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For this month's character lesson we focused on Trustworthiness. First, I needed to think about what that character trait means to me, my family and my community. For each of these character lessons it is crucial to think inwardly on what these key words, skills, or traits mean to me personally. I need to clearly define them in order to present to my students. This helps me to answer their questions, to feel comfortable instructing them, and most importantly to brush up on my own character traits.
Trustworthiness-being loyal, dependability, being held accountable, holding others accountable & being honest. In short,
•Keep your promises
•Do the right thing
•Stick up for your friends and family members
•Follow the rules
•Tell the truth
Week 1: I started the lesson by introducing the word "trust".
•What does it mean to trust someone?
•Why is it important to keep your word?
•What impact does breaking you word have on other people?
I spoke about what trustworthiness means to me, and then introduced the word loyalty. We broke out into our hands on activity, studying comic strip's.
I handed out the pre-cut comic strips (link above) to three groups of 2-3 students. They were instructed to look through the comics and find as many examples of loyalty as you could. I asked that they then add the strips on a piece of paper and write why it demonstrates loyalty. When the students were finished this activity we came back as a group, and they were asked to explain their work (15-20 minutes).
Exit ticket: Pick one of the three questions to answer at the door
1.Why do you think loyalty to friends and family is important?
2.How have you shown loyalty to a friend or family member?
3.How has a friend of family member shown loyalty to you?
Week 2: To start off this lesson we sat in a circle and played Question Ball. My question for the group was "think of one person you know (they can be famous or inside of your inner circle) and share how they show their loyalty. The ball gets thrown around the circle until everyone answers the question. To close Question Ball I answer the group question and then introduce our next activity, The Newspaper Walk. The Newspaper Walk is similar to a Trust Walk, which most of my students know from past activities. In this activity one member is blindfolded, we discuss how important communication will be for this activity.
Newspaper Walk:
•Materials
–newspaper
•Directions
-Find a partner and decide which one of you is the setter and which is the walker. The walker must be blindfolded. Take two sheets of newspaper to begin your challenge.
•To begin: the setter will set a sheet of newspaper in front of his/her partner, the walker. The walker must step onto the newspaper. The setter then puts a second sheet of newspaper down and the walker steps on it. The setter must pick up the first sheet from behind the walker and place it in front so the walker can step on it. The setter keeps moving the newspaper forward to get the walker to the turnaround point. When that point is reached, the setter and walker switch roles and do the newspaper walk back to the starting point.
•If a paper tears when it is stepped on or moved, the pair must return to start and begin again. The first team that completes the round may sit down quietly
Discussion:
•Why is it important to have dependable partners in this trust walk?
•Why is it important to be dependable?
•What are some of the consequences of not being dependable?
Exit Ticket: What is one thing you do to show your family that you are dependable?
Week 3: Honesty is the topic of Trustworthiness that we are covering on week 3. This is my favorite lesson because we frame it around the book by Hans Christian Anderson entitled The Emperor's New Clothes.
I have the students watch the short film before starting our discussion.
Discussion:
1.What was the title of this fairy tale?
2.Who were the characters?
3.How would you describe the emperor in this story? How would you describe the swindlers in this story?
4.Who do the swindlers say they are? What do they say they can make? How is the magical cloth special?
5.Why do the characters pretend to see the cloth?
6.Who says out loud that the emperor is not wearing any clothes? Do you think he was the first one to really notice that the emperor is not wearing anything?
7.Do you think the emperor will continue to like nice and fine clothes? Why or why not?
Think Pair Share: Do you think there is a lesson to be learned from this story? If so, what is it?