Leadership Reflection Report: Class Activities and Experiences

This report delves into the multifaceted concept of leadership through the lens of reflective writing, class activities, and personal experiences. It begins by defining reflection and its academic significance, emphasizing its role in self-assessment and knowledge acquisition. The report then explores how various class activities, such as teamwork assignments, think-pair-share sessions, and quick writes, have shaped the student's understanding of leadership, highlighting the development of crucial skills like conflict resolution and effective communication. Furthermore, the report examines how diverse experiences, including interactions with high-performing peers, have influenced the student's perspectives on leadership, underscoring the importance of adaptability, forward-thinking, and the ability to recognize opportunities for growth. The report concludes by reiterating the value of reflective practices in enhancing learning and fostering leadership capabilities, underscoring the importance of experience in shaping leadership. This report is a great resource for students studying leadership and management.

REPORT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Demonstrate an understanding of the ways in which reflection is defined and understood
academically................................................................................................................................1
Describe how the various class activities have shaped the understanding and affects the
capacity to lead or to follow........................................................................................................2
Describe other experiences which are relevant to thoughts, ideas and views of leading and
leadership....................................................................................................................................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Leadership is considered as the most important aspect of organisation that helps the
individuals to improve their skills and performance level Robertson (2016). Person can
effectively learn from persons present in their study or work environment. In the present report
understanding of the various ways will be demonstrated in which reflection can be defined and
understood academically. Various ways will be described how the class activities helps in
shaping the understanding and it brings effect on capacity to lead. The report will further
describe about other experiences which are relevant and affects the thoughts, ideas and views of
leading and leadership.
MAIN BODY
Demonstrate an understanding of the ways in which reflection is defined and understood
academically
Reflection can be described as the way of assessing own-self or this is the thoughts and
views regarding a particular topic or subject. Reflective study is also considered as the authentic
learning environment and this helps me to focus on various important and essential insights that I
have gained in the academic study or coursework Nelson (2016). Reflection is nothing but
thinking about something and expressing the views and opinions about it on the piece of paper.
Reflecting and composing self-writing is becoming very important and significance element for
any kind of learning and/ or study.
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Illustration 1: Learning through Reflection

