Communities

On Thursday, we had the joy in Neighborhood 1 to create our final group project. Since our group really liked doing games and activities, we decided that we should make our own that reflected what we did throughout the semester. Similar to the Game of Life, we created a Game of Community Builders! Matt and I printed out a long sheet of paper with the Community Builders logo for the game board and brought over construction paper, mini logos, scissors, glue, and colored pencils, but really the creation of the game was up to the students. I believe that handing over the project to the students did exemplify leadership. It was their project and they showed what they learned. However, also, sometimes leaders just need to step back and see what others can bring to a team in order to make it great. If Matt and I had prepared most of the game before we arrived, the activity would not have been as worthwhile. It would have reflected more of what Matt and I know rather than what the students learned. That's not the point! We had to look down from the balcony and see what we needed to do so that the students could do the best work that they could do.

An important theme from this week was making sure that everyone was getting involved. This meant that each student and the adult volunteer had a part in the creation of the game in addition to Matt and me. Since it's hard to get everyone involved in every single part of the game, we decided to delegate the making of the game a little bit as well as have some tasks that were universal. For instance, there were a couple students that were making the game board and the rest of the students were cutting and gluing. Then, we could make sure to use all of the students but utilize various skills. One issue that we had been having was getting our Adult Volunteer, Pat, involved. This week we put her in the group of the board decorating group so that she could have more interaction and conversation with the students. We had recognized that in previous meetings she didn't really include herself in the activities. By deliberately placing her in a group that needed to work through conversation, it actively made her get to know the students a little bit more and help out with the group. We realized that she was not going to place herself into group interactions but rather we needed to be intentional in involving her. I think that personally, sometimes I get so caught up in my position/job within a group, that I forget about encouraging others to participate as well. Sometimes I just assume that they will want to be involved and will jump right in. However, not everyone's personality gives them the strength to jump into a situation like that. It is important to look at everyone's strengths and weaknesses in a group and try to address those as much as possible so that the group and the individual grows.

This week was a fun time with the 6th graders. It's sad that our time with them is almost over - it has passed by so quickly! I really enjoy getting to know the students and having fun learning about leadership with them. Each of them brings a fresh perspective and challenges my thinking about the standard definition of leadership that I have in my head. For me, this just reflects my need to work with diverse groups in order to gain more understanding about leadership and how to work with various groups in distinct situations. As Mandie has mentioned, I am hoping that since I can work with 6th graders, that I can really work with anybody!