed and ready to play and just before they play they get together to arrange who will play which positions.........hmmmmm. I have consulted with student councils that operate in this kind of fashion and have argued how effective they are.....in football they keep score ... student councils can keep score too if you collect data.

- Develop a year plan that has a balance of activities over the whole year and keep a record of your plans for future groups (institutional memory). I observed as a student leader and an advisor that small councils that develop plans in the fall or worse yet, as they go along, tend to be a group of high energy people who start out like a ball of fire but begin to lose momentum as the year goes on....this doesn't always happen but it does happen. A year plan can help bring balance and help the planning process....besides, you are going to have some traditional events that happen every year .... for instance: Christmas Dance.....or our Blood Donor Clinics...in the spring.... The nice thing about a plan is that you can adapt it to fit changing circumstances. The nice thing about repeated events is that students and staff know well in advance what traditional events will take place and that they can arrange their lives so they can participate.

A house system is like a powerful, complicated and temperamental machine. It can help you to produce great results.... high participation being the greatest result....but it takes more time and energy to maintain. To ensure that you have more time and more energy you can ask your current council to do more or you can get more people hence more time and more energy. An old dictum that I have followed to good effect is the 10% rule.....that simple put says that the size of the student council should be 10% of the student body, so, for us at 1300 students we will have 70 students in our student council TA group plus 12O students acting as TA group representative for a total of 190 students who can state they have a permanent task role on the student council. It also means that essentially every student in the school has first hand contact with a member of the student council.

Finally, when I first tried to use a house system I was frustrated by my inexperience but I understood something about it's potential so I stuck with it and that has made all the difference....kind of like the road less taken.

Good luck,

Dave Garvie

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question:        leadership q18

I am interested in starting a girls' leadership course for middle school girls. I am looking for resources and activities for authentic leadership experiences.

Betty LaPointe

answer:

Call your Chamber of Commerce office and see if there is a women’s networking club in your area. They would probably have some excellent community leaders who could present or lead you in the right direction finding some support. Also a local Girls Club or Boys and Girls Club would have materials on leadership programs they have run. A third group is Junior Achievement, they run numerous leadership programs for youth and young adults... give your local JA club a call.

Hope this helps in some small way

Bill Robson CAE

Bill Robson

www.performance-connection.com

Perhaps a definition of leadership is a starting point.... there are many...here is one that is useful: Leading is the act of influencing others to willingly take on the challenges that are present(ed).

Influence - In what ways can an individual influence others????? This is really a huge area.

Willingly - Followership, in this definition, is a question of choice. The follower is fully able to choose to participate or not to participate.

Challenges - The challenges are what the "leader(s)" choose to address. Why they choose the challenges is important.

This definition has proven to be useful as it helps us to examine our purpose and our actions. You can do the something with other definitions...we just wanted to choose one as the backbone of our program and this was the choice....

Obviously this is the tip of the iceberg....I have taught leadership for many years in a co-ed situation. In fact, the leadership class was the student council 60 to 70 students strong. Also, this definition has worked well with students from grade 7 to 12.

I am curious as to why you would focus on a girl’s leadership class?

Hope everything works out very well,

Dave Garvie

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question:        leadership q17

I was wondering what I could do as the President of my Student Council to get a better attendance at meetings. I usually call a monthly meeting and only half of my group showed up. I was also wondering if anyone had any good fundraisers.

Hailey Davis

answer:

I would suggest a regular meeting day and time and perhaps more frequent meetings. We meet once a week on Monday at noon. Attendance is taken and recorded in the minutes. The reps understand that attending meetings is a requisite of being on Council and unexcused absences are causes for removal from Council. When the students run for positions, they receive a list of rep responsibilities with the application. They have to understand that they are part of a team that will function effectively only when all members take their roles and responsibilities seriously. Good luck!

from CASAA liserv

Just a few thoughts to help you out:

Purpose

Has your group defined its purpose, its reason for existing or is it assumed that everyone just knows? Although this may seem to be a boring thing to do, it is a fundamental element.

Plan/Structure

Does your group have a plan and an organization that is structured to put the plan into action? Does your group have a memory....last year’s plan....or are you constantly trying to create, from scratch, as you go along? This is a tough thing to do. Does your structure include permanent and temporary task roles....do members have a role?

