Changing Tomorrow 2

Leadership Curriculum for High-Ability Middle School Students (Grades 6-8)

Joyce VanTassel-Baska, Linda Avery

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781000491050
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

A well-rounded curriculum needs to address the more formalized development of leadership abilities that will ensure that young people acquire the knowledge and skills essential to assuming leadership roles. Changing Tomorrow 2: Leadership Curriculum for High-Ability Students offers instructional activities for high-ability middle school students based on the Common Core State Standards that emphasize critical and creative thinking skills and gives gifted students an opportunity to apply these skills in an integrative and substantive way. This book includes 11 lessons that address leadership skill development and assignments that require students to research and compile biographical information on seven influential men and women drawn from multiple disciplines and diverse backgrounds. Instructional questions, pre- and postassessments, and appropriate rubrics are also included.Grades 6-8

Part I
Introduction to the Unit

DOI:10.4324/9781003233619-1

Introduction and Overview of the Unit

Rationale

DOI:10.4324/9781003233619-2

The current clarion call in education to prepare students for the 21st century is an incentive to rethink elements of the curriculum that will best serve the interests of academically gifted and talented learners. One important component of a well-rounded curriculum is the inclusion of a formalized leadership development initiative to ensure these young people acquire the knowledge and skills essential to assuming leadership roles and to practice the habits of mind that will enable them to apply these behaviors in a conscientious and compassionate way. Incorporating such instructional opportunities into the curriculum offerings takes both planning and practice.

Changing Tomorrow 2 is designed to draw on some of the most powerful ideas associated with the newest paradigm in leadership development and to help teachers incorporate this knowledge into their curricula for high-ability students at the middle school level. Although all learners can benefit from the information and exercises included here, the pacing of the lessons, the emphasis on conceptual thinking skills, and the focus on independent biographical research are best targeted to the abilities and needs of the advanced learner.

The design of the unit incorporates three conceptual strands:

• ⌾ Biographical studies: The unit uses the biographies of seven leaders drawn from a cross-section of fields to showcase the abilities, skills, and mindsets correlated with leadership practice. These individual case studies can serve as role models for students. Diversity in gender and race was a factor in their selection as was the level of contribution each has made to date.
• ⌾ Generalizations about the concept of leadership: Based on the Taba (1962) Model of Concept Development, the unit is built around eight generalizations about leadership. These generalizations were culled from the theoretical and research base on the construct. Although there are myriad generalizations that can be articulated, the authors crafted these eight with an eye toward their prevalence in the professional literature and their salience for the age of the target population. The generalizations are included in Handout 1.1: Generalizations About Leadership, which is found in Lesson 1.
• ⌾ Ideas and exercises adapted from contemporary leadership literature: The unit incorporates ideas and activities that have been adapted from a variety of materials and training guides on how to teach leadership skills. These application exercises have been tailored to high-ability students in middle school.

Unit and Lesson Structure

Changing Tomorrow 2 is composed of 11 lessons that address leadership skill development at the middle school level for students in grades 6–8. Goals and outcomes for the unit focus on inspiring leadership behaviors, enhancing skills in communication and collaboration, understanding the breadth and complexity of the concept itself, and strengthening metacognitive development. The unit also includes a pre- and postassessment on the concept of leadership that can serve as the basis for measuring student learning gains and instructional effectiveness.

Appendix A contains the Teachers’ Rap Sheets, which consist of completed Biographical Charts for each of the leaders studied. They are not intended for distribution to students as they are akin to answer keys, but they will streamline the teacher’s preparation process. An annotated bibliography in Appendix B details the scholarship that underpins unit conceptualization, design, and content selection.

The instructional component of the unit is composed of 11 substantive lessons; most lessons are subdivided into four or five parts, resulting in about 35 hours of teaching time across the whole unit. Four of the lessons are overarching in scope. Lesson 1 focuses on the introduction of the concept of leadership itself and is constructivist in orientation. Lesson 9 has students share their presentations and the product they chose to develop to illustrate the life of an eminent person studied during the unit. Lesson 10 gives a panel of experts the opportunity to dialogue with students about these big ideas and real-world applications. Lesson 11 includes a final synthesis that requires students to integrate information from the individual case studies.

