Chapter 9-M. Rouquette-Chapter 10- Kelley Smithson

Bringing It Home Chapter 10-Kelley Smithson

This chapter is devoted to helping parents begin the process of teaching these leadership principals in the home.  As encouraging as teachers and administrators can be, they are no comparison to the impact a family has on the child.   

Home:  A refuge from the Siege?  This section focuses on the influence of technology and the media in today’s home.  Wireless signals enable the infiltration of potentially destructive messages and images that can quickly steal the moral identities of young people.  Outside pressures create family discord which can lead to disharmony, heartbreak, infidelity, financial despair, and abuse.  Although this sounds disheartening the author reminds us of the great joys of parenting.  

The Leader in Your Child:  When leadership principals are brought home the most profound results can be seen.  Parents want their children to have good character and make good choices even when no one is watching and every child has the potential to be a self-leader.  The challenge is how to bring it out and nurture it. Dr. Covey refers back to three quotes mentioned earlier in the book. A.B. Combs fundamental philosophy:  “Treat every child as if they are gifted in at least one aspect.  They will rise to that level of expectation”.  Second Goethe’s statement, “Treat a man as he has the potential to become and you make him better than he is.”, and  third, “Leadership is communicating people’s self worth and potential so clearly that they are inspired to see it in themselves.”  These quotes suggest the powerful influence a parent has on their child’s self worth, and potential. 

Parents are asked to answer what gifts their child possess naturally and what gifts, if any did their child possess at an early age that have since been muted by his or her cultural DNA?  Parents are asked to consider what they have  said within the past three days that communicates their child’s gifts, and how they can communicate recognition and admiration of those gifts within the next 24 hours.  The author recognizes his mother as the greatest teacher he ever had and how she was constantly affirming him right up until the day she died.

The Power of Principles:  No matter how we try to protect our children from outside influences we cannot follow them everywhere they go.  Our best order of defense is to teach them to do the right thing to do and we must teach them correct principles as early as possible.  The real life skills of “put first things first”, “think, win, win”, “Seek to first understand and then be understood”, “synergize” and “sharpen the saw” are skills that can be used throughout a child’s life.  Parents typically want their children to be proactive and to act with the end result in mind, and although the “7 Habits” may not solve every problem they do offer a great foundation. 

The Power of Modeling:  Parents may want to refer to The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families or they may visit www.TheLeaderInMeBook.org for ideas to help with implementation in the home, but the process is simple.  Step 1:  Inspire trust – show your love – let them know that you care about them.  Step 2:  Clarify Purpose – Discuss goals that you have for your child and also what their own goals are.  Discuss how the family can help achieve the goals.  Consider a Family Mission Statement.  Step 3:  Align systems – How the principles will be taught and when achieved and rewarded.  Also, how accountability will be handled.  Step 4: Unleash talent – Expanding or nurturing gifts in your children.  Allowing your children to be involved in the planning and goal setting will impower your children.  Page 216 & 217 gives underlying paradigms and principles along with key actions for all 7 habits. 

The Significance and Power of a Family Mission Statement:  One of the most effective ways to model the 7 habits is through the process of creating a family mission statement.  Success and progress are best achieved by having a clear mission or strategy.

Go at the Right Pace:  Many parents may say that they are just too busy and don’t feel that they have the time to devote to teaching these principles.  The author suggests that families work through their daily lives, teaching the principles through what they are already doing.  One example is if a parent is already reading a book to their child or watching a movie together that they find incidences where the habits are exhibited and then make the points with your children.  This process show not be rushed. 

Keep It Simple:  The key to implementing the process in the home is to keep the focus simple and being simply focused.  The author recommends the following steps: 1) Focus on building independence in your children.  2) Help your children become more interdependent, teaching them the importance of working as a team.  3) Don’t get bogged down by focusing on secondary greatness – wealth, awards, positions, or fame.  Focusing on primary greatness – character and contribution - is where the greatest rewards are found.  He concludes this chapter by encouraging families, reminding the reader that no family is perfect but that it is important not to spend time dwelling on the past but making a plan and looking to the future.  Family is our most important work and we should set our sights on building relationships. “Live life in crescendo,” – the most important work we will ever do is ahead of us all.  Make the leap, the hardest part is getting started.  Dr. Covey ends this chapter with the following statement:  Inspire a child to discover in themselves “the leader in me,” and you change the child and, ultimately, the world forever.

