Leadership Learning Experience (LLE) – Project description

 

Purpose: leadership cannot be learned adequately from reading books or listening to knowledgeable experts or even listening to experienced leaders. Leadership skills must be developed through experiences in the real world of organizations and the first hand experience of the problems of real people. Leadership must be learned in conjunction with academic study by learning followership, responsibility, problem-solving and getting things done in cooperation with other people. The objective of the LLE is to provide you with the opportunity to gain leadership experience. This field experience gives you the opportunity to see first hand the lives of people in communities around Ifrane, apply your education to assisting those people in improving their lives, apply the theory and knowledge from our class to the real world and thus determine its usefulness for your self. This LLE requires you to become an independent learner, learning about how to be a good leader by following your own initiative rather than what you are told by your teacher. It is a structured experience that will prepare you to be effective in your career and life while also providing needed service to the less fortunate citizens of Morocco in the communities around AUI.

 

Each student will complete three hours per week (total of 45 hours for the semester) of leadership experience providing needed assistance to community organizations. These hours will be arranged to meet needs of the community organization and its clients/students and to fit your schedule. Community organizations must be those that provide assistance to poor, rural, or otherwise disadvantaged populations. Examples of LLE projects include: assisting the PTA of an elementary school in Azrou by providing computer literacy classes, or assisting needed improvements in the school and its programs; providing or assisting adult literacy classes to rural residence in the Ifrane and Azrou areas; assisting local women’s development programs with needed projects.

 

Each student will contact the director of the organization to arrange the LLE scope of work and project plan agreement-contract. This agreement-contract must be signed by both the student and the project director (LLE field supervisor) and submitted to me by the end of the second week of the semester. 
Students must gain my approval for LLE with any organization not on the provided list. 

If two or more students do their LLE with the same organization, they must have separate projects with separate responsibilities, colleagues, clients/students, and contracts (i.e. no free-riders).

  Draft a Section for evaluation of student attitude, initiative, work ethic, follow-through, treatment of clients, collegiality with organization staff, responsiveness to feedback or direction from LLE field supervisor, efficiency, productivity, reliability.

 

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Leadership Learning Experience – LLE Spring, 2008

Opportunity Organizations and contacts

 

1. Alkhansa Elementary School – Ahmed Al Boukili, Director 070 73 98 83

Possible projects: computer use/literacy for teachers and students, English speaking/understanding, art/design education, social and /or biological environment education, conflict management, communication

 

Best times: For teachers and students – M, W, R, Sa 4-6pm; also T, F 1-6 for students.

 

Prefer work with teachers and students in grades 5 and 6.

 

Can study/practice French and Arabic in exchange

 

2. Tarik Benouziad Lycee – Slimane Jabri, Teacher and member of PTA

 

3. Alwahda Secondary School – Sentissi Choukri, Teacher at Al Khansae and member of PTA at Al Wahda College 061 30 12 65

 

4. Sakhr Secondary School

 

5. Abdel Karim El Kharabi Elementary School – Jamal   , Dirctor

 

6. The Friends of Sick People Association for Women – Rachid   , President 060781427.

Possible projects: starting/managing a small business, literacy, English.

                                                                                                                      

7. Cyber Le Ceder – Abdelkrim El Khyati, 019 99 67 49 (c), 035 56 47 05 (o)

Possible projects : English, French, Arabic speaking and literacy, Computer skills/literacy (8-10pm any/every day), starting a small business

 

Possibly create an association to continue project/program beyond this semester.

 

Possible LLE projects (some ideas to get you started)

• Computer use/literacy for teachers and/or students
• Design/art education for children
• Literacy and/or innumeracy (communicating with numbers and math skills) – Arabic, French
• Establishing sustainable management-administrative systems
• Speaking and understanding English
• Increasing school retention (decreasing drop-out) rates
• Starting a small business
• Social and/or biological-physical environmental education or exploration
• Conflict management and communication skills

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School of Humanities & Social Sciences

Dear Program Director,                                                                                  January 30, 2008

 

During this spring semester, students in my Leadership and Management class (HRD4303) will be learning leadership by providing assistance to less fortunate people in the Ifrane-Azrou area. As part of their class work, my students will volunteer a minimum of three hours per week for the fifteen weeks of the semester. With your guidance, they will design and deliver a project that helps meet the needs of the clients/students that your organization serves. They are expected to arrange their volunteer hours at the convenience of your program, clients and staff, and given the limitations of their academic schedules.