Facilities/Resource

 Do you have a space in your school? Not just for storage but also for meeting, sitting, talking......a home for your student council that your student council will fit into?

Advisor(s)

You really need a strong advisor(s)....strong means a teacher who is really really interested and believes deeply in your purpose. Perhaps your principal can help....you may also gain support from your parent council/group.

Giving prizes for attending meetings?....well sometimes we have coffee/juice on and other times we have donuts.....but these are courtesy offerings and not intended to be incentives for people to attend meetings.

Your meeting problems can be solved. My suggestion for groups that are experiencing problems is for them to set goals to ensure the above questions are answered.

Dave Garvie

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question:        leadership q16

Hey this isn’t really a "leadership" question but it is an important one. I'm doing an article on the new grade nine curriculum. I was wondering if any schools have had any major problems such as: grade nines having particular problems, concerns ect. or any problems your council has dealt with concerning this issue. Please mail me if you decide to answer ASAP! Thanx a bunch :) Bon

Bonnie Kirkwood

answer:

We asked our grade 9's and the biggest problem they had was the cafeteria. To solve this, the 9's were dismissed 10 minutes early from the class just before lunch in the first week of school. This meant that they could get down to the caf and find a friend and get started on their lunch. Student council members were in the caf to answer questions and help them find the "safe" area to sit in (you know there's no name on the seat, but a senior group has claimed a table area). This early dismissal lasts for the first week of school and then the niners are on their own.

Dave C.

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question:        leadership q15

Why students need leadership training ?

renato

answer:

If you want to have four friends over for an exquisite dinner of BBQ hot dogs and ice cream, you can probably stumble through the actions necessary to feed everyone adequately. However, if you want to invite 400 people over for the same gastronomical experience and charge them for their meal, a little training would be very helpful. Students who lead are placed in positions that require some information beyond figuring it out all by themselves. When you take student leadership seriously through training, you will produce serious and accomplished student leaders.

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question:        leadership q14

I need info on leadership games, or adventure games to play on outdoor retreats. What are some good websites to try?

answer:

Every leadership or activity group should have a resource library. If you don't have one, just make it a goal to buy three good books this year. This will leave next year's group with something to start with. Their job is to add three more books to the resource library. Two excellent books for outdoor leadership or adventure games are "Quicksilver" and "Silver Bullets". They are classics and available through Project Adventure. The author is Karl Rohnke. The address to order these excellent resource books directly on the web is: www.pa.org. Hey, the Internet is great, but sometimes a browse through a great resource book is needed.

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question:        leadership q13

This has got to be the broadest and probably most difficult question to answer. But

What Does Student Leadership mean to you?

answer:

According to me, a good leader is someone who has a certain mentality or vision, which should be positive and answered to what the group need, and be able to bring this mentality or vision to the whole group A good leader should always be sure to do a good consensus with all the members, as a cooperation. He shouldn't control but lead -help in a positive way- the other members. This is what I call positive leadership, instead of domination. Domination is more that followers blindly follow the leader who doesn't listen the group's needs.

Mary

marilayne@hotmail.com

What does leadership mean to me?

Well, I believe that the role of leadership is to produce more leaders out of followers. A true leader knows that he is a leader by not looking back and continuing their work until completed. But, if they were to look back, the leader would know they are a leader by having followers being them. A good leader knows when to be a follower. i.e...if someone is more skilled in an area, they will step down and let the better person fill the role of leadership. A leader will look for what is best for the group, even if he doesn’t personally agree with the choice that is best for the group. A leader is the best leader when people don’t notice he is there, when the people say they did it themselves. Leadership is not letting things happen to them, but happening to things.

Leadership is very complex, yet simple. Take it for what it is...yet it may not be what it seems. But, if anyone wants to talk more about leadership...attend some conferences...

I’ve attended the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards in 1996 Lloydminster, AB&SK The Canadian Student Leadership Convention 1996 Currently in Katimavik in Tadoussac, QC...then Whitehorse, YK...and finishing in Humboldt, SK

These are just some quick points that I have on leadership...but you decide what leadership is to you.

Todd DePagie

That is the question isn't it.....?!

For my two cents worth you can begin at the notion of the concept that leadership and followership are two sides of the same coin....that they are utterly connected....and that they are acts or roles rather than personalities.

From that assumption this definition has emerged, at least for me, as very workable:

Leading - The act of influencing others to willingly take on the challenges that are present.

