“Qualities of Leadership”
Ann Scott Hanks
11 Day Instructional Unit for Gifted Resource Grades 4+5
In chronological order through American history, this unit examines positive leadership in politics, science, social justice, the arts, sports and business.
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B7ke0Djl3fW4eXF3dzhMZHk0ekE&usp=sharing
Included in Unit
· Pre and Post test
· Daily Assessments for both content and process skills
· Problem-Based Learning Projects (with rubrics)
· Variety of high impact research based instructional strategies
· Many primary sources (both textual and visual)
· Map Skills
· Technology for instruction
· Technology for student products
· Activities for students who need an Extra Challenge/Fast Finishers
Integrated Throughout
· Science GPS
· Social Studies GPS
· Common Core Literacy Standards
· Relating history to current events
Day 1
Essential Question: How can we evaluate the choices leaders make?
Carousel Brainstorming
Pre-test
Define a positive leader as showing 9 traits
What are the Skills of a Historian
What are Higher-Order Thinking Skills
What are Learn to Learn Skills
Native American leaders: Tecumseh, Osceola, and Manteo had similar problems, but chose to solve them in very different ways. How could we evaluate their choices of how to deal with Europeans?
Day 2
Essential Question: Why is it important for a leader to be well-rounded?
Hook: Of what accomplishments are you proud?
Decision-Making Lesson: Which of Thomas Jefferson’s accomplishments had the greatest impact on others?
Project: Pretend that you are the curator of Jefferson’s fossil collection at Monticello, his home which is now a museum. Create an exhibit for pre-school and kindergarten age children to teach them about the fossils in Jefferson’s collection.
Day 3
Essential Question: How can words help people be positive leaders?
Hook: Have you ever had to give a speech? How did you feel? What did you consider while writing it?
Today we are going to discuss Abraham Lincoln as a leader who used the power of words to communicate his ideas thoughtfully and effectively.
Analyze Gettysburg Address
Analyze specific Lincoln quotes
Project: Pretend you are Lincoln giving a speech to convince farmers to adopt new technology, which many of them find expensive and confusing.
Day 4
Essential Question: How do leaders make thoughtful decisions?
Hook: Have you ever had to make a difficult decision? How did you decide what was the best thing to do?
Robert E Lee had to make many difficult decisions, but two of his most important decisions affected the outcome of the entire Civil War. The first was his decision about which side to fight for. Both the North and the South wanted him as a General. The second was his decision about whether or not to surrender, admitting defeat for the Confederacy but saving his soldiers from more losses. Today, we will analyze those two decisions with a focus on how Lee made decisions, and how leaders must predict the consequences of their decisions.
Analyze portraits of Lee before and after the War
Analyze Lee’s resignation letter from the US Army
Analyze section of Ulysses S Grant’s memoirs
Using the information called Interpreting Statistics, create graphs on War Casualties (disease vs battle)
OPTIONAL: museum role-play
Day 5
Essential Question: How can American leaders use the power of the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution to initiate change?
Hook: Begin class by telling students they no longer have the right to speak in class. Make a list of the feelings they have about this new rule.
Perspectives on women: Fact or Opinion?
Video Discussion: How do Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s and Susan B. Anthony’s actions show that they were working not for themselves but to teach others? Why was it important for them to teach others?
Compare/Contrast the Declaration of Independence of the United States and the Declaration of Sentiments from the Seneca Falls Convention
Project: Create a technology presentation that non-profit organizations could use to raise money for women’s rights in Africa
Day 6
Essential Question: How can leaders use the arts to inform and persuade?
Today we are going to analyze the work of two artists that documented life during the 1930s in America, the time of the Great Depression: John Steinbeck and Dorothea Lange. We are going to learn that artists use their work to teach people about the lives of others, so that hopefully we can be more compassionate and empathetic.
Analyze excerpts from The Grapes of Wrath to note how Steinbeck used real historical fact in an emotional way
Analyze four Lange photographs
Project: Use digital cameras to document life at your school. Put these photographs into a slide show, digital story, powerpoint, etc. The photographs should feature people’s emotions and give the audience an idea of life at your school. Along with the photographs, write a paragraph in the style of John Steinbeck (using emotion to show people’s feelings about their life at school).
Science Experiment: Build pinhole cameras and measure the amount of light for each pinhole size. Record and graph data.
Day 7
Essential Question: Why is it important for a leader to “lead by example”?
Hook: Have you ever done something because you saw someone else do it first? (either a good or a bad action)
Today we are going to learn about Jackie Robinson, and how he was a leader by being a positive role model in his behavior.
Literature: White Socks Only
Analyze Songs: Take Me Out to the Ball Game, Did You See Jackie Robinson Hit That Ball?
Analyze primary source documents written by Jackie Robinson
Science of Baseball: The Magic School Bus Plays Ball: A Book About Forces and http://www.exploratorium.edu/baseball/
Day 8
Essential Question: Does a leader have responsibility for how his or her ideas are used?
Hook: Has there ever been a time when you tried to explain something to someone, but they misunderstood you? How about when you told something to someone, and then they told someone else, and then when you heard it again it was not really what you had said in the first place?
Today we are discussing Albert Einstein and his role in the creation of the atomic bomb. Einstein was a theoretical physicist and mathematician. When he explained his ideas to people, they were then changed and used in ways he did not intend.
Reading comprehension questions
Play “Atomic Musical Chairs”
Decision-Making: Should we build a nuclear power plant in our town?
Project: Create a pamphlet to share with the people of your town that will convince them to support/oppose the plant.
Day 9
Essential Question: Should leaders have the right to make money off of discoveries that can benefit all people?
Explore DNA using interactive website
Make a DNA model using candy
Use the Tug of War Thinking Routine to analyze Human Genome Project race and the situation: Should a company be able to patent their discoveries about human DNA, and therefore make a profit by selling those discoveries to pharmaceutical companies that can use the information to make medicines that can help people?
Day 10
Essential Question: What makes someone an effective leader in the business world?
Mystery about Lee Iacocca: Was Iacocca successful at Chrysler corporation? How do you know?
Circle of Viewpoints: Based on the clues and what you already know, how would different people react to Iacocca’s success?
Business Dilemma
Project: Create a 30 second commercial either FOR or AGAINST Iacocca for President. The commercial should highlight his character and past career and explain how they would or would not qualify him for the Presidency.
Day 11
Essential Question: What are the qualities of a positive leader?
Hook: Have students tell about a buddy about times when they demonstrated each of the 9Cs of Leadership.
Developing my potential as a leader: Brainstorm the attributes of your personality that you think could be improved. Design a survey so that your peers can tell what they like best about you and what they like least about you. Choose the attribute of your personality you most need or would like to improve. Brainstorm as many ideas as you can on how you might improve this weakness.
Choose any 8 people from American history and rate them using 9Cs of Leadership Scorecard
Compass Points about leadership and historians
I used to think but now I think
Post-Test