Reading Strategies


Lesson 2  Assignment 1-2

Target


Assignment


Understand your purpose for reading



@Pixabay

BEFORE you begin, please think about these questions:

  • Whom do you think of when you think of leaders?

  • What are the qualities that make a good leader?

Then read the following student discussion about leadership to see what others are thinking.


Richard: Our group task is to discuss what makes a leader, or what qualities a leader has. What kinds of leaders are there?
Talia: Well, there are leaders of sports team and scouts and groups like that. They have to be optimistic and positive and they have to help and encourage others. Sometimes they have to cheer up the other members of the team.
Muneer: Good leaders encourage everybody to participate. My dad's a good leader. He works long hours just to pay for my brother and me. He helps me with my homework, and even when I feel like giving up, he makes me believe in myself. He always tries to make the community a better place by volunteering at Parent Council meetings.
Gurpreet: What about famous historical people like Alexander or Catherine the Great? They were both great military commanders. Many people remember historical leaders for their charisma or ability to inspire people.
Muneer: Maybe we should think of a Canadian leader. We are studying Canadian economics and politics in Social Studies 9. What about Prime Minister Pearson? He won a Nobel Peace Prize and started the peacekeepers. He also gave us our flag. He did things for Canada, for the whole country.
Talia: Or Tommy Douglas, who gave Canadians a health care system. That shows that he cares about the citizens. I respect  compassion.
Katrina: What about bad leaders, such as Hitler? He could tell anybody to do anything because he was deceptively cunning and knew that strong people would follow him. He was cruel, but he still managed to get everyone listening to his visions.
Richard: Maybe we could think of a good leader who has similar qualities, someone who was smart and could get people to follow him. Like Terry Fox. He started that Marathon of Hope and even if he couldn't finish it, it started all the Terry Fox runs that we still have today. All he asked was that each person donate a loonie, just one dollar, and that's grown into millions of dollars to help find a cure for cancer. He sacrificed a lot for that run. He had a vision about everybody working together to find a cure. He was a leader but he was a part of it, too.