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Relates to:

• Building Decision Skills: Lesson 1, Lesson 2, Lesson 3
• Elementary Decision Skills (K-2): Lesson 1: I’m A Member of a Group; Lesson 2: Group Work Needs Caring; Lesson 3: Group Work Needs Listening and Speaking
  
• Elementary Decision Skills (3-5): Lesson 1: There Isn’t A Rule for Everything; Lesson 2: Today’s Decisions Can Be Big; Lesson 3: Defining Ethical Values
  
• Ethical Literacy Outcomes: Knowing Values, Applying Values
• Schools of Integrity Finding: Authentic Student Input
  

Purpose:

• To help students think further about the importance of “self-regulation” especially as it relates to “trust”.

Preparation and Materials:

• Be prepared to read the scenario in step #1. If you want to re-enforce student reading skills, provide copies for them to follow along and/or volunteer to read aloud.
• Consider posting questions 1 – 7:  see “Tips” below

Process:

Lead in discussion:  Do you consider yourself trustworthy?  Consider this scenario:

I hand a stranger my wallet full of money.  I ask the stranger to keep the wallet safe until I come back for it several days later.  When I return, the stranger hands back my wallet, intact.

Answer these questions for me:

1. Would you now consider this stranger trustworthy?  Why/ or why not?
2. If I need to rely on someone in future , would you recommend I rely on this stranger? Why or why not?
3. If this were your wallet, would you be happy with the stranger?  Would you be happy with me for trusting the stranger with your wallet? Explain your answers.
4. Is there anyone in your world you can trust with your wallet?  If so, describe this person and why you trust him/her.
5. What are the ways that I trust you, as students?  In other words, in what ways do I rely on you to self-regulate during our class?
6. For each idea the students suggest, ask:  “what will probably happen if I can no longer rely on you for this? In other words, what’s the impact if you fail to self-regulate in this way?”
7. Tell me other ways you wish that I relied on you to self-regulate.  Are there ways I can trust you more than I already do?

Participation Tips:

Do you have trouble getting everybody to participate in large group discussions?  Some possible solutions:

1. Break your class into smaller, less intimidating groups, or consider pairing students up to answer the question series.
2. Some students have a lot to say but they need processing time.  Consider providing the questions to think about, then holding the discussion another day.
3. Some students will write, but will not speak up.  Have packs of index cards at tables and make writing answers an option.

Some students are more comfortable in role play than in discussion.  Ask students to act out the answers to these questions.

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Relates to

• Ethical Literacy® Outcome:  Moral Courage
• SOI Findings:  Finding 2; “Critical Thinking Skills Driving and Connecting Learning,” and Finding 3; “Relationships Fuel Learning and Ethical Development”

Background

The Giraffe Heroes Project is a U.S. nonprofit whose mission is to get more people to stick their necks out for the common good. Knowing that early learning can lead to life-long “girafeness,” the Project is in schools with a K-12 curriculum that teaches courage, compassion, and personal involvement in the community at large. The basis for the program is the Project’s story bank of more than 900 real-life heroes whose lives show kids what they, too, can do. By the end of the curriculum, the students are in action, doing a service project they design to address a public problem that concerns them. To learn more about The Giraffe Heroes Project, email them at office@giraffe.org. See also their Web site at www.giraffe.org.

Purpose

• To introduce elements of Moral Courage through examples from real life

Preparation and Materials

• Visit the web site www.giraffe.org, and select a collection of giraffe profiles to share with your students, or make the web site accessible to your students
• Make copies of the worksheet, “Exploring Moral Courage”
• Post the Moral Courage Venn Diagram (included on the worksheet) so that it is visible to all of your student

Process

1. Review the elements of moral courage with your students, by using the posted Moral Courage Venn diagram. For talking points see lesson 10 in “Building Decisions Skills”, or chapter 1 from Moral Courage by Rushworth M. Kidder. [10 minutes]
2. Provide examples of “giraffes” from the Web site for students to select and read, or invite your students to go on the site and choose a “giraffe” in pairs or small groups. [20 – 30 minutes]
3. Have each pair or group complete the worksheet about their chosen “giraffe”. [10 minutes]
4. Ask each pair or group to rehearse and present their information creatively: by acting out the giraffe’s challenge, putting together a slide show about the events, or etc. [approximate time needed varies per project]
5. Alternative:  Simply collect the worksheets and use another class period to review moral courage by creatively presenting the information.