 

Through this “Leadership Learning Experience” (LLE) they will learn how to:

• listen to the needs of others and find ways to meet those needs
• gain the cooperation and assistance of others
• create a vision of a better future and accomplish that vision with cooperation from others
• remain positive, flexible, professional, respectful
• conduct themselves with great integrity
• motivate others, and many other leadership skills and qualities.

 

This LLE will also provide them real experience against which to test the theories of leadership they will be learning in my class.

 

I am asking for your cooperation in allowing one or two of my students to volunteer in your organization to accomplish their LLE. You may need to help them get started by introducing them to clients/students and colleagues, helping them identify and plan a project that assists your organization and meets the needs of your clients/students, and helping evaluate their progress and performance.

 

Though I expect the highest professional standards of conduct and service from my students, if you encounter any problems or have any questions, please contact me at 019060355(cell) or by email at d.rinehart@aui.ma.

 

As the semester progresses, I plan to visit each student and LLE host organization to meet you and your staff, and to see how my students are doing.

 

I thank you in advance for your cooperation and I look forward to meeting you or talking with you again.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

M. Duncan Rinehart, PhD
Assistant Professor
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Al-Akhawayn University

P.O. Box 104, Avenue Hassan II, Ifrane 53000, Morocco

Telephone: (212)(0) 35 86.24.27 Fax: ( 212) (0)35 86.29.77 E-mail: shss@aui.ma

 

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 Film Crew

 

Producing Organization: Morocco Exchange Ltd. a non-profit organization for cross-cultural education ( www.moroccoexchange.org).

Director: Arnd Wächter, Founder Morocco Exchange, German citizen

Production: Kamal El Kacimi, Rif Film ( www.rif-film.com), Moroccan citizen

Producer: Spencer Stoner, Upstream Visual, U.S. citizen

 

Co Producer: Narjisse Tahiri, ……………., Moroccan citizen

 

Morocco Coordinator: Lotfi Lamrani, Culturs Bridge, Moroccan citizen

 

Director of Photography: Paul Pryor, Upstream Visual, U.S. citizen

 

Camera: Diego Romero, Lighthouse Film, Spanish citizen

 

Camera: Jose Iglesias, Lighthouse Film, Spanish citizen

 

Light / Audio: Spencer Stoner, Upstream Visual, U.S. citizen

 

Synopsis:

 “Crossing Borders” is a sixty to eighty minute documentary that follows six American and six Moroccan college students as they travel together for eight days through the rich cultural landscape of Morocco and in the process of discovering “The Other”, discover themselves. With meals, bus rides, home stays, hikes, and emotional, frank discussions setting the scene, the students will come to terms with the complex implications of globalization, income disparity and the supposed “clash of civilizations” between Islam and the West. The film will target a young adult audience (18-26) while avoiding political polarization and attempting to attract a broad audience of any political, socio, or religious walk of life in both the Western and Arab world.

 

 Aims:

 * To show the excitement, fun and deep learning that happens during cross-cultural interactions.
 *To represent the process of self questioning and personal growth that is triggered by genuine intercultural relations.

 

 

 

 The Great Turning

We stand at a critical moment in Earth’s history, a time when humanity must choose its future. As the world becomes increasingly interdependent and fragile, the future at once holds great peril and great promise. To move forward we must recognize that in the midst of a magnificent diversity of cultures and life forms we are one human family and one Earth community with a common destiny. We must join together to bring forth a sustainable global society founded on respect for nature, universal human rights, economic justice, and a culture of peace.

-The Earth Charter (2000)

 From Heart to Heart :

 

Hey friends, hey team, hey shabab...

Hola! As-salaam aleikum! Hi! Bonjour!

Hope everyone had a safe trip back home. The return to Granada was pretty uneventful (7 of us piled in a taxi and drove all the way from Algeciras). Just wanted to let you all know that I'm having withdrawals from not being in Morocco any more (or perhaps its the lack of mint tea every two hours) and I miss you all of you immensely. Here are the links to the two photo galleries where I've posted all my Morocco photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/time.edge/Morocco and http://picasaweb.google.com/time.edge/MoroccoPart2 . You can easily download both albums in their entirety by clicking the appropriate buttons, or individual photos if you are so inclined ;) I look forward to seeing all of your photos sometime soon!

Hasta luego! Bislama! Take care! Au revoir!

Tim .

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American &Moroccan Students in their host family, Rabat.

Dear Friends,

I'm still living under the magic of the marvellous days we spent together,still feeling the warmth of the sincere friendship from your hearts and the overwhelming true love shining from your eyes.
Please, don't let me miss hearing from you also.

 YOU ARE THE FRIENDS, THE SISTERS AND THE BROTHERS WE NEEDED AND WE MET YOU.

Canyon "Akchour" Chefchaoun.