Student Leadership Conference, Camp Walden

A couple of weeks ago, I was honored to participate as a mentor for the PHE Canada Student Leadership Conference held at Camp Walden in Bancroft, Ontario. The annual conference is for post-secondary students studying in the physical and/or health education field that exemplify exceptional leadership skills.

What did I take away from the conference?
At the conference, I attended several great presentations from integrating hip hop into physical education to learning about different leadership styles. One of my favorite workshops was a presentation by Joey Feith - "Get in the game! ThePhysicalEducator.com, Social Media, and You!"

I am just learning about social media and was interested in what Joey had to say. Joey has been working hard to create an international professional network of PE teachers through his website: ThePhysicalEducator.com, facebook account (279 friends), twitter account (315 followers) and through a blog on his website. He even includes resources for teachers - check out the "Downloads" link on his website for some great activity ideas. I think Joey is showing great leadership in the area of social media and hopefully you can join this online community.

What can teacher's take away from the conference?
At the end of the conference, students were asked to complete a "Leadership Reflection" exercise. I think this is a great exercise for any teacher to do for themselves or with their students. Here are the questions:

1. What behaviors/influences are helping/preventing me from achieving my leadership goals?
2. What do I need to start doing (or revise) to help me reach my leadership goals? Why?
3. What do I need to stop doing that is preventing me from reaching my leadership goals? Why?
4. What do I need to continue doing to help me reach my leadership goals? Why?

In addition, if you would like or if you know someone else who would like to participate in this camp next year as a mentor, click here to learn more.