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These
idea were passed on to me from Sharma Worthen Anderson, she has collected
these over the years, if some one recognizes an idea that is theirs,
please let me know and I will give you full credit! Thanks Liz
Many
have asked if I have more info on some of this ideas, I wish I could help,
unfortunate these ideas are ones that Sharma sent to me, I don't have
any other information or email address to the people responsible from the
start! She gather these ideas form email lists she was on over the years.
more
stuff...............
'shadow
leadership'
We
just had a teacher training lesson on 'shadow leadership' and I was
impressed during that meeting with the thought that, a shadow is in
different places depending upon the direction of the light source.
Sometimes a shadow is in front, sometimes in back or other times to the
side. I think we need to realize that this is a metaphor for our guidance
of these youth. Sometimes they need us to 'lead' them and be in front,
other times, we need to stand to the side of them and gently guide their
steps/decisions, and other times we need to stand behind them and let them
'go for it' and just be there as a moral support and to catch them if they
begin to fall. Each situation
is different and requires a different type and amount of leadership
intervention. That is why it is so important for us to pray and
follow the promptings we receive regarding our leadership of these youth.
Just
a thought I had during the meeting. Just thought I'd share my two cents.
Debbie
Planning
With a Purpose!
Planning
activities with the girls is one of our biggest challenges. Like
many of you we used to sit down at presidency meetings and ask the girls
what they would like to do. They either looked at us with blank
faces or made suggestions that were just "fun"
activities. We took this problem to our stake leaders and they
suggested that we ask more leading questions when we are planning
activities.
For
example, rather than asking
"What
to do you want to do"
we
should ask:
"What
do you want to have happen?"
"How
can we make Such-and-such lesson applicable to our lives?"
"What
can we do to: Increase learning, serve people, Help kids at school,
help in-actives etc.."
"How
can we teach such-and-such?"
Do
you get what I mean. This way
we are getting the girls to focus on Planning
With a Purpose!
So
in the last joint presidency meeting we asked some of these leading
questions and
brain stormed for activities ideas. We took all the ideas and then
as a presidency we are sitting down and planning out some activity ideas.
After we get a master list of activities we will give these lists back to
the girls to take ideas from. This at least is a good starting place.
As far as involving girls in the planning, that has also been a challenge
to us. We have allowed many activities to fall-through because the
girls do not do their assignments. We usually provide a back-up
activity like Quilt tying or something when this happens. We have
struggled with this because while we understand that it is important to
teach the girls responsibility we also feel a responsibility to always
offer something of quality to the girls when they come to activities.
I don't think it is fair for the rest of the class to suffer when a few
girls don't complete their assignments. I still haven't totally
figured
out how to balance this. We are prayerfully working on this.
Becky
West Jordan
It
is really hard to get the girls to consider new, untested activities!
The best thing that we've found (so far) is to ask the question in a
leading kind of way during the planning meetings:
Instead
of: What shall we do on Wednesday?
We
try to ask: What can we do on Wednesday to increase our
understanding
of the scriptures? or to begin a habit of personal scripture study?
or to
make the scriptures come alive?
This
works for every topic and when we get a lame answer, we ask follow up
questions like, How will that help the girls in class develop a love of
the
scriptures?
I
am using the scripture lessons here as the example, but really, it does
work with any topic. No guarantees, of course, but it does help!
TTFN
Julia in WA
At
the Spring Open House in
Salt
Lake
,
we were taught to ask the YW, "What would you like to know a year
from now?" This question is a lot different from, "What
would you like to do?" Also, ask the parents, "What would
you like your daughter to know when she leaves YW?" Using the
input from the YW and her parents, we can design activities that fit the
needs of the YW. The idea is that if we are filling their needs,
they are more likely to come.
ACTIVITIES/FUN
WITH A PURPOSE
One
of your responsibilities as a presidency is to plan and carry out
activities
for your class or quorum. Working together, you can make
great
things happen.
!
