Hello blog readers! How are you doing today? It is such a beautiful day today, it makes me smile. So what is new with you? Please send me updates via email at Jill@Leadingforlife.com or you can leave messages on here (I love hearing from students AND teachers)!

As for me, yesterday I was in Palmdale with a group of 160 middle school students in ASB, AVID and GATE. We had a full-day leadership conference and focused on the difference we can make at school and in our personal lives with a powerful CHOICE-a choice to: Be the difference--that makes the difference!

This Friday I am with at Valley High School in CA and excited to work with these student leaders again.

If you are looking for some leadership activities to run with your students…check this one out…. I’ve heard many teachers talk about it, so I had to try it with my 7th grade leadership class- HUGE HIT!

(Just cut and paste this into a document and you have lesson for class).

The Music In You

Pretend you are writing on the back of the CD –list the song title, artist (if you know it) and why that song resembles you.

List a song that…

Song 1-Describes the “real you”
Song 2- About your dreams/goals
Song 3- Makes you happy
Song 4- Reminds you of a role model
Song 5- Describes good leaders
Song 6- Makes you think of being a kid
Song 7- Describes the way the world sees you
Song 8- Makes you think of your friends
Song 9- Makes you forget your worries and lets you relax
Song 10- Describes how you want to the world to be

For example

Song Ex- Waiting on the World to Change, John Mayer
This song makes me think of how I want the world to be.

***There is not a right or wrong answer, be creative, think about the music you love and WHY you love it! When you are done, you can even burn a REAL CD to share with your class and friends.

Small Acts of Kindness for Mom's and Everyone

It is almost summer---yippee! For me that means lots of prep work for the camp I work called, Supercamp www.supercamp.com. This year I am off to Hong Kong for 1 month with a team of 2 other amazing facilitators. One camp with be middle and high school students and the other is elementary aged students. I am beyond excited and busy preparing for the adventure.

In addition to that, the book is getting a lot of my attention right now. Busy writing, editing, designing, interviewing teen leaders and “dream leaders.” I am so excited about the book and can’t wait to share it with everyone.

On a personal note, I am excited for Mother’s Day this weekend! If you are a mom…Happy Mother’s Day…you deserve it, mom’s are the best people in the world. If you are a teen, remember to do something special for your mom or someone in your life who is like a mom. You can make a simple card (I know my mom loves the handmade kind), spend the day with her, do something nice without her asking…just remember to share your love and thank her for all she does. Thank you mom, I love you.

As for the lesson…going along the lines of sharing love, a wonderful community service or “give back” project you can do with your class is to make cards for children in hospitals. Last January I lead a one week leadership camp and one of the standout memories for the students at the camp was making cards and knowing they could brighten a sick child’s day. I contacted a local children’s hospital, (you can find any in your area) and asked if we can make cards for the kids. They said they have a program like that and before each meal the kids get a card on their meal tray. The staff told me, which I shared with my students, that the cards REALLY do put a smile on the kids faces. For the lesson, we talked about making a difference by the small acts of kindness. It is a wonderful, easy and memorable activity that teachers a powerful lesson.

If you do this, please let me know how it works for you and your kids.

I look forward to hearing from you either on the blog site or at jill@leadingforlife.com.

:)