Self-Leadership

Character in Action

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Self-Leadership Character In Action

Table of Contents

How to Use this Character Ed Program 4 Reflections on Self-Leadership 6 Self-Leadership Video Guidelines 9 Self-Leadership Video Questions 10 Self-Leadership Video Summary 12 Pre/Post-Video Quiz 16

Self-Leadership Video Student Worksheets

Conflicting Goals 18 Jumela’s Desire to Play—Part 1 19 Robert’s Desire to Be “Cool”—Part 1 20 Choices & Consequences 21 Taking Control of Your Life 22 Desiree’s Story 23 Reality Check 24 The Arcadia High School Speech & Debate Team 25 Self-Leaders Manage Change 26 Kenneth’s Accident Changed His Life Forever 27 Robert’s Story—Part 2 28 Jumela’s Story—Part 2 29 Leading the Way 30 The Blood Drive—Polytechnic’s Leadership Team 31 30-Hour Famine—Helping Those in Need 32 Charting Your Own Course 33

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Self-Leadership Lessons

Lesson #1 ……….What Is Self-Leadership?

Lesson #2 ……….Planning Ahead

Lesson #3 ……….Making Changes to the Plan

Lesson #4 ……….Self-Leadership at School

Lesson #5 ……….Taking Charge of Your Health

Lesson #6 ……….Taking Positive Risks

Lesson #7 ……….Who’s in Control of Your Life?

Lesson #8 ……….Influencing the Bully

Lesson #9 ……….Self-Leadership for the Environment

Lesson #10 ………Charting Your Course

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How to use Character Ed Tools - Self-Leadership—Character in Action Overview Self-Leadership—It’s making decisions about where you are going in life and how you will get there. It’s making decisions that will be good for you for a long time. When students exercise the ability to be a self-leader, they discover their outlook on life changes for the better. They find themselves hap-pier with the present and hopeful about the future. The students will begin to see their progress and what they have achieved, recognizing that they are creating the life they have always wanted, rather than merely enduring what life had given. This self-leadership program is designed to help students develop their ability to become a self-leader. Your students will be given tools to use to help them deal with the resistance they encounter, the frustrations they may feel, and the obstacles that confront them. Your students will learn to recog-nize that these obstacles in life will refine their vision, improve the confidence they have in their abili-ties, and deepen their resolve to achieve their goals. This program will help you motivate your students to make leadership decisions for their lives, seize control of day, and move ahead with the determination to succeed. As self-leaders they’ll begin de-veloping a profound commitment to excellence. They’ll set high standards and work hard to improve every aspect of their lives. Self-leaders learn from their failures, dwell on past successes, refine their vision, plan their journey, dream of success, and passionately pursue their dreams. This self-leadership program will help you present the character quality of self-leadership to your stu-dents in an interesting and engaging way. The DVD is a great discussion starter and we have pro-vided you with several pages of worksheets to get the students responses to the material presented. We have also provided you with ten lessons with tons of ideas to get you and your students talking. We are excited about the opportunities you will have to help guide your students to developing their leadership skills. Most of all, have loads of fun and enjoy talking about this significant character qual-ity of self-leadership. Ten Great Self-Leadership Statements A great way to reinforce the messages on self-leadership is to begin or end your class period reading these daily statements. Also, these reflections could be a reminder for you to use with the students weeks after you’ve ended your lessons on self-leadership. However you decide to use them, I’m sure you’ll find these statements to be motivational and filled with great thought-provoking comments.

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The Self-Leadership Discussion Video There are several worksheets provided to accompany the discussion video. The video is broken into four distinct segments. We suggest following the discussion video guidelines provided later in the book. The students have worksheets that correspond with each segment of the video. You may de-cide to have the students watch the video and fill out the worksheets on their own. Either way, these worksheets and discussion questions will get your students thinking and talking about what it means to be a self-leader. Lessons 1 Through 10 Each lesson contains tons of interesting insights and thoughts to get your students talking for hours and hours on end about self-leadership. Okay, maybe we’re exaggerating a bit but this will get your students talking.

Activities This workbook contains multiple activities for each lesson. Use as many of these ideas as time or resources permits. Our goal is simply to get your students talking, thinking, and acting on what, when, and how to be a self-leader.