Following - The act of willingly choosing to take on the challenges that are present.

Following is not, at its best, an act arising from enforced compliance.... or from mindless compliance. In the study of leading it is important to consider the relationship that exists between followership and leadership.

As for the definitions....short and sweet and easy to underestimate.... What challenges? What influence? Is the act of following willing or enforced compliance? Is enforced compliance necessary in some circumstance?

Of all of the definitions that I have used over the years this is the one that currently appears to be the most workable in practice.....and so I leave it with you....

Dave Garvie

To me Leadership can be summed up in one quote I learned in a leadership seminar i am attending. My mentor Dave Pearce says "A leader is a person you would follow to a place you would not otherwise go by yourself."

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question:        leadership q12

Hi!! I am doing a project similar to the Leadership Research Project. The only difference is that we can choose anyone we want and my teacher didn't really give us any guidelines! So, my question was....can anyone please help me with my speech, it has to be 15 minutes and I have to come up with some clever reasons why someone or the person I choose is an example of a leader. If anyone could help I would really, really be thankful!!! P.S. I need this ASAP!!!! Thanks bye.

answer:

Hi Josie I trust that this is not to late for you. There are no born leaders...just babies. And yes you can learn to be a leader. Look around you what is it that you admire in people? Leadership is an interesting quality and I will put some points down for you. .Leadership is influence. .If no one is following are you a leader? .Leaders set Positive example with positive attitude. Attitude it has been said is the key to success. not skill not knowledge, not education... BUT ATTITUDE .Leaders know their strengths and weakness' .They learn to fail forward fast Failure is not failure unless you stay there. .And your past does not equal your future. Leaders keep trying! .Christopher Columbus said in his journal " I plow ahead, no matter how the winds may lash me. Leaders are not easily swayed and have a vision and a dream and know where they are going.

You could open up by telling the first time you were a leader or when you saw leadership in action.... in the play yard, at school, home etc. Open by telling them what you are going to tell them, then tell them and then tell them what you told them.

.Josie who you pick as a leader tells a lot about who you are for instance this is when you find out what you hold of value ...that is the things on the inside. .Leaders remember where they came from .Wrapped in your answer are your morals dreams desire even hopes etc. So you see Josie that is why when people pick their leaders they need to do so carefully.

.And when you close your talk you might pull it back to that first experience were you thought you saw a leader saying something like now my vision is a little more clearer and I now will choose leader a little more carefully for these reasons.

I trust it helps Thanks Art Alexander If you’re interested in having me do a inspirational talk for your school, or special event just email me thanks

Art

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question:        leadership q11

Dave Conlon- you mentioned some tips for secretaries (non-linear note taking, etc.) I was wondering if you have any other suggestions.

answer:

A good secretary should be able to produce bullets and it's not because they want to shoot people at the meeting, although some may feel that way.

• What was decided?

• Who is doing it?

• When is it being done?

This allows people to get a quick summary of what happened at the meeting. A good secretary at a meeting distills rather than describes.

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question:        leadership q10

I am currently trying to start a non-violent conflict peer-counseling group at our school. Any ideas about how to start such a program?

Jim Hammel

answer:

In order to start a program, it is important to get some training yourself in the techniques of Conflict Resolution. If you could get someone to come in to work with the coordinators of your program that is a good first step.

Next, you need to recruit strong students from all grade levels, male and female, to act as your student mediators. If you can start with 15 that is a good number.

We designed a two-day training session for our students with additional follow-up sessions. We then surveyed our trained students to find out who felt they were ready to start mediations - not everyone will feel they are ready to begin right after the training.

Finally, we worked hard on advertising. We actually visited all the grade 7 and 8 homerooms to explain the program. We left referral slips in each of these classes. We also met with all administrators to outline how the referral process worked. This is essential since most of our referrals came from administration.

One thing to remember, it takes time for these programs to catch on, in our school, it took at least three years for the program to take hold - don't get discouraged if you are not flooded with referrals in your first year!

Paul McGuire

mcswa@cyberus.ca

Jim

The Ontario Peer Helpers Association (Home Page Link) would be a great contact for you. They run workshops and conferences for Peer Helpers and touch on many issues like conflict resolution. It also allows you to network with other students and staff who are running similar programs.

