Article Review Assignment: Leadership

Article Review Assignment:  Leadership

Name of article:  “Creative leadership:  a challenge of our times”

Name of journal:  School Leadership and Management Vol. 29, No. 1

Name of author(s):  Louise Stoll and Julie Temperley

I located the article in EBSCO HOST on their database on November 2^nd, 2011. 

I thought this was a very good, thorough article on creative leadership.  The title is what got my attention, because I think that creativity is a big issue today and most people resort to “Just show me how to do this”.  I took a different approach with the assignment for this part of the academic article reviews, and did it from a standpoint of a teacher; who is either teaching our types of classes about Therapeutic Recreation, or how we can apply the leadership techniques when we teach others during facilitation of activities.  The article focuses on education and outlines criteria needed to keep creativity going in the classroom.  According to the article, creative leadership is defined as “...an imaginative and thought-through response to opportunities and to challenging issues that inhibit learning at all levels.” (pg. 2)  This directly related to TR because we always need to be thinking on our toes and not every activity or lesson is going to go as planned so we need to be ready to accept challenges or issues that go along with it.  Another aspect of the article that could be applied to my future in TR is that it mentions promoting the creativity of your colleagues.  Depending on what kind of environment and population you are working with, it is always important to make sure that creativity juices are flowing amongst everyone to make it a successful environment.     

I would definitely recommend this article to everyone going into the field!  There is a lot of good information and key points that can not only help you, but spark interests in other aspects.  In this article there authors outline a lot of useful applications such as how to promote creativity of colleagues and goes into great detail.  It was an easy read, because the topic was so interesting so I didn’t lose focus.  The length of the article isn’t bad either; it’s only 15 pages with adequate spacing.  After reading this article I have a lot more insight on creativity.   

Group Presentation: Arts and Crafts

Last week was not only our last week in Heather's class but it was the week that my group presented!  We had the topic "Arts and Crafts" and did our presentation on a different take than the other groups.  We didn't focus individually on specific disabilities but we did our presentation from a CTRS perspective.  The presentation was split into five total groups with the first activity being modge podge journals that we cut pictures from magazines for, then a haunted house food making station, a bracelet making station, a mural station and then a group activity/social station.  I thought our presentation flowed well and we hit all the major populations between our five stations.  During our debrief we addressed different populations the activities would work for, how we can adapt the activities, and then other related activities others have done.  Also, during our presentation we had a powerpoint slideshow that played the whole time with artwork from people with a variety of disabilities and different media.  I found it very inspiring, especially because there were people with severe visual impairments that made such beautiful pieces of artwork!

I was very nervous for our presentation and how people would react because we were doing a different format.  There was still a majority participation of the participants with facilitation from us, but it was mostly supposed to be their exploration of activities.  I thought it went really well, and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves!  This week I strived to be a good facilitator and to assist my group members in all our work.  Facilitating programs in class always helps for my future career; it's a place where trial and error along with mistakes can be learned from and it doesn't hurt our reputation as professionals.

I really enjoyed our class time with Heather; I enjoyed all the group presentations along with the adaptive golfing outing that we did as a class and got to know everyone really well.  I am really looking forward to switching into Stephen's class and seeing what that class has to offer! :)  

Week 6: Camping and the Outdoors

This week was really fun!  The topic was adaptive camping and outdoor activities.  There was a guest speaker from NASA and he talked about their organization and brought in some pictures of new improvements that they plan on making for a pond.  NASA is a volunteer based organization that mainly focuses on hunting and  some water activities.  It is especially known for taking people of all sorts of backgrounds and disabilities with mentors out to the woods for deer, bear, small game hunting and fishing.  The only downfall I thought was about the program is that they mainly target older populations.  The president said they tried running a kid's program last year but the turnout wasn't that good, so maybe with the right advertising and programs it will be sucessful this year!

For the group presentation I thought it was cool how they had the campfire set up made with a fan, a lamp, paper with a wood design, and tissue paper.  The group used a creative way, relating to the topic, to split everyone up.  They showed interesting videos about adventure camps in Canada, where people can go bungee jumping in their wheelchair and zip lining.  For the second half of the presentation we went outside and tried putting a tent together, while all having a different disability.  The disabilities were:  use one arm and your non-dominant one, visual impairment, and someone in a wheelchair, along with a CTRS.  I found this situation frustrating because I have set up a tent several times and my disability was interferring with my ability to help.  I was in a wheelchair and it was hard because I couldn't bend over too far otherwise I would fall out and tip over.  I feel like that experience will help me in the future because it will give me insight on how people feel in those situations, and how to help them as a CTRS and give them maximum ability.

Week 5: Adaptive Golfing

Last week we had beautiful weather and went to Forest Hills Golf Course to do some adaptive golfing!  I wouldn't say that I'm an avid golfer, but I definitely have been exposed to the game of golf my whole life.  My dad plays in tournaments all the time and leagues during the summer.  I also took golf lessons when I was little for a couple years, which were a lot of fun!  So going into this experience I had knowledge of the game and how to swing a club.  Which turned out to be a bad thing, because everytime I went to try an adaptation, it made it more frustrating knowing that I knew how to do it and usually hit the ball further. 