The Lessons

Each lesson is packed with thought-provoking content to get your students talking. An inter-esting comment is then followed by open class discussion. We think you’ll find it fun to see what your students think it means to a self-leader.

Biographic and Historical Data We thought you could use some real examples of people and historical events that demon-strated self-leadership in quite different ways. With each lesson you’ll find whole bunches of data on a real person or event demonstrating self-leadership.

Worksheets Several worksheets are provided for each lesson to get your students’ feedback as they re-flect on what they have learned.

Some Legal Thoughts Copyrights and all that jazz. You know the drill. These lessons and discussion video are owned by Character Ed Tools, so don’t copy them. If you want more videos or books or a license to use these materials school wide, just give us a yell, we’ve got solutions. But when it comes to those work-sheets? Copy tons of the worksheets (well, perhaps not tons since we are supposed to be saving trees, but you get the idea). Let’s get those students writing and reflecting on what they have learned. And most important of all, let’s have fun learning about self-leadership!

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Daily Reflections On Self-Leadership LESSON 1: WHAT IS SELF-LEADERSHIP?

Self-Leadership: It’s taking control of where you are going and deciding how you will get there. So, what will you do today to determine where you will go? What method of transportation will you use to get there? Are you in control of these decisions? Are you being controlled by oth-ers or the circumstances surrounding your life? Consider this thought from George Bernard Shaw, “People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who move up in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can’t find them, make them. Don't make excuses — make it happen.” Seize the day, take control of your life, today!

LESSON 2: PLANNING AHEAD What are you aiming at? Consider Henri David Thoreau thoughts concerning this, “In the long run, men hit only what they aim at. If you’re not going to fail immediately, you had better aim at something high.” Part of taking control of your life, you know, where you’re going, how you’ll get there, and who you’ll be, well that doesn’t happen over night. It takes a plan. Yes, that’s right. The goal is not the most important thing, the planning is premier and essential to a well placed offense. Speaking of offense. We’ll wrap this up with a quote from legendary Dallas Cowboys Coach, the great Tom Landry. He said, “Setting a goal is fine, but it’s not the main thing. It is decid-ing how you will go about achieving it and staying with that plan.” So stay the course and stick with your plan “your future is so bright you should be wearing sunglasses”!

LESSON 3: MAKING CHANGES TO THE PLAN

“It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory.” - W. Edwards Deming

That’s right, change is not mandatory. We can be stubborn to change and refuse to be flexi-ble or adapt our plans but we may one day find ourselves to be obsolete. It’s like this. There used to be several companies that did an exceptional job of producing eight-track tape play-ers. Then one day the cassette tapes and players were created. In time, the cassette re-placed the eight-track player. Technology had advanced and the makers of eight-track play-ers could change and adapt or eventually become obsolete. Something to consider, “He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which rejects pro-gress is the cemetery.” ~Harold Wilson That’s right, change is good. Think about it. If there were no changes, there would be no

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butterflies, electricity, or even indoor plumbing, YUCK! So make a choice to strive for your dreams and goals, make plans to ensure you will know how to get there, but be willing to bend and flex your plans along the way to ensure you will get there no worse for the wear.

LESSON 4: SELF-LEADERSHIP AT SCHOOL

Some say, “I’m stuck here in class, how do I lead from where I am at?” That’s simple. You focus on your work, handle distractions appropriately, and you help oth-ers around you. Gandhi said it like this, "If you have much, give your wealth. If you have little, give your heart." So focus on your studies, forget those around who distract you, and be friendly to those in need. Follow these simple steps and you’ll discover great success in school and life!

LESSON 5: TAKING CHARGE OF YOUR HEALTH What are your dreams? Do you want to see those dreams realized? Can you reach those dreams if you are not healthy? Experts say that 78% of American's are not meeting basic activity level recommendations. We are surrounded by fast food, TV, personal gaming devises, cell phones, and the Internet. These conveniences and many others have modified how we live to such a point that we are less physically active than ever before. While the leisurely life style may appeal to our desire to relax and enjoy life the decreased level of activity and increase of fatty fast foods are begin-ning to take their toll. Young people are considerably overweight compared to any previous generation. So what should we do? I am sure life expectancy would grow by leaps and bounds if green vegetables smelled as good as bacon or tasted as sweet as a freshly cooked brownie. Till then, it’s important to consider how we can modify our current leisurely life to increase physical activity and decrease input of fatty foods.

