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LESSON PLAN: Leadership

Video Segments


Objectives

  • To explore characteristics of leadership.


Table of Contents


Connecting to the Past

  1. Ask students to name some of the people they consider society's leaders today. Students might name persons in the local community if they wish. Review Profiles. Discuss the descriptions of several of these people. Invite students to write similar profiles for their favorite leaders.

  2. Have students switch their favorite personalities with some of those featured in Profiles. Challenge them to rewrite the profiles to combine the two characters. Encourage students to think creatively! Suggest also that instead of writing profiles, students might work in small groups or partner pairs to make a movie poster or book cover for one of the personalities featured in Profiles.

  3. Generals frequently reported bad news back to their presidents at different points in the Civil War. Robert E. Lee offered to resign after Gettysburg; Sherman was removed from his post early in the war; and Burnside resigned after his "mud march." Have students in partner pairs write "war memos" to their presidents reporting on a battle loss or victory. Students can add some of the following information to their notes also: who is responsible; what might be done next; how did the battle fit into the bigger picture of the war; what might be said to the families of those killed in the battle.

    Why must leaders be able to handle difficult situations? In what ways are they accountable? What kind of behavior is expected of them?


Thinking Critically

  1. Give students a copy of Frederick Douglass: Independence Day Address. Students might want to divide into pairs and read Douglass' speech together. While the language Douglass uses may be difficult for many students, the speech offers one example of how some free blacks became involved in abolition. How did black and white abolitionists help each other? What did each bring to the cause? Further exercises you might try with this speech are:

    • Have students isolate the one most important word in the speech.
    • Ask students to give five examples of arguments Douglass makes against slavery.
    • Ask students to write a short speech Douglass might have given on July Fourth of this year.

  2. Have students conduct a survey with people in a mall or on the streets to find out who they consider past and present examples of good leaders. What made, or makes, those people leaders? What are some common traits found in good leaders? Discuss the activity as a class. Which names, if any, were suggested most frequently?

  3. View Volume #147, Chapter 8. What distinguished the conditions these nurses worked in? What kinds of leadership qualities did these nurses possess?

  4. Have students work alone or in pairs to create Venn diagrams for Civil War leaders. Allow students to choose which two or more leaders they would like to compare. What leadership qualities did these people have in common? What set them apart from one another? A comparison of Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee would be one possibility. Discuss the activity as a class.

  5. View Volume #142, Chapter 5. What made Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass leaders for the abolitionist cause? What kinds of examples did they set?

  6. View the segment on Jefferson Davis. What was Davis' responsibility for the war? Do students think he behaved like a leader after the war? What were the reactions of northerners at the time? Southerners?


Empathizing with Personal Experience

  1. Leadership is a personal trait required not only of generals and political figures. It serves people in many ordinary situations, and it is necessary in times of crisis. Have students stand next to the wall. Tell them that you want to see how many of them think of themselves as leaders. Ask them to step forward when they hear a following situation in which they think they would exercise leadership.

    • A fellow student is hurt on a weekend trip. The leader is the one who notifies the trip organizer.

    • A car hits a bicyclist at an intersection. There are several other people standing about. The leader is the one who suggests what should be done first.

    • You are in an elevator when it suddenly stops. One of the people in the elevator is claustrophobic and begins to get anxious. The leader is the person who calms everyone down.

    • You are with friends when you are caught sneaking into a movie theater. The leader is the one who claims responsibility for the idea.

    Discuss the activity. When were students leaders? Ask students how they felt about the different situations. Which ones would have been the "easiest" and which the most "difficult" to assume leadership in? What risks would they have had to take as leaders in each situation? What would happen in each situation if no one assumed leadership? In what ways do events like wars create leaders and bring leadership qualities out in people?

  2. Harriet Tubman, known as "Moses" by many Americans, put her life in danger to help organize and operate the underground railroad. Have students research her activities and write a short biography (some information is provided in Profiles). How did she stand out as a leader? What distinguished her from others during that time period? Other figures students might write biographies for are: Clara Barton, Dorothea Lynde Dix, Frederick Douglass, Wendell Phillips, Harriet Beecher Stowe and Walt Whitman.

    To introduce possible subjects for biographical sketches, review Profiles.

    Students can design a role play around several of the Primary Source Documents provided. Recommended documents are:

    Divide students into groups and give each group copies of one of the documents. When groups have finished presenting their reader's theaters, discuss each as a class. Note that each person faced a unique set of challenges. How did these people show leadership? How did performing the reader's theater help students gain insight into the person they were playing?


Using What We Know

    Society has always been attentive to fashion--who's in, who's not, and who wears what. Fashionable dress does not make a leader, nor is it required of a leader, but it is often found among leaders. Have students look through magazines for examples of what they think is fashionable dress on leaders. Students can tape their examples to sheets of paper and indicate how the attire signifies leadership. Next ask students to list at least five fashionable adjectives that match their clothing examples and are synonymous with some kind of leadership.

    Do students think that it's possible to buy--or at least dress oneself in--leadership? Can they provide examples of popular personalities who might be considered leaders not for what they have done but for how they look or behave? What would your students choose to wear if they wanted to look important?

 

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