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Beginning with the End in Mind

Mary Rouquette

Chapter 9 lists four phrases that have been used throughout the book.

·         Phrase One: “Modern-Day Miracle Worker” – based on the concept of Anne Sullivan’s struggles that she experienced before becoming the ‘miracle-worker’ for Helen Keller.

After spending two weeks working with Helen, Anne wrote in her journal:  

“The wild creature of two weeks ago has been transformed into a gentle child.  She is sitting by me as I write her face serene and happy…It now remains my pleasant task to direct and mold the beautiful intelligence that is beginning to stir in the child soul.” 

Covey says these words that Anne wrote about Helen are such inspiring words considering what she had been through in her own childhood. 

Because of Anne’s encouragement and dedication to help Helen become a “normal” child through hands-on exploration and learning, Helen reflects on those early encounters with Anne and writes:

“A person who is severely impaired never knows his hidden sources of strength until he is treated like a normal human being and encouraged to try to shape his own life.”

Covey believes that every teacher, each time he or she walks into a classroom full of students, is walking into an opportunity to be a miracle worker.  And, any teacher that is able to see the gifts in each child, brings out that potential, and guides a child to see that same potential……IS A MIRACLE WORKER.

·         Phrase Two: “The Tradition of Caring” – This phrase emphasizes the fact that the leadership theme will only flourish to its maximum potential to the extent that everyone - ALL stakeholders are working together and that the core of the leadership theme needs to become a school tradition – a tradition of caring that the students’ experience.

·         Phrase Three: “Not One More Thing” – represents the fact that teachers involved in the leadership theme do not see it as ‘one more thing’ that they have to do. They feel that it is the MAIN thing.  It’s all about guiding students to see their own potential and then nourishing that potential that will prepare them for not just surviving, but thriving, in the 21^st century….this new world we live in.  

Goethe said, “Things that matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matters least” (Putting first things first)

·         Phrase Four: “Universal Nature” – This phrase addresses the real nature of the 7 Habits. Covey describes the habits as ‘timeless and self-evident’.  They can be applied to every life and every situation.

·         Finally, Covey suggests that we must teach our students how to be proactive and take responsibility for their own actions, to walk with confidence, to feel a sense of worth, to be able to make basic life decisions, to be set goals, to organize their lives, to be assertive, and to dream. 

He suggests we all take a “strategic pause” to think about how we feel about the leadership theme, how it will work at our school, and how we can make it work for us.   

Lori McCurley--Chapter 7; Dana Miller--Chapter 8

Lori McCurley--Chapter 7

Chapter 7 Moving Upward and Beyond

Chapter 7: Moving Upward and Beyond

The emphasis of this book thus far is what is happening with the leadership theme in elementary schools. This chapter provided a glimpse of what is happening at a few middle and secondary schools.

The initial introduction of the seven habits focused on the adults, not students. One school took its staff on a get a-way to experience the 7 habits. The teachers saw the effectiveness of the habits in themselves and brought it back to their students to show they cared.

A quote related to one of the middle schools represented was “one does not fully understand another person until one has walked a mile in their shoes.” …Marilyn Vrooman, who took a position as principal in Oklahoma City, noted that the halls were as gloomy as the test scores. She said, “one does not truly appreciate her until they have walked a mile in her school…” She renovated her school over a summer, first with its appearance (jackhammer in hand). She then began getting the reputation that “the new principal cares”. She designed each part of the school into things that would stimulate and attract the students. For example, one part was transformed into a mock fire stations, an ice cream parlor, a 70s dancehall, and an oasis complete with waterfalls, rabbits and fish.  She had many inventive ways to reach her population of high risk students and empower them.

In 2003, Maria del Carmen Acena, the minister of education for Guatemala, took the 7 habits and incorporated it into her Education reform. By 2007, a total of 175,000 high school students from Guatemala had a “life plan” in place. Over time more teachers and students were introduced to the plan using Covey’s principals.

