Gwinnett County Public School

Advisement Program Lesson Plan

Grade Level: 8 Length of Lesson: 45 minutes

Topic: Behavioral Expectations

Lesson Plan Title: Preparing Tomorrow’s Leaders Today

Essential Question: Why are leaders important?

Career Focus: In the work force, it is important to have leaders. Leaders are people who often help others to see their vision and help further their career as well as others careers.

Materials Needed:

·  “Student Government Salary Survey” overhead (attached)

·  Chart or butcher paper

·  Paper

·  Pencil

·  Dry erase markers

·  Projector for video clip

Video Clip Link:

http://gtm-media.discoveryeducation.com/videos/23447/chp918887_256k.asf

Basic Outline:

I.  Introduction

II.  Video Clip

III.  Brainstorm about Leadership

IV.  Discuss benefits of Leadership

V.  Brainstorm how to become a student leader

VI.  Extension – plan of action.

Activity Introduction: (3 minutes)

Teacher will ask the students the following questions: “What makes a good leader? Why are leaders important? In what ways can middle and high school students become leaders?” Inform students that they are going to watch a short video about a sixteen-year-old leader who made a difference in his community.

Activity: (39 minutes)

  1. Teacher will show video. (6 minutes)
  2. Teacher will pose the following questions about Dan’s leadership: “What qualities made him a good leader? What did he do to help his community? Why is it important for every community to have people like Dan?” (4 minutes)
  3. Have students get into groups of 2-3. (2 minutes)
  4. Within their small groups, students should list the benefits of leadership. For reference, some examples include: feeling good about yourself, helping others, making a difference in the world, getting to know people, helping you achieve your goals. (5 minutes)
  5. As a whole group, have students share what they wrote on their lists. Briefly discuss their thoughts. (5 minutes)
  6. Pose the following question to the students: “Are colleges interested in only grades or do they look at other activities as well?” (2 minutes)
  7. Back in their small groups, have students brainstorm what kind of leadership activities they think universities would look for in students. Have students list these activities on their chart/butcher paper. (4 minutes)
  8. As a whole group, have students share what they came up with regarding leadership activities. For reference, some examples include: captains of sports teams, leaders of students government, leaders of honor societies, leaders of clubs found in high schools. (4 minutes)
  9. Facilitate a brief discussion with the following prompt, “Why would colleges be interested in having leaders come to their school?” Explain that colleges know these are the types of people who will initiate change and will help the university grow and prosper. (2 minutes)
  10. As an overhead or on the projector, show “Student Government Salary Survey” (attached). Review this information and briefly discuss. Have students share their impressions of this information. (5 minutes)

Mentor Focus Follow-up/Assessment Options:

EXTENSION: Encourage students to brainstorm about a volunteer organization they could begin. Who would they help? What kind of people would they want to join their organization? How would they raise money? What would they do to organize their new group? Would they choose to have one leader or have multiple leaders? How would this organization benefit the community?

If you have particularly ambitious students, you may encourage a group of students to act on their ideas and create a volunteer organization within the school. They could write up a plan and present it to the principal.

Quality Plus Teaching Strategies:

Collaboration

Modeling and practice

Problem-solving

Questioning

Background knowledge

Non-verbal Representation

GPS/AKS/:

8LA_A2005-5

8LA_A2005-6

8LA_D2005-21

8SK_A1999-2

8SK_A1999-8

Conclusion: (2 minutes)

As a whole group, have students brainstorm ways they can become leaders in their school, in their community, on their sports teams, or at their place of worship. Make a list on large chart paper or butcher paper as the students share. Hang poster in room to remind students throughout the year to get involved.

Student Government Salary Survey
Did you know that more than 71% of elected campus leaders get paid to serve? They rake in salaries, tuition waivers, scholarships, stipends, computer cell phones, reserved parking, concert tickets, clothing allowances, class credit, and more.
But why should Student Government officers receive even a dime of student fee money? Shouldn't they volunteer selflessly out of love for their schools?
What about students who have to work to pay their way through college? They probably couldn’t get involved without picking up a paycheck.
And what about schools where much is asked of campus leaders, including lobbying and student advocacy, not to mention managing the student union, bookstore, childcare and exercise facilities, and multi-million dollar budgets? Isn’t it desirable to attract the best students to serve in roles with that much responsibility?
There's no correct answer to these questions in the great pay debate. But Student Leader’s research has uncovered some clear trends over the past seven years:

§  More than 71% of schools nationwide offer some sort of compensation for their student leaders.

§  Among state universities, 85.88% of elected officers earn salaries.

§  At private colleges, 57.5% pay their officers stipends.

§  65.71% of community colleges offer tuition waivers or scholarships for their student leaders.

§  The larger the enrollment, the more likely the schools are to pay. Of the smaller schools (1,000 students enrolled), just 30% compensate their officers while 87% of the big schools (over 30,000 students enrolled) pay their student leaders.

Taken from the American Student Government Association website. (http://www.asgaonline.com)