Leadership Lab: Discovering Your Leadership Superpowers

Materials Needed

• Paper or a notebook
• Pens, pencils, or colored markers
• Timer or phone stopwatch
• Three small objects, such as cups, blocks, coins, or craft supplies
• Optional: index cards or sticky notes
• Optional: computer or tablet for researching a leader

Learning Objectives

By the end of this lesson, Will will be able to:

• Explain leadership in his own words.
• Identify at least five qualities effective leaders use.
• Describe how communication, responsibility, empathy, and decision-making affect leadership.
• Practice leadership by planning and completing a short challenge.
• Create a personal leadership goal with specific action steps.

Success Criteria

Success means Will can:

• Give a clear definition of leadership.
• Support his ideas with examples.
• Listen to another person’s ideas and respond respectfully.
• Make a plan, adapt when something goes wrong, and reflect on the result.
• Write one realistic leadership goal and explain how he will measure progress.

Lesson Snapshot

• Suggested time: 60–75 minutes
• Big question: What makes someone a leader, and how can leadership be practiced?
• Real-world connection: Leadership is useful at home, in school, on a sports team, in a club, at work, and in a community.

Introduction: The Leadership Mystery

Hook: “Who Is the Leader?”

Imagine that a group of people is lost during a hike. One person gives orders loudly, another calmly listens to everyone, a third person notices that someone is injured, and a fourth person creates a plan. Which person is the leader?

Ask Will:

• Does a leader always have to be the loudest person?
• Does a leader always have an official title?
• Can someone lead without being in charge?

Key idea: Leadership is not just being in control. Leadership is helping people move toward a useful goal while acting responsibly and treating others with respect.

Today’s Mission

Tell Will: “Today, you will investigate what makes a strong leader, test your leadership skills in a challenge, and design a leadership plan for yourself.”

Body: Learn, Practice, Apply

Part 1: What Is Leadership? — I Do

Explain:

Leadership is the ability to guide, encourage, and support yourself and others while working toward a goal.

Leadership can happen in many places:

• A student organizes a group project.
• A teammate encourages others after a mistake.
• A family member helps solve a disagreement.
• A volunteer notices a problem and takes helpful action.
• An employee suggests a safer or more efficient way to do a task.

Explain that leaders do not need to be perfect. Strong leaders notice problems, learn from mistakes, accept feedback, and keep improving.

Five Leadership Qualities

1. Responsibility: Doing what you promised and accepting the results of your choices.
   Example: If a leader forgets an important task, the leader admits it and helps fix the problem.
2. Communication: Sharing ideas clearly and listening carefully.
   Example: A leader explains the goal, checks that everyone understands, and invites questions.
3. Empathy: Trying to understand what other people may be thinking or feeling.
   Example: A leader notices that someone is quiet and asks how they are doing.
4. Decision-making: Comparing choices and selecting a responsible action.
   Example: A leader considers safety, fairness, and the likely results before deciding.
5. Courage and resilience: Taking action even when something is difficult and trying again after setbacks.
   Example: A leader speaks up respectfully when a plan is unfair or unsafe.

Quick Check

Ask Will to choose one of the five qualities and answer:

• Why is this quality important?
• When have you seen someone use it?
• How could a person improve this quality?

Part 2: Leadership or Bossiness? — We Do

Read each situation aloud. Have Will decide whether the person is demonstrating effective leadership, ineffective leadership, or bossiness. Ask him to explain his reasoning.

1. Situation A: Jordan tells everyone what to do but refuses to listen to their ideas.
2. Situation B: Maya explains the goal, asks for suggestions, and helps the group divide the work fairly.
3. Situation C: Luis notices that one person is being left out and invites that person to share an idea.
4. Situation D: Sam makes a mistake, blames someone else, and refuses to discuss it.
5. Situation E: Priya realizes the original plan is not working and suggests a new approach.

Discuss this distinction:

• Bossiness focuses on control and getting one’s own way.
• Leadership focuses on shared goals, responsible choices, and helping people succeed.

Think-Pair-Share Adaptation

If another person is available, Will first writes his answer, then discusses it with that person. If he is working independently, he can explain his answer aloud or record a short voice memo.

Part 3: The Leadership Challenge — We Do and You Do

Challenge: Build, Plan, and Adapt

Use the three objects or craft supplies to create a structure that can stand for at least 10 seconds. Examples include a tower, bridge, ramp, or free-standing sculpture.

Important rule: The goal is not simply to build the tallest structure. The goal is to demonstrate good leadership habits during the process.

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Set the goal: Decide what you will build and what “success” will look like.
2. Make a plan: List the steps you will try.
3. Identify a possible problem: Predict what might go wrong.
4. Take action: Build the structure.
5. Test it: Use the timer to see whether it stands for 10 seconds.
6. Adapt: If it fails, change one part of the plan and test it again.
7. Reflect: Decide which leadership quality helped most.