Like ideas and plans also took place in Japan and across the globe. Although these habits started as business models, they have spread to elementary schools, middle schools, high schools and even universities.

Dana Miller-Chapter 8

Making It Happen, One Step At  A Time

      In this chapter, we learn that change is difficult, but possible.  The author relates the process of change to a trapeze act.  The author outlines four sequential, principal based steps to help implement change.

“The 4 Imperatives of Leadership”

1)    Inspire Trust

2)    Clarify Purpose

3)    Align Systems

4)    Unleash Talent

1.    Inspire Trust:   If trust is low, positive change is slow.  A graphic organizer titled the “pyramid of influence” stresses modeling, relating and teaching. Basically, if you talk the talk you must walk the walk.  Children and others know if you’re sincere.  If students know you care, they trust you.

2.    Clarify Purpose: We tend to want to stay on the trapeze platform and stick to the idea of “this-is-the-way-we-have-always-done-it!”  We need a clear purpose that answers these four questions:

a. What is our mission? (We need to look at perspective of each stakeholder)

b. What is our vision?  (We need to have realistic goals and have time-specific milestones)

c. What is our strategy? (We need to have a plan and a code of conduct)

d. What is expected of each individual? (We need to have clear expectations for everyone)

     3. Align Systems:  This step is a must even though it is often a natural inclination to

skip it. We must attract teachers and parents to get on board.  We must have collaboration and team work with roles for administrators, teachers, students and parents.  Kids must be given real responsibilities.  We must develop how we will get trained.  There must be an established rewards system and accountability for inappropriate actions.  Finally, resources and communication systems must be aligned.

4.     Unleash Talent:  This is where the trapeze act takes on a leap of faith.   The leaders must set the example to follow, but then trust.  Administrators, teachers, students and parents need to use their strengths, gifts and voices to be creative and soar.  In other words, show them the way and let them take off.

 Putting the steps together

Finally, although it seems like all 4 steps should be done sequentially, it isn’t in reality so simple.  We should try to do so, but must realize that the steps are interdependent.  We may need to work backward for a time or skip a step and come back to it.  Change takes time and these steps may take years.  Although there are many reasons for change to fail as mentioned in the chapter, it is possible.  We must make the change our own and not carbon copy other schools.  We must look at our  data and take it slow.  “Excellence does not happen overnight!”   We must not rest on our laurels.  

Pam Gilmore--Ch.5; Regina Lane--Ch. 6

Pam Gilmore

Chapter 5

                                                                Unleashing a Culture of Leadership

                A school’s culture results from the combined behaviors of people in that particular school.  Culture is not the mission, the vision, or the strategy printed on the letterhead or mounted on the wall.  Culture is not what is proclaimed out of someone’s mouth. Culture is how people actually behave and treat each other on a consistent day-in and day-out basis. Culture can be seen, felt, and heard.

                It is no secret that culture has a direct impact on the learning state of the students.  However, with all the other pressures facing school principals, many don’t have the time to tamper with the existing culture, much less create a new culture.

                While facing the challenges and pressures every other school faces, A.B. Combs committed to adopting a leadership theme and made an effort to work on their school culture despite the other pressures and challenges. A.B. Combs decided to look at the factors they felt determined the culture of their school:  Behavior, language, artifacts, traditions/rituals, and folklore.

Behaviors:  A.B. Combs devotes the first week or more of each school year to working with students to create or re-create their culture.  During that first week they don’t teach core subjects.  Instead, they review the 7 Habits and write class mission statements. They talk about accountability. The students create, apply for, and interview for class and school leadership roles. They write class codes of cooperation and create artwork to go on the bulletin boards in the hallway.  These activities help students feel connected and this prevents and removes many of the discipline issues before the year gets underway. Besides the 7 Habits, other skills are taught and reinforced.  These skills include basic manners and etiquette, grooming and hygiene, greeting visitors, making eye contact, etc. They also determine ways good behavior will be rewarded.

