Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

20 minutes – Part A: Activating Prior Knowledge
30 minutes – Part B: Jane Goodall: A Compassionate Leader
30+ minutes – Part C: Exploring Compassionate Leaders
25 minutes – Part D: Sharing And Analysing Findings
5 minutes – Reflection

Part A: Activating Prior Knowledge

Step 1.

Explain to the class that in this lesson we will be investigating what a leader is and what traits and characteristics compassionate leaders have. Read aloud the Learning Intentions and Success Criteria to the class. It can be helpful to have these written on the board or projected for the class to view.

Step 2.

Support students to form groups (3-5 students), and give each group a pile of sticky notes. Invite groups to write on the sticky notes as many different endings to the sentence starter “A leader is…” Ensure each sticky note only includes one sentence ending.

Allow 3-4 minutes for students to record their thoughts about leaders and leadership. If they are having difficulty generating ideas, encourage them to consider the following:

What makes a person a leader?
What do leaders do?
Are there different types of leaders?

Step 3.

Once students have had an opportunity to record their ideas on the sticky notes, write the sentence starter on the board.

Invite one group to share their best sentence ending with the class and stick it on the whiteboard. Ask if any other groups have a similar sentence ending that could be grouped together.

Give each group an opportunity to share their ideas and try and connect ideas into categories or themes.

Part B: Jane Goodall: A Compassionate Leader

Step 1.

Introduce the story of Jane Goodall, explaining that she spent a significant amount of time living amongst chimpanzees, observing their behaviour and that her work changed the way both chimpanzees and humans were viewed by scientists and society.

Step 2.

Select one of the following videos to show the class:

Jane Goodall - Animal Rights Activist (https://youtu.be/3ggIWRCcGaQ)
Jane: A Snapshot (https://youtu.be/n4SpRnujdjg)

Step 3.

At the conclusion of the video, invite students to form a pair and discuss the following questions (also available on the Student Worksheet):

Is Dr. Jane a leader? How? Why?
What type of leader is Dr. Jane?
What is significant about the work she has done?
How has her work changed the world? How can it continue to help change the world?

Once students have had sufficient time to discuss, invite them to share ideas as a class.

Step 4.

Display the Compassionate Leadership Skills and Traits infographic for students to view (Also available on the Student Worksheet). Explain that Jane Goodall’s Roots and Shoots program suggests that these are the skills and traits of compassionate leaders.

Take time to read through each one and suggest examples of each skill and trait. Invite students to suggest ways that Jane herself has shown these skills or traits.

Part C: Exploring Compassionate Leaders

Step 1.

In this activity, students will work in groups to research and develop a 3 minute slideshow about a leader. They will identify key achievements of their leader and reflect on whether they present skills and traits of a compassionate leader.

Support students to form six groups and hand out the Great Leaders Worksheet to each student. Assign a leader to each group and provide them with a Compassionate Leader Factsheet about one of the following people to use as their research:

Peter Garrett
Malala Yousafzai
Sophia Skaparis
James Fitzpatrick
Boyan Slat
Cathy Freeman

As there are many different leaders in the world, select people that will get your students' attention. Choosing leaders relevant to the world that students live in, can help keep them interested and engaged.

Step 2.

Referring to the Great Leaders Worksheet, discuss ways that students could distribute roles within the group to ensure that each member is involved.

For example:

One student works on finding pictures of the leader.
One student works on developing the slideshow.
One student reads the written bio and decides what to put on the slides.
One student researches additional information.

Differentiated Learning: It is recommended that you create groups in which students have different strengths so that they can collaborate and support each other.

Step 3.

Ensure that students are made aware of the amount of time they have to complete the task. While students are working, move between groups, observing their progress and providing support as needed. Consider the following factors when meeting with each group:

Do members of the group understand the expectations of the task?
Does each child know what their role is?
Are all students participating?
Does the group understand the information they have found?
Are they working efficiently?

Part D: Sharing And Analysing Findings

Step 1.

Once students have completed their slideshow, provide time for each group to share their presentation. Remind students that each group will only have a maximum of 3 minutes to present to ensure that everyone has an opportunity.

Step 2.

As each group presents, add the name of their leader to the board and discuss whether they are more or less compassionate than the other leaders, ranking them as you go.

Note: There is no right answer for this ranking. The goal is to prompt students to think critically about compassionate leadership skills and traits and how various leaders present them. If there is disagreement about rankings, you may choose to allow students to develop their own rankings rather than completing as a class.

Reflection

Encourage students to reflect on the compassionate leaders from the lesson and their traits and skill by completing the following activity on the Student Worksheet.

Draw a blue circle around the traits and skills of a compassionate leader that you believe you have.

Draw a red box around the compassionate leader(s) from the lesson you admire the most.

Explain why you admire this leader.

Draw a yellow cloud around the compassionate leader(s) from the lesson that you think you are most like.

Explain why you think you are like this leader.

How could you use your leadership skills to make a positive change?

Differentiated Learning

Part A:

It is recommended that you create groups in which students have different strengths so that they can collaborate and support each other in different ways. You may choose to encourage students to create their own rankings for the leaders explored, rather than completing it as a class.

Teacher Reflection

Take this opportunity to reflect on your own teaching:

What did you learn about your teaching today?
What worked well?
What didn't work so well?
What would you share?
Where to next?
How are you going to get there?

Roots & Shoots - What Makes a Great Leader?

Go to

Summary

Lesson guides and printables

In this lesson