There were three stations that had different equipment and adaptations at.  At one station you had to swing with your non-dominant hand, one you had to sit on a chair and not use your toes as leverage and swing, and the last station you had to use just one hand.  The one thing I strived for was to not get too frustrated.  To me, golf is very frustrating to begin with so only being able to swing with one arm makes it even worse.  We all had a lot of fun and enjoyed ourselves, cheering each other on.  It was cool to see all that support from our peers when we knew we weren't doing well!

A lot of the adaptive equipment was very practical.  There were gloves that had velcro on them so the golfer wouldn't accidentally throw their club.  Some of the clubs were built different with angles at the end of the shaft so it was flush with the ground and people who were in wheelchairs could use them.  Using bright colored balls was easier for people with visual impairments to see, etc.  There were just mutliple things that could be replaced that were very simple, that we normally wouldn't think about.

There is a lot to learn about adaptive golf, but now we all have a basic understanding incase we are thrown into a situation in our career involving it.  The guest speaker made a very good point when she said that as recreation therapists, will often be thrown into things we know nothing about and be expected to facilitate programs. 

Week 4: Adaptive Dining

Last week, we continued with our group presentations and the topic was adaptive dining.  The group did a fantastic presentation and made it hands on and very interesting!  All of us were involved and had different roles so we really got the feel for different disabilities dealing with adaptive dining.  We were split into table of about 5-6 people and we all had cards.  On the cards was the dining process split up into different stages and for each stage we were assigned a different role:  a person with a behavioral disorder, someone with cerebral palsy, someone with schizophrenia, a CTRS, someone who is blind and someone who is in a wheelchair.  We were supposed to act out different scenarios to see what it's like to be on a dining experience with all the variety of disabilities.  The group members were our waitresses and for the first half were very rude, which might be like what you would experience normally, and were very accomadating the second half.

I learned a lot about myself during the meal.  I learned again patience is key; it was frustrating at points because there was so much going on and it was like a real experience and I had to handle it like I would if it was my job.  Of course, you wouldn't necessarily take all those people out to dinner together but it was a good example.  I stived to play the roles as well as I could.  A lot of the scenarios were out of our element as far as what we were supposed to do.  You could tell that people were laughing because it was embarassing and very uncomfortable at times, and something we might have never seen before.  Overall it was a very enjoyable activity/class!

I'm looking forward to the adaptive golfing later today!

Week 3: Sing-a-song

Walking into class this week, I was probably the most frightened that i've ever been to go to class before.  I love to sing with my friends; in the car when we jam to a song really loud that we know all the words too.  But I definitely have a fear about singing in front of my peers, especially by myself.  This week we each had to sing a song in front of the class.  The song had to be like a camp song or a short sing-a-long that you might hear at a restaurant for someone's birthday.  I was toward the end of the circle of singing so watching everyone else gave me time to calm down.  It made me feel better when people verbalized that they were nervous because then I knew I wasn't the only one that felt that way.  It was a lot of fun and the class was supportive of everyone who sang and even chimed in.  My goal for the week was to be able to sing in front of the class and not screw up and do the right motions with the words.  I was successful!  I learned that a lot of the time people are just as nervous and feel the same way that we do and to just relax and do my best.

The first day of class, I remember Professor Quackenboss saying that we would be singing in front of the class and her exact words were, "If you can sing in front of a group of people, you can do anything".  I agree with her completely.  I feel like this activity put us out of our comfort zones the most.  As a recreation therapist we will need to be able to distract and entertain very easily and to get people's attention or focus singing is most effective.  On top of that, we all learned awesome songs to use!

After singing we did a couple more activities and learned about processing and how it's important.  Processing allows you to get a lot more out of an activity when you guide someone to talk or express their feelings at that point in time instead of assuming the participant understood the objective.  Especially if you're with a group, people can learn from each others input and opinions because there are different points of view expressed.  Overall it was very fun and we all had a lot of laughs! 

Week 2: Music and Dance

Last week was our first group presentation.  The groups topic was music and dance, and they incorporated a little of both in their presentation.  There was a guest speaker about music therapy and we used several drums that she brought in.  I learned a lot from the guest speaker as far as how music can be used as therapy.  To me music is used to calm me but I never thought that you could actually facilitate activities that could be used in an institutional setting or part of a rehabilitation program.  The drummer was a musical therapist at a rehabilitation center for women with addictions and explained the prevalence that these drums have in their lives.  Drumming with each other we learned it's not about the leader or just you, it's about the people that surround you and how you need to pay attention to there actions to repeat them yourselves.  We also had a "jam-sesh" where we played music and drummed along with the beat.  The group also used different instruments and we did different activities that included rounds and we really needed to pay attention to everyone in our group.  Then came the dancing and they brought up a couple wheelchairs.  We played the popular Wii game "Just Dance" which was a blast! It was definitely harder in the wheelchair than I thought but never the less still fun!  All the activities that we did were very relaxing and we enjoyed ourselves.  I learned that I was very musically talented after using the drums, you don't need to be perfect or very good at anything you just need to put effort into it and have a good time.  During the class time I tried to put myself in different situations and try to see things from people's perspectives that might be fighting addictions, or physical and mental disabilities.  Learning all these adaptations to things in every day life will help me implement them in my future career!