Week 13

One thing that this class has tremendously helped me improve on is my independence. I had taken a few independent online courses this year but nothing like this class. It was very lax other than the due dates at the end of the week, and this helped me prepare for the independence of college. I would have to plan out my week in advance so I knew when I needed to get things done, and when I could focus on other things. This class overall will help me next year because it gave me the first taste of independence while doing work. Next year I am going to have to plan out my weeks to get long term assignments done before the last minute. I am overall grateful for this class and the independence it has helped me improve.

Week 12

1. Having to move on to unfamiliar territory and/or new adventures is what allows leaders to stretch and grow.  So, does, (or did),  your project stretch, challenge, and/or  engage you?  Explain
My project definitely engaged me, and took me out of my comfort zone a little bit. Coaching is something that I have always found myself good at, and passionate about. A dream of mine is to coach at the professional or college level, so this was a very good taste of what that could be like. It also took me out of my comfort zone a little bit. I have never been able to control children that well and every time I try it ends in disaster. This project has helped me learn how to command kids attention in a good way, and get my message across clearly. 
2. Sometimes the greatest act of courage is to follow one's heart and do the right thing, even if it is not popular or does not seem politically correct.  What is your "North Star", that thing that most drives you when you have to make a hard decision? Do you give yourself permission to make hard decisions without necessarily having it all figured out?  Are you willing to step into ambiguity when the occasion calls for it?  (Once you summon the courage to take this step, it often opens up wonderful new possibilities that otherwise might have remained closed or hidden.)  Share your answer, thoughts, and examples.
Throughout my life, I have had to make many hard decisions. Whenever I am doing this, there is a little voice in the back of my head that is telling me to look at myself after I have made the decision, and see if it benefited me, and how. This is how I tend to go about making tough decisions, the most recent being college. I looked at my top three schools, and I pictured myself at each one. After weighing out all the variables, I chose the school that I could see myself succeeding at the most. 
3. Are you willing to risk being wrong?  Sometimes leadership takes having the courage to make hard decisions based on the best information you have, knowing that you could be wrong.  Do you have an example of this? (Share)
I can risk being wrong, but I do not enjoy it. In football, sometimes it is hard for the coaches to get a defensive call in for each position, after each play. They can have many things going in and in critical moments sometimes we have to improvise. In a game this past season, it was a critical fourth down play and our coach wasn't giving us a signal from the sideline. I had to take matters into my own hands and call a play for the defense. Because I had watched film and familiarized myself with their offense, I guesses the play that they would run, and picked our defense that would best stop it. I went with my gut and turned out to make the perfect call, but it could have gone terribly wrong. In the moment I do not think about the outcome, I just take action. That is who I am, and it usually serves me well.

4.  Do you give yourself credit for those tough decisions that nobody else sees? Explain.
I feel like I give myself enough credit for these decisions, but it is important to stay humble to be a successful leader. You know that you came up clutch, and that is all that really matters. It doesn't matter if everyone on the team is praising you for making the right call, because in the end it was a call made for the greater good of the team and if it as successful, thats all that matters. 

Week 11

Are you willing to listen to others and let others have their voice, even when it might be inconvenient, difficult, or painful to do so?
Yes, I feel like I am bale to listen to others, if those others are not my sister. I like to hear others ideas and opinions so I can form my own opinions, but when it comes to my sister I never listen. I enjoy having conversations with people to shape my ideas and hear alternate opinions, especially when it comes to sports or politics. 

When you find yourself in disagreement with someone, do you focus on making your own views heard, or do you stay open to the other person's point of view?
I definitely try to get my view across very clearly and quickly, but I always wait and see what they have to say also. I feel like it is necessary to get your opinions heard in an argument, but it is also important to hear the other side, in case they bring something up that you never thought of. My personality inclines me to get my opinion across, but I am always working on letting the other person talk, and modifying my opinion. 

In situations of conflict, do you try to win agreement, or do you seek first to establish trust?
I feel like I usually try to win agreement, because when I am in an argument I am confident and passionate about what I am arguing. The first thing I try to do is present good facts to get them to agree with me, so I can present more of my opinion and try to persuade them to be on my side. 

