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The Global Strategy
of the Month. Where It's
From. |
Among other uses, tutors,
mentors, teacher education students, and our
partners use
the America Learns Network
every day to share the amazing, one of a kind
strategies, lesson plans and activities they've
created and used to best support their students.
More than 2,300 strategies have been contributed
to the Network since 2004.
Each month, we highlight one of these
strategies on this page and in our
free e-newsletter.
More than 10,000 individuals worldwide --
tutors, mentors, teachers, parents, researchers
and policymakers -- receive these strategies via
e-mail alone.
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January's
Strategy |
The Global
Strategy of the Month is taking a break in
December to prepare for some big changes in
January! To receive January's strategy and
to be notified of the big changes, be sure to
sign up for the free Strategy of
the Month newsletter.
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November's
Strategy
Eldon Peters, our "Think Fast" Guru |
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Leaders constantly make
quick decisions with imperfect or scarce
amounts of information. Doctors,
politicians, police, entrepreneurs and
parents confront these challenges daily.
How can tutors and mentors provide the
children they're serving with a safe place
to practice and develop these essential
skills?
Just
ask Eldon Peters.
Eldon has mentored for two years through
Blue Ribbon Mentor Advocate, a mentoring
program of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City
Schools. He created a phenomenal
strategy to help his mentee practice the art
of making
quick decisions when one doesn't have all of
the information one would like to have.
Get
inspired and see why Eldon is our "Think
Fast" Guru by reading his strategy below.
Graig Meyer, BRMA's coordinator, had
this to say about Eldon:
"Eldon Peters is one of our most
creative mentors. When I read his
logs on America Learns each week,
I'm always impressed with his
creative strategies for making
learning enjoyable. In this
strategy, he shows us how to help
students take risks without fear of
failure. That is an important skill
for all young people!"
Get inspired and learn from Eldon
below! |
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Biking to Stronger
Leadership Skills
(Developing Quick Decision
Making Skills)
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Author: |
Eldon Peters,
mentor,
Blue Ribbon Mentor
Advocate
(Chapel Hill,
North Carolina) |
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Topic: |
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Building Leadership
Skills
- Deciding What to
do Together |
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Grade levels: |
Fourth - Twelfth |
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Arrangement: |
One-on-One |
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Materials: |
-
Bicycle
- Helmet
- Reflective
clothing
- Safe area for
biking that your
mentee is unfamiliar
with
- Optional: map of
the area |
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- - - - - - - - - - - - -
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Situation: |
I want my mentee to
develop strong leadership
qualities, one of which is
being able to make quick
decisions when one doesn't
have all of the information
one would like to have. So,
I tried to think of a
creative and safe way for
him to build that skill.
I ended up planning a biking
activity where he would need
to take the lead. We planned
to bike around our local
university campus and end up
at an ice cream shop.
If you can't take a bike
ride, please see
alternatives in Step 5. |
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Step 1: |
Go on a
simple bike ride in a safe
area that's new to your
mentee.
Ask your mentee to take the
lead for at least part of
the time. |
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Step 2: |
After you
ride through the area a bit,
stop in a safe place and
explain the following:
"Leaders often have to make
fast decisions when they
don't have a lot of time and
don't have all of the
information they'd like.
Today, we're going to focus
on making smart, quick
decisions. When quick
decisions don't work out,
good leaders analyze the
situation and make
corrections quickly.
Sometimes, those decisions
that seem bad at first end
up opening new opportunities
that nobody would have seen
otherwise. Your challenge is
to make those decisions and
then decide what to do with
the consequences of your
decisions."
Set a target of ending up
somewhere, such as an ice
cream store. Offer your
mentee some initial
guidance, such as telling
him that the store is in the
area you already rode
through. Another idea is to
give your mentee a basic map
of the area and explain
that, "We are right here on
the map. Somewhere in this
area (circle the area),
there's a Baskin Robbins.
You're going to have to find
it. I'm not going to give
you any additional
directions or rules besides
making sure that we're
together at all times and
that you wear your helmet."
The mentee is not allowed to
ask you which way to turn,
but rather to lead while you
follow. If he goes in the
wrong direction, he must
correct the problem while
still demonstrating
confidence and competence.
If your mentee has a tough
time finding the place, you
can give him additional
guidance such as, “Strong
leaders don’t operate in
complete isolation. You can
ask people we pass or
somebody in a local store if
they know where the Baskin
Robbins is.” |
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Step 3: |
Once you reach your
target, use that time to
review with your mentee the
lessons learned and how
these apply to other real
world scenarios.
Questions you may ask
include:
a) How are you feeling about
this experience?
b) How do you feel about the
quality of the decisions
that you made?
c) How could you have made
better decisions?
d) Do you feel that you made
any decisions that didn't
have the outcome you
desired? Were all of the
decisions that didn't lead
to favorable outcomes "bad"
decisions? What new
information came about as a
result of those decisions?
e) How does the experience
or anything we've discussed
over the past several
minutes apply to your life
right now? How does it apply
to the goals you have for
yourself? |
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Step 4: |
Alternatives to bike
riding
What if bike riding doesn't
work for you and your
mentee? Here are a few other
options to reinforce the
same skills.
- Trails, Parks, Malls,
and City Streets -- You
can really accomplish this
task by walking in lots of
public areas. If you've got
a starting place and an end
goal in mind, hand the
mentee a map (and possible a
compass), and let the mentee
lead.
- Eating Out -- Take
your mentee to a new
restaurant and explain that
he can only read the menu
one time before deciding
what he’ll eat. He has to
make a quick decision about
what to eat, then live with
the consequences.
- Create a Game --
Create an imaginary
situation where your mentee
has to make a series of
quick decisions. Perhaps
it's a situation where
someone is injured and the
mentee has to decide how to
care for the person and get
the care that they need. Or
it could be a scenario from
the news where the mentee is
a leader who has to make a
decision that some
politicians are grappling
with (such as the current
issue over whether the
federal government should
bail out the Big
3 U.S. automakers). In
either case, you should set
limits on how much time the
mentee has to make a
decision, and then have a
range of positive and
negative consequences for
him to grapple with. |
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