By knowing what you want to accomplish when you set out to do something, one knows what steps you should be taking. Board games are a great example of how to start with the end in mind. Knowing what needs to be accomplished, one starts preparing to accomplish that goal. Such a game of Risk: the goal is world domination, but accomplishing that goal is something one must plan out.
Such is the life of a teacher. What we teach should not be a disjointed collection of lessons. Rather, there needs to be a goal, something that we want to accomplish. For this, we look at what we want our students to accomplish and backwards map our lessons. Breaking them down into steps of different skills that students must learn by the end of the unit. By doing this type of planning, we are better prepared and leading students in a clear direction. This week I am planned a writing assessment. I began with what I wanted students to accomplish and then with what skills and abilities I want students to know to be successful in the writing assessment. I am will continue the lessons this week and next, culminating in the final writing piece. This has helped me to better gauge where students are and how to better help those that are struggling.
This is the type of leadership one should also exhibit. The leader has a clear goal or something that needs to be accomplished. Then s/he would plan out how to reach that goal, all the large steps, things that may go wrong, expenses, and many others. After planning the leader would present the plan to others, explain it, ask for input, and improve upon it. After that, would be the implementation phase.
Teaching others:
I will continue working with the same group of students and in the same manner, but this week I will work on teaching them how to set a goal and accomplishing that goal. Because they like concrete examples, I will be using their running as an example. I will have them set goals for the number of laps that they would think they can jog and have them work towards it. Then the following session we will talk about whether or not they reached that goal and what they can do to modify their goal or modify their plan knowing what they can accomplish and knowing that they will be continuously improving.