Break Through To Sucess--Check it Out--Great Learnings

This last weekend I attend a wonderful leadership conference put on by Chris Howard. He is one of the top 5 speakers speaker in Australia and is now breaking into the US market. I found this event on line a few moths ago and decided to check it out!

I am grateful that I did. It was a wonderful three days, with leanings that will last forever! I met new friends, explored new ways of thinking and re-focused on my passions and goals in life. I even saw a CADA friend and Activities Director (John Sawya) from Santiago HS in Corona.

If you are interested in going to this event in May--check out this site and you can get TWO FREE tickets. Wonderful for you and friend or loved one! Just register here and if they asked who referred you-just say me!

I can't wait to hear about your experience! Great information to share with your students and apply to your life!

Smiles,
Jill

I just found out that I am going to OPRAH! Ok I am not going to be ON Oprah, but I am going to be in the studio audience. Less than a month away and I am counting days!

As you might or might not know, I am one of those Oprah crazed people. For example, one of my friends gave me the Oprah DVD with 17 hours of shows and footage and yes I watched it within no time.

Truly, I think Oprah is an incredible leader and role model in our society. She has an incredible ability to shed light on issues that many others close their eyes to. Her reach is to millions and the message she shares about Living Your Best Life, is one that is universal to EVERYONE!

If you too are an Oprah fan or a fan of making a HUGE difference for others check out her new O Ambassador Program! AMAZING!!!! If you are doing this, please let me know how I can help!?

The site is: http://www.oambassadors.org/
More to come….

2008 Will Be Great! A way to kick off Dreams and Goals....

Happy 2008—it will be great!!! Back to school and back from a wonderful holiday vacation. I hope everyone had a chance to relax, spend time with family/ friends and just get ready for a new year. Over the past month I have I have been spending tons of time with family from out of town, getting ready for 2008 and the launch of Dream Leader!

That is right, Dream Leader, an interactive leadership game for a class of 36 students is finally out--shipping today (see pic. above)! I have been working on this for the past year with my game partner Sue Beachler, who is a game designer. This last weekend we launched Dream Leader at the Herff Jones convention in Tuscon, AZ and had a positive response from their ring reps who are excited to bring it to schools across the nation. You can find out more by checking out,

As for a new leadership lesson, as I know many educators are always on the lookout for new ways to teach leadership, here is an activity that you might want to try with your students and it is a great “start of the year” type of activity.

GOAL BOARDS
I like to challenge my students to think of the future and what they want it to look like, the future of their school and their personal lives. An ideal way to set up this project is to lead your students though a visualization.

Have them imagine what they want their life to look like in the next 6 months to a year.
How they want to feel?
What they want to accomplish?

Then have them think about their school and the current culture.
What needs to change?
What goals do they still want to accomplish?
Who do they want to reach out to?

As a class, we talk about our vision for our class/school and then do a pair share about personal goals. The next day we create picture boards!

Picture boards are a cardboard piece of paper (the size of a fast food tray). One side represents personal goals and the other side has pictures (from magazines, online images, personal or hand drawn) that represent goals for their class/school. They can do this at home or in class (a nice way for them to re-connect after a break and get them re-focused). After they are done with their boards, a handful of students present to the class and then they hang them at home or in their lockers as a visual reminder of their goals throughout the year.

A great way to practice short and long term gaol setting is to have them update their goal boards as a dream or goal changes or they accomplish it. Enjoy and please let me know how it works for you and your kids?!