Do you sometimes feel unheard?
Not usually. I am a very loud and opinionated person, so it is kind of hard for me to go unheard. Sometimes I say dumb things and hope I am not heard, but I usually am. Only when I am arguing with my parents do I sometimes feel unheard because they usually don't listen to me and have made up their mind before hand. 

Do you take care to keep your relationships alive?
Yes, I always take time to keep my relationships alive. My parents have always stressed to me the importance of never burning bridges, and keeping good relationships with adults and people with influence over me. You never know when your old boss could be your new boss, or bosses can call each other for an opinion on you. For kids I try to be nice to everybody, but if I do not like someone they usually know. 

Week 10

1.Once you have watched it, write a short reflection on if you see yourself in this talk.
After watching this TED talk, I can definitely relate to what the speaker was saying about procrastination. When I get a large assignment, I tend to procrastinate it until about a week or two until it is due. I just can not seem to find the motivation to do it until I know that if I don't do it I will fail. I do not know why I do it, but I know I need to work on it. This will bite me in the butt if I do not fix it, because all of my assignments will be long term. I feel like sometimes I do better work when I am under pressure because I know I have to get it done.

2. He makes an interesting point at the end what is it?
The speaker says that everyone is somewhat of a procrastinator, and I agree with him. Nobody gets a huge assignment and does nothing until they get it done, but some are worse than others. It is important to start things early so that you can continuously improve.

3. How did the boxes strike you?
The boxes made me think more about my life and how much of it I have been through. Although I am still young, it seemed that I was through so many of the boxes, it made me think about how after college, my life will plateau.

4. Why would I think it is important for you to watch a rather funny video on procrastination?
Because although it is a very important thing to learn about, putting it in a funny way helps us to really listen to it and understand why we can not procrastinate in the future. It made me think about how much I really do [procrastinate, and how it needs to stop.

5. Show me, or tell me, what your procrastination looks like....one year, in graduate school, I addressed all my Christmas cards (in late August) instead of writing....then I wrote beautiful notes in each card the following month...that year I sent out over 100 cards...avoided writing until October-it wasn't pretty.
When writing my research paper for this class, I started it earlier than I needed to by accident, because I thought the rough draft was due earlier than it was, then I waited until the last minute to edit it and submit it. 

week 9

1. Do you feel passionate about your project? (How you answer this  might give you some clues about who you are and where you might want to focus yourself in the future....)
Yes I do feel passionate about this project. I love kids and teaching them is something I always find enjoyable. I also enjoy sports so focusing my project on them made it easier for me to be passionate. I can't wait to get on the field and help the kids improve, as well as get results for our experiment. 

2.Do you put energy into trying to live up to others' expectations?  AND Is that a good thing or a bad thing?
Depending on the person, I do put effort into living up to others expectations. My parents have always held high expectations for me, and I have worked all to my life to meet those expectations. They have always told me to work hard in school and be a good person out of school so I can go to college and get a good job to support my family. I have always done this to the best of my abilities, and recently it has paid off because I am going to college next fall. I think in some senses, like this one, it is a good thing. In others situations, people get so caught up on pleasing others they forget to please themselves, and this is not me. 

3. Do you feel you bring your authentic self to your relationships (bosses, parents, friends, co-workers, teachers)?
It depends on the situation, but I try to bring my authentic self to everything that I do. When it comes to things like work and school, I sometimes put on a different face to get a good impression, but sooner than later my true personality comes through. People that are at the same level as me, such as friends and coworkers, find out my true self very earl. I don't really care if they do not like me, and if they do then we become friends. As for my parents, they have my authentic self from the beginning, and they pretty much know everything about me. 

4. Do you regularly give yourself time and space to listen to your own instinctive sense? (Part of learning to trust your  internal compass is to allow yourself the room to step back and hear what your instincts are telling you.)
Yes, I frequently listen to my instinctive sense. I do take time to think important things, but I get a lot of vibes and I tend to listen to them. Just recently I had to choose the college I was going to attend, and it ended up coming down to a gut feeling about where I would fit in best. It can be a scary thing to do, but I believe it is important to listen to your gut. 

5. Why do you think I asked you to respond to these types of questions?
I'm not entirely sure why you asked us these questions. They all kind of relate to our futures, but in the same sense what we bring to the table, or our personality. 