Do paper in a cup Demo. (this is a game. Need 6 paper/plastic cups.
Rubberband,
Six 2ft length of strings tie to rubberband. They must work
together
to pull the rubberband apart, place over cups, and move the
cups
to form a pyramid.
It
really pays off when you've planned and activity and it turns out
GREAT.
Write GREAT on board.
What
can we do to help each activity we plan turn out GREAT!
?
G= What's the Goal or the Purpose?
In
other words. What area of the Y.W. values or Duty to God program or
three
fold mission themes that should we focus on for this activity. What
lessons are we having this week or this month.
Girls
have 7 Values plus four or five lessons that month.
Boys
have four areas of personal development, three fold mission areas,
and
four or five lessons.
Also,
ask Who needs special attention?
?
Ask them to pick something.
!
R= Next, you want to wRIGHT it down!
Write
out the idea and everything you can think of that will be needed
for
the activity to be successful.
If
possible, plan at least three months in advance.
Get
Specific
What
talent or interest does a less active member of our quorum/class
have?
What
are the lessons for this month?
What
is our focus this month i.e. value, personal development area,
mission
area?
Which
days do we need to plan for?
!
E=Let EVERYONE do something
Delegate,
Delegate, Delegate
Once
you have a basic idea of the activity you want to do
Make
assignments to quorum/class leaders.
This
does not mean that the presidencies do all the work. For example,
the
First Counselors assignment may be to call John and ask him to
bring
a dozen brownies.
Let
the Quorum or Class have OWNERSHIP in the activity.
The
President can be in charge or put someone else in charge. Someone
should
oversee, and make check up phone calls.
!
A=Which brings us to ASK the Question.
This
is Following through
Check
on assignments and ASK if that person needs extra assistance if
you
see there is a problem.
But
let them do their job. Others will gain confidence as the fullfil
their
assignments
!
T=And last THINK about it
Evaluate
your activity. What went well? What did not?
Someone
already suggested annual planning which helps a ton. About two weeks
before our meeting, each class draws two months that they are in charge
of. We used to do it by YW/YM, but found the planning was better if
the classes were in charge. We don't have a huge YW or YM (usually
every active class member is in the presidency), but it seems to work the
best. Last year our teachers quorum was so small that they combined
with the Priests quorum so two of the activities were YW/YM in charge.
Also, having the presidencies plan helps them learn the skills and teaches
ownership instead of just the leaders doing it.
We
have each class bring three activities for each month they are assigned -
one has to be a service and each activity had to have a priesthood purpose
even if the purpose was 100% attendance for a fun activity. Then the
kids vote on which one they like best. The kids are great to govern
themselves - they know about budget restraints, safety issues, and the
three required service projects. (Of course, the now Laurels know
from when they were Beehives.)
As
long as the activities have a priesthood purpose, even if the leaders
didn't necessarily like them, ultimately the kids made the decision.
They can't complain if it's their idea. (By the way, we call it a
pig-out party and we feed them only after the year is planned. That
incentive of food keeps them on track.) We do the same thing for
combined activities with the YW.
We
print a form with the activity, the class that is in charge, the tentative
date & the priesthood purpose. Obviously, we don't always stick
to it if something else comes up, but at least there is a general plan.
In
AP/YW meeting (see below), the class that is in charge makes assignments
to all the other classes. I think people are more likely to attend
if they have to do or bring something. For example, if the deacons
had to bring the drinks, someone (usually a leader) would have to be
there. Sometimes it doesn't work out and you are all thirsty, but
you bring it up in the next meeting.
Also,
according to the handbook, BYC is for Presidents only - including YM and
YW. This meeting should just overview the activities, but the main
focus is on the needs of the youth and the ward along with training from
the bishop. We found that with the presidencies that all we did was
discuss the activities in the cramped office.
There
is a separate meeting for the presidencies called Aaronic Priesthood/Young
Women. This is where the majority of planning takes place.
