After hearing Chris Hadfield speak at the Canadian Student Leadership Conference in Edmonton (CSLC 2018) I was inspired to share his children’s book The Darkest Dark with my Leadership class. It went great – below is the lesson plan and assignment we used.
I began by reading the book to the class elementary school style with me holding the book up front and making sure they see the pictures. After the page that says “Dreams that actually can come true” I then show them this You Tube video of Chris Hadfield singing Space Oddity on the International Space Station.
Some of the students knew who Chris was in the story but some didn’t put it together until I showed the video. Then I read the last two pages “About Chris Hadfield” and “A Message From Chris” to the class.
When we were finished I had them get in partners and they had 2 minutes to talk about what some of the big leadership ideas were that jumped out at them. In a smaller class I would ask them each to share one thing their partner said that stood out to them. In a bigger class I might just choose a few students to report to the class. I then share the attached assignment with them which invites them to take action on one of their dreams this week. Hope this is a help with your Student Leaders.
Brent Dickson 