6. How do they connect to leadership class?
These all connect to leadership class because they all have to do with how we do things and whether we lead or not. A good leader is someone who doesn't try to live up to others, they do their own thing, they are passionate,and they follow their gut. 

Week 8

1. What have you learned about yourself so far in the class?  Too much freedom, not enough???? Explain
I have learned that my time management, and independence, are just as good as I thought. I have been able to get everything done on time. I love the amount of freedom we have because it allows me to manage my time and get my assignments done when I have the time. It is a great look into what college will be like, and it is preparing me well. 
2. How has it been in terms of finding a place/person to do your project? (frustrating, easy, scary, etc...share) 
It has not been hard at all for my to find a person. I emailed him, and he responded within the class period. My partner and I have met with him and he loves the idea for our project. He was exited to have us not only do our experiment, but help him coach and develop his team. It was a little frustrating at first because it was hard to find a time that worked well for us both, but we eventually did and it worked fine. He is a very nice man and I think this will work very well for me.  

3. Thinking reflectively, what have you done right,and what went wrong (maybe nothing)...what would you do differently if you could do it again?
During this class, I have done all the blogs and google classroom assignments well. I wish I took the first few annotated bibliography a little more seriously because they will not really help me, but I got the hang of them after than and figured out the type of sources I need . If I could do it again I would, and find better sources so I had a better base, but I will have to re-do them anyway to get 10 sources. 
4. What has the experience of reaching out, on your own, to people you do not know taught you about yourself as a leader?
This experience has confirmed that I have great communication skills and I do not have trouble talking to adults. I can also draft a good email and get to the point, with a little help from Dr. Bent. I was a little nervous at first but when I realized how nice he was and how much he supported our project, I was not nervous anymore. 
5. Upload a picture of what the remainder of this month looks like on your calendar, and what next month looks like. (So I want pictures of March and April) 

Week 7

As of this publication, there are 10 more school days in the third quarter....how are things working out for you?  Do you feel a little rushed, like the river pictured above, or are you in a good spot? Explain

I feel pretty good with where I am at right now. I have a meeting set up with the head of PYL, and he is exited, and willing, to hear our idea and help us out. I have also done six annotated bibliography's, and finished my book. I am still a little nervous about how I am going to make my paper as long as it needs to be, and what exactly my thesis is going to be, but I feel like I will figure that out soon. I am also in a good place with my project plan, because we have made a good plan and have a good idea of what we will good. 

What does Drew Dudley say about people and leadership in this video?

Drew says that we are all leaders, we just don't realize it because we put ourselves on such a high pedestal. We compare ourselves to people who do amazing things, and because we don't do those things, we do not think we are leaders. He also says that we can all be leaders by being our self's and helping others when we can. 

I am pretty sure that we have all had one of these lollipop moments, share one here please.

This past year, I had to decide what I wanted to major in college, and basically what I wanted to pursue with my life. I had to think about the things that make me happy, and what I knew I would never get bored with. I decided that the only thing that will always make me happy are sports, especially football. I decided to pick a school with very good football culture, and major in sports management. I knew if I did this I would always be happy with what I am doing, because I love football. 

Why do you think I wanted you to watch this talk?

I think you wanted us to watch this so we could realize that we are all leaders, and we all make a difference in peoples lives, even if we don't realize it. People experience lollipop moments every day, and most of the time we don't even realize that we are making them occur. This video was a great reminder that we are all leaders, and we can all make a difference in peoples lives by just being ourselves. The story that the man told about college could have also cleared our mind about the college adventure we have up ahead. 

Week 6

1. How does this TED talk relate to me, (meaning you), in this class? (be specific...think about your project)

This video relates to me in this class because it is a class where you kind of have to fake it until you make it. We are picking a career that we may be interested in the future, but we don't necessarily have to know a lot about it to do it. We will be forced to fake it till we make it so we can accomplish our required hours of service. If we show that we are new to this experience we may not get the same respect as if we act like we have been there before.


2. How does this TED talk relate to me, (meaning you), moving forward after graduation from high school?
This TED talk relates to me because I feel like I use a lot of body language in my life. Over the course of my life, I have realized that sometimes using words to describe my emotions may get me into some trouble. I have trouble using my filter, so sometimes I say things I don't really mean. Using body language helps me to get me strong emotions across without hurting anyone's feelings, and this is a skill I will use throughout my life. 


