Citizen to Leader

I’m not going to lie, I had some trouble with the first part of the seminar yesterday.  Maurie Kelly was a solid presenter and did a great job getting participation from the group (which I’ll touch on later), but I felt like so much of the material was redundant.  A lot of the values of a good leader were discussed during our Introductory Session.  Part of the problem may also have been that this came after I completed the self-reflection activities, which focused on these values as well.

I also struggle in this type of class setting.  I’m fine with audience participation and it often sparks great discussion, which I get a lot out of through listening.  However, I don’t like when instructors randomly call on people.  Not everyone has something to say!  The thing I hate the most is when a quote or other statement is shared, and then people are randomly called on to share their thoughts on it.  I love that people have ideas and want to share, but for me personally, I can’t come up with expressive ideas to share on the spot.  If I had the quote prior to class, and had some time to reflect on it, I could probably come up with something worth sharing, but I can’t do it on the spot.  Maybe this is something I can work on throughout PSEL…I don’t know, I haven’t decided if I should put my focus here or not.

I really enjoyed the second part of the seminar.  It was great hearing from past participants for their insights on what to focus on and what to try and challenge ourselves with.  In fact, the reason I am blogging right now is to give it another chance.  It’s early, but I’ve just been checking the box with the blogging at this point, I haven’t been getting anything out of it.  I’m now motivated to put more effort into it (at least for the time being)!  I also may try to do more than the required 3 interviews, as I have found them incredibly insightful so far.