The Inner Journey Through the Outer World

After reading this prompt for the week, I was completely perplexed.  How can one simply decide on a single, BEST learning experience?  Through the many relationships, classroom settings, leadership development opportunities and many more factors, which one do you choose?

While being completely perplexed on this topic as I decide, I like to imagine I am on a beach while going down memory lane of the many defined learning experiences in my life...

While on my "imaginary beach," the many learning experiences are flowing to the forefront of my mind.  There are some memories that are slightly dusty that haven't been looked at for a while.
They include:
 - Learning how to write cursive
 - Learning how to fish with my dad
 - Learning to play tennis

While those memories are golden in their own ways, another type of memories stand out among the rest, and that my good friends, is traveling!

I have been fortunate to have been able to travel out of the country several times, as well as travel through out the United States.  Traveling is my number one passion in life!  I'm always down to go to new places, see new sights, and experience the unknown.  What really kicked this into gear for me was during my junior year of high school when I made the great decision of going on a 3 week travel abroad to Italy with a teacher from my school and several other students.

Italy. Yes Italy.  My first European country and most definitely not going to be my last (fingers crossed).  The teacher I traveled with became basically a second mom to me (still keep in touch with her) and the group I was with was just awesome.  We began our trip by landing in Venice, Italy, and being picked up by boat from the airport to take us to where we were staying.  From there we traveled to northern Italy and then went down on the southern coast of the Mediterranean before leaving out of Rome after stopping in 13 different cities.  I saw the Vatican, swam in the Mediterranean, had Italian wine in Tuscany, experienced the Island of Dreams: Capri, visited the ancient city of Pompeii, went to a music concert, took shots under the moonlight on top of a hotel on a mountain, interacted on an Italian island that was traditional in so many ways, really felt what FIFA is all about, and so much more.  I could go on and on...but seriously.  So why is this trip my best learning experience?

Well, this trip really taught me relevance of experiencing history and culture in real life which is something you can grasp immensely better than just looking at pictures or reading about it.  Even my pictures that I have from this trip do not do any justice for Italy (1500 pics in total).  It can become so easy to find yourself in a personal bubble in the day-to-day mode where you feel nothing really exists except what is happening around YOU.  But when you take a second to experience a new place, it pops that bubble into a realization that life is moving by so fast and that you need to do something about it, or just be left behind understanding nothing.  I learned about a new culture, being surrounded by history, tasted new foods & drinks, interacted with locals, and simply life itself.  Never in my life up to the point of this trip had I experienced as much at once!.  I had traveled with my family before to new places, but something about being on your own in a foreign place really speaks more.  (I could literally talk for hours about travels I have been on, want to go on, and where other people have been!)

My challenge to anyone who wants new learning memories...go travel!  Seriously, take the opportunity whenever it arises and travel, travel, and don't stop traveling!

Here are some pictures from my trip that I took:

(Pompeii)

(Coliseum) 

(The Spanish Steps)

(Entrance to a historical part of Rome)

(Venice)

Ciao,

- JBall

#Theories on #Theories on #Theories

As I was finishing up the assigned reading, I began to feel that there were so many types of student development theories that I was beginning to feel overwhelmed.  Why can't they take all of those theories, put them in a blender, and boom, you have a single, solid malt of student development theory?

(Nothing like a one of a kind, chocolate malt with a student development theory on top...wait what?)

It's a good thing that's not the case despite the simplicity of that possibility.  These many theories outline that we as humans, then as students are much more complicated and intricate than some one-size fits all theory and rightly so.  So why learn about all of these theories then?  Well I feel that to be able to truly grasp anything of Leadership Theory, we need to understand the theory of how we are going to get there (as students) by understanding the foundations of student development that contributed to our being of leaders today.

So in retrospect...Theories on Theories on Theories (in a good way of course!)

All of these theories are meticulously crafted towards student development, but these three theories resonated with me the most as critical factors into truly understanding not only personal growth in student development, but truly reaching upon Leadership Theory's doorstep.


1.  Developmental Theory Families:

Evans wastes no time in his article pointing how just about all of the student development theories fall into these 5 categories.  I found it difficult to continue understanding the rest of the article without being able to classify what type of theory was being described.  So what does this have to do with leadership and facilitations?  Well...everything!  By understanding these 5 different categories, we (as facilitators) can better gear our facilitations to student organizations by following these types of theories.  Since they contribute to the overall understanding of the well-being of a student's development, it will also help us be able to grasp the large vas concept of Leadership Theory.

Here is the Development Theory Families from Elkins:

"Psychosocial theories address developmental issues or tasks and events that occur throughout the life span. These tasks and events tend to occur in sequence and are correlated with chronological age. Individuals progress from one stage to another by accomplishing related developmental tasks or by resolving crises. This is the "what" or "content" of student development" (Elkins 2)

"Cognitive-structural theories address a sequence of meaning-making structures through which the student perceives, organizes, and reasons about their experiences. The stages are hierarchical and each successive stage incorporates the functional parts of the previous stage. This is the "how" or "process" of student development" (Elkins 2).

"Person-Environment theories address conceptualizations of the college student, the college environment and the degree of congruence that occurs when they interact. Behavior is a function of the person and the environment. Many of these theories are used in career planning" (Elkins 2).

"Humanistic existential theories share a common philosophy of the human condition. Humans are free, responsible, self-aware, potentially self-actualizing, and capable of being fully functioning. These theorists believe the forces of growth are within the person and are facilitated by self-disclosure, followed by self-acceptance and self-awareness. These theories are used extensively in counseling and give us a framework from which to practice other theories" (Elkins 2).

