Overview For Teachers

INTEGRITY: The ability to demonstrate moral, ethical, loyal, trustworthy, and honest behavior; to be accountable and dependable; play fair; maintain confidentiality; do the right thing even when no one is looking; the ability to produce quality work; work to fulfill the mission of the organization; the ability to define personal values versus what is valued.

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PURPOSE: Upon completion of this module, the student will understand the importance of having integrity in the classroom as well as the workplace. In addition, the objectives listed below should be met.

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OBJECTIVES:

 Ability to define integrity and explain what it is

 Ability to realize how integrity plays a part in future success

 Ability to demonstrate integrity at home, at school, and at work

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OVERVIEW:

This module focuses on teaching students the importance of having integrity and how it plays a part in everyday life. Students will come to realize how integrity can affect their success in the future at school and at work. In addition, students will have an opportunity to gain an understanding of what integrity is by participating in various activities designed to stimulate thought and discussion.

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TEACHERS: WHAT ARE YOU OBSERVING?

What does integrity look like in the classroom or in school in general? A great way to answer this and get things going is through engagement with the students. Ask your students these questions:

1. What does integrity look like in class?

2. How does your integrity affect other students? Example: Group projects, homework, collaboration in class, etc. 3. What does having integrity look like within your

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RELEVANCY OF INTEGRITY

Employers have stated that an individual’s integrity is the foundation of their success or failure in the workplace, especially long-term success. The Georgia Department of Labor statistics show that soft skills, like the lack of integrity, are what costs people their jobs, not their technical skills.

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LESSON:

What Are Your Personal Values?
Time Allocation: 20  minutes
Materials/Resources: paper, pens/ pencils, computers/ tablets/ smartphones ( students – optional), computer/ projector (teacher – optional), whiteboard, markers, tape, pieces of paper with different values written on them (at least 4), My Personal Values Worksheet

 

WATCH THE VIDEO:

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ANTICIPATORY SET IDEA:

 Post the following scenario on the whiteboard or with a projector so the class can read it as the y enter the classroom .

     o It’s Friday afternoon. You are finally done with school for the week and have no homework this weekend. On your way home from

     school, you decide to stop at the gas station for a snack. You’ve been craving candy all week! You walk in the gas station and head

     straight for the candy aisle and decide you need something with chocolate but also something that’s fruity. So you choose a Kit Kat

     and some Starburst and walk up to the cashier. The total for the candy is $3.41 so you hand them a $5 dollar bill. The cashier hands

     you your change and you head for the door. You look down and realize that the cashier gave you change for a $20 bill instead of a

     $5 bill – what do you do?

 Option #1: Keep the extra change and consider it your lucky day!

 Option #2: Go back to the cashier and tell them you got too much change and give back the extra.

      Have a short class discussion on which option students would choose and why.

DIRECT INSTRUCTION:

 Share the following quote with the class:

     o “Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.” – C.S. Lewis

 Have students share their thoughts about this quote.

 As a class, come up with a definition for Integrity and write it on the whiteboard.

GUIDED ACTIVITY:

 In each corner of the room, post a different value that student may find important in their life.

 Instruct students to look around the room, read the different values, and then stand by the one they believe is the most important.

     o Examples of values you could post:

         Wealth/ Success

         Family

         Health

 Once every student has chosen a value, have a few students volunteer why they believe the value they chose is important.

 Now, have all the students return to their seats and ask the following questions:

     o What is a value?

     o Are everyone’s values the same? Why or why not?

     o What’s the point of having values? How does they help you?

     o How does having values relate to integrity?

 Give each student a copy of the My Personal Values Worksheet and have them fill it out individually.

 When finished, have a few students volunteer to share a few of their top values.

CHECK FOR UNDERSTANDING:

 Technology Use: Create a Poll Everywhere for students to take.

 Non-Technology: Circle, Triangle, Square: Students will associate different shapes will different aspects of the lesson. A circle will be something the student is still pondering about from the lesson, a triangle will represent something that stood out in their mind about the lesson, and a square will represent something that “ squared” or agreed with the student’s thinking about the lesson. Each student will draw these three shapes on a piece of paper and write inside of them what they represent from the lesson.

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ETHICAL SCENARIO--Optional (if not using, skip  to "review and closing")

The Ethical Choice Scenarios have been developed to provide teachers with the ability to make the material applicable to real-life and relevant to the students. Within this guide, directions and prompts for the teacher will be in BLUE for ease of facilitation.

 

READ THE FOLLOWING SCENARIO OUT LOUD TO THE STUDENTS: 

PRESIDENT PEAK?

By now you understand that your reputation is very important, but you also know that you want to be successful in life . Being nominated for Student Government President is already a n honor, but actually getting that leadership position would increase your experience and boost your résumé . It would also help you gain some influence within the school and amongst your peers.

 

As you are leaving school for the day, the Assistant Principal asks you to help bring some things in from her car. As you carry boxes into the office with her and one of the receptionists, you see a folder on her desk labeled “ Questions for Student Government President Debate.” They both leave to get more boxes and you are alone in the office . You have an opportunity to open the folder and quickly look the questions. You are thinking about the advantage this could give you, knowing the questions ahead of time and being able to prepare for them. Out of the office window, you see the others walking back towards to the building with more boxes. Time to decide.

ASK THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS: (display them to the class if necessary)

1. How many of you have already been faced with a scenario like this in real life?

2. What are the possible positive outcomes for looking at the questions? What are the possible positive outcomes for not looking?

3. What are the possible negative outcomes for looking at the questions? What are the possible negative outcomes for not looking?

4. What are some possible positive or negative consequences for your opponent?

5. What are some possible positive or negative consequences for your long-term reputation?

GUIDED DISCUSSION: ASK STUDENTS TO SHARE THEIR THOUGHTS ON THE SITUATION AND HOW THEY
ANSWERED THE QUESTIONS.

NOTE 1: To help facilitate discussion, share any personal experiences you may have encountered with this same sort of issue.

NOTE 2: Another option to foster further critical thinking is to then ask students, “ Would you want your opponent to do this? Would you think that was fair?”

NOTE 3: Another opt ion to foster further critical thinking is to then ask students , “ What values do you think are in tension here, why is it an ethical dilemma?”

CLOSING DISCUSSION: ASK THE STUDENTS, “ HOW DOES YOUR DECISION IMPACT AND REFLECT YOUR INTEGRITY?”

REVIEW AND CLOSING:

Students will fill out an exit slip to turn in as they leave class. On the exit slip, they must write down their number one value out of all the values they established today and why that is the most important to them.

 

CORRELATION TO OBSERVATION TOOL: The Frequency Observation Tool (FOT) has a category where students will be observed and rated on their ability to define their personal values. This lesson will give students the opportunity to establish their top personal values and why they are important to them. They will also discuss how their values will help them later on in life and will help them reach their goals.

DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION IDEAS
-Visual: Visual learners will benefit from having important information written on the whiteboard.

-Auditory: Auditory learners will benefit from the activity by hearing the directions and also from the class discussion.

-Kinesthetic: Kinesthetic learners will benefit from writing down important information.

-ESL: To benefit ESL students, you could provide them with a word bank of values (and definitions) for them to choose from.

-At-risk: At -risk students will benefit from the constant interaction with the class to keep them engaged and focused.

-Advanced: Advanced learners could benefit by assisting students who rated their level of understanding on a low level.

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