Kathy Bennett

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question:        leadership q9

I'm a student activities advisor seeking a book or resource to help our secretary take effective minutes. Could anyone suggest something for me !! Thanks !

answer:

One of the things to learn is that most novice secretaries take linear notes of meetings -- one line follows the next. However, meetings are rarely linear because of discussion and changes that are made to the existing agenda. Have them take brief notes as a spider diagram -- central topic with the legs being branches to all the subtopics or people speaking to the topic. This allows the secretary to pay attention and also copy down the important points being made. Good minutes can then be made from this rough draft.

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question:        leadership q8

Students-- this question is for you-- Why did you choose to get involved in activities, clubs, etc. at your school? What made it so inviting? Also-- what do you think classroom teachers can do to make you feel more involved at the classroom level too?

answers:

I get involved at school all the time i do this because I find it to be very self rewarding and it shows every one else that you can have fun being involved. I like to get involved but I know that sometimes it is hard for other people to get the courage to get involved and not every one is a leader so i think teachers should have their students have to participate in more oral activities and things that involve everyone to get involved. i myself know that it is easier to dedicate myself to some thing when i know that it will benefit others or myself or I know that I am a part of a group that is needed to get something done.

Jen Hemmer

refinnej14@Juno.com

I chose to get involved because it is a way of meeting new people and most times it can be even fun. What also enticed me to join was that there were activities I was interested in and the advisors were approachable and enjoyed what they were doing. At a classroom level teachers should try to keep things interesting but sometimes it is not always possible.

Christina DeWit

cdewit@hotmail.com

I became involved in leadership because I wanted to help. I was sick of hearing of councils who told us they would do things and they never did. I wanted to help out. From the day I started, to the day I graduated high school, I loved my three years on my student council executive and I can't speak highly enough of my activity director and activity secretary, both were a great source of support for the council.

Shelley Pirie

pirie@ionline.net

I tried to get involved in clubs, unfortunately because of the work to rule for Secondary School Teachers in Toronto, there was almost nothing to choose from. So--- I started a newsletter called Mainframe on computer related topics. Strictly funded by sponsor's ads and distributed free to high schools. It's still going strong with new staff coming on board as well as new sponsors. The newsletter's mission statement is "A computer-related newsletter by students for students". We accept computer related articles from students from all schools. If anyone wishes to request information from us, feel free to e-mail: mainframe@hotmail.com

Alex Eigner

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question:        leadership q7

Hello My name is Katie McCune and I'm from St. Louis Michigan My question is, how, as teachers, can we make our primary focus on leadership skills in and out of the classroom? thank you Katie

answer:

Make students aware that participation in events is not just about the successful event. Students must be aware of what they need to know to run events and act as leaders. The best way is to debrief after an event and have the students decide what went well, what didn't go well and why. When something goes well students often don't see the need to debrief; however, this is the prime time to identify why an event was successful and establish what they do know about leadership.

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question:        leadership q6

I'm doing a thesis on Leadership and my specific topic Student Leaders. I need to ask what you guys think leadership is and what are the primary responsibilities or roles of a student leader; why is it important to have and develop student leaders. Thanks a lot and I hope to hear from you really soon!

katz

answers:

A student leader must make a positive difference in their school. This does not have to be a world-changing event--even small changes can bring about big results!

Dave C.

Leadership is about positive influence and positive attitude. Having vision to see the invisible. As well remember that Dreams - Action = Fantasy & Dreams + Action =Reality. Being a leader means moving to Action

art

mountaincommunications@hotmail.com

To me i know for a fact that leadership is the ability to make people feel included just the same way you feel and also to see the smile on other peoples faces when they realize that they are also a leaders with the same triumphs as you.

Danielle

italiagem@hotmail.com

Leaders do not try to speak for those they are leading, but to get people organized so that they can speak for themselves. Speaking for yourself is the first way of showing that you can be a leader yourself; whether by voice or any other means of communication. When leaders try to avoid mistakes and failures, all that will come of it is mistakes and failures. Followers are even more important than leaders. They are what reach the goal. Followers are spectators.

Leadership always checks with others to know when the best time is to do or not to do a certain thing. Good leadership then is a leadership that recognizes that it is best to work with others when possible.

James Lortie

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question:        leadership q5

I need some information/research on the benefits of running student council as a Leadership Course as a regular block in the timetable.