3. Spend some time observing others....maybe at a mall, or in the cafe here at school, or at your place of employment.  What do you see for body language in others....can you conclude anything from your observations? Explain
When I spend a lot of time with someone, it is not hard for me to notice when they are not at their best, or when they are. I am very good at reading body language and cues they may be giving off. At school I tend to see more sad body language from my peers, because nobody really likes to be in school. On the weekends, or in the summer, the body language of my friends is always more happy because people are on their own schedule doing what pleases them. When I spend a lot of time with people I am also very good at seeing when they are off day to day. In the summer I worked at a country club and I could tell that one of my coworkers was in a bad mood so I was overly nice to her all day and made her a milkshake. Little did I know she had just been denied from a graduate school and she was very touched that I thought of her like that. 


4. Why do you think I wanted you to watch the video, and why do you think I thought it was important to break down your responses in three different ways?
I think that you wanted us to watch the video so that we could understand body language more. As we get older it becomes more important to understand where people are coming from, and how to read their body language. Breaking down the responses in three different ways helps us to realize how much we use and see body language everybody, and not even notice it. 

Week 5

1. I am not very far in this assignment, but I still feel like I can catch up with a few days of hard work. Last week I was nit very focused and I left all the mandatory work until the last minute so I did not do any extra work, other than reading, on my own. I am almost done with my book, but I have not done any additional research other than what has been assigned. I need to look at more journals on the database and get some more annotated bibliography. I have also not emailed the coach of the youth lacrosse program yet, but I am going to get that done today. Overall I know that I need to get more research done, and also I need to focus my research topic for my essay so I can develop a thesis. Once I am more knowledgeable about the topic I can focus my essay on one specific thing.

week 4

Week Four is here, and that means when we come back from February vacation, you will only have another seven (7) weeks of "seat" time in class.  YIKES!  You are beginning to think more deeply and looking forward towards the horizon, or at least I hope you are.

1. Where does the project and the research paper overlap? Tell me about it. 
For my research paper, I am researching how different coaching styles affect different aged kids. For my project, I am implementing this by using drills that highlight different coaching styles on different aged kids, and comparing my results. By doing this, I am overlapping the topic of my research paper to my project to get my own results. I will then compare my results to my research and find similarities and differences. 

2. Make a plan for yourself for the month of March....write a real plan on your calendar.  Make time for the research, the reading, working on your project proposal, and making project connections. Use this month wisely because it is your LAST FULL MONTH of high school.  Accomplish what you will be proud of and what you want others to be proud of you for. Take a picture of the calendar and paste it here.

During the last week I will make preparations for my experiment and make sure all of my other stuff is completely done. 

3. Tell me how I can help....what do you need from me? Share that here. 
I feel pretty good about my ideas so far but I am a little worried if I have enough of a topic to write a long enough research paper. I feel like my idea is solid but I don't know if I have enough to write about for 10 pages. If you have any ideas of how I can expand my idea that would help me a lot. Thanks. 

Week 3

1.  Respond:

How do you approach data base searches?  Be honest here

I am not a huge data base guy, and I generally do not use them for research. I know that they are great resources and always correct, but until Mrs. Costello told us about how to use them, I did not know how to get there. Now that I know how to do it, I will use data bases more often because they are a very reliable source to get info from. 

How much time have you and will you spend on these searches?

I have spent about 20 minutes on my searching so far, but that was just to secure good sources that I could use. I plan on spending at least a couple more hours to find good coaching styles and techniques to get the most out of my experiment. 

Which data bases did you use and why?

I used that Gale database on sports sciences and medicine and found a few great sources on coaching styles and stories about great coaches. I used this one because the other database we had access to didn't have anything on sports or coaching. 

How was/is the frustration level during your search?

I have had a fairly easy time researching my topic. Coaching is a relevant topic and there is an abundance of resources that talk about good coaches and what they did, or just techniques in general. When it comes to lacrosse there is a lot less to choose from, but my plan is to research more broad and apply those things to a lacrosse setting. Overall I do not have any frustration when it comes to the research portion of the project. 

