English

Oral Language 9.2, 11.1, 12.1

Reading/Literature 9.4, 11.4

Research 9.8, 10.11, 11.9

History and Social Science

Virginia and U.S. History VUS.1, VUS.2

Virginia and U.S. Government GOVT. 1

HS.4: Characteristics of leaders

HS.6: The role of context in leadership

Creating the Ideal President

As a review of several presidencies, students identify effective leadership qualities and traits. They then combine these positive features to create a hypothetical leader presented in acrostic form.

Steps To Complete the Activity

Have students

• Make a list of the presidents that have been studied in class. For each president, list the positive leadership qualities each president demonstrated. (These could include integrity, wisdom, moderation, tolerance, self-reliance, initiative, charisma, competence, honesty, care for others, fairness, responsibility, courage, and reliability.) After each quality, cite evidence from history that supports the leadership quality.
• Think up a name for a hypothetical president that might embody at least 10 of the qualities cited above. Several presidents may share one quality. Design an acrostic, using the hypothetical president’s name as the vertical line and the qualities of leadership, supported by historical evidence on the horizontal lines.

(Hypothetical) President Chuck Martin:

Charisma . . .of Teddy Roosevelt who . . .

Honesty. . .of Abe Lincoln who. . .

Unique ideas . . .of Jimmy Carter who. . .

Cleverness of. . .Andrew Jackson who. . .

Kindness of. . .Franklin Roosevelt who. . .

• Given a hypothetical scenario (e.g., worldwide depression, development of new energy source, outbreak of the plague), analyze and discuss the way their hypothetical leader would handle the situation best. Students should defend their choice in a clear, logical, and valid argument.

Resources

Resources may include student’s text, the Internet, research materials in the school and neighborhood libraries, and videos.