I focused on keeping a journal over the course of semester so that it help in outlining the
understanding about subject or topic of leaders and leadership and also helps in shaping the
understanding and my participation in the coursework. The reflection on the topic leaders and
leadership helps me to revise the course work. My learning and understanding about this topic as
because one can easily learn and regain knowledge and understanding from their own piece of
reflection writing Griggs & et.al., (2018). This is considered as the effective tool, technique or
instrument through which I can easily and effectively translate my experiences, views and
thoughts into the dynamic knowledge. Through reflecting on the coursework topic that is leaders
and leadership, I can review about my knowledge, understanding and experiences. This will
assist me to develop and increase my understanding as the reflection is concerned with
developing own ideas and thought from the experiences and understanding.
The process of reflection helps me to foster various skills as well. Such as I developed
my analytical and critical thinking skill, I learnt to make use of various models and theories and
increased understanding about the topic terms Rodriguez Triana & et.al., (2017). This can be also
said or referred as the meaning-making process because it helped me to move from one of my
experience to the next experience but with better and deeper understanding about its connection
or relationship with other ideas and experiences. I can effectively acquire knowledge and
understanding about the terms leaders and leadership through reflecting on it and on the
coursework materials Gould & Taylor (2017). This is because within the reflection process, I aim
at critically defining the topic terms which is considered as the natural outcome in the reflective
journalising. Knowledge and understanding about something or some topic can not be acquired
easily because someone told that it was true. But it is gained when it is critically analysed and
journalised. And thus, through reflective journalising on the topic leaders and leadership, I
understood and acquired knowledge regarding it. I can also effectively maintain the
understanding and knowledge it because this is gained after spend lot of time for contemplating
new thoughts and ideas Tjosvold & Tjosvold, M. (2015).
Describe how the various class activities have shaped the understanding and affects the capacity
to lead or to follow
The various class activities has effectively shaped my understanding about the topic
leaders and leadership. The teachers encouraged me to do work on team assignments and
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projects. As the teamwork is very essential and important for everyone and for leaders as well.
Team activities helped me to share my views and ideas with others and other members of the
team were also openly sharing their views and knowledge. Through this activity of the class, I
gained extra knowledge about the term leadership Tully & Et.al., (2018). Team work activities
taught me how to confront our views and ideas with others effectively and this is considered as
an important element for the leaders. They are required to take effective participation in the
decision-making process of the organisation. Leaders are required to share their knowledge and
also encourage people for sharing theirs.
In the team projects and assignments, in some situations, I and other team members were
not agreed on common or same thing that lead to arise of conflicts. The conflicts generally arises
in the business situations as well, and at that time leader is responsible for effectively resolving
it. In our course work and class activities, teachers were responsible for resolving the conflicts
and that taught me how to follow the lead in effective manner Gebert, Heinitz & Buengeler
(2016). The conflicts happening in the class or team-activities were some time resolved by us
only, that helped me to learn ways for resolving the conflicts effectively. Thus, this classroom
activity helped me to gain understanding and knowledge about how to resolve the workplace
conflicts effectively which is very important in the context of leadership.
One of the classroom activity was think-pair-share. This activity allowed me and other
students to pause and process about what we have just learned. This activity included that teacher
used to read some concepts about leadership or leadership styles or theories. Then teacher asked
the class if we have any question about this topic. We were given time for thinking and
discussing the question with our neighbour. After the discussion about the question, teacher used
to invite students for sharing the answers with whole class. This process or activity helped me to
get more engaged in the learning and increasing my understanding about the topic leadership.
Quick Writes was another classroom activity that has shaped my understanding and also
bring positive impact on my learning Carleton, Barling & Trivisonno (2018). This activity also
brought positive impact on my capacity for leading and/or following. This activity involved that
teacher used to give instruction or teach us about leadership roles and responsibilities within the
organisation and then gave us sometime for reflecting on it. This classroom activity is considered
as the great way for providing students with learning and increasing their understanding for any
topic through reflection. Reflecting on something refers to commenting or writing on that with
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the view to express own ideas or opinions. In this activity, I usually asked a question to myself
regarding the particular topic and then write response to it or comment on it. And through this
way I successful increased my knowledge and understanding about the leadership and this
activity also affected my capacity to lead in positive and effective way.
Describe other experiences which are relevant to thoughts, ideas and views of leading and
leadership
The different experiences of person lead to bring changes and influences in their
thoughts, views and life circumstances Beech, McGill & Brockbank (2017). Effective leadership
also requires various experiences so that it can deliver clarity of thoughts and views, along with
the ability for embracing differences. Such experiences also helps to broaden the observation
skills so that one can see beyond the obvious. Through diverse and unique experiences, one can
fully adapt to more strategically-focused, forward thinking and entrepreneurial mindset. This
change or shift in mindset is required for recognizing the growth and development opportunities
which are generally embedded in every circumstances, situations and obstacles.
One of the experience that I consider led to bring changes in my thoughts, views and
ideas about leading and leadership is that I was surrounded by talented peers and collogues. My
views about leadership got influenced by the high performance environment in which my peers
who were instinctively focused for doing more than what was asked to them (6 Critical
Experiences Are Essential To Most Effectively Lead, 2014). They were always looking for
opportunities for learning and gaining experiences from their working environment. This
experiences taught me that I was surrounded with many opportunities and I just need to focus on
for capturing it. My views about leadership and leading emerged through this experience and by
working in such working environment. The leaders are the important element that helps in
creating and maintaining such organisational culture. They aim at adapting to different styles of
leadership that helps in bringing positive influences in the organisation. Leaders also focus on
bringing improvements in the skills, abilities and knowledge of employees.
CONCLUSION
In the report it is being discussed that how reflective writing can help in academic studies
and learning. The reflection process helps the students to revise their knowledge and
understanding about certain subjects and topic. The report also explains about the various
classroom activities that helps in shaping the understanding about particular topic. Classroom
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activities generally focuses on improving the skills, knowledge and behaviour of students that
helps them to achieve successful results in their personal and professional career. In this report,
different activities of classroom are described that assists in shaping the understanding of student
and also affects the capacity for leading or following. Various other experience are also being
described in the report that are relevant to the thoughts, ideas and views about leading and
leadership.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journal
Beech, N., McGill, I., & Brockbank, A. (2017). Reflective learning in practice. In Reflective
learning in practice (pp. 30-40). Routledge.
Carleton, E. L., Barling, J., & Trivisonno, M. (2018). Leaders’ trait mindfulness and
transformational leadership: The mediating roles of leaders’ positive affect and
leadership self-efficacy. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science/Revue canadienne des
sciences du comportement. 50(3). 185.
Gebert, D., Heinitz, K., & Buengeler, C. (2016). Leaders' charismatic leadership and followers'
commitment—The moderating dynamics of value erosion at the societal level. The
Leadership Quarterly. 27(1). 98-108.
Gould, N., & Taylor, I. (2017). Reflective learning for social work: research, theory and
practice. Routledge.
Griggs, V. & et.al., (2018). From reflective learning to reflective practice: assessing
transfer. Studies in Higher Education. 43(7). 1172-1183.
Nelson, M. R. (2016). Developing persuasion knowledge by teaching advertising literacy in
primary school. Journal of Advertising. 45(2). 169-182.
Robertson, J. (2016). Coaching leadership: Building educational leadership capacity through
partnership. New Zealand Council for Educational Research. PO Box 3237, Wellington
6140 New Zealand.
Rodriguez Triana, M. J. & et.al., (2017). Monitoring, awareness and reflection in blended
technology enhanced learning: a systematic review. International Journal of Technology
Enhanced Learning. 9(ARTICLE). 126-150.
Tjosvold, D., & Tjosvold, M. (2015). Reflection: Learning to be a Better Team. In Building the
Team Organization (pp. 192-202). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Tully, V. & Et.al., (2018). Learning from errors: assessing final year medical students’ reflection
on safety improvement, five year cohort study. BMC medical education. 18(1). 57.
Online
6 Critical Experiences Are Essential To Most Effectively Lead. 2014. [Online]. Available
through: <https://www.forbes.com/sites/glennllopis/2014/09/29/6-critical-experiences-
are-essential-to-most-effectively-lead/#47f2b18a5fe4>
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