If you change the way you search, would that alleviate your frustration? Explain what you can do....

I do not have any frustration so I do not have to change anything. I could get a few more database sources to increase the amount of sources I have, but that's pretty much it. 

Be honest, how much progress are you making on acquiring journal articles to read?

I have acquired 2 good articles from the databases. One about specific coaching styles, and one about stories on what made coaches so successful. I could definitely find a few more about more broad coaching techniques to add to my sources. 

How do you manage time? Think about this questions in terms of "activities you like"and activities you must do".

Usually, I am very good at time management, and do not have a problem meeting deadlines. My parents have always instilled in me that idea that there is never an excuse for something to be late, and meeting deadlines is a huge part in being successful. Sometimes though, there are times when I have a lot of things going on and I have to move something to the back burner. Because I do not enjoy school all that much, it seems to get the boot when something like this comes up, but I try to stay ahead of my schedule so I know about, and can prepare, for these things. 

Give me a typical day, and how you designate time before and after school?

I wake up for school at 7:40, do my stats homework, make my coffee, and leave for school at 8:15. Then I sit in school until 2:15. After that I either go to work at 3:30 on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, or go to the gym on Monday, and Friday. If I do not have work I usually hang with my friends after the gym and then go home for dinner. If I do have work I do not get home till around 8, and I eat dinner then. I do my homework after dinner and then go to bed around 10:30. 

Where and how can you improve your time management? Be realistic, and be truthful.

If I have an assignment that is long term and I have months to work on it, I usually procrastinate it until the last minute because I have so much time, I think I won't have to start it for a while. I know that in college I am going to have many long term assignments, so I am going to have to work on not procrastinating. I can do this by making a schedule on what I am going to do in the weeks to come, and keep a calendar to keep track of what I have to do, and check off what I have done. 

What does time management look like to you? Show me a picture......What I want here is YOUR CALENDAR filled out...yes, the one I gave you.

3. Respond...think about Emily and Dana stories.
What will you do that is challenging and out of your comfort zone during this class....or what do you think you will do?
I will have to reach out to adults, which is kind of out of my comfort zone. I will also have to teach, and deal with younger kids. I predict that this will be challenging because I am not an adult in their eyes, so I may not get the same respect as their coaches. This will require me to step out of my comfort zone and be an attention demanding coach. 

What might scare you about this challenge? (Being uncomfortable is good....it means you are challenging yourself
I am a little worried that my kids will not respect me, and thus I will not get good results that I am looking for. This worries me because if I do not get good results because of my subjects, it will make my end of year project look bad.

What sounds exciting and do able during this class?
I am exited by the fact that I do not have to come to class everyday after April break. I am aware that I have to do my project, but it will be nice to leave after fifth period because I have sixth period study hall. All the work in this class is very do able and I am not worried about completing the work from week to week.

What might hold you back?
I think that when the year winds down and we get closer to the end of the year I will begin to slack, and this may hold me back a little. I need to remember to focus at the end of the year and buckle down for just a little time every day so I can finish the year strong. 

Week 2

By the end of week two you will need to have a basic idea of a project and a basic idea of a research topic. This does not mean that you need to have the whole thing hammered out, but you will need to be able to show effective progress.  This will look like:

1. A simple plan born of your original idea-written out and uploaded to Google classroom

• In a sentence or two, put your project plan here, so we can all see it and be excited for you.

My project plan is too come up with multiple coaching styles, and drills that correspond with those different styles. I will then do those different drills with kids of different ages and compare results of how they went. I will try multiple drills on each age group and compare the results of how successful they are at completing the drill. Drills will focus on game review, skills, and conditioning. 

2. A book that you will be reading connected in some way to your project.

• Show me a picture of your book, and tell me why you decided to read it-your thoughts might help others to find a book.

I decided to read this book, coach, because every chapter is from a different persons point of view on a coach they had that changed their life. This will give me good insight on what great coaches have in common, and give me ideas for styles to use on the kids.  I am also hoping to be able to connect to the stories and try to emulate those world class coaching skills to my project. 