Language:  Language in the hallway speaks volumes about the culture of a school. At A.B. Combs you consistently hear positive, uplifting sayings and quotes.  The bulletin boards and walls have strategically placed words of encouragement.  When students arrive at school they are greeted by the teacher and a student greeter.  Students receive a handshake, they are called by name, and something nice is said to them to begin their day.  Students are not the only ones that begin their day on a positive note. Teachers go into the hallway before the first bell and “huddle”. They gather for an inspirational quote, a moment to connect with their grade level, and an effort for everyone to begin their day with a sense of belonging and not isolation. At A.B. Combs, celebrating and expressing belief in the potential of children is their language.

Artifacts:  The artifacts that visitors come across when visiting a school tell them a lot about the culture of the school.  When visiting A.B. Combs, one comes across posters, murals, and artwork demonstrating the school’s mission statement.  The halls are decorated with artwork that further portrays the leadership theme.  Quotes and pictures of leaders who have visited or influenced the school are in prominent places in the hallways.  Students have a spring art show to demonstrate their talents and reinforce that everyone is important.  The classrooms are full of artwork and mission statements.  Every item displayed has a story and a purpose.  The items are not for cosmetic beauty only—they reinforce the leadership theme.

Traditions:  Any culture lends itself to developing traditions. A.B. Combs has developed traditions over the years and are designed to fulfill five purposes: 1) to give students the opportunity to become leaders, 2) to build relationships between students, faculty, family, and community friends, 3) to complete academic requirements of the district or state, 4) to reinforce school values such as service to the community, 5) to create lasting memories for students.

Some of A.B. Combs more popular traditions include:

Leadership Day

Inaugural Ball

International Festival

Silver Tray Luncheon

Service Projects

Celebrate Success Day

School or classroom traditions have purpose, and in the end, students go away with new skills, added measures of confidence, and lasting leadership memories.

Folklore:  Folklore consists of those stories that hang around for years.  Stories of the day the teacher was late and a student took charge, a time when the students persuaded the principal to change a program or have an idea that is better than hers or a time when the students and faculty rallied around one of their own in a time of need.

Finally, culture is not just talking the talk, it is walking the walk!  A quality school culture is not the work of any individual—it is definitely a whole-school effort.  

Chapter 6

Regina Lane

Rippling Across the Globe

Chapter 6 begins by a brief glance back to A.B. Combs Elementary and how they began the leadership process.  Their success and the change in their school, both the climate and test scores, became apparent within the first year of implementation.  There were other schools that desired the same results and they are discussed in chapter 6.  English Estates Elementary in Fern Park, Florida is the first school discussed.  Their principal, Dr. Beth Sharpe, was very passionate and a visionary deeply interested in where students go in life.  At the time, English Estates was a forty year year old, K-5 school that had lost most of its glimmer.  At the time, parents were taking their children out of the school in droves due to a noticeable "lack of heart" and a daily "going through the motions" of the faculty.   The school had not met AYP for quite some time and was considered a school in "need of improvement." The principal, being new to the campus, invited Muriel Summers to visit English Estates Elementary.  She really believed that The Leader In Me was exactly what the school needed to give it a much needed boost for both faculty and students.  They implemented the 7 Habits and working goals and expectations for the upcoming fall of 2005.  In one year, they received the "Most Improved Academic Scores" with test scores up as much as 35% in some subject areas.  They received the rating of an A from the state of Florida and the school met AYP for the first time.

Another success story was Chestnut Grove Elementary in Decatur, Alabama. A member of the community heard of the success of A.B. Combs Elem. and went to the principal of Chestnut Grove and desired to take a few teachers with him to go to North Carolina to see firsthand what was happening. The community business CEO paid for a retreat for the teachers so that they could be unified in the fall when they began implementing the 7 Habits. After their visit to North Carolina, they began planning how to implement the 7 Habits at their campus.  They embraced the concept because they knew that it would benefit all of the students and be a lift for teachers on their campus. The teachers and students talk performance.  The students track their own progress.  The children reportedly practice the 7 Habits at home as well.  The school is decorated with the 7 Habits theme and leadership insights are shared on the morning news (SNEWS) at the school. 

