Leading a team: words from a story chapter
A leader does not only give orders: a good leader listens, shares jobs and keeps the team calm when there is a problem. When something goes wrong, some people blame others, which means they say that someone is guilty. A better question is: how can we solve it? A responsibility is a duty to look after something, such as a place, a person or the planet. Something is eco-friendly when it does not harm the environment; to reduce waste means to make the amount of rubbish smaller. When you read a story about a team, ask four questions. Who is the leader? What is the problem? What does the leader do? What value does the story show (responsibility, listening, teamwork)? Your book has Chapter Four of a serial story on pages 65–66: read it after this lesson and answer the same four questions. Here we practise with our own text.
| Question | Answer from our text |
|---|---|
| Who is the leader? | Dalia, the leader of the Clean Corridor team |
| What is the problem? | Bottles on the floor, and students blame each other |
| What does the leader do? | Makes an eco-friendly plan and asks everyone for ideas |
| What value does it show? | Responsibility and listening |
Dalia was chosen as the leader of her class’s Clean Corridor team. She noticed that every break time many plastic bottles were left on the floor, and some students began to blame each other. Dalia said, “Blaming does not solve anything. Let us find a way to reduce the waste.” The team made an eco-friendly plan: each student brought one reusable bottle, and a small blue box was placed at the door for old bottles, which were sent to a recycling centre. A good leader listens to every opinion, so Dalia asked everyone for ideas before choosing. After a month the corridor was cleaner, and the class had shown that every person has a responsibility to look after the place where we live.
Leader’s checklist. Write five things that a good leader does (for example listens, shares jobs, does not blame). Interview a grown-up about a time when they led a team or a group and ask which three things on your list they did. Tell the class or the family what you learned.