LESSON 6: TAKING POSITIVE RISKS Stand up and be counted, from time to time you may get yourself knocked down but as an old proverb states, “You’ll never get to the top of the mountain if you don’t begin to climb.” An-other put it this way, “A man flattened by an opponent can get up again. A man flattened by conformity stays down for good.” Sometimes standing up and standing out is a good thing. It takes guts to go for what appears to be beyond our reach but no one who has ever taken a risk and achieved something ever felt bad for having taken the risk. You know, it seems like if you don't risk anything, you risk even more. Consider Kierkegaard’s thoughts on the subject, “To dare is to lose one's footing temporarily. To not dare is to lose one’s self—a great way to become nothing is to do noth-ing.”

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LESSON 7: WHO’S IN CONTROL OF YOUR LIFE?

Do you have the final say over what you do in life? Self-leaders listen to wise council, con-sider the options with their long range goals in mind, and take the responsibility for their ac-tions. Werner Erhard put it this way, “Being responsible starts with the willingness to deal with a situation from the view of life that you are the generator of what you do, what you have and what you are. No one can make you responsible, nor can you impose responsibility on another. It is a grace you give yourself - an empowering context that leaves you with a say in the matter of life.” Take control of your destiny today.

LESSON 8: INFLUENCING THE BULLY 85% of those being bullied don’t tell anyone about it. They are simply hoping or wishing it will magically go away. But it doesn’t just go away. If you are being bullied or see someone be-ing bullied, tell someone. James Baldwin once said, “Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced.” Stopping bullying is a positive change for the victim and bully. Let’s get involved in putting an end to bullying at our school today. Talk about it. Be a friend.

LESSON 9: SELF-LEADERSHIP FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

We may not be able to control what others are doing to the environment, but we can control what we are doing. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.” What do your actions say about your beliefs concerning recycling, con-serving natural resources, and global warming? Too often we don’t recognize the importance of what we have until it’s gone. Thomas Fuller said it like this, “We never know the worth of water till the well is dry.” Let’s consider what we can do today to conserve and help the envi-ronment.

LESSON 10: CHARTING YOUR COURSE

Just as a captain of a ship charts each point of a long voyage to ensure an efficient and safe passage, you need to map your life to define your vision and dreams of tomorrow. Taking time to plan today gives you a better chance of reaching your goals of tomorrow. Charting a course for your life will help you achieve your goals and dreams. Henry David Thoreau “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you’ve imagined.”

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Self-Leadership Video Guidelines

The Self-Leadership video is divided into four distinct segments. The video will have on screen ques-tions following each segment. Those questions are printed for you on the next page. Please take time to discuss these questions with the students and add your own personal experiences concerning self-leadership. The following guidelines are how we would use these worksheets and video with your students to help them understand what it means to be a self-leader. Self-Leadership Discussion Video Guidelines

Take the Pre-Self-Leadership Video Quiz

Open Discussion

Complete Worksheets #1

Watch Video Segment #1

Discuss On-Screen Questions for Segment #1

Complete Worksheets #2 through #4

Open Discussion

Complete Worksheet #5

Watch Video Segment #2

Discuss On-Screen Questions for Segment #2

Complete Worksheet #6 through #8

Open Discussion

Complete Worksheets #9

Watch Video Segment #3

Discuss On-Screen Questions for Segment #3

Complete Worksheet #10 through #12

Open Discussion

Complete Worksheet #13

Watch Video Segment #4

Discuss On-Screen Questions for Segment #4

Complete Worksheet #14 through #16

Take the Post-Self-Leadership Video Quiz

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Self-Leadership Video Questions

The Discussion Video has several on-screen questions following each segment. Those questions are as follows: Questions for Segment #1

1. Jumela let those around her distract her from achieving her goals and dreams. She

had difficulty choosing between having fun today and working for tomorrow. Talk about the conflicting goals you encounter on a regular basis. How can we minimize the affect our friends have on our decisions?

2. Robert thought he was being “cool” when he started getting involved with drugs.

What should we do when we feel the pressure from those around us to use drugs?

