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Developing an Effective Middle School Leadership Program 4
 Developing an Effective Middle School Leadership Program 4

Table of Contents

Abstract 3
Overview of Student Leadership
Program Changes at Como Lake 5
Research Question 7
Rationale 9
A Working Definition of Leadership 10
Backdrop: Meaningful Student Leadership 11
Research: Meaningful Student Leadership 15
Research: The Missing Connections 21
Middle School Leadership 22
Leadership at Como Lake: My Experience 22
Grade 8 Leadership 23
The Camp/Retreat 25
Activities at the Camp 27
Metaphors and Stories 28
An Example Metaphor: Win-Win 29
Reflection Journals 31
Beyond the Camp and Beyond the Class 33
Leadership as Extra Curricular 33
Shared Leadership (a move back to collaboration) 35
School-Wide Leadership Opportunities 37
Recruiting Challenges 39
Conclusions 41
Recommendations for Improving the Program 44
Challenging the Process 44
Inspiring a Shared Vision 44
Enabling Other to Act 45
Modeling the Way 46
Encouraging the Heart 47
Moving Forward 48
Appendix of Resources: Table of Contents 54
Appendix A – Committee Based Leadership Program 55
Appendix B – Retreat Activities 70
Appendix C – Transition Retreat 104
Appendix D – Metaphors to Learn By 116
 Developing an Effective Middle School Leadership Program 115

Full Day Leadership Retreat Journal Entries

SECRET #1 SECRET #8
__ __ __ __ __ __ first,
Think good then .
__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __,
Say good , SECRET# 9
Do good . Offer to ,
let others .
SECRET #2 Be a player.
__ __ __ __ __ __ __ challenges!
SECRET #10
SECRET #3 Find more ,
 SECRET #3 Find more ,
__ __ __ __ __ problems, (not just win or lose).
instead of complaining about them.
BONUS SECRET #11
SECRET #4
__ __ __ __ __ others . Know what you
are ,
SECRET #5 and what you
Lead by . need with.
Hard work,
Done well, My favorite part of the
Feels good! Leadership Retreat:

SECRET #6 The most important

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ secret in this book is:
of yourself.
The 1 new idea that I really
SECRET# 7 learned about at the retreat is:
Be ,
__ __ __ __ __, I am a much better
and have ! leader now because:

Developing an Effective Middle School Leadership Program 116

Appendix D

Metaphors to Learn By

The Butterfly Story 117

The Bad Temper 118

Empty Your Cup, by Bruce Lee 119

The Ripple Effect, by John Heider 120

The Mouse Trap 121

 Developing an Effective Middle School Leadership Program 117

A Butterfly’s Lesson

One day, a small opening appeared on a cocoon; a young girl sat and
watched for the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through
that little hole.
Then, it seems to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten
as far as it could and it could not go any further. So the girl decided to help the
butterfly: she took a pair of scissors and opened the cocoon.
The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had a withered body, it was tiny
and had shriveled wings.
The girl continued to watch because she expected that, at any moment,
the wings would open, enlarge and expand, to be able to support the butterfly’s
body, and become firm.
Neither happened!
In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its short life crawling around with a
withered body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly.
What the girl, in her kindness and her goodwill did not understand was
that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get
through the tiny opening, was its way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly
into its wings, so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from
the cocoon.
Just like the butterfly, sometimes we need struggles and challenges in our
lives. When we welcome challenges that come our way, we learn more, and we
can actually have fun doing things that other people might find hard to do.

Author Unknown
[I have made small adaptations to this story so other sources of this version are not available.]

Developing an Effective Middle School Leadership Program 118

The Bad Temper

There once was a little boy who had a bad temper. His Father gave him a
bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a
nail into the back of the fence.
 The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Over the next few
weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily
gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to
drive those nails into the fence.

Finally the day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all. He told his
father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for
each day that he was able to hold his temper.

The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that
all the nails were gone. The father took his son by the hand and led him to the
fence. He said, "You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence.
The fence will never be the same.

When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one. You
can put a knife in a man and draw it out. It won't matter how many times you say
I'm sorry, the wound is still there." A verbal wound can be just as bad as a
physical one.

Author Unknown
[I have made small adaptations to this story so other sources of this version are not available.]

Developing an Effective Middle School Leadership Program 119

Empty Your Cup

A Japanese Zen master received a university professor who came to

enquire about Zen. It was obvious from the start of the conversation that the
professor was not so much interested in learning about Zen as he was in
impressing the master with his own opinions and knowledge.

The master listened patiently and finally suggested they have tea. The
master poured his visitor’s cup full and then kept on pouring.

The professor watched the cup overflowing until he could no longer

contain himself. ‘The cup is overfull, no more will go in.’

‘Like this cup,’ the master said, ‘you are full of your own opinions and
speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?’

Bruce Lee
Taken From: Zen in the Martial Arts
By Joe Hyams, 1979, pp. 18-19.
Developing a Student Leadership Program
~ David Truss
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