Student-Leadership Developers

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Comment by Mousumi on August 17, 2009 at 5:49am

Thank you group :-)
I look forward to learning some valuable lessons out here.

Comment by Mike Pardee on May 1, 2009 at 8:28am

Jeremy & Carolyn (quite appropriately!) tout(ed) Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers in a Comment Wall post below. I just want to add my endorsement of that fine book to theirs.

Although I haven't quite managed to finish reading Outliers yet, I'm finding it thoroughly provocative, incisive, and rewarding.

David Brooks also posted a similar editorial in the NY Times recently:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/01/opinion/01brooks.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Although he doesn't cite Gladwell directly in this column, he does cite some of the studies that MG must have used to make a similar point re: the relative significance of nature vs. nurture in determining excellence and human achievement.

Even better, Brooks's piece is shorter than Gladwell's book--so it should give a nice hors-d'ouevrey morsel to whoever might prefer an appetizer version of Gladwell's main course in Outliers.

Just FYI, mwp

Comment by Mike Pardee on April 28, 2009 at 1:48pm

A cleaner link if one below doesn't work:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/19/education/edlife/leadership-t.html?_r=3&ref=edlife

Comment by Mike Pardee on April 28, 2009 at 1:43pm

An article worth bookmarking for future reference?

Friends & colleagues:
Many of us have probably already seen this by now (from a recent NY Times Sunday edition w/ an "Education Life" insert):

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/19/education/edlife/leadership-t.html?_r=3&ref=edlife

But this topic continues to recur annually at our school w/ students and parents alike.

I think it's an accurate, fair explication of what these program$ actually are--and aren't--no matter how worthwhile they may be for those who can really afford 'em.

Happy reading.....!
mwp

Comment by Carolyn Browne on April 15, 2009 at 8:34am

Jessica,
The article Fostering Future Leadership, is as good as promised. I made a copy to pass on to out ACCESS leader. At Leyden we have a group of Upperclassmen that we train to be mentors to Freshmen. Part of the training program involves learniong leadership skills. It's as interesting to watch the mentors mature and gain confidence as it is to see the Freshmen thrive under their tutelage.

Comment by Jessica McClain on April 10, 2009 at 4:05pm

Fostering Future Leadership.pdf

Y'all I just read this article passed on by gcLi and thought it was outstanding. If you have not read it I highly encourage you to do so. Thanks Rich Gamble for writing this... GO gcLi grad!!!

Comment by Carolyn Browne on March 23, 2009 at 7:35am

A company called Teens2Teams has developed and posted a list of suggested readings that could be helpful to those atttempting to develop leadership skills in their students. They mention two of my favorite authors - Stephen Covey and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. A book that caught my attention was Talented Teenagers, The Roots of Success and Failure by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Kevin Rathunde, and Samuel Whalen: "The authors conducted a 25-year-long study quantifying the characteristics of successful teenagers." A fuller book description (it's available on Amazon) indicates that some heavy lifting is required to appreciate the authors findings, but the effort will most likely be worth it.

Comment by Carolyn Browne on March 20, 2009 at 9:44am

Outliers is a wonderful book, as is Malcom Gladwells Blink. I would make it mandatory reading in classes designed to prepare future teachers for the classroom.

Comment by Jeremy LaCasse on January 4, 2009 at 10:44am

If you haven't already, consider picking up Malcolm Gladwell's new book, Outliers. It provides some interesting insights into the function of our society and also provides, albeit unintentionally at least through the first 150 pages, the case for helping students develop the leadership awareness and social understandings that are central to success in life. In many ways, intellectual capacity is but a small fraction of the things that result in the success of people. Far more important is the ability to interact with others, read the social landscape, and have a variety of creatively based behaviors to draw on to solve the problems before a person and her of his group. Needless to say, it is something I have been thinking about and am excited to hear if others have been reading this book and/or thinking about these sorts of things. I hope you are all doing well and have a great day.