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The Institute for Global Ethics is committed to providing affordable ways to support the professional development of educators. Our new Online Learning Series features 20 one-hour online learning sessions. Leadership and classroom teachers collaborate with their peers nationwide, actively learning ways to integrate ethics in the classroom and across their school cultures. Can’t make a session? Your Live! Season Pass is good for anyone in your school or district office, and all session recordings and recaps are included. There are three ways to participate:

• Purchase a Live! Season Pass to share amongst your school or district office staff to attend any or all of the twenty live, highly interactive sessions; replay sessions in our online archive; read session recaps; and receive a one-year individual membership in the Ethical Literacy® Learning Community. The cost of Live! Season Pass is $400.00 – just $20 per live session. (Act fast we are only offering 23 more Live! Season Passes!)
  
• Purchase an Archives! Season Pass that can be shared amongst your school or district staff to replay sessions in our online archive, receive session recaps, and receive a one-year individual membership in the Ethical Literacy® Learning Community. The cost of Archives! Season Pass is $200.00 – just $10 per session.
  
• Attend on a per session basis for $45.00, and receive relevant session recaps and a one-year individual membership in the Ethical Literacy® Learning Community.

Upcoming Events

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Question from Columbus Academy, an Ethical Literacy School

Several of us [at our school] have increasingly found a paradigm we’ve been calling Freedom vs. Security to be very useful in analyzing some of our school dilemmas.

On the one hand, successful parenting and teaching requires that young people be granted sufficient freedom to test themselves against various challenges and build their character and identity through successes and, yes, failures.

On the other hand, successful parenting and teaching requires that we intercede when young people appear headed for disaster because they overestimate their ability or underestimate the risks.

Would you collapse this notion of a 5th paradigm into one of the other four paradigms, and if so, how?

Answer

Thanks for the note—-an intriguing question.

I see security-versus-freedom as a form of short-term versus long-term.  It seems to me that, as you phrase it, freedom is usually a long-term project: You lay down the conditions for growth and development in a child’s future by promoting freedom of choice and experimentation.  Security, on the other hand, is often about immediate needs: If I don’t prevent you RIGHT NOW from leaping off the balcony to prove you’re free to fly, I’m not doing my duty.

In a sense, the tension you describe is a version of the fire-department dilemma.  Somewhere on your campus, I’m sure, you’ve got a fire-door at the back of building that’s hardly ever been opened—in fact, maybe never.  It cost you a bundle to install, and there it sits, as insurance against the long-term possibility that your students might need to be free to escape during a fire.

On the other hand, I suspect your front door is tightly locked at night and probably watched by day, to ensure the immediate need for security on a minute-by-minute basis.

The police always want you to lock a set of bars over ground-floor windows to prevent break-ins.  But the fire department always wants you to leave the windows free of any locked bars, for immediate breakouts should they be needed.  And they’re both right.

So freedom versus security is a powerful tension, and one I’d encourage you to use if it’s helpful.  I wouldn’t elevate it to the level of paradigm, however, since I think that (1) it does have strong short-term/long-term elements, and (2) the st/lt paradigm is much broader, and will cover a great many situations beyond security-versus-freedom.

Thanks for raising the issue.  These things are always worth thinking through.  And thanks for all you’re doing to implement these ideas on your campus!

Rushworth M. Kidder

President and Founder of the Institute for Global Ethics

Author of several books including, How Good People Make Tough Choices

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Relates to

• “Building Decision Skills” Lesson 2, There’s Only Ethics
• Ethical Literacy® Outcomes: 2 Applying the Values
• Schools of Integrity Findings:  Driver and Connector, Fueling Relationships

Purpose

• To deepen understanding of ethics in an increasingly technological context

Preparation and Materials

• Optional: Provide copies of pc magazine article: “I Love You Virus Turns Ten” by Larry Seltzer.
• Read up on the I LOVE YOU virus of May, 2000, originating in the Philippines and causing $10 Billion damages worldwide.
• Provide, post or read this quote from the above Seltzer pc magazine article:“[Love Bug author Onel de Guzman of the Philippines was] released when the authorities realized there were no laws in the Philippines against writing malware. De Guzman had been forced to drop out of a University because his thesis, a proposal for commercializing a password-stealing trojan horse, was rejected by the faculty.”

