I LOVE THE PHOTO CAPTION GENRE! A favorite writing genre of mine is the photo caption. Below you'll find many. I love introducing my writers to genres of writing that are unpredictable and exciting. So many college students have fears of writing traditional college papers. And while I still have them practice those, I'm careful to outnumber the traditional college papers with unconventional genres, such as photo captions.
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STILL LIFE PARTICIPATION PHOTO: The above picture was taken during Summer 2021. I innovated a classroom management strategy involving still life photography and interpretations.
PLANNING A LEADERSHIP CAMPAIGN: The above picture was taken in September, 2022. This picture shows the thought and care that went into planning a campaign to promote Southwestern North Dakota.
A SKETCHNOTE: This above photo was taken in a leadership class. The picture illustrates a fundamental leadership principle. The leadership principle is a theory on how leaders are made. Some theories suggest that leaders are born with the essential skills needed to lead. The theory outlined on the sketchnote, however, opposes that view. The illustration makes clear the idea that leaders are actually made. Anyone has the ability to transform themselves into a leader. The example also shows how people can transform themselves into readers and writers. Everyone has the capacity to improve their literacy. Often, one has only to change one’s surroundings to accomplish this. Drawing inspiration from one’s surroundings is a great way to trick oneself into being an avid reader and writer.
LEADERSHIP CONVERSATION GAME: The above picture shows the making of a game. This game is going to be a conversation game. It will be a conversation game themed on questions regarding leaders and leadership. Everyone will feel as if they have a voice on whatever question is asked. The value of this game is that it will encourage people to think more critically about what leadership actually means. It will encourage people to think more critically about who they call a leader in their own lives.
THREE-DIMENSIONAL LEADERSHIP OBJECT: The above picture was taken in September, 2022. What you see in this picture is an attempt to create a three-dimensional object that makes a lasting statement on leadership. This object is informed by my time as a Blue Hawk at Dickinson State University (DSU). I had the greatest honor of graduating from my hometown college. I also had the greatest honor of being a Theodore Roosevelt Honors Leadership Scholar. I will try to carry this leadership object with me as often as I can as a reminder of the person I need to be. We all need to be someone for others, yet we often fall short of this.
As a former TR scholar, I am forever grateful for my time working with people who embodied the most important word I have found in my life. That word keeps me grounded. That word keeps me in touch with my best disposition, action, and thought. I can remember so many of my favorite instructors embodying this word. It is a word that I need to remind myself frequently to strive for in my everyday living. I frequently find myself doing the opposite. I was notorious in my early 20s for leaving any family event five minutes after I arrived. I didn't have the patience needed to engage my family members. I would always think that it was more exciting somewhere else. I would always think it was more relaxing somewhere else. I would always think there's someone more interesting to talk to somewhere else. But our most important steps in life often begin at home. They begin with how we treat our family, and it was in seeing how I acted with my family in my early 20s (and latter part of my 20s) where I realized I have a problem with patience. So, I began to find ways to be more patient. It took a lot of discipline. It took a lot of self-talk. I would frequently tell myself when stuck in traffic, for example, that I should use this time to plan a class. Use this time to plan your next vacation. Use this time to plan your next brilliant dish for supper, a meal to share with your wife. I would, in short, find different ways of occupying my mind--which grew my mind.
Patience is a precursor to intellect. Those who want to grow their knowledge must first begin by growing their patience. One of my DSU instructors who comes readily to mind that embodied patience is Dr. David Solheim. He was one of my favorite English instructors at DSU, and he would frequently pause in class, smile in class. And he didn't always have to be talking. He didn't always have to be doing something. He had a calm about him that I can only define as patience.
Another figure who stands out in my head when it comes to patience was Theodore Roosevelt. However, he does not stand out in the same way as does my favorite instructor. Roosevelt was, according to Theodore Roosevelt on Leadership, a rather impatient individual. Author James Strock specifically refers to Roosevelt as the “most the combative of men” (13). In this instance in his work, Strock is trying to show how Roosevelt was a particularly impatient person, yet he often rose above his faults. Strock’s point is that people can often overcome a character flaw to be more than they have ever thought possible. Strock writes, on Roosevelt, that, “This most combative of men would be the first American to receive the Nobel Peace Prize” (13).
