Lesson Plan ‘The Concept of Leadership’

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Parallel Model Overview Lesson Plan

The parallel Overview Lesson Plan presented involves a lesson on ‘The Concept of Leadership’, suitable for pupils in grades 5 and 6.

Unit Name: The Concept of Leadership; Subject Area Concerned: Social Studies; Grade level: 5, 6

The above lesson is designed for a grade five and/or grade six classes with a mixture of students of various learning abilities. The lesson does not target gifted students, and it is recommended that students of different learning abilities should be joined together to take these lessons.

Assignments and group activities intended for reinforcing the concepts and ideas learnt in class will be used throughout the lessons. The lessons are estimated to last for about four weeks, with four one-hour lessons (4 hours) a week as the recommended maximum.

Unit Summary

The lesson has been constructed to enable the pupils understand the concept of leadership in its broad spectrum. The lessons’ paramount aim is to inculcate in the students the concept of leadership as an act, and not a position or title – that leadership is action oriented.

The lessons will also help the students gain an understanding of leadership in the social, political, and religious spheres. The students will then analyze the concept of leadership in these contexts through various designed class activities and assignments.

Using various sources of information, students will be guided to gain an understanding on the sub-concepts of leadership – effective leadership, decisive leadership, and failed leadership. Historical accounts of leaders in the social, political, and religious sectors of American life will be analyzed with a view to helping the students discern the role of leaders in changing society for the better.

The overall aim of the lesson is to enable students to acquire leadership skills to enable them overcome different challenges in their own lives by applying the concepts and skills learnt in class.

Parallels Targeted

The parallel of Curriculum: The lessons will aid the students to acquire knowledge about leadership and its role in society, as well as its different applications in their personal lives.
The Parallel of Identity: The students will analyze their own strengths and abilities as leaders during various situations they encounter or will encounter in life. The students will also give instances where they felt the leaders in their lives failed them by the directions they took, or the decisions they made.
The Parallel of Connection: The students will analyze various historical crises in America and pass judgment on the social (civil), political and religious leaders involved during the particular crises.
The parallel of Practice: Students are always involved in classes activities that involve dealing with a group of fellow schoolmates, and many of the situations that are arise in these gatherings require leadership at one point or another. The lessons will aid the students in assuming leadership roles in various settings and context, for instant in school teams, classes, clubs, neighborhoods, and family.

Standards – Program of Studies (POS) and Standards of Learning (SOL)

The students will be taught and examined within the American standards of education. National standards of education help in guiding the work of teachers (Berube, 2004, p.264)

A. History: The students will analyze the various historical accounts involving leadership crises in the social, political, and religious spheres of America. These accounts will include (but not limited to) The Bay of Pigs Fiasco (1961), The Civil War (1861-65), The Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka Ruling (1954), and the Rosa Parks Incident.

The students will also analyze various historical and current accounts involving leadership by various persons that can be termed is effective or decisive leaders.

The tutor will finally present a collection of various simulated and hypothetical situations concerning leadership, where the students will be expected to pass judgment on whether the leadership decisions taken in these hypothetical situations are effective or not.

This will be followed by presentation by the teacher of actual historical accounts involving situations similar to those hypothesized, and their real outcomes. This activity will help in improving the students’ historical analysis skills.

B. Civics: Students will be presented with various documents of importance, written, signed, or formulated by leaders in current and historical contexts, with a view to determining the leaders’ leadership skills decipherable within the writings of the documents.

These documents include (but not limited to) The Emancipation Declaration (1863), The Civil Rights Act (1964) , the Supreme Court ruling on Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka (1954), and other such documents.

C. Geography: Students will analyze the concept of leadership in various regions of the world, with a view to making the students understand the different concepts of leadership amongst different cultures in the world.

The students will learn that collectivist cultures like those found in Nordic countries like Finland abhor one-man leadership styles, while individualistic cultures like the American culture are comfortable with vesting executive powers on various leadership roles in the country, including the presidency.

Assessment of the Lessons

The lessons will be assessed by use of various assessment parameters and instruments. The use of various elements of assessment diversifies the options for the educator (Ayala et al, 2008, p.316; Mady, Arnott, & Lapkin, 2009, p.728). Assessment will be done through:

A. Observation: The teacher will assess the group based on the observable entities of class participation, level of interest, level of communication with fellow students, and attendance.

B. Role-playing: During the lessons, the students will be required to assume various roles of leaders within the context of a school setting viz. as teachers teaching students, as coaches of a school team needing motivation, as the school principal addressing students on a day when a tragic incident occurred in school, and various other role-plays.

C. Class Presentations: The students will each be required to write an essay on ‘My most favorite President’ giving cogent reasons why they regard the President as being decisive and having good leadership skills. The essays will be graded on several areas like presentation skills, suitability of arguments, and other such areas.

D. Self-assessment by students: Students will be asked to identify areas in their lives where they feel they need to improve their leadership skills, and this exercise will involve the students reviewing themselves – peer review.

D. End of Lessons assessment: Students will be given various situational leadership crises and asked to provide an opinion on resolving these crises.

Teaching Methods Used

A. Instructions: The class notes on ‘The concept of leadership’ will shared in class. Various books on the topic will also be distributed in class, with extra material for reading available in the school library indicated accordingly.

B. Debate: Students will be asked to debate the contents of various texts presented in class with an aim of facilitating better understanding of the topic.

C. Video: The students will be shown various recorded speeches, events and locations by video, to enhance the learning experience.

D. Learning Activities: Learning activities planned will include group discussions, discussions involving the whole class, and critical analysis activities.

References

Ayala, C., Shavelson, R. J., Araceli Ruiz-Primo, M., Brandon, P. R., Yue, Y., Furtak, E., & Tomita, M. K. (2008). From formal embedded assessments to reflective lessons: the development of formative assessment studies. Applied Measurement in Education, 21(4), 315-334.

Berube, C. T. (2004). Are standards preventing good teaching? Clearing House, 77(6), 264-267.

Mady, C., Arnott, S., & Lapkin, S. (2009). Assessing AIM: A study of grade 8 students in an Ontario School Board. Canadian Modern Language Review, 65(5), 703-729.

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