Creating Cartoons to Promote Leaderships Skills and Explore Leadership Qualities

Latisha L Smith; Courtney K Clausen; Jolene K Teske; Maryam Ghayoorrad; Phyllis Gray; Sukainah Al Subia; Dana Atwood-Blaine; Audrey C Rule

This document describes a strategy for increasing student leadership and creativity skills through the creation of cartoons. Creating cartoons engages students in divergent thinking and cognitive processes, such as perception, recall, and mental processing. When students create cartoons focused on a particular topic, they are making connections to their already developed schema by representing the idea or concept in a unique way. The cartoons presented in this report were created by an education professor, graduate students, preservice teachers, and third grade students. Many of the cartoons focus on the seven leadership skills articulated in Steven Covey's "Leader in Me" program. These skills include be proactive; begin with the end in mind; put first things first; think win-win; seek first to understand, then to be understood; and synergize. The seventh leadership habit, which Covey calls sharpen the saw, promotes self-care and health. Supplementary leadership concepts are presented in additional cartoons with the following themes: active development of leadership skills, leaders are creative problem solvers, schools need to promote creativity and problem-solving, leaders should make good decisions, service learning promotes leadership, parents and communities can help, leaders need to be able to express themselves well, the vision of a leader, leaders care about others, persistence in the face of challenges, and confidence is a leadership trait. The Appendix contains 213 full-color leadership-themed cartoons, many of which employ humor, wordplay, and other creative strategies. [Additional Contributing Authors Whose Cartoons are Featured (in alphabetical order by last name): Andrea Alert, Abigail Allen, Carol Anderson, Megan Anderson, Allison Arevalo, Jennifer Bange, Michelle Barker, Jaine Benson, Natalie Berning, Kailyn Bettle, Suzanne Blanchard, Carter Bridges, Samantha Bruess, Susan Bunch, Jesse Cox, Vanessa Engel, Jason Englert, Dixie Forcht, Joanna Freking-Smith, Paige Hageman, Laura Hahlen, Naethan Hoaglund, Kirstin Jacobson, Nicole Jurgersen, Jason Knittel, Allissa Knudsen, Katie Krill, Jennifer Kuskovski, Amy Langr, Jeff Mangold, Mara Meguire, Katelyn Melcher, Kristin Melcher, Kimberly Morische, Adam Naughton, Cheri O'Hagan, Ben Olsen, Kathy Oswald, Shelby Patterson, Sarah Peters, Ashley Robinson, Trela Rottinghaus, Jessica Scadden, Matt Schmidt, Lynette Schriever, Hannah Schueller, Laura Scott, Kimberly Sittig, Daniel Spooner, Emma Stevenson, Mary Sult, Susie Thurmond, Morgana Tjaden, Pamela Walsh, Angie Webb, Matt Willett, Jenifer Yates, and Laura Zelnio.]

Creating Cartoons to Promote Leaderships Skills and Explore Leadership Qualities

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