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Lead-A-Way is a series of workshops
for middle school girls that explore leadership skills and role models. The
counselors and teachers use selection criteria developed by the Alice Paul
Leadership Program to invite 15-20 girls to participate in the workshop.
Instructors with extensive classroom experience conduct the workshops as “team
leaders.” Each of the ten weekly sessions lasts 60 minutes and is divided into
two segments: whole group discussion and hands-on activities on a core
leadership concept and then small group work on team projects that study the
life and leadership styles of “role model leaders” such as:
- Wilma Mankiller,
first female Chief of the Cherokee Nation
- Dolores Huerta,
co-founder of the United Farmworkers of America
- Eleanor Roosevelt,
First Lady and international human rights activist
- Ellen Ochoa, NASA
astronaut
- Oprah Winfrey,
entertainer and philanthropist
The workshop team
leaders model for the girls with their own project on Alice Paul. As a
culminating activity, the girls’ teams present their projects to a younger
audience in the district’s elementary school or at a community daycare center or
after-school program.
A committee of educators
developed the Lead-A-Way curriculum and piloted the workshop series in
Camden schools in 2000/2001. The core leadership concepts treated in whole
group instruction include:
- role
models creative thinking
-
organization working
cooperatively
- communication skills
- learning
assertiveness and avoiding aggressive or passive behavior
- learning body
language and listening skills for better communication
The
goals of the program
are that girls, using
the “role model leaders” to draw parallels to their own lives, begin to identify
their own leadership style and formulate strategies for taking leadership roles
in their school and community. Additionally, girls get hands-on practice with
leadership skills in formulating and implementing their team projects.
Lead-A-Way
at Your Middle School/Youth Program
Once you
decide to host the Lead-A-Way program, API Director of Leadership
Programs, Dana Dabek-Milstein, and one of the team leaders meets with you to
arrange dates and time for the workshop sessions, and to review the girls’
selection criteria. The Alice Paul Institute provides:
- qualified workshop
facilitators
- curriculum for each
of ten workshop sessions
- educational materials
for each girl
- all workshop supplies
The school/youth
program:
- selects 15-20 middle
school girls, using the APLP selection criteria
- provides a liaison
who will notify the facilitators of any schedule changes etc.
- provides a classroom
with whiteboards or chalkboards
- provides busing for
one session held on-site at Paulsdale in Mt. Laurel
- makes arrangements
for girls’ transportation home (if after-school program) or back to classrooms
(if workshop is held during the day) at the end of each workshop
- provides access to a
slide projector and VCR – TV for two sessions of the workshop
- pays a cost share,
which represents less than 25% of the total cost of the series
If you have any
questions or need further information, please contact Dana Dabek-Milstein,
Director of Leadership Programs at the Alice Paul Institute at 856-231-1885.
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