Gwinnett County Public School
Advisement Program Lesson Plan
Grade Level: 8
Length of Lesson: 45 minutes
Topic: Behavioral Expectations
Lesson Plan Title: Preparing Tomorrow’s Leaders Today
Essential Question: Why are leaders important?
Career Focus: In the work force, it is important to have leaders. Leaders are people who often help others to see their
vision and help further their career as well as others careers.
Materials Needed:
 “Student Government Salary Survey” overhead (attached)
 Chart or butcher paper
 Paper
 Pencil
 Dry erase markers
 Projector for video clip
Video Clip Link:
http://gtm-media.discoveryeducation.com/videos/23447/chp918887_256k.asf
Basic Outline:
I. Introduction
II. Video Clip
III. Brainstorm about Leadership
IV. Discuss benefits of Leadership
V. Brainstorm how to become a student leader
VI. Extension – plan of action.
Activity Introduction: (3 minutes)
Teacher will ask the students the following questions: “What makes a good leader? Why are leaders important? In
what ways can middle and high school students become leaders?” Inform students that they are going to watch a
short video about a sixteen-year-old leader who made a difference in his community.
Activity: (39 minutes)
1. Teacher will show video. (6 minutes)
2. Teacher will pose the following questions about Dan’s leadership: “What qualities made him a good
leader? What did he do to help his community? Why is it important for every community to have people
like Dan?” (4 minutes)
3. Have students get into groups of 2-3. (2 minutes)
4. Within their small groups, students should list the benefits of leadership. For reference, some examples
include: feeling good about yourself, helping others, making a difference in the world, getting to know
people, helping you achieve your goals. (5 minutes)
5. As a whole group, have students share what they wrote on their lists. Briefly discuss their thoughts. (5
minutes)
6. Pose the following question to the students: “Are colleges interested in only grades or do they look at other
activities as well?” (2 minutes)
7. Back in their small groups, have students brainstorm what kind of leadership activities they think
universities would look for in students. Have students list these activities on their chart/butcher paper. (4
minutes)
8. As a whole group, have students share what they came up with regarding leadership activities. For
Gwinnett County Public School
Advisement Program Lesson Plan
reference, some examples include: captains of sports teams, leaders of students government, leaders of
honor societies, leaders of clubs found in high schools. (4 minutes)
9. Facilitate a brief discussion with the following prompt, “Why would colleges be interested in having
leaders come to their school?” Explain that colleges know these are the types of people who will initiate
change and will help the university grow and prosper. (2 minutes)
10. As an overhead or on the projector, show “Student Government Salary Survey” (attached). Review this
information and briefly discuss. Have students share their impressions of this information. (5 minutes)
Mentor Focus Follow-up/Assessment Options:
EXTENSION: Encourage students to brainstorm about a volunteer organization they could begin. Who would they
help? What kind of people would they want to join their organization? How would they raise money? What would
they do to organize their new group? Would they choose to have one leader or have multiple leaders? How would
this organization benefit the community?
If you have particularly ambitious students, you may encourage a group of students to act on their ideas and create a
volunteer organization within the school. They could write up a plan and present it to the principal.
Quality Plus Teaching Strategies:
Collaboration
Modeling and practice
Problem-solving
Questioning
Background knowledge
Non-verbal Representation
GPS/AKS/:
8LA_A2005-5
8LA_A2005-6
8LA_D2005-21
8SK_A1999-2
8SK_A1999-8
Conclusion: (2 minutes)
As a whole group, have students brainstorm ways they can become leaders in their school, in their community, on
their sports teams, or at their place of worship. Make a list on large chart paper or butcher paper as the students
share. Hang poster in room to remind students throughout the year to get involved.
Gwinnett County Public School
Advisement Program Lesson Plan
Student Government Salary Survey
Did you know that more than 71% of elected campus leaders
get paid to serve? They rake in salaries, tuition waivers,
scholarships, stipends, computer cell phones, reserved
parking, concert tickets, clothing allowances, class credit,
and more.
But why should Student Government officers receive even a
dime of student fee money? Shouldn't they volunteer
selflessly out of love for their schools?
What about students who have to work to pay their way through college?
They probably couldn’t get involved without picking up a paycheck.
And what about schools where much is asked of campus leaders, including
lobbying and student advocacy, not to mention managing the student union,
bookstore, childcare and exercise facilities, and multi-million dollar budgets?
Isn’t it desirable to attract the best students to serve in roles with that much
responsibility?
There's no correct answer to these questions in the great pay debate. But
Student Leader’s research has uncovered some clear trends over the past
seven years:

More than 71% of schools nationwide offer some sort of compensation
for their student leaders.

Among state universities, 85.88% of elected officers earn salaries.

At private colleges, 57.5% pay their officers stipends.

65.71% of community colleges offer tuition waivers or scholarships for
their student leaders.

The larger the enrollment, the more likely the schools are to pay. Of
the smaller schools (1,000 students enrolled), just 30% compensate
their officers while 87% of the big schools (over 30,000 students
enrolled) pay their student leaders.
Taken from the American Student Government Association
website. (http://www.asgaonline.com)