If another person is participating, assign or rotate roles:

• Planner: Helps organize the steps.
• Builder: Handles the materials.
• Encourager: Keeps the group focused and respectful.
• Observer: Records examples of leadership qualities.

Leadership Behaviors to Practice

During the challenge, Will should try to:

• State the goal clearly.
• Listen before responding.
• Invite another person’s idea.
• Stay calm if the first attempt fails.
• Take responsibility for his part.
• Give specific encouragement, such as “That idea could help because…”

Formative Assessment: Leadership Observation

Use this checklist during the challenge. Mark each behavior as Yes, Sometimes, or Not Yet.

Leadership Behavior	Rating	Evidence or Example
Explained the goal clearly
Listened to ideas
Made a reasonable plan
Stayed responsible when something went wrong
Adapted the plan
Encouraged or respected others

Part 4: Real-World Leadership Scenarios — You Do

Have Will choose two scenarios. For each one, he should write or explain what he would do and which leadership qualities he would use.

1. Group project: Two people are doing all the work while another person is confused and silent.
2. Family decision: Your family needs to agree on a weekend activity, but everyone wants something different.
3. Sports or game situation: Your team is losing, and people are blaming one another.
4. Community problem: You notice litter in a park or shared area. What responsible action could you take?
5. Online communication: Someone in a group chat is being ignored or treated unfairly. How could you respond?

Encourage Will to use this response structure:

1. Notice: What is the problem?
2. Think: Who is affected, and what choices are available?
3. Act: What would you say or do?
4. Reflect: How would you know whether your action helped?

Part 5: My Leadership Profile

Have Will complete the following prompts:

• One leadership quality I already show is __________ because __________.
• One leadership quality I want to strengthen is __________.
• People can count on me to __________.
• When I make a mistake, I usually __________.
• A leader I respect is __________ because __________.
• One leadership habit I want to practice this week is __________.

Personal Leadership Goal

Help Will create a SMART goal: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.

Goal template:

For the next __________, I will practice __________ by __________ at least __________ times. I will know I am improving when __________.

Example: “For the next two weeks, I will practice communication by asking at least one thoughtful question during family discussions three times each week. I will know I am improving when people say they feel listened to.”

Assessment

Formative Assessment

• Responses during the “Leadership or Bossiness?” discussion
• Observation checklist during the building challenge
• Answers to the real-world leadership scenarios
• Questions Will asks and explanations he gives during the lesson

Summative Assessment: Leadership Demonstration

Will completes the leadership challenge and submits or explains:

1. The goal of the challenge
2. The plan he used
3. One problem he faced
4. How he adapted
5. Two leadership qualities he demonstrated
6. One leadership habit he will practice next

Simple Rubric

Category	Excellent	Developing	Needs More Practice
Understanding leadership	Explains leadership clearly and gives relevant examples.	Gives a partly correct explanation or limited examples.	Needs help explaining leadership.
Communication and listening	Communicates clearly and listens respectfully.	Uses some effective communication habits.	Needs reminders to listen or explain ideas.
Problem-solving	Makes a plan, adapts it, and explains the reasoning.	Makes a plan but needs support adapting it.	Needs significant support to plan or respond to problems.
Reflection	Identifies strengths, challenges, and a specific next step.	Identifies a strength or challenge but gives a general next step.	Needs help reflecting on the experience.

Differentiation and Adaptations

For Extra Support

• Use sentence starters such as “A good leader…” or “I would help by…”
• Discuss one leadership quality at a time.
• Allow Will to answer verbally, draw his ideas, or record them instead of writing.
• Complete the building challenge with fewer materials and a shorter goal.
• Provide a list of possible actions for the scenario activity.

For Additional Challenge

• Research a leader from history, science, sports, business, or the local community.
• Compare two leaders and explain how their leadership styles differ.
• Design a one-week leadership project, such as organizing a family task, helping a community group, or improving a shared space.
• Lead the building challenge while using no more than three sentences at a time.
• Write a short “Leadership Code” containing five principles he wants to follow.

Flexible Learning Formats

• Homeschool: Complete the lesson with a parent, sibling, or independently.
• Classroom: Place learners in small teams and rotate leadership roles.
• Training or club setting: Use a workplace, volunteer, or team-based scenario.
• Digital option: Build a virtual structure, make a presentation, or record a video explaining the leadership challenge.

Conclusion: Tell Them What You Taught

Recap

Ask Will to complete these statements:

• Leadership means __________________________________.
• One quality effective leaders use is __________________ because __________________.
• Leadership is different from bossiness because ______________________________.
• When a plan fails, a leader can __________________________________.
• My next leadership step is __________________________________.

Exit Ticket

Before ending the lesson, Will answers:

1. What is one new idea you learned about leadership?
2. What was one leadership behavior you practiced?
3. What is one action you will take this week to become a stronger leader?

Final takeaway: Leadership is not about having all the answers or being the loudest person. It is a skill that grows through responsible choices, clear communication, empathy, courage, and practice.