Questions for Segment #2 1. Desiree didn’t feel like she deserved to be loved or respected. She didn’t feel like

she fit in at school. So she began hurting herself physically and mentally. What are some destructive things we do to ourselves to make ourselves feel better?

2. There will always be bullies and critics attempting to knock us down. Talk about what

we can do to take control of the situation when we encounter one of those bullies or critics.

3. The students on the Speech and Debate team overcame their fears of speaking in

public with practice. How did being prepared help them overcome their fear? Questions for Segment #3

1. Jumela discovered the importance of a good education. When her mother left, she was unprepared to make it on her own. What have you learned from Jumela’s ex-periences and the importance of getting a good education.

2. Kenneth never expected to be paralyzed. However, his dreams and goals were not

destroyed that day. He simply had to change how he was going to go about achiev-ing those goals. What have you learned from his example?

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3. Robert was about to go to jail when he decided to change the direction of his life. Talk about what it takes to make this type of change.

Questions for Segment #4

1. The leadership class at Polytechnic High School has created an atmosphere of car-ing through their blood drives. They’re making a difference in their community and having fun at the same time. Talk about how doing something positive for someone else can actually make you feel better about yourself.

2. The 30-Hour Famine students have discovered their problems don’t look so big when

compared to the problems other teens around the world face each day. They have also developed an awareness to those around them who are starving for loves and acceptance. Talk about how we can help those in our school who may feel “left out.”

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Self-Leadership Discussion Video Summary

Overview Just as a captain of a ship charts each point of a long voyage to ensure an efficient and safe passage, students need to map their lives to define their vision and dreams of tomorrow. The Self-Leadership video will challenge your students to consider their long-range goals, to organize their thoughts and ideas about the future, and to chart a course for excellence in their lives. It’s a guide to becoming a self-leader. It will motivate your students to stop blaming others for where they are and start taking responsibility for their actions and decisions.

How To Use the Self-Leadership Discussion Video In the next few pages of this book you’ll discover our recommended guidelines for using this character ed tool. We suggest following the discussion video guidelines to get the most out of the program. The video is broken into four distinct segments. Each segment concludes with a few discussion ques-tions that will help you lead a discussion on the material just viewed. Worksheets are provided that correspond with each segment of the video for the students. These worksheets will help you evaluate how well the students are understanding the material. You may decide to have the students watch only a few segments of the video. Either way, these worksheets and discussion questions will get your students thinking and talking about what it means to be a self-leader.

Summary of the Self-Leadership Discussion Video Section #1: Conflicting Goals Jumela was a talented singer in high school with aspirations of one day being a singing sensation. However, she also enjoyed dating guys, staying up late, and partying with her friends. She eventually dropped out of school, hoping to make a living singing. She failed to make it as a singer and with no high school education to fall back on, she was left to make it through life with dead end jobs. Robert thought he was hanging with the cool people when he started getting involved with drugs. During his eighth grade year he lost focus of why he was going to school. One day he brought the drugs to school to sell them. He was caught and expelled from school. A short time later he was in-volved in a fight and was arrested. This time, instead of seeing the school principal, he found himself in court with a judge. He had charted a course for fun and was now headed for jail.

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Questions for Section #1:

1. Jumela let those around her distract her from achieving her goals and dreams. She had diffi-culty choosing between having fun today and working for tomorrow. Talk about the conflicting goals you encounter on a regular basis. How can we minimize the affect our friends have on our decisions?