Dewey Elementary School in Quincy, Illinois was taught the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People  by college students training to be teachers.  Dewey Elem. School is a K-3 school with about 220 students with 63% on free and reduced lunches.  The more the teachers at the school heard the lessons being taught, they began to use the language and concepts in their classrooms.  Gradually, the 7 Habits became the common language at the school.  The principal, Christie Dickens, visited Leadership Day at A.B. Combs.  They figured out how they, a much smaller school with less resources, could implement the program.  Students began arriving to school early and the climate of their school drastically changed.  Parental support changed.  The PTA meetings more than doubled.  Tardiness declined 35%.  Discipline referrals dropped 75%.  The Illinois Standards Achievement Test results in reading and math made drastic improvements over a 2 year period. (reading 2005 - 57.4%, 2006 - 72.2%, 2007 - 89.7%) and (math - 2005 77.4%, 2006 - 90.3%, 2007 - 100%!!)  The attitudes and behaviors of the students were completely changed as was their focus on their school work. 

In Alberta, Canada, the Crestwood Elementary School was headed by principal David George.  Mr. George asked his faculty to be trained in the 7 Habits.  The habits quickly became a noticeable part of how the staff did things, particularly in the common language at the school.  The habits were introduced more gradually than the previous schools I have mentioned.  Over a two year period both teachers and students became familiar with the language and habits.  They began to see an increase of students taking ownership and responsibility for their actions.  Parents began to comment on the change in their children and  parent involvement greatly increased over the two year period.  Parents outside the district were requesting for their children to be placed at Crestwood Elementary. Local businesses called voluntarily and offered to give financial help to the school because they, too, were doing the 7 Habits.  David George and his staff are now mentoring other schools in Alberta, Canada. 

Chua Chu Kang Primary School  in Singapore has 2,200 students with an average of 40 per class.  The Ministry of Education offered the 7 Habits for the 20,000 teachers employed and 1/2 of them accepted the offer. The ministry also requires the students at all grade levels to be taught character building as part of a civics and moral education section. Mr. Francis Foo is the principal of Chua Chu Kang Primary School.  Mr. Foo's staff was trained in the 7 Habits.  Upon teaching the 7 Habits, students hung posters, large signs and wrote rap songs to sing that contained the 7 Habits content.  The schools approach is different than  those mentioned previously since the habits are only emphasized at the upper levels and are taught as a designed curriculum instead of using the ubiquitous approach.  Mr. Foo's school was recently awarded the nations "Character Development Award by the Ministry of Education.  As for the national exams, the school has moved out of the "average" range and into the ranks of the higher-rated schools!

These schools span all cultures, all creeds and all socioeconomic levels.  The fact that each of these schools, their administrators and teachers, add their own signature and unique way of implementing the 7 Habits makes it unique and very rewarding for their schools.  They have what is best for their children in mind. Students are learning skills that are necessary to be successful, not only in school, but in life!

Stacie Finley--Ch. 3;Joyce Fleisher--Ch. 4

Leader in Me: Chapter 3- Crafting a Blueprint for Leadership

By: Stacie Finley

What exactly is leadership? A. B. Combs and his team decided that leadership should be a vision statement that students and staff could relate to. It was built around the four needs- To Live, to Love, to Learn, to Leave a Legacy

We Live by striving to be the best as we can be

We Love by caring for others

We Learn by working hard in school

We Leave a Legacy by sharing our school with others and making a difference in the world

A.B. Combs decided that the 7 habits are organized into a sequential progressive model:

Habits 1-3: be proactive, begin with and end in mind and put things first.

Habits 4-6: Think win-win (balancing courage with consideration of others), seek first to understand, then to be understood, and synergize.

Habit7: Sharpen the saw- physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual

A Ubiquitous Strategy

Ubiquitous approach means that it is built into everything the school does. This approach has proved to be conductive to higher learning, greater satisfaction, and reduced discipline issues. Even though some principals are introduced during stand-alone modules, far more often they are woven into a variety of subjects and class activities. By using this approach, students are taught principals of leadership from day one.

Data Notebooks

A.B. Combs and a number of other schools will give each student a three-ring binder. Students will record their personal and academic goals to chart their progress throughout the year. Students also use the notebooks to lead student-parent- teacher conferences to review goals and progress. Students are very proud and take ownership of their data notebooks.

The Leader in Me-Blog.