It's an extra meeting for the presidents, but when we put AP/YW meeting
into place, everything went so much better. (We usually hold the
meeting in the church kitchen because there isn't anywhere to sit and the
acoustics are bad - again making the meeting focused :-).)
At
every BYC & AP/YW meeting, we ask the questions "Did we meet our
purpose?", "What can we do to improve" and "Do we want
to do this again?". By evaluating the activities, we found that
the issues came out without the leaders always being the bad guy.
The kids say "Hey, we were really thirsty because the deacons didn't
bring drinks." You don't have to harp about assignments because
the kids know.
Planning
Activities using "Shadow Leadership"
When it is time to plan activities for the year, start by holding 3
meetings, Presidency Meeting, YW Board Meeting (with all advisors, music
people etc) and a Combined Class Presidency meeting. A week before the
meeting give the participants a list of the lessons for next year, the
theme or any other topic(s) you would like to emphasize (for example, you
could say, "We want to do 3 service projects, 2 temple activities,
monthly
activities supporting personal progress, etc...). Ask the participants to
think of activity ideas that reinforce the lessons, goals and theme. At
these meeting brainstorm activity ideas. Don't second guess or edit out
any activity ideas at this point (that will be done latter). It may
take giving some ideas to get the YW going, so I suggest having the YW
Class Presidency Meeting last and then sharing ideas that came out in the
first two meetings. After you go through this process you should have
three lists of activity ideas. As a presidency sit down and prayerfully
weed through the list, throwing out any that are impractical or don't
accomplish your goals. So in the end you have a list of activities that
are all ones you are happy with. Now, take that list to the class
presidencies. Plan your first 3-6 months of activities, having the girls
choose activities off the list. In this way,
the YW are choosing and planning the activities as they are supposed to
do, and you as a leader, are confident that any idea chosen will meet your
expectations.
I have found that when I do it this way, I get higher quality activity
ideas, but the YW sill feel ownership of the activities. In fact, most of
the time the YW take the leaders ideas and change them just a little bit
to give them their own style. This is all great - as long as you are still
meeting your goals.
Sometimes in YW we have one of two problems. Either we have the YW plan
everything and then miss the mark as far as the YW goals, theme, lessons
etc. Or we, the leaders, plan everything and then just pass out little
assignments, which misses the point of teaching the YW leadership. I
think planning in the way I've outlined finds a good balance.
teaching
leadership
Balloons
we
had an activity at one of our leadership training meetings with the youth
that was fun... we had labeled balloons with the responsibilities the
girls had... we then invited the class president to come up and try to
keep all the balloons up in the air without letting any one of them touch
the ground... there was absolutely no way she could do it all... then we
invited a counselor... together they did a better job... then another
counselor was invited... did even better... then the secretary... all
balloons were kept afloat in the air... You really
have to have a lot of responsibilities to make this successful... (the
class presidencies do have a lot of responsibilities, but we tend to do
most of them. ;) Sharma
One
of my advisors did this for a value lesson but it could work with
leadership.
She had 7 "colored raw eggs" (7 values!) You could name
them with callings (Pres, secretary, counselor, etc) she put them in a
group and placed a book (she put new labels on the books) on top.
(the book could be conducting on sunday's) Nothing happened.
Then she placed another book ( the book could be calling everyone to
remind them about and activity. Repeat several times....
She actually had about 10 good sized books (you may want to try
this at home with your own books to make sure of the weight. None of
the eggs cracked.
Then she unpiled the books and took out an egg, repiled the books -
the weight was still ok. she repeated it until there were only a few
eggs left (probably about 3) and I believe the 2nd or 3rd book crushed all
of them (and made a big MESS!) (You might want to place a trash bag
under your tablecloth.
It was very effective that it takes all the eggs to hold the weight.
It takes all the presidency to carry the weight of their callings.
I
want to share my "Project Underground" idea with you.