Student development process models are either abstract representations of the field of student personnel work or recommended sets of action steps for the practice of student development. They give us the process steps of how to use theories rather than the why, what to do, or how to do it that the theories provide" (Elkins 2).

2. The Grounded Theory:

With all theories regarding student development being able to be thrown into a family, I was drawn to the results from this theory that Project Muse highlights.    

"The grounded theory study resulted in the identification of a developmental process of how students situate themselves in the construct of leadership over time" (Project Muse 403).

As a result, this study helped identify Leadership Identity and the components that support the "who are we" types questions.  I found this study to be particularly interesting and is one that I would like to research a bit more.  Related it back to SLA and our roles as facilitators, it is important to understand this theory and its study because it not only allows us to figure out more about ourselves, but how to help an organization find its identity.  Just like our identity is a single component, so too is a student organization's identity.  If an organization carries many identities, it will be very difficult to find growth in any development area by trying to cater to so many different outlets.  

3. Perry's Cognitive Theory of Student Development:

With general families outlined, an identity being constructed, comes the final theory that stood out to me the most, Perry's Cognitive Theory of Student Development.  

"William Perry's cognitive theory of student development examines nine positions tracing the evolution of traditionally aged students' thinking about the nature of knowledge, truth and values, and meaning of life and responsibilities. Based on Piaget's cognitive development theory, Perry lists steps by which students move from a simplistic, categorical view of the world to a realization of the contingent nature of knowledge, relative values, and the formation and affirmation of one's own commitments. Perry sees change as coming about through cognitive conflict" (Evans 5).

When I read this, all I can imagine is a lightbulb going off in student's minds and beings when coming to their development.  Everything begins to click.  With an identity in the makings for one's self, they can begin to view the world in a new light by understanding where they are at internally and in conjunction with their values, can begin to grow intellectually in their leadership.  This is relevant to SLA and our facilitations because by expanding our knowledge of the world around us, we are able to not only grow in our scope of working with those who may be very different than us and share different beliefs, but that it becomes our responsibility to share the values of SLA and its potential for intellectual and cognitive growth for those being facilitated.

These are more than just Theories on Theories on Theories on student development...

They are the stepping stones in coming together in truly grasping Leadership Theory which we will be covering throughout this class.

Do you think all of these theories work together or do you see just a singular theory from the reading is the most important?

Trifecta of Tremendous Women

Kudos to these ladies for setting the bar on what it means to be a leader in the world/movie settings and by allowing their different approaches to leadership enrich the lives of the many people they have/had touched.

With that said, the three types of leadership approaches I choose to high light on are the charismatic leaders, transformational leaders and value based leaders.

1: Charismatic Leadership: Princess Diana

Princess Diana. Enough said right?  One of the most influential leaders of the 1990's, Princess Diana, or better known as the People's Princess, was one that catapulted humanitarian causes into the spotlight. Using her influence and touch of elegance, Diana was able to be on the forefront on critical issues ranging from AIDS awareness to land mines still harming people.  She captured the imagination and hearts of people around the globe who looked to her as a role model which is something she never took lightly.  As the "People's Princess," Diana was a strong, confident woman in the face of adversity within the monarchy and to those that opposed her.  I choose her as a representative of charismatic leadership from a clip by BBC, because she is someone that not only takes this approach to a whole new level but she is someone that I highly respect and feel that we need more Dianas in the world today.

2. Transformational Leadership: Eowyn from Lord of The Rings

This woman is a baller, lets be honest here.  The Witch King (pictured above here) has just about murdered Eowyn's father (the king) and has wiped out most of her father's army.  This strikes a chord within herself and she becomes determined to be the leader that her father's people so desperately need.  She steps up by disguising as a man in armor and encourages her followers to join her in combat to defeat the orcs (aka the bad guys).  The movie outlines the emotional bond Eowyn shares with her fellow soldiers and how by encouraging them with challenges, she herself has grown into an even better leader.  All of that comes to full light in this clip where she kills off the Witch King who cannot be killed by a man.  As a transformational leader, Eowyn steps up where no man had before to do the impossible alongside her dedicated followers who grew into better people because of her.  I choose this clip because it outlines how one can do the unthinkable by being told they can't do something originally and take that and convert it into something of substantial quality...like killing the Witch King terrorizing your village!

3. Value Based Leader: Carrie Underwood

Don't worry I didn't choose her just because she is my celebrity crush...ok well maybe a small part, but thats besides the point.  It seems that in the entertainment world today, we are constantly reminded of the what looks to be the nonexistence of any values left in hollywood.  From Kim Kardashian and her hotmess drama to Robert Patison being cheated on by Kristen Steward, we are reminded of what the world is coming to.  My point is, it is quite refreshing to come across celebrities who are still able to exude their personal values in the crazy world of fortune and fame and is why Carrie Underwood stands out among others.  She understands that she has a meaningful inner life that influences her beliefs and actions.  For example, have you ever heard of Carrie Underwood involved in any type of situation related to a scandal? No.  Is she bouncing in and out of marriages every 72 hours? No.  She is someone who is proud to share her faith about being a Christian and uses this to brand her message.  By leading with a value based approach, I think Carrie is a great role model for many, especially those interested in the entertainment world and having her as an example that it is still possible to lead with values, even in the vastness of hollywood.  

So what does a Princess, knight and musician all have in common?  They form a trifecta of tremendous women with possibilities who did/have accomplished feats that are truly inspiring and who lead by example for their followers.

What are some clips that you think exude the leadership approaches most effectively?