Process

1. Review one definition of ethics:  “obedience to the unenforceable”, or more simply put, “self regulation”.  Ask students how laws or rules usually come about.
2. Tell your students briefly about the Love Bug of 2000.
3. Ask your students to form triads and consider the quote from the article provided above and one or more of the following questions:
• Why didn’t Guzman go to jail?
• What do you think the Philippine courts did shortly after, as a result of Guzman’s choices? Teacher’s note: they put a law in place to deal with future hackers.
• Why could the University respond to Guzman’s choices even though the authorities could not? Teacher’s Note: Universities often have more stringent policies and can use more discretion than can court systems.
• Which core ethical values would dissuade Guzman from releasing the virus?
• If Guzman had been face to face with any of the many people who would be impacted by this virus, would it make any difference to his behavior?  In other words, does knowing someone and/or being in front of someone change behavior?  What examples support your thinking?
4. Now invite skits about Guzman and his co conspirator, Reomel Ramones.  Criteria for the role-play:
5. The two young men are in the planning stages, before launching their virus.
6. A third person arrives and helps them to re-consider because:
• The third person has a computer and doesn’t want it ruined
• The third person doesn’t want restrictions about using computers to come about because of Guzman’s virus
• The third person’s parents work at a bank that could be severely hit by the virus.
• The third person knows that Guzman and Ramones are good people who need reminders about the ethical values that should guide our behavior.

Tips

If time is short – use two sessions for this work, with the promise of role-plays/fun in the second session.

If you want to test students’ understanding rather than deepen their application/practice, don’t provide the criteria.  Simply ask that skits “teach to ethics and core values” … and see what your students do!

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Relates to

• “Building Decision Skills” Lesson 1, Ethics in Society: How are we doing?
• Ethical Literacy® Outcomes: Outcome 1 – Know the Values
• Schools of Integrity Findings:  Cross-cutting Dimension

Purpose

• To help students understand moral perimeter more deeply, while shoring up understanding of core ethical values

Preparation and Materials

• Provide current newspapers.  Split up the papers so each pair of students only receives one page – less overwhelming!

Process

1. Review the core ethical values of your school.  Don’t have those established?  Use the basic values we see most frequently in our work around the world:  honesty, respect, responsibility, fairness and compassion.
2. Ask students to pair up.
3. Explain that ethics is “the study of what is right and what is good”.  In other words, it’s the study of the above ethical values in action.  Remind students that being ethical goes well beyond following rules.  Ethics is also about how our core values guide us.
4. Pass out the newspaper pages.  Explain that most news is news because it relates to one or more of our ethical values.
5. Ask students to find articles related to the same core notions that your school upholds – the core ethical values.
6. The pair that claims to find the most connections to your school’s values must stand and defend their thinking:  for each news article, one of the pair must summarize, the other must make the link to core ethical values.

Tips

The emphasis here is on reasoning, and making reasonable connections between news stories and ethical values.  Beware of students providing opinions about a news issue instead.

Want to liven things up and build in some fun?  Provide a point system for the connections each pair makes, and extra points for examples of ethics going “well beyond following rules” and well into values guiding choices.

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As part of our Building School Culture Workshops we ask participants to identify their core shared ethical-values. For groups of educators who already have an established set of shared operating principles we help them begin to describe behaviors, habits, and practices aimed at upholding those shared values. Below, are photos, capturing one group’s efforts to describe teacher behaviors that will elevate standards and build a more ethical school culture.

Responsibility

Honesty

Respect

Schedule or join an upcoming Building School Culture Workshop to get started with this process for your school.

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Relates to

• “Building Decision Skills” Lesson 3, Defining Shared Values
• Ethical Literacy® Outcomes: 2 Applying the Values
• Schools of Integrity Findings:  Driver and Connector, Authentic Student Input

Purpose

• To help students understand moral perimeter more deeply, while shoring up understanding of core ethical values

Preparation and Materials

• This lesson follows on Our Perimeters 1: during which you thoroughly reviewed the definition of ethical values, and moral perimeter.
• Review that lesson’s index cards from each student.  Decide if the ideas on these cards are worth examining further through this lesson.
• If so, sort the ideas on the cards, so that you have some 5 or 6 common themes for students to contemplate. Examples:  “American students exclude non American”, “athletes exclude other sports and non athletes”, “English speakers exclude ESL students”, “full time teachers exclude part time coaches” etc.

Process

1. Put students in groups.  Give each group one theme to contemplate and a number of examples related to the theme from the index cards.
2. Ask students to do the following:
   1. Reflect on why this perimeter comes about?
   2. Specify what is the down side to this perimeter both for those inside it and for those outside it?
   3. Suggest an upside, or justification for this perimeter?
   4. Determine if the students feel the whole school would be better off without this perimeter, or if it’s not worth addressing, and why.
   5. Suggest ways this perimeter might be widened, if the group feels it should be.

Tips

Make sure you gauge the audience here.  Some students feel defensive about perimeters and will not be open to examining them in this way.

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On October 23, at the Southern Association of Independent Schools’ Annual Conference for School Heads, Institute for Global Ethics President and Founder, Rushworth M. Kidder, in his keynote address predicted the following:

I think it’s fair to say that…you are