Above and Beyond
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ABOVE AND BEYOND THE NEWSLETTER OF THE CANADIAN ASSOCIATION OF STUDENT ACTIVITY ADVISORS VOL 12 NO 3 Build Your Activity Steps PROMOTING ACTIVITIES Young people are not interested in being “prevented” from doing some- thing. All of our anti-smoking and anti- drug promotions are just that: they Every school needs a full complement of activities and events outside of the classroom. promote something that most young However, implementing a year-long plan for Activities seems like a monumental task be- people are not interested in. As a cause you have to get people believing in the importance of Activities. Think of running group, young people believe and live a dry popsicle stick across your teeth. Did you create a tingling sensation in your back by the credo of the three I’s. Teenagers just thinking about the action? You can think and act your way to more than a tingling are Immortal, Immune and Infertile. sensation if you follow these five steps for your Activity Plan. A teen audience needs to be ap- proached differently than an adult de- State it: At every possible opportunity, state what you believe about student activities mographic. It has been shown that it and what you believe it can do for students in your school. Use the school newsletter to is more effective to offer teenagers the highlight your points to parents and the community. Talk about the power of student benefits of improvements in personal appearance or monetary savings for activities to staff and how a positive program will affect the atmosphere of your school. giving up smoking, rather than a re- Model it: Your own practice and implementation of letting students lead major events duction in the long-term risk of cancer. at your school will build the activity plan from real school events. Show that there is a Most teenagers don’t believe that they will be smoking ten years from now. It plan for activities that engage all students at your school on an ongoing basis. is far more effective to tell them that Organize for it: Put all of the year’s events in the school planner and calendar. Make cigarettes make them “smell” than sure that your website highlights upcoming events. Let staff know at staff meetings what threaten them with possible death from cancer. activities will disrupt the school day, and let students present this information to staff. So how do you prevent students Protect it: There will be times when negative feedback from peers will jeopardize at your school from boredom? Don’t student-run events and activities. Show that your students learn from their mistakes tell them lack of physical activity will make them obese; they won’t join your and will make changes according to positive staff input. Invite the media to cover your sports teams. Don’t tell them that it’s school’s activity by faxing a calendar of events to local community papers. good for their resumé to have a list of Provide public recognition for student leaders and staff who advance the activities that they have participated Reward it: in. Students will choose to participate activity plan in a positive way. Support coaches and advisors who keep the plan alive because of an energy and an inclusive- with small thank-you notes or school spirit items. ness that they are attracted to. When your Activities have energy your stu- A healthy Activity program generates more than a tingling feeling of school spirit. A plan dents will add the fourth I to their cre- for a year-long activity calendar will create an energized atmosphere that all will feel and do list: they will become Involved. benefit from. n Leadership Legacy “A man cannot ride on your back unless it’s bent.” Martin Luther King 7 SECRETS FROM NORM Norm Hull is an experienced trainer and speaker who presents at many schools and leadership conferences across North America. Norm teaches that everyone can be a part of the so- The Leadership Legacy Project is similar to lution! “Deeds... not just words” is a • The school community – the communi- credo he lives by as he seeks to offer a summative project in that it asks leader- ty agencies and neighbourhood around solutions. He emphasizes that blaming ship students to demonstrate and utilize the school is non-productive and words are sim- the skills they have gained over the entire • Giving back to our community – ways ply not enough. semester or year, but it also asks that they to volunteer in and around the school leave a tangible Leadership Legacy behind • Things every grade 9 should know The following are his “7 Secrets of an them as they finish their course work. ExtraOrdinary Activity Program”: • Things every new student should know (designed for transfer students or those • Know and recognize the difference Assignment who arrive mid-semester) between activity-based and leader- Legacy is defined as: a gift or anything • Celebrating our diversity ship-based programs. handed down from the past. Your Lead- ership Legacy will come in the form of • Leadership and Peer Support promo- • Embark on a self-development path tion package and become your own resource. a project that will have a direct impact on future students from this school. You • Be in control of your program and have been provided with a list of sug- Evaluation let others know that you are! gested projects, but you are not limited to Content /50 • Most people do what does not this list; you are welcome to design your Written progress reports /40 work, but believe doing it harder own Leadership Legacy Project. You must The group is required to submit four will make it work. discuss it with your teacher prior to begin- progress reports over the course of the • Blind and silent allegiance keeps ning your work. You may work in a group semester. The report should include any you in the same place, getting the of up to four people. problems that have been encountered, same thing. concerns, successes and the intended plan • Know what gets your juices going, Format of action for the rest of the project. and start acting on your passion. The format of the project can take on Polish /10 many forms including, but not limited • Embrace an idea; try it, adapt it, and try it again before you decide to: video, brochure / pamphlet / book- All projects should be submitted in hard on the true results. let, power point, webpage(s) or seminar copy as well as digitally. This piece of material. work is a culminating activity and as such You can find out more about Norm it should be a polished, edited piece of Hull, and his presentations and pro- Potential Topics grams at www.normhull.com • Co-curricular Guide – a list of all co- work. n curricular activities within the school • Why get involved? – the importance of Lori Armstrong 2 being involved at school Beal Secondary School, London 10 Pages to Visit on the CASAA Website CASAA put the first webpages for student leadership on the Internet over 12 years ago. The site is still the best student leadership site on the web for free resources and activity ideas. It has over 550 unique visitors a day perusing the many pages of information and “The mark of the immature lesson plans. This is just a small sampling of 10 things you should know about just the man is that he wants to die Resources section of the CASAA website: nobly for a cause, while the 1. Peer Helping resources and lesson plans are available to assist in your mentoring or mark of a mature man is peer helping programs. that he wants to live humbly 2. Preview pages are available for all three CASAA publications. You can see, print and for one.” test the lesson plans and ideas contained before you purchase the resource. Wilhelm Stekel 3. Lesson plans and questions for 17 leadership movies are available for download in pdf format. 4. All of the CASAA resources available for purchase are listed on the site and can be ordered from the site. You will find materials not listed in the print catalogue. SPIRIT RALLY IDEAS 5. A complete thematic index of all the CASAA resources is available for download as Matharama the CASAA Resource Index. You can find which resource contains the most goal set- Ten participants hold a piece of paper ting information or where to find time management activities. with the bold number printed on both 6. Every back issue of the Above and Beyond newsletter is available in pdf download. sides. Each team holds every number from zero through nine. In the center 7. A wiki archive of leadership videos will give you a sampling of excellent student pro- of the teams is a bell or horn. The au- duced videos for assemblies and activities along with many classic leadership dience is asked to not shout out the moments from the masters. answer. The game is played like this: A math question is given. Example: 8. Powerpoint lesson plans ready for your class are available for download. “twenty divided by two minus six plus one.” The person(s) from each team 9. A listing of Canadian and US based assembly speakers gives website and contact holding the correct number(s) run out information. and rings the bell or honks the horn. If the answer is correct, the team gets a 10. The Idea Share Shop has the highest traffic of all the pages as there are over 200 great point.