Leading for Everyone, Not Just Your Friends
TARGET:
9-11 years
INTENSITY:
25 min / 2x per week
LEARNING GOAL
Developing Emotional Awareness When Interacting with Others
PEDAGOGICAL INTENTION
Reacting While Taking into Account My Emotions and Others'
Target SKILLS
Socio-emotional Intelligence
Co-Intelligence Human-Human
Agency and Autonomy
Critical Thinking
MATERIALS
Inclusive leadership scenario cards
Leadership audit worksheet
DETAILED PROCEDURE
Gather the whole group together in a circle for this activity. Explain calmly to the children: "The easiest leadership is leadership for people who already like you. The hardest - and most important - is leadership that actively includes those who aren't in your circle."
Step 1
Audit: in any group leadership role, who gets heard? Who gets overlooked? Who never speaks up and why?
Step 2
Use these scenarios: a class project where the same 3 people always lead / a group where some voices are consistently shut down / a friend group where the 'leader' determines who's in and who's out.
Step 3
Say gently to the children: "Great leaders don't just lead the willing. They create conditions where everyone can contribute."
Step 4
Practice: take a leadership role and actively engineer inclusion of 2 people who usually stay on the edges.
Step 5
Step 6
Step 7
Step 8
Step 9
Step 10
PROGRESS INDICATORS
The child audits a group for who is consistently unheard.
The child takes a leadership role and actively includes 2 usually-peripheral people.
The child reflects on the difference between comfortable leadership and inclusive leadership.