Leadership vs My Other Classes (8/8 -- 8/11)

     Starting school again and getting back into concentrating and learning is great. The first week of the school year had just flown by. So far, it's been alright. I've enjoyed this first week because it's the start of a new school year. Additionally, I'm starting to learn and experience new things like I've wanted to.  All the 7th graders have met their teachers and are adjusting to our new environment. As one of these many 7th graders, this week I've met all my other teachers other than Mr. Ing. They are, Mr. Cole, Mr. Heloca, Ms. Scarborough, Ms. Chen, and Ms. Miya. I currently have 6 periods and in order those are . . . Social studies, Science, Leadership, AVID, Math, and English Language Arts (ELA). In Leadership, me and many others have spent the entire summer preparing for this school year. Within these two months, I have built tons of strong connections with my peers in Leadership. This makes huge differences from all the other classes that I currently have and the ones I've had before 'Ilima or before middle school. There are many differences that I noticed about Leadership compared to my previous classes and I will be covering those in this blog.

    To start this discussion, I'll be talking about Leadership first and comparing things along the way. Leadership stands out to me more than my other classes. To start it off . . . Leadership makes me feel more involved than in other classes. When I say involved, I mean that I actually want to be involved no matter what I'm doing. Even if it might be seen as silly, dumb, stupid or embarrassing. Inside of Leadership it's like a small community and we all do things together. When I look back at other classes, I never wanted to really willingly participate. On top of this, in all my other classes, I felt like that someone, or something was waiting for me to make a mistake or that someone was going to judge me. Basically, being self-conscious. I feel like I have room to breathe in Leadership. I don't need to worry about making mistakes as long as I learn from them or make up to them. 

    In addition to me calling Leadership a small community, I feel like I can work very well with all my peers. I'm sure we've all had that experience where you're doing a group project but then there's always that one guy or that one specific person who does absolutely nothing. This is like the typical group project in almost any class. However, in Leadership, everyone does their part. Everyone does what they need to do, and they make sure they do a good job and finish their job or objective completely and efficiently. Some of my regular classmates don't even care about how much effort they put into something. Just as long as they get it done. From my experience, I've seen this led to very messy, unsatisfying, and trashy results from them. Which gets irritating and it gets even more terrible when it starts making your blood boil because no matter how much you tell them to improve something, it never happens. Not because they can't do so but because they don't want to. It doesn't feel like your group is making their "best work" or "best results." In contrast to leadership, everyone is working hard to produce their best results or to get the best conclusion. Leadership makes me feel really on hands with every activity or thing we do, and I feel proud participating in each one. 

        In Leadership, we not only learn leadership skills but also how to build relationships. That's something your regular science, math, or social studies class will never teach you. Nor any of your other classes or electives like AVID or art. Sure, your teacher might do a small lecture but sometimes you are barley listen when they ramble about something other than what their teaching you. Normally you'd have to learn that yourself and if I take a look at everyone else, not everyone prioritizes it or knows how to make relationships. Let alone, some people barely have even one relationship with someone other than their family. Some people don't even know or recognize how important making connections are. Without Leadership, I probably wouldn't have seen the significance of relationships either.

    Leadership also motivates me to keep my grades high and to stay in leadership. Leadership is a class that I actually want to stay in. I'm willing to try my hardest and push myself further in order to stay. It's a class that I actually want to go to and stay in. Not just because its "fun" or "enjoyable" but because it makes me feel like I have a deeper sense of belonging than I do in other classes. Plus, I know of no other classes that function as uniquely as this one. In absolutely none of my classes there was no Bridge that was supposed to help us get comfortable with our peers before working. It was always just getting comfortable while doing work. While it might be a bit simple, I never really got comfortable with everyone. I might've been comfortable with certain people but there was always those few other people that I didn't talk to at all. When I worked with those people, we either barely had a conversation or that it was straight up awkward.

    Leadership is quite the class. Even though it's just the start of the year and there are only challenges ahead, I can still reflect on how much I know so far. Without it I wouldn't have realized how special relationships are. Thanks to Leadership, I have a clear idea of why relationships and leadership skills tie together and are like two peas in a pod. Math, Science, Social Studies, and all those other subjects have equal importance but, in my mind, and from my perspective, Leadership really teaches you the most things that you'll need in the future. When you become an adult, there aren't many times you need to do math or science unless it's part of your job. Learning to be a leader and Leadership skills is something you will use a lot in the future. Being in leadership goes a long way that any other class I've known. Leadership is not only a class that I feel very committed to and comfortable in, but a class that really boosts my sense of belonging to this class and school. Leadership really makes me digger deeper for reason and purpose than other classes. Anyway. . . I look forward to the next couple weeks of this first semester. This concludes my blog! Have a nice day or night everyone. Let's make this year a great one. Riselle logging off! 

-- Written by Riselle (>-<)