Examining leadership qualities through reflection

Leadership is a process of earning respect and gaining trust (photo credits Bent)

We are entering the fifth week of class.  So far you all have identified and reflected on skills you have through a series of exercises finishing with the creation of a resume.  In addition you have started research on both your project and your paper.  I admire your ability to juggle this in the final semester of your senior year, when in reality your focus is probably not a 100% on school and school related work.

This week your blog and part of your work on google classroom connect through leadership in a service-learning environment. This course is built on creating a service (your project) with the idea of learning from that service (doing the project-learning from it and providing a service to others).  To complete a project you need a leader, and guess what that leader is YOU.  Although you might be gaining some advice and direction from someone else, you are the leader of whatever your project is...you are the expert, and the person who others will/are counting on to follow through with your project.

Remember that the blog post is due on  Monday.  The scoring for the post is as follows: 25% for on time posts, 50% for content and grammar, and 25% for responding to two other peoples' blog by Wednesday of the post week.  

Note: For responses this week,  I am looking for something longer than just a sentence or two.  When you are commenting on other blogs, especially this one, connect with the blogger and really take an interest in what he or she has written.


Blog Entry Seven "Leadership" (due Monday March 13th) is asking you to examine leadership:

We encounter leaders in many different parts of our everyday lives; family, work, community groups, religious groups, sports teams, and social movements. We learn about favorite leaders from the past in history books and about those from the present through news media.  We value leaders for different reasons, including getting things done, promoting specific social values, and empowering others. Some people are born leaders and others are situational leaders.  For your blog this week, pick a leader from any area of life whom you admire and answer the following questions.

Part One: Someone you admire
1. Who is the leader you most admire?
2. How has this person demonstrated that she or he is an effective leader?
3. What qualities does he or she have that you think contribute to his or her being an effective leader?

Part Two: You as a leader 
Think about your own experience as a leader in different areas of your life: home, school, sports, work, volunteering.
1. Describe the best leadership experience you have ever had.
2. What kind of leadership style (see styles discussed in your handout) were you using in this situation? Explain
3. What effective strategies did you use in this leadership experience?
4. What personal qualities do you think contributed to your success as a leader in this situation? Explain how each quality contributed to your leadership success.
5. What effective strategies did you use in this leadership experience?
6. How might the effective strategies you used in this situation be used in your service project?

Make sure that you answer these questions in PARAGRAPH form...do not just give me one sentence wonders.  Dig deep and talk about your choice in detail, and then when responding to others, dig deeper and create a substantive response for that blogger to read.