Leadership/ Student Council Class 2008-2009 Class: Leadership/ Student Council is a class designed for the best students in our school to become the best people they can be. While the honor reserved for you just by being a part of this class is high, along with it comes the great responsibility of being a leader. Leaders are expected to give their best effort at everything. That doesn’t mean you can’t fail—but it does mean that you had better give your best efforts at everything we do. This means no skipping things, either. If you have a genuine conflict, that’s fine—but don’t just skip out, because you will be letting a whole bunch of people down, the least of who is me. Class Goals: Leadership is one of the few (if any) classes where you, the student, set the goals for the class. Your first assignment will be to create a Mission Statement to fill in here: “ .” And a list of three more specific goals that you will strive to meet in order to help fulfill your class’s Mission Statement. 1. 2. 3. Class Projects: Scheduled class projects vary by trimester, and only 3rd tri has any flexibility in this—Fall is Homecoming, Winter is Winterfest, and 3rd tri gets to pick something, and it had better be good. Additional projects are highly encouraged; I can lecture you on becoming a leader, but it’s way better to figure out for your yourself by doing it. I expect at least 1 whole-class project from each trimester’s class. Small Group Projects: In addition to Class Projects, you will be expected to complete a small group project during the semester. A small group project will use the skills of at least 3 people, but no more than 6. Once you think you have an idea, see me to see if it’s going to be okay to do- then, we will put it to a whole class vote. Since your class will approve your idea, you can require them to participate. An excellent additional Class Project may take the place of a small group project, but we’ll have to talk about that as a group. Participation Points: In-class discussions, class votes, and other events may be scored for participation points. I won’t tell you when they are, I won’t tell you how many points, and I will be the sole person that decides how I award them. So there (ha). The goal of participation points is to make sure that you get your voice heard and that you are an active member of our class, and not blowing things off. Sorry; it has to be done. In-Class Work: We will be attempting to build upon our collective weaknesses, as decided by you (and me), in order to make ourselves better leaders. This may entail taking notes, watching videos or presentations, creating presentations, trying new things, doing traditional school projects, and participating in various team-building and team-learning experiences. This work, because it may the most tedious, is also the easiest for me to check your efforts. Various assignments will be given; you are expected to complete them all, and to complete them all well. Half-effort work will not be accepted or tolerated. I can get average work from average students, which you are not. There won’t be loads of reading or homework, but when I assign something, I expect that it get done and get done well. “Big Brother”: In my first year, I told the class that Big Brother is watching you, and that you should always be on your best behavior. Some students believed that I was stalking you and checking on you and your every move. This is clearly not the case. EVERYONE is watching you—your classmates, your teachers, the community, parents, and so on. PLEASE don’t forget that you, as leaders of our school, are not only representing yourselves anymore. I can’t impress this upon you enough. If you are making poor choices, odds are that I will find out about it—and you don’t want that to happen. Final Project: Your final projects should be a showcase of what you’ve learned about any of the following: Yourself Life in General Dealing with other people Your Friends* Leadership School as a whole The Caledonia Community Something else you think is cool (if it’s relevant) Learning Through Your Mistakes I used to give some guidelines and requirements for final projects, but I am done with that. Too easy for you, honestly; so all I will say is that I expect great things. Show me how creative, thoughtful, intelligent, impressive, etc., you can be. Not sure if your project will fly, better get it approved ahead of time. Keep it under 5 minutes. If you need more than that, let me know ahead of time, please. Have questions? Please ask. (*-- picking your friends as a topic may have some dire consequences… beware…).