I just finished grading the final reflection papers for our class. I love my students! My students aren't at a brother/sister relationship, but they are people that I care about a lot. All I want to see is them succeed and grow.
From there papers I saw three major themes that they learned from the class as a whole:
1) Servant Leader-leading isn't the man in front but the man willing to work(PS-the word serve, or any derivative of it, was used 64 times in their papers)
2) Time-as college students, life is hectic and I feel that everyone picked one thing that they could do better to get more balance in there life
3) Hawthorne Effect-seeing others how they can become
Quotes from students papers:
"For me, this drove home the point that I need to be the kind of person I want those following me to be..."
"We each can serve as leaders and grow together because of a good experience;"
"I tried to really focus on the Savior and how he would serve them."
"The smiles on their faces is something that will stick out to me from this semester..."
"Being nice to people has made me so much happier this semester."
"We all have something to offer no matter how small it may seem to be at the time.""I learned that a team must be totally and completely unified in purpose and desire in order for setbacks to be conquered."
"Patience and self application must come first before we can begin to try to influence others."
"Service is something that always makes me feel happier in life."
"There was work involved but I never felt like it was a chore."
"In servant leadership a person is more of a facilitator...You are a facilitator of good things like utilizing talents, uplifting people and helping everyone reach a common goal."
"This leadership course has given me more confidence in myself to be a great leader."
Gems I took from their papers:
-Did you meet your original plan? No, but you accomplished what you really wanted-We sometimes let the specifics over shadow what we really want. Remember Why-What-How? In other words we start to think the how is what we want and forget the why. We get frustrated when the how doesn't go to plan or we meet opposition along the way to OUR how, but the best part is when you get to the end you actually accomplish the why, just in a different way.
-Facilitating is letting someone act. Not giving the load or burden, but room and time to think and act.
-Just about everyone said this was there favorite class or one of there most inspirational classes-My only comment is, if it really has left such an impression, take the glimmers from you reflections and make some goals around them so you don't loose your desire.
-A leader starts by leading his own life.
-"Provo is our home while we are here'progress isn't given all at once."- I have a tough time with Provo, when I come back from Arkansas and Boston, two places that will probably be better, I'm going to focus on making Provo my home while I'm here. :)
-Almost every group faced opposition in there project, that's when leadership qualities came out and were applied. That's when learning took place.
-Seeing who people can become doesn't precede the effort and work it takes to get there
-Optimism isn't always instant. We can recognize and be upset about what is happening, but we think through it for ourselves, then we can choose to be affected or move forward
-My favorite thing was seeing learners becoming the teacher. I just love seeing my students doing what I did. I'm just like them. I'm a student at BYU. I'm trying to be a better person. I want to be happy. I just was blessed to share my story and leadership principles from my perspective, then in class or in there groups it was there turn to shine. My only regret is not getting to watch them shine in there groups.
-In reading the papers I saw the words "I think", "I feel", "I learned", and different variations of those terms. What was cool is a thought I had about I think/feel vs I learned. I think/feel is more theory based. It is knowledge presented that is desired or hoped for in an individuals life. It isn't applied or understood knowledge. I learned is something that has been applied. It is something that one has experienced or seen and knows that it makes a difference.
I wish my students the best graduating, going on missions, and those continuing on in school! Good luck friends!
Stay tuned for the Summertrain 2013!
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