Joyce Fleisher

Chpt. 4 Aligning for Success pg. 71-89

p.72- Problem:  Having a mission statement and everyone going in many different directions.  Some teachers had pet projects which were not aligned to the mission statement. There was a lack of clarity regarding the direction on the school as a whole.

P.73 - The author said they needed 4 areas to align.

1. Bring all people on board with new theme.

2. Aligning the school structure to match strategy.

3. Train the staff in the 7 Habits principals.

4. Aligning the reward system so outcomes would be reinforced.

Getting people trained:  P 80

·         Teachers agreed to start with teaching the children to do the “right thing” rather than all the focus on the test. If the children did the right thing…the test scores would follow.  

·         They wanted all faculty/staff on board. They didn’t want Any Teacher Left Behind!  They started with 1 class on a grade level to implement new leadership themes the first year.

·         As those classes had better scores and less discipline problems the other teachers wanted to try too. They said “Every student deserves this.”

·         Then all the campus had common school wide language. Next step was to including the parents in the goals and language.

·         Everyone had leader attached to their title. A change in Philosophy.

The leader of student counseling. Leader of media, leader of art, leader of music, leader of physical education, special project leaders.

Students had leader of mail, leader of special events, leader of recycle team, leader of safety patrol, grounds crew, PE helper, library leader (pg. 77)

·         Code of conduct was replaced by student code of cooperation J

Aligning who will do what. P 75

A student leader suggested they change the acronym from MAGIC to LEAD.  (MAGIC was model, accept responsibility, give respect, improve , cooperate. The student said it is not MAGIC…it is hard work…so LEAD is Loyalty, excellence, achievement and discipline. )They changed the signs around the school to LEAD because 1 of their student leaders suggested it.

Next step was training and resources.  They trained all staff…not just teachers…so all would be on the same page with the same 7 Habits language. (Leader in Me website for lessons.)

The teachers/ staff modeled the 7 habits 2; the students practiced the leadership principals. …from K-5^th  The teachers and students used the 7 habits in their homes too.

Reward creativity and hard work. Rubric they used the 1,2,3,4 rubric.

 Relating to Ordering a Hamburger.   P.84)

Level  -1  -waited awhile, and not getting what was requested… + greasy fries

Level - 2 - hamburger on time, mildly warm, missing cheese/ pickles expected.

Level 3 -hot of grill hamburger, got everything expected…no extras!

Level 4  -hamburger is perfect, + extra hot fries and shake for free !  Clearly more than expected!

Rewards: Class awards, morning news recognition, award ceremonies.  Rewards were from 4 basic needs. Physical, social-emotional, mental and spiritual.

Author says “Don’t overlook:”   --- reward system has 2 sides. . 1. Reinforcing good behavior       2. Discipline of unacceptable behavior.

In conclusion- They didn’t say “Go Forth and have fun.” They:

Got people on board, alignment structure, philosophy of empowerment, training reward system to support and sustain efforts.

Sharpen the Saw: Later the schools continue to align, realign and realign again as they progressed.  

L. Greathouse--Ch. 1; Pat Bickley--Ch. 2

The Leader in Me – blog.

L. Greathouse

Introduction and Chapter 1: Too Good to Be True?

Introduction: The author of “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”, Stephen Covey, explains the philosophy behind developing leaders among our children, our future. Through his work and presentations, he applied seven habits to teens, then on to elementary schools as important people involved directly in the business of school became involved. One person was principal Muriel Summers, who asked Dr. Covey’s advice about taking this back to her elementary school in North Carolina. From here, the program has grown to include schools across the nation and beyond.  As Dr. Covey states, he prefers to “focus on the good” and the leader approach provides an avenue for everyone to do just that.

Chapter 1: The work done at A.B. Combs Elementary in Raleigh, N.C. is highlighted. This school is the first to implement the program, and where Muriel Summers still serves as principal.  A parent interviewed describes a first visit where he observed the following:

1.        Accounts of high and sustained test scores; friendly/respectful students; an engaged staff; and a principal named as “Principal of the Year”

2.        Evidence of minimal discipline issues

3.        Reports of all teachers being “happy” at school

4.        Observations of students who look people in the eye and greet those they pass in the hall, etc.

5.        Cheerful messages and motivating displays of student products throughout the building.

6.        A place where respect for diversity is not only valued, it is celebrated.

Over time, the author has seen this in action in a growing number of schools and so no longer doubts the sustainability of the use of the habits over time, nor the power great educators have to impact the next generation in such a positive way.