(Such a mysterious
name.) It was really fun. Our old class presidencies were
becoming stagnate, and it was time for a change. Since we
finally (sorta) know what WE are doing, we wanted to start fresh
with the girls and train them better
in how to do their jobs.
We realized that we were doing way too much and
basically leaving
the girls without a calling. Switch-o Change-o! The
young
men wanted to jump on board, so I ended up making a huge plan with a
zippy
theme to get the kids into it. My wonderful 1st counselor and I came
up with the idea of doing this whole POTATO thing. Dumb huh?
It was so absurd that I knew it would work! The idea came
from trying to come up with a simple light dinner so that the
night would have an important feel to it.
It seemed that a baked
potato bar would be just the thing. I did keep it
pretty simple though.
I have a double wall oven, and I was able to bake 70 potatoes wrapped
in foil at home and then I put them in a big cooler, just to keep
them hot. It worked great! When the activity was over
and I brought everything home, the
potatos that were leftover in
the cooler were still almost too hot to
touch--after 3 hours.
PROJECT UNDERGROUND
Let's get at the ROOTS and teach our youth how to gain strong
leadership skills.
The purpose of this youth leadership training is to teach the youth of
our ward the importance of the callings they now hold and/or will
hold, and how they can serve Heavenly Father through serving and
supporting each other.
Emphasis
will be placed on the specific duties of the current class/quorum
presidencies.
At the end of the evening we will all have a baked potato bar.
Your assignment will be to teach
one ten
minute class, six times (with
approximately 8 youth in each class). Please make an effort to provide
worthwhile information with a real leadership lesson, but have fun!
This is a light-hearted approach to important and valuable skills
training.
LEADERSHIP CLASSES:
Delegating & Supporting Leaders "Hot Potato!"
Leading Music "One Potato, Two Potato, Three
Potato,
Four!"
Planning and Working Together "The Spuddy System"
Solving Problems "Curses, Foiled Again!"
Making Contact/Fellowshipping "Can't Take My Eyes off of
You!"
Having a Good Attitude "Got a Potato Chip on Your
Shoulder?"
Class officers will attend training for their own callings for the
first 20 to 30 minutes. Then they will fill the remainder of the
time attending classes of their choice with the rest of the
youth.
Duties of Presidents: Becoming a Better Leader, Using agendas,
conducting, attending meetings, etc.
Duties of Counselors: Becoming a Better Leader, Supporting the
President, attending meetings, etc.
Duties of Secretaries
Another idea for a class on Buzz Sessions, etc., to "root
out" ideas for activities, etc. was "Spuddering"! (Sputter-to
utter explosively.)
When everyone gathered for opening exercises we gave them each a sheet
of card stock with a big brown potato on it. Each class had
an item to glue on after they attended it--turning it into Mister
or Miss Potato Head as they went. Eyes for making contact,
arms for leading music, smiling mouth for
good attitude, etc.
The intro to the night went something like this:
"Welcome to Project Underground. It is not by mere chance
that you are here participating with us tonight. As a Grade
A, you have been carefully chosen
to fill this assignment.
We are here to be trained from the roots up that
each individual
plays an important part in our overall success, and that
there
truly are no small potatoes." (pass out potato head
cards).
"Each of you should have a Mr./Miss Potato Head card. Six
classes are
offered where you will earn some of the parts that belong to said
Mister of Miss Potato Head, as you are trained in important
leadership skills. Class presidencies will meet with the
bishopric for the first 20 minutes--whereafter they will join the
rest of the spuds at the other end of
the church for the
remaining class rotations."
"This is your assignment. No couch potatoing allowed!
A flakey or half baked effort on your part will only result in a
mashed experience. Let this
"Project Underground"
give you BIG BULBOUS leadership roots. Let us all go
forth
and DIG IN!"
Classes
Baked Potato Bar: Potato, sour cream, butter, salt and pepper,
green
onions, cheese chili, and ham cubes.
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"Choose
you this day
whom ye will
serve
but for me
and my
house we will
serve the Lord "