Seven of the lessons feature biographical case studies of famous world figures in different areas of contribution, including the arts, literature, world politics, and scientific innovation and creativity. Each of the figures demonstrates multiple generalizations about leadership, from having vision, to communicating effectively, to motivating others, to initiating important deeds and work, to persevering in the face of adversity. They also all demonstrate well the interplay of inner and outer forces that come together to make leaders effective in a given domain. The leaders show how innovation and creativity on the part of individuals can lead to a lasting contribution to society. In the cases of Robert Ballard (Lesson 2) and Charles Darwin (Lesson 3), we see two scientists grappling with understanding concepts beyond current understanding and rendering them empirically sound. In the cases of Duke Ellington (Lesson 5) and Pablo Picasso (Lesson 6), we see two giants in the artistic world create new forms and media through which to express the human condition. In the cases of Margaret Thatcher (Lesson 4) and Nelson Mandela (Lesson 8), we see two 20th-century leaders of the world reveal how their life histories prepared them for their role in leading governments. Finally, in Emily Dickinson (Lesson 7), we see the gifted introvert whose outward demeanor would suggest nothing of her inward capacities to create new poetic form and meaning multum in parvo. Yet taken together, these seven luminaries illustrate well the generalizations of the unit.

Across the seven biographical lessons, there are some common threads. Each lesson begins with the in-class amalgamation of biographical information from the independent research students have conducted as homework. Students are expected to complete a Biographical Chart for each leader studied that requires them to abstract, prioritize, and summarize information on their own. In Part I of the in-class portion of each biographical lesson, students work with the teacher to create a master chart to ensure that there is a common understanding of the important elements of the leader’s life. Part II of each of these lessons uses questioning techniques that require students to analyze, evaluate, and synthesize information, linking the leader’s biography to the concept of leadership. Part III of most lessons is an application of a task derived from one of the generalizations studied in the unit. Part IV is typically focused on metacognitive awareness, using journal writing or other task demands that encourage self-reflection on the person and ideas studied and how they relate to the students’ own leadership potential and development. Each instructional lesson concludes with student handouts.

In addition to the instructional parts, most lessons contain Assessment, Homework, and Extensions sections. Many of the extensions can be substituted for in-class work or homework, but they are primarily designed for independent study for individual students or small clusters of students.

Technology Requirements

The unit relies heavily on student access to the Internet to do the biographical research, and some lessons require that videos from the Internet be shown to the class as a component of an instructional activity. Suggested websites are included as starting points for students to begin their Internet research; however, the teacher can select additional sites for students to use as he or she sees fit. The teacher will also need to reproduce the handouts in the unit for distribution to the students.

Adapting the Unit for Local Needs

Like a three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle, the pieces of this unit on leadership interlock to ensure that the goals and outcomes are well covered. However, in education one size does not fit all classrooms. In order to make adjustments that will best suit local school parameters, the authors recommend that teachers first read all 11 lessons. This will reveal how the parts of each lesson tie together and build upon one another as the unit progresses.

If adjustments are needed, here are some ideas for consideration:

• ⌾ The biographical research can be done as an in-class activity. In most instances, this will add another period to the length of the whole lesson. In districts where home access to computers is limited and public libraries are not easily accessible, this adaptation would still allow the unit to be taught. If done as an in-class activity, the number of elements students have to document should be reduced from five to three.
• ⌾ The task requirements for the completion of the Biographical Charts by students can be stratified. The preferred model is that all students complete all assigned elements in the Biographical Chart. If this is too time-consuming and/or too repetitive, students can take responsibility for different elements in the chart. All students should read or view all of the material assigned for the research, but the time allocated to documenting the knowledge regarding a leader’s life story can be reduced with this approach.
• ⌾ The unit is designed for consecutive sequencing in the curriculum, and Parts I and II of each lesson should be delivered back to back. However, in some lessons, there can be spacing between Parts II and III without great loss in instructional continuity.
• ⌾ Journal writing, which is typically found in Part IV of the lessons, can be done as homework. Teachers can preselect the questions they wish students to explore.