Just like Roosevelt, I realize that any pursuit worth doing requires me to discipline myself. I need to know my weaknesses. I also need to recognize my spirit. Everyone does. People are too often ready to undermine their own potential. An example is the introvert versus extrovert argument. At any point, and I’ve seen this frequently in my own life, people can be both depending on the situation. People often need a place of solace to find themselves. People often need a community of people to share their ideas, their experiences, their ambitions. People are more complex than the terms extrovert and introvert suggest. The same is true of one’s character. Everyone can be a leader. Everyone can aspire for more. It takes a single word to do this. Everyone is a word away from making the world a better place.
The word I need to charge myself with is patience. To me patience implies acts of discipline. It means I get excited by the prospect of doing something difficult. It is difficult to tell myself to be patient when I’m stuck in traffic. It is difficult to tell myself to be patient when my children criticize me. But it is not impossible, either.
Because the word patience means so much to me, I need to carry it always. I innovated a three-dimensional object to remind me of what I need to be. This three-dimensional object is one that creates a lasting statement on leadership in my own life. It is a statement to be the best version of myself when necessary. It is, more importantly, a statement to model the most important character trait in culture today. It is one that few have developed in themselves. The world improves tremendously when people elect to forgo anger and instead exercise restraint. That is how it was with Theodore Roosevelt; that is how it is with me. Everyone is called to be the best version of themselves. Patience is a precursor to bringing about great change in the world.
I have witnessed so many benefits in my own life with patience. One word has meant the difference in my life between fostering meaningful relationships instead of turning people away. People need people, and it is impossible to build meaningful relationships independent of listening. Listening is perhaps the greatest act of patience. Looking someone in the eye and having patience to ask them questions and prioritize them takes a lot of patience. The way to the top in any setting is through growing meaningful relationships. The key to this growth is patience.
COVID WORLD: The above picture was taken in April, 2021. This picture reminds of all the adjustments instructors needed to make during the pandemic. Every instructor was forced to relocate, for instance, their comfortable classroom essentials to their home. This picture shows me teaching a class from my home office. It began the process of helping me make my classrooms more accessible for all of my learners. This accessibility is something I've grown to value in our post-pandemic world. Further, I love that this picture shows an evolution in classroom technologies, beginning with the precursor to the whiteboard (i.e., the chalkboard). We then see the whiteboard, as well as the latest classroom technology: the video camera.
HOBBIES THAT CAN SERVE OTHERS: The above picture is meaningful for helping find a way to use what they already love to help others. It is a list of possible leadership campaigns anyone could undertake. We are all called to make the world a better place. That starts by sharing what someone already loves.
HARVEST FESTIVAL 2022: The above picture reminds me of why I love Dickinson State University. Annually, there’s an event called Harvest Festival. I first started attending these events back in 2019. It’s always a great place to meet old friends. It’s always a great place to spend time with family. On this occasion, I was also a part of the event for the first time. I was coordinating a booth with my TR Scholars. We managed to give away all of the apples that are pictured. I wouldn’t have thought that would be possible. Initially, when I picked all the apples, I was fearful I would have to throw them away or cook with them. I’m not a big fan of cooking with apples. So I was pretty happy to see them all go.
ANOTHER SKETCHNOTE: The above picture provides an example of how to use a sketchnote for a speech. I created this sketchnote for one of my public speaking courses. I was explaining how students could manage their informative speech by planning that speech using a sketchnote. I encouraged my presenters to find five facts about someone they would love to learn more about, then use those five facts as talking points in their presentation. With this example, I was modeling an approach that allowed me to learn more about Theodore Roosevelt. In the example, I shared five meaningful facts about Roosevelt that showed how remarkable his ambition in life was. He was an enthusiastic individual. That enthusiasm helped him prepare for, and overcome challenges throughout his life.
FRAMEABLE ARTWORK: I created this poster as part of a college course where we had a theme of making "Lasting Statements on Leadership." This was an attempt share a message with people that could make a measurable difference in their lives. The message is one I believe strongly in. It's the idea that when we really want and need something in life, we must invest everything we have in attempting to get it. This means we obsess over the task of accomplishing it until we have.
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