J. Gobolos

jgobolos@as.sd27.bc.ca

answer:

I've been a member of a student council who has a leadership course for three years now and having it as a regular block in my timetable has many advantages and disadvantages. Our class was 76 minutes long, which allowed us to meet and plan activities for about a half an hour and then go off and paint banners and prepare for the event. With the class everyday also comes disadvantages such as people tend to not take it seriously and people get so sick of each other. During our 2nd semester when we don't have the class, sometimes the council tends to fall apart because they have depended so much on that class, that they aren't able to organize it outside of that which is hard. Good luck!

Shelley Pirie

pirie@ionline.net

Our yearbook is completed through a credit course in graphic design. It has given the teacher/advisor the time and students to do the job properly. Student leadership involves time and effort to be done properly. Many teachers are not given release time to work with student leaders and the pressures of meetings outside of school time come in conflict with activities and student jobs. The Leadership Course gives the time for the teacher to teach leadership, and the students the time and regularity to do the job properly. Finally, the regular class also gives both the advisor/teacher and students time to process what didn't work out -- we pat ourselves on the back for events that worked and generally ignore what didn't work. Leadership should be a learning experience and the class gives time and importance (marks and a credit) to this effort.

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question:        leadership q4

Have any of you found research on the correlation of student leadership and school achievement?

Jona Steed

answer:

The best book that I have seen is available from NASSP. It is entitled, "Student Activities: The Third Curriculum" and is written Edward J. Kleese. It contains a big bibliography section as well. Also, the latest issue of High School Magazine which is sent usually to principals from NASSP has an excellent article on the correlation of activities and achievement. I will attempt to get more details posted on this site. Try www.nasc.us

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question:        leadership q3

We have a home form rep in each class in the school who is supposed to act as the conduit from student council to our student body. It's not working. Anyone have ideas on how to make class reps work better?

answer:

Well I don't really have an answer but I'd like to add something to the question. We have grade reps. What do we do with them as a link to our council?

Shelley Pirie

pirie@ionline.net

hopefully they're in student council, I'm not sure which level grades you're talking about, In our high school we don't have reps, and nobody knows what’s going on. In middle school we had homeroom reps and they wrote stuff on a specified place on the chalkboard. I don't think we ever really used our reps that much, and if they did they're job, the students didn't do theirs, they didn't read what was written on the board

Catherine Rabenstine

i just answered someone else's question with the same response. What we use is a 'Point System' The executive officers are not on this system but the reps are. They start out with 7 points...then through participation they earn points. ( bringing supplies to the car wash, helping setup/clean-up for dances, bake sale cookies etc) or they can loose points by not going to meetings or no showing to an activity of stu. co. Then by the end of the semester the officers tally up the rep's points and if they haven't accumulated 15 then they are asked to step down from council and they are replaced by someone who will work. This system can be revised to fit the needs of your school but it works. Good luck! And if you have any good fundraising ideas send them my way will ya??

Sara Abbott

wdabbot@ibm.net

Well...first of all, how do you chose your reps? We chose them by having the class vote on them. We also give them a piece of paper consisting of the info to post in their class after reading. We check up on occasion to make sure they are doing their job and if not we switch students. It's been great so far so we have no problems. Try it some time.

Dipisha Kunverji

kunverjid@hotmail.com

I'm in a challenge program and each grade elects 2 students to go to the meetings and report back. You should have each class have 1 or 2 reps and after every meeting or so report back to the class.

Carissa

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question:        leadership q2

With the proliferation on materials about leadership classes, I'm curious about what people think of the concept of teaching leadership. Can leadership be taught? If so, what's the best way to do it?

Lyn Fiscus

answer:

The best way to teach leadership is to let students experience events at a level where success is possible, yet still challenging.

My first event for my leadership class is to have my students run a hamburger BBQ at lunch. It is challenging because it involves three elements: cash, food, and fire.

Importantly, most kids think they can do it without going through the necessary steps of planning and execution.

Leadership can be taught; students have to have successful events that are just challenging enough to get them thinking and working.

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question:

How can I, as a student, create more opportunities for students to get involved at my high school?

answer:

Scott

There are probably many things happening in your school right now. Have all the groups put on an involvement presentation at lunchtime in a gym. Have all the teams and clubs set up tables and mini displays of what they do, when they start, and where they meet. Ask teachers for names of students that would benefit from getting involved. Then approach those students personally, and invite them to get involved. Many students want to get involved but they don't know where to start.

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