Click here for a recording of the meeting. Click here for a PDF version of the slides.
Click here for this month's family newsletter in English and here for the newsletter in Spanish. 
Click here for the link to the 2016-17 Classroom Champions Planning Manual to find even more resources on Leadership! This month's video lesson may contain several big points:
- Modeling- how to recognize when a leader is worth following and what leaders have influenced the mentors.
- Communication- how to communicate well when leading a group, and how actions speak louder than words.
- Values- the importance of having integrity, ethics and honesty when leading.
- Your mentor may challenge your students to:
- Commit to being a leader in small ways over the upcoming months
- Learn more about people generally admired for being great leaders.
- Think about what skills they can develop to become effective leaders.
You may want to prepare for watching the video lesson by:
- Thinking about your personal definition of what a leader is and qualities that a leader has
- Learn about some of the great leaders in the past and present and delve into everyday leaders.
- Having students create T-Charts with their definitions of what they think a leader is and the qualities leaders exemplify.
There will be lots of information that will be helpful in planning this topic below. Please pick and choose what works best for you and your students. Texts will be at the bottom of this blog entry.
Vocabulary Development
It may be helpful for your students to develop their definition of leadership by looking at the different types of leaders that exist:
- Public Service Leaders- a leader who might be someone who is in the public eye and serves others.
- Breaking Boundaries- someone who has broken boundaries to achieve new things- for example a scientist or an explorer and looking at the impact that they have had on the world today.
- World Leaders- this a great time to discuss the difference between being elected into an official position of leadership and exemplifying leadership qualities.
- Cultural Leadership- create this definition with your students while thinking about what it means to exhibit empathy and tolerance with those who differ from you in cultural traditions.
Classroom Champions Leaders:
- This is a great topic to take some time and really observe your Classroom Champions mentors. What leadership qualities do they exemplify during their sport and away from their sport?
- Be sure to take some time and dive into the other mentors across the Classroom Champions community- your students could compare and contrast the qualities between the mentors to see what similarities arise and how that relates to leadership qualities.
- Look at the leaders that the mentors mention in their video- whether it's a coach, friend or family member. Have your students look into why they think those people are leaders in your mentor's life.
Looking at local leaders:
- Invite some local leaders into your classroom or take a field trip to visit some local leaders. Have your students look at qualities and how they can relate them to their everyday actions.
- Students can dive into who their personal leaders are. Students can interview their role models, write a newspaper article or even share a simple story about their leaders.
- Celebrate the leaders in your school! Your students may want to write thank you cards or create certificates for someone they look up to in their everyday life.
- Make sure to have your students bring this topic home to their families. Families may give some surprising answers on who their personal leaders are.
Lesson Ideas:
- Have your students participate in a leadership activity, whether it's buddy reading or teaching another class a skill.
- Conduct a "good" handshake lesson or mock job interviews. This ties into the idea that the appearance of leadership goes a long way when wanting your ideas to be taken seriously.
- Scholastic has a lesson plan here in which students can research great American leaders.
- Robyn Thiessen's class created "Wanted" posters of people that were "Wanted" for their excellent leadership qualities. Take a further look at her lesson here.
- Another teacher, Christine Berman, hosted a "Leader's Luncheon" with her class and school. Interested? Check out that lesson idea here.
- Collette Simpson's class tied in Leadership with their parent-teacher conferences! Her students brought in pictures of their role models and even wrote a movie script based on leadership! Take a look at her lesson here.
- Another teacher combined Women's History Month with the topic of Leadership! Her students researched fierce women leaders and chose their favourite leader! Check out that awesome lesson here.
Online Resources:
- Kid President! He's got some great videos on what it means to be a leader and how to be a leader. Check out his YouTube playlist here.
- A great website can be found here in which your students can learn more about leadership.
- Take a look at this article here about 7 Children who changed the world!
- This is a great video here about 10 kids who changed the world!
- Here is a cute infographic about the "Art of Leadersheep".
Book Resources:
- Biographies! This is a list of the most popular children's biographies and a perfect topic for your students to dive into them and perhaps even write their own!
- The Giving Tree: Shel Silverstein- This story can teach your students how great leaders put other people's interests first.
- What Do People Do All Day? Richard Scarry- The littles can use this story to identify the different people in their community and pick which ones they think might be leaders.
- Mr. Tiger Goes Wild: Peter Brown- A great book about a tiger who goes wild while remaining true to himself and breaking social norms.
- The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: William Kamkwama and Bryan Mealer- The story of a fourteen year old boy who spends his days in the library trying to figure out how to bring electricity to his drought ridden village in Malawi.
- To Kill a Mockingbird: Harper Lee
- The Last Book In the Universe: Rodman Philbrick- The story of an epileptic teenager, named Spaz, who begins the heroic fight to bring human intelligence back to the planet.
- Don't forget to check out the Planning Manual for more great book suggestions!
A few interesting resources for you as a learner:
- Stacking the Deck: A book by a close CC friend, David Pottruck, this book dives into how to lead breakthrough change against any odds.
- Kids Deserve It: A book by former CC teacher and now current CC principal, Todd Nesloney and his friend Adam Welcome. This book is tackles pushing boundaries and challenging conventional thinking when it comes to teaching.
- Ted Talks has a great playlist involving 12 talks on how to be a great leader. You can view that playlist here.
Leadership Quotes to inspire discussion:
- “Leadership is not about being in charge. Leadership is about taking care of those in your charge.” - Simon Sinek
- “He who cannot be a good follower cannot be a good leader.” – Aristotle
- “Leadership is action, not position.”– Donald H. McGannon
- “A good leader inspires others with confidence in him; a great leader inspires them with confidence in themselves. ”– Unknown
- “The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things.”– Ronald Reagan
- “Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.”– John F. Kennedy
- “I never thought in terms of being a leader. I thought very simply in terms of helping people.”– John Hume
- “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way.”– John C. Maxwell
- “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”– John Quincy Adams
“The leaders who work
most effectively, it seems to me, never say “I”. They don’t think “I.” They think “we”; they
think “team.” – Peter Drucke
From all of us here at Classroom Champions, have a great Leadership month!!
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