Week 2 - Happiness and Authenticity

We did an exercise this week in getting to the basics of our core values. We started with a list of 20, or so, words that might represent our core values in education. We were then asked to choose 5 of those, then reduce to 4, 3, and finally to two. This was a tough exercise as it made us truly think about what our most important values in life, and education, actually are.
I came up with "happiness" and "authenticity". I chose happiness because I believe if people are happy, they will perform better, learn more, and treat people with respect and dignity. Authenticity, to me, means sticking to your values and beliefs even through the harshest of environments and situations.
Taking this forward into my professional career will be of utmost importance, for if you cannot stick to your core values, what do you have left to fall back on? Many decisions will have to be made, both big and small, over my career in athletic leadership, and I will need to rely on my moral compass to guide me through difficult positions. With people relying on your judgment, it is important to be consistent in your ideas and your values.
In this week's class we also delved into the world of critical reading and writing. We did numerous assignments that utilized our writing skills and our abilities to obtain the true meaning of text. In the book "How to Read a Paragraph" by Richard Paul and Linda Elder, there was a particular graph that was useful, and will continue to be as I move forward in continuing education and work assignments. The graph was entitled "Analyzing the Logic of What We Are Reading". This graphic had 8 wedges and we highlighted a few to use as we analyzed readings. The ones we highlighted were, "The Author's Fundamental Purpose", "The Author's Point of View in Respect to the Issue", and "Assumptions the Author is Making in His or Her Reasoning". In reading anything in which you need to extract information, this is a good place to start taking it apart. This will carry through all of our classes, and ultimately help us gather necessary information in our internships and jobs.

Foundations: Week 1 Review

“While no single conversation is guaranteed to change the trajectory of a career, a company, a relationship, or a life; Any single conversation can”. This quote was presented to us in the first hour of the first class of my IAL program. It points out to me the importance of every conversation that develops while continuing relationships in your life. There could be someone in your network that could forever change your path, or you theirs, with one conversation. This concept will stay with me and remind me to cherish all conversations, whether positive or negative, as the consequences may not be known immediately, but could be known eventually.

A second foundational lesson that I learned in week 1 of the IAL program is in the Coach Conversations section of the Fierce workbook. It is the idea of asking, “what else?” when trying to get to the core of a problem. After setting up a conversation with someone that you are trying to help through an issue, and then targeting what the issue is, it becomes important to get to the root of the problem. Without offering suggestions or solutions, the “coach” of the conversation asks, “what else?”, normally with a response that is one level deeper than the first. Then, “what else?” is asked again, further digging in to the core. Eventually the deepest parts of the problem, causes, and solutions come forward. I will take this idea and use it to be a better listener and more effective problem solver.