Three Clarifications to Facilitate Unit Implementation

The authors offer three clarifications as a kind of “heads up” in implementing this unit:

• ⌾ There is a section included on the Teachers’ Rap Sheet that is omitted on the student’s blank Biographical Chart for each leader studied. The section is called Lasting Impact and Contributions. In the set of questions provided in Part II of each of the biographical lessons, there is a question asking students to identify these for each leader studied. Students were not asked to document this information as part of the homework because the intent is to get them to think on their feet during class to respond to this prompt.
• ⌾ The Internet research on the seven leaders studied is the primary basis for homework in the unit. In order to help students budget their time for conducting this research, teachers may want to distribute the full list of leaders studied, the recommended websites, and the due dates for completion of the Biographical Charts at the end of the first class session. This will ensure that students have plenty of time to complete the homework before each new lesson is started.
• ⌾ There is intentional overlap on some of the Internet sites to which students are directed; their rereading of biographical material is designed to reinforce it in their memory banks. Although students are not tested on these biographical details, they need to have a fairly comprehensive knowledge of each leader’s life story in order to construct responses to the questions pondered in the in-class discussions and in journal entries.

Curriculum Framework: Goals and Outcomes of Changing Tomorrow 2

DOI:10.4324/9781003233619-3

The following are goals and outcomes of Changing Tomorrow 2.

1. To provide role models for young people that will inspire leadership by example as an encouragement to seek and fulfill leadership roles and responsibilities for themselves. Students will be able to:
   • ○ conduct biographical research on leaders using the Internet,
   • ○ identify and evaluate the characteristics and skills of various leaders, and
   • ○ synthesize the factors that contribute to effective leadership, including the talent development process.
2. To develop skills in communication and collaboration to deepen student understanding of the complex demands and challenges of leadership. Students will be able to:
   • ○ develop listening skills that promote their understanding of other perspectives,
   • ○ articulate their ideas in written and oral form, and
   • ○ work individually and in multiple group settings to carry out an agenda or execute a sophisticated task demand requiring more than one person’s effort.
3. To understand the construct of leadership as it manifests within and across various fields of human endeavor. Students will be able to:
   • ○ construct a definition of leadership,
   • ○ elaborate on team-building and conflict resolution skills as dimensions of effective leadership, and
   • ○ apply leadership knowledge and/or skills to real-world problem resolution.
4. To develop metacognitive skills that will strengthen leadership capacity-building. Students will be able to:
   • ○ articulate the skill sets and habits of mind of past and present leaders,
   • ○ create products that reflect an understanding of leadership expectations and/or apply and assess selected leadership skills in carrying out multilayered task demands, and
   • ○ reflect on their own leadership strengths and weaknesses through the creation of a personal profile.

Alignment of the Changing Tomorrow Series With National Standards

DOI:10.4324/9781003233619-4

In any new curriculum endeavor for gifted learners, it is crucial to show how it responds to the national view of curriculum standards in relevant areas. The following alignment framework shows how the Changing Tomorrow units respond to the 2010 NAGC Pre-K–Grade 12 Gifted Education Programming Standards, 21st-century skills (Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2011), and the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers, 2010).

Alignment to the NAGC Pre-K-Grade 12 Gifted Education Programming Standards in Curriculum and Assessment

The Changing Tomorrow units align to the NAGC Pre-K–Grade 12 Gifted Education Programming Standards in the following ways:

• ⌾ Scope and sequence development: The Changing Tomorrow units offer a set of interrelated emphases/activities for use across grades 4–12, with a common format and within a key concept on leadership with interrelated generalizations.
• ⌾ Use of differentiation strategies: The authors used the central differentiation strategies emphasized in the standards, including critical and creative thinking, problem solving, inquiry, research, and concept development.
• ⌾ Use of acceleration/advancement techniques, including performance preand postassessments, formative assessment, and portfolios: The authors used all of these strategies as well as advanced research skills to ensure a high level of challenge for gifted and advanced students.
• ⌾ Adaptation or replacement of the core curriculum: The project extends the Common Core State Standards by ensuring that gifted learners master them and then go beyond them in key ways. Some standards are mastered earlier (e.g., reading and language skills), while others are practiced at higher levels of skill and concept in these leadership units.
• ⌾ Use of culturally sensitive curriculum approaches leading to cultural competency: The authors have employed international and American multicultural leaders to ensure that students have an appreciation for the contributions of different cultures to our world today.
• ⌾ Use of research-based materials: The authors have included models and techniques found to be highly effective with gifted learners in enhancing critical thinking, text analysis, and persuas...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Part I: Introduction to the Unit
• Part II: Pre- and Postassessments and Rubric
• Part III: Lessons
• References
• Part IV: Appendices
• About the Authors
• Common Core State Standards Alignment