In the section, “Greatness to Match Today’s Realities”, there is discussion about the fact that advance technology and globalization of markets has created great opportunity for the human race, but also has moved us past the “information age” into what is now a time where factual information alone is not  enough. It is no longer the differentiator between those who succeed and those who do not. The new winners are creative, have strong analytical skills, a knack for foresight, and good people skills. The “right-brainers” are taking hold of the economy and the competition is not limited to those who have the textbook knowledge. Covey reports that this generation of people read far more text messages than they do school books. He reports on the need to help students acquire “primary greatness” which is about integrity, work ethic, initiative, and treatment of others. This naturally leads to a person’s development of secondary greatness, that which is associated with rank, title, and achievements.

Common among schools implementing this program are comments like “Every child needs this.” Others report becoming believers in the system after coming to the realization that it is “just the right thing to be doing.”

The chapter concludes with the need to look for three overriding themes throughout the book and the stories different organizations share. These are:

·         The universal nature of the leadership principles

·         The universal nature and unique potential of children

·         The same principles and approach being taught at these schools can also be taught at home.

Pages 16 & 17 provide insight into how the book is organized. The author encourages the reader to first skim, look at pictures, and get a feel for the nature of the information before reading it in its entirety.

Pat Bickley

Chapter 2

Discovering What Parents, Business Leaders, and Teachers Want from a School

Change and let that change begin.  It changed the students at A. B. Combs Elementary in every way possible and that change will influence the lives of the students, the teachers, the community, and the world.  Prepare students for the challenges that the world has and what better way than equip them to be leaders!

The heart of The Leader in Me are:

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People –

Habit 1: Be Proactive

I am a responsible person.  I take initiative.  I choose my actions, attitudes, and moods.  I do not blame others for my wrong actions.  I do the right thing without being asked, even when no one is looking.

Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind

I plan ahead and set goals.  I do things that have meaning and make a difference.  I am an important part of my classroom and contribute to my school’s mission and vision, and look for ways to be a good citizen.

Habit 3: Put First Things First

I spend my time on things that are most important.  This means I say no to things I know I should not do.  I set priorities, make a schedule, and follow my plan.  I am disciplined and organized.

Habit 4: Think Win-Win

I balance courage for getting what I want with consideration for what others want.  I make deposits in others’ Emotional Bank Accounts.  When conflicts arise, I look for third alternatives.

Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood

I listen to other people’s ideas and feelings.  I try to see things from their viewpoints.  I listen to others without interrupting.  I am confident in voicing my ideas.  I look people in the eyes when talking.

Habit 6:  Synergize

I value other people’s strengths and learn from them.  I get along well with others, even people who are different than me.  I work well in groups.  I seek out other people’s ideas to solve problems because I know that by teaming with others we can create better solutions than any one of us alone.  I am humble.

Habit 7:  Sharpen the Saw

I take care of my body by eating right, exercising, and getting sleep.  I spend time with family and friends.  I learn in lots of ways and lots of places, not just at school.  I take time to find meaningful ways to help others.

What Parents Want from Schools – They want their children to:

·         Get along with others

·         Be responsible

·         Be tolerant of people’s differences

·         Become problem solvers

·         Learn to be creative

What the Business Community Wants –

·         Character

·         Competence

The first thing I look at when hiring is skills.  Skills get people in the door to be interviewed.  But what gets them hired and what keeps them hired is character.  Donnie Lane, CEO, Enersolv

What Teachers Want –

·         A partnership with students, parents, and community leaders.

What Students Want –

·         Physical: Safety, good health, food, exercise, shelter, and hygiene

·         Social-emotional: Acceptance, kindness, friendship, the desire to love and to be loved.

·         Mental: Intellectual growth, creativity, and stimulating challenges

·         Spiritual: Contribution, meaning, and uniqueness

Developing Leaders one child at a time!