Context:

Students often go through their high school history classes without knowing what the
stories they hear could possibly do with their future plans; after all, few of them will go
on to be professional historians. Another story-driven discipline, leadership studies, is
great at connecting its content to the future plans of its pupils, but lacks disciplinary focus
and often fails to deal effectively with diverse learners.

The Problem:

This thesis proposes the creation of an elective course for high school students that
integrates methods from leadership studies with the content and teaching theories of
history. By combining history and the study of leadership, teachers can create a course
which affirms students’ identities, aligns with state standards and connects to the future
plans of students.

The Sources:

This thesis utilizes information I collected on the teaching methods of prominent

institutions in the field of leadership education, including both formal programs at
universities and informal programs like the Girl Scouts. The potential advantages and
disadvantages of these methods for history educators are evaluated using frames from
literature on multicultural education and the teaching of disciplinary thought in history
education, with an emphasis on filling the holes in both history and leadership education.
Part II

This summer, I went through the past five years of articles in each of the major journals
in leadership studies. I looked for articles describing the teaching methods used within
the discipline, but I discovered that most of the articles were designed for businesspeople.
I discovered that the Journal of Leadership Education had more information on leadership
training programs, but there were no studies discussing the benefits of combining history
and leadership studies. My review of the major leadership journals revealed that few
studies dealt with how to fully integrate minorities and their perspectives into leadership
courses. This seems to be a major gap in leadership pedagogy, as most of the programs
I’ve studied so far have either created a separate elective discussing the minority
experience or failed to discuss the topic of racial inequality in any serious way.

During the summer, I created a sample of leadership programs to study. I decided to

focus primarily upon formal programs at the university level. I considered studying the
opportunities available to high school students, but few peer-reviewed articles were
written about them. I decided to focus on the major institutions associated with leadership
studies, ensuring that each of the major strains within the discipline were included.
Program titles that combined unique elements (such as leadership and civics or leadership
and) were included as well. I also included some programs that were well-known enough
that they merited inclusion (“those too big to miss”). An overview appears below:

Leadership Program Reason for Selection

Girl Scouts
Jepson School, University of Richmond
Morehouse University
Kansas State University
Peace College
ROTC
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
University of Maryland
University of California, Davis
University of Southern California
Harvard Business School
Representative of Scouting Movement,
Program that affirms women
First undergraduate program in leadership,
major research hub
Program designed to affirm racial identity,
all-male program
Major research hub, focus on nonprofit
work and servant leadership
Active learning institution, servant
leadership program for women
Well-known
Program focuses on civic engagement
Program associated with James McGregor
Burns
Emphasizes “Contemporary Leadership”
Emphasizes “Critical Approaches to
Leadership,” Program headed by leading
scholar Warren Bennis
Uses case study method, simulations and
group projects

I decided that undergraduate programs would receive preference over graduate programs
because undergraduates are closer in age to high school students than graduate students.
Part III

Advisor: David Burkam

* Along with Angela Dillard, David provided me with some articles on evaluating a
program like my proposed history class. Their articles on Patricia Gurin’s Intergroup
Relations courses at U of M provided me with a model for how I could rigorously test the
results of my proposed leadership course. I imagine this information will be helpful for
the end of the paper when I propose areas for further research. When I showed an interest
in including journaling into my proposed course, David provided me with worksheets
from one of his colleagues that described one way of using student journals.
* David wasn’t very involved in the data collection phase of my project, but he will be
tremendously helpful when I write the paper. He will read the drafts and perhaps provide
suggestions concerning how to present my research. I’ve never written a course proposal
before, so I’m a little unsure how quantitative it should be. Many of the education pieces
I’ve read for class have a strong anecdotal component, with quotations from authorities
sprinkled throughout them. Yet, it seems likely that administrators (one of the key
audiences for this thesis) would be most interested in the “hard numbers” associated with
my proposed intervention. As a person who has both taught and done research in
education, David can help me decide how qualitative (or quantitative) to make my paper.

Rohit Setty

* Rohit, a GSI and experienced history educator, was consulted concerning the best way
to utilize learning journals in the classroom. He provided advice concerning how specific
to make the prompts for the journals.
* As an experienced history teacher, Rohit might have some suggestions concerning how
to expand the individual stories told about leaders to include information on the general
context in which they lived. I once saw a speech he made about the importance of
teaching about Mohandas Gandhi in context. Connecting individuals to their historical
context is a fundamental ingredient in my proposed course.

Darin Stockdill

* Darin is a PhD candidate interested in literacy and multicultural education. He provided

suggestions concerning the best ways to use student journals and his class provided me
with many of my historical literacy articles.
* Darin will hopefully provide an experienced pair of eyes for reading over the literacy-
related portions of my thesis, especially the parts describing student motivation and
disciplinary thinking. He also knows a lot about affirming student identities because he
used to design relevant courses for a predominantly Hispanic charter school in Detroit.
Sarah Tucker

* Sarah Tucker is a PhD candidate interested in multicultural education. Her course

provided me with the articles I use to describe the importance of affirming student
identities.
* Sarah will be a helpful person to read over the sections of my thesis that discuss
multicultural education.

Lorrie Casarez

* My mom read drafts of my 290 proposal and helped me to explain my ideas more
clearly. Her keen eye for detail and status as a non-researcher makes her an important
reader of my drafts. I look forward to her reading my future drafts.