Letter 4: Leadership and Teaching Techniques
Dear Leader:
This guide is to help you identify and think about the key ideas in Welcome to the World of 4-H
Segment 4: Leadership and Teaching Techniques. Read this guide before viewing the video/DVD.
There are two parts to this guide. Part 1 is for you to use and keep. Part 2 is a response sheet to be
returned to your Extension unit office. In Part 1, note the key ideas as you watch the video/DVD.
Part 1: Video/DVD Home Study Guide
1. 4-H focuses on child-centered learning. Describe what child-centered learning means.
2. What are some of the ways to involve members in their own learning?
3. List three leadership styles and some key ideas about each one.
4. Its helpful to know what youth are like at different ages. List some key ideas of the following age
groups:
a. Five-to-seven year olds:
b. Eight-to-eleven year olds:
c. Twelve-to-fifteen year olds:
d. Sixteen-to-nineteen year olds:
Volunteers Light Up Our Lives!
University of Illinois • U.S. Department of Agriculture • Local Extension Councils Cooperating
Revised August 1999
Adapted from Wood, M.L., and Hiller, J.H. (1991). Letters to New 4-H Leaders Video/Audio Home Study Guide. University of Idaho
Cooperative Extension Service, Moscow, ID.
Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension Work, Acts of May 8 and June 30, 1914, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of
Agriculture, DENNIS R. CAMPION, Director, University of Illinois Extension. University of Illinois Extension provides equal
opportunities in programs and employment. The 4-H Name and Emblem are Protected Under 18 U.S.C. 707.
Letter 4: Leadership and Teaching Techniques
Part 2 (mail back response sheet)
This is your opportunity to apply the ideas presented in the video/DVD. When completed, return Part 2 to
your mentor or Extension office. This provides the office with a record of your completion and lets
Extension know what help you may need.
1. List one way you can use child-centered learning in your club.
2. Why might the “Laissez-faire” style of leadership not work with a new club or very young members?
Why might it work well with teens?
3. Keeping in mind the characteristics of different age groups, select one of the age groups represented by
your club membership, and tell how you will take developmental characteristics of the age group into
consideration when involving them in the learning activities.