3. An idea for a research paper that connects to the project and the book you are reading.  For example if you are interested in landscaping, you might have a plan to do some landscaping, and you have decided to read a book about a famous landscaper.....your research project could be about how the history of professional landscaping or how flowers and plants improve people's moods

• What is your idea? Tell us, and share a picture that connects to your research

My idea for my research paper is to research different coaching styles and how they affect kids of different age groups. I will first research different styles and then how they affect kids of different kids. This will help me to find out what may work, and what may not work on the kids. I can also connect my great coaches in the past to the styles I learn about and try to recreate those styles to the kids I am helping in my project. 

4. How are you feeling week two? Be honest-we are all in this together and are here to help one another.  You might be surprised how many others share some of your feelings of success or frustration in week two of this class.

I am feeling very dandy about week two. I have my idea for my project and research paper and there are many sources in the database for this idea. The workload too bad and I am finding the timelines manageable. Overall I am enjoying the freedom of this class and how we can work on what we want when we want. This will be valuable for me in college and prepare me for the independence I will face in the future. 

5. As you have already discovered, there is time on your own in this class.  How are you going to commit to "time used wisely" here?  Explain
I feel that I am very good at using my time wisely. I did fine last week in getting all my stuff done and I feel confident that I can continue doing this throughout the semester. I have experience being independent through my last semester English class and the two virtual high school classes I have taken. 

Week One

1) Introduce yourself to me:
-tell me your reason for wanting to join this class...do not tell me you joined because it sounded easy...
I joined it because I was getting bored of the conventional English class. I took topics in lit first semester and I liked how independent it was so I thought this would be a good option for me. I was done reading books I didn't care about and discussing them every day, so I was drawn to the fact that I got to pick my topic for the semester. I also liked the idea of getting to leave after April vacation and working on something I enjoyed. Also, you were the teacher so it made it sound like the best option.

-tell me your interests....(not your life plan)....what you like to do and maybe even what you are passionate about
I enjoy playing sports, I am on the football and lacrosse teams here. I plan on further pursuing this in college where I will be majoring in sports management. I also enjoy hanging out with my friends and family. I love listening to music also, my favorite genre is rap/hip hop, and my favorite artists are Logic, J-Cole, Kendrick Lamar, and Travis Scott. I also enjoy cooking meals for myself and my family. This is a skill that will serve me very well later on in life, and I am glad I learned how when I'm still young.

-tell me about what you want to do after high school...trade school, college, workforce, the armed forces...
After high school I plan on going to college at either Kansas University, West Virginia University, James Madison University, or Indiana University. I will be majoring in sports management with a minor in marketing. This will give me a broad range of job opportunities coming out of college from coaching, to working in the offices of a sports team, to working for a brand in sports marketing. All of these schools have good sports marketing programs, and good sports teams so I will have good field experience in college.

-tell me what you have most proud of doing so far in your life
I am most proud of being accepted into college and knowing that my future is set up to be great if I put in the necessary time and effort. I am proud of this because my whole life my parents have been telling me I need to work hard in school and get into college and I finally did it.

-tell me about your time management or lack of time management
I feel that I have great time management and I work well independently. I have taken multiple VHS classes that are totally independent, and my English class was independent last semester. I am trying to be more independent with my work this year so that I can prepare myself for college, so this should further help me. 

-tell me something I would not normally know about you...especially if I had you as an English student junior year
Something you may not know about me is that I like to cook and I pride myself in my cooking ability. I went to Whittier for a quarter because I wanted to pursue cooking, but I left because I realized it was more of a hobby than a career. 

 I want you to go to your local library and do the following:
-obtain a library card, if you do not already have one
-renew your library card, if it needs to be renewed
-take a selfie with the librarian and post it to your blog this week....and yes I do mean a selfie with the librarian (not Ms. Costello....the librarian in your town).  If the librarian will not do that with you, take a selfie of you and your library card inside the library and post it to your blog.

If you have an idea for this class (what you might like to do...or where you might like to focus), tell me about it. 

I would like to focus on coaching, particularly coaching youth lacrosse. If I could do some type of experiment where I have multiple drills, targeting different aspects of the game, and give them to different age groups, I think I could get some interesting results. 

Connections: Choose another form of social media and CONNECT your blog so that others may share in your journey through this class.....screen shot this AND post a picture of this share in your blog.