2. Robert thought he was being “cool” when he started getting involved with drugs. What should

we do when we feel the pressure from those around us to use drugs? Section #2: Taking Control of Your Life There’s a tremendous amount of social pressure at school. The fear of failure or the fear of looking silly in front of our friends can stop us from reaching for our dreams. That’s what happened to De-siree. She didn’t feel like she fit in at school. She didn’t feel smart enough, strong enough, or pretty enough to belong. Desiree became critical of her own actions, thought negatively about herself, and started cutting herself to deal with the pain she felt inside. There are bullies and critics out there who are determined to cut us down or manipulate our actions. 85% of those being bullied don’t tell anyone, hoping and wishing it will “go away.” But hoping it will “just go away” doesn’t work. To escape the bully, the first step is to simply ignore them and walk away. But if they remain persistent, we need to take control of the situation and lead the bully and ourselves to begin resolving the conflict. Talk about it with those around you or an adult and get some help. If you see someone being bullied, get involved. We need to help the bully and the victim chart a course for excellence in their lives. One of the biggest fears teens have is getting up in front of their peers and giving a speech. The Ar-cadia High School Speech & Debate Team faces that pressure on a regular basis. They’re not letting their fears determine their destiny. They’ve charted a course for success and are working hard to achieve those goals. These students are taking a risk to reach their dreams. What’s the key to over-coming their fears? Practice. They spend hours practicing their speeches. By taking a risk and con-quering their fears, these students now have a better vision of where they are headed in life. Questions for Section #2:

1. Desiree didn’t feel like she deserved to be loved or respected. She didn’t feel like she fit in at school. So she began hurting herself physically and mentally. What are some destructive things we do to ourselves to make ourselves feel better?

2. There will always be bullies and critics attempting to knock us down. Talk about what we can

do to take control of the situation when we encounter one of those bullies or critics.

3. The students on the Speech and Debate team overcame their fears of speaking in public with practice. How did being prepared help them overcome their fear?

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Section #3: Managing Change Jumela’s Mom abandoned her when she was 21. She ended up with little education, alone, and homeless. She had to make a change. She found help at the Door of Hope, a restoration ministry for the homeless. She decided to get back in high school to graduate. Today, she has graduated and is working to achieve her goals in life. Kenneth Gibson’s life took an unexpected change in direction November 5, 2004. A routine tackle during a football game hyper-extended his neck and compressed his spinal cord, leaving him para-lyzed. Even though he’s not excited about his new life, he is still able to maintain the life he had charted for himself. He views his condition as a minor detour on the road of life as he is chasing his goals and dreams. He didn’t expect to be paralyzed but he had prepared himself for the worst by do-ing well in school. Robert was about to be sent to jail by the judge when his football coach encouraged the judge to grant Robert one more chance to change the direction of his life. Robert didn’t let the coach down. He was determined to change his life and did just that. He made an immediate impact in the class-room and on the football field. By getting good grades, and performing well on the football field and instead of heading for jail, Robert received a scholarship to the University of Nevada Las Vegas. Questions for Section #3:

1. Jumela discovered the importance of staying in school and learning as much as you can the hard way. As a high school drop out she found it difficult to survive when her mother left town. She ended up homeless. What have you learned from Jumela’s experiences about the importance of getting a good education?

2. Kenneth never expected to be paralyzed. However, his dreams and goals were not de-

stroyed that day. He simply had to change how he was going to go about achieving those goals. What have you learned from his example?

3. Robert was about to go to jail when he decided to change the direction of his life. Talk about

what it takes to make this type of change. Section #4: Leading The Way The leadership class at Polytechnic High School is focused on developing an atmosphere of caring. They sponsor various activities each year to help others in the community. Their blood drive helps many at the local hospitals each year giving the teens a sense of importance as they give back to the community. The students feel empowered as they are making a difference that could end up saving another person’s life. The 30-Hour Famine is a World Vision event designed to generate awareness in the community for the millions of starving young people around the world. The students interviewed went without food for 30 hours. During this time the teens made a 29,000 link paper chain representing the 29,000 kids around the world who die each day from starvation. Focusing on the needs of their peers half way

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around the world, these students have become more aware of the needs of the person sitting next to them in class. Making a difference in the lives of others is easy when we’re confident about the course we have charted for ourselves. Being a real leader means we stop putting others down to make ourselves feel more important and start building others up to make them feel loved. People all around you are starv-ing, not for food, but for love. We can make a difference in the lives of others by simply being an en-couraging voice or helping them feel accepted. Questions for Section #4:

1. The leadership class at Polytechnic High School, has created an atmosphere of caring through their blood drives. They’re making a difference in their community and having fun at the same time. Talk about how doing something positive for someone else can actually make you feel better about yourself.

2. The 30-Hour Famine students have discovered their problems don’t look so big when com-

pared to the problems other teens around the world face each day. They have also devel-oped an awareness to those around them who are starving for love and acceptance. Talk about how we can help those in our school who may feel “left out.”

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