PBIS: Leadership

Sample Lesson - Introduction

Lesson 1.01: Leadership at Home

 

Mwahaha! The world is mine... just as soon as I wash these dishes. (Source 1, Source 2; Images were combined.)

Nearly everything begins at home. Why? It's where you woke up this morning. At least, we hope so. If you're in the neighbor's yard again surrounded by shredded newspaper, you might be a werewolf. So, you know, look into that.

Even werewolves need leadership skills, though. How else do you take charge of your pack?

Leadership is one of those things that begins at home. You might think that's crazy talk, since your parents have been pretty clear about who the leaders in the household are (hint: it's them). There are ways to start, though. Honest.

For one thing, it's possible you have siblings. If you're the elder sibling, chances are you have some responsibility for the younger ones. This can be a form of leadership, either guiding them toward the right decisions (gumball pizza for dinner is never, ever a good idea) or merely offering them advice (studying before a test is much better than after).

You might be the youngest sibling, and the only thing you're leading are raids in your WoW guild. Actually, that's a form of leadership, too. While we at Shmoop are advocates for balancing gaming and learning, we also think that getting something out of it is good, too.

Besides, you can look to the example of your parents or brothers and sisters. What sorts of things worked with you? Knowing that can help you apply skills to other situations.

With those skills mastered, you can move on to leading student government, actual government, and so on.

Then, the world.

Sample Lesson - Reading

Reading 1.1.01: It Starts at the Homestead

Awesome, so you're ready to be a leader. What does that even mean? Presidents are leaders, but so are CEOs, movie directors, military officers, supervillains... the list goes on and on. You have options, is what we're saying here.

Googling the word "leadership" turns up thousands of definitions, but the best ones include some variation of "accomplishing goals through groups of people." From the time we're born to our first day of high school, we've needed parents to support, teach, and guide us. Even if they weren't there, we needed someone to fill that role. Certainly an infant won't dress himself/herself, use the toilet, or even eat without assistance.

So recognizing that we need our families, even if we don't want to, we can begin growing as leaders by starting four essential practices:

• Becoming a Self-Leader
• Learning to Follow
• Taking Responsibility
• Setting an Example

Becoming a Self-Leader

John Milton said, "He who reigns within himself and rules passions, desires, and fears is more than a king." In other words, to lead others, we need to lead ourselves. Of course, leading ourselves is more than just managing emotions, as Milton suggested.

To lead oneself, a person needs to be going somewhere. True leaders must set goals and strive to achieve them, to boldly go where no one has gone before. This begins at home.

Self-leadership will start to blossom once we look for new ways to improve our home life, set goals for achievement, and work to reach those goals. After that, it'll move out beyond the home into your life outside. Basically, your first step to leading others is to lead yourself. Makes sense, right?

Learning to Follow

A funky ol' Greek philosopher in robes (a.k.a. Aristotle) once said, "He who cannot be a good follower cannot be a good leader."

Let's go over that logic, shall we?

Part of being a good leader is knowing how to work with your followers. To do this, you need to understand them. One way to understand your followers is to see leadership from a follower's perspective, and what better way to do that than by being a follower?

If you don't understand or empathize with your followers, you run the risk of being a tyrant. Oops.

This isn't to say that a good leader absolutely had to have been a good follower first, or that being a good follower automatically makes you a good leader… but it sure helps.

In the home, you lay the foundation of leadership by following your parents or guardians. What's interesting about Aristotle is that he disagreed with his teacher, Plato, a lot, but he still followed him as his student. The same goes for you and your parents.

Besides respecting authority, it's important to recognize your parents or guardians as the leaders of your families. (And if you don't think they are, then think about where you'd be without them.) Households need to be maintained, and depending on your situation, that responsibility doesn't fall on one person alone. Family dynamics differ across cultures, but it's generally true that seniority rules, bro.

One day, it'll be you delegating chores and distributing allowance. Maybe.

Taking Responsibility

Part of being a good leader is being responsible. Really, we don't need to tell you that being responsible is a good quality to have, even outside of this context. If you're debating someone that responsibility is for weenies, you're wrong. End of story.

You know what we're talking about: doing your chores, budgeting your time, holding yourself accountable for your shenanigans, keeping an open line of communication with your parents or guardians, etc. Delaying, complaining, or forgetting to take care of your responsibilities won't prepare you to be a good leader.

If you take time to actively search for extra things to do around the house to improve our family's home life, then you enhance your leadership. It's about being proactive. Completing extra duties shows initiative and dedication, both common traits of good leaders. Of course, it doesn't hurt if a boost in your allowance results from your efforts.

Setting an Example

You don't want to be a bad role model. Really, you don't. While it may score you some cool points, you need to remember… adult currency doesn't recognize cool points. And we hate to break it to you, but if all goes according to plan, you'll be an adult for most of your life. Better start investing in the real world, Shmooper.

If you're an older sibling, you know. The stresses of having one or many mini-yous follow you around everywhere can be overwhelming, especially when they think you're the coolest person on Earth and will do everything you do because, well, you're Big Sib. You've got to watch what you do. No F-bombs. No freedom. Little brother is your Big Brother.

Being a role model for our younger siblings doesn't just mean doing the right things and hoping they'll see us. It's also not doing the wrong things.

And when (not if) this all gets annoying, it's important to react maturely. To develop better leadership skills, you need to learn how to manage your emotions. Be patient. Be understanding. Keep your composure. Anybody who leads in the world needs to do just that.

Not an older sibling? Think about your neighbor or the kids you see out in public. They're at an impressionable age, so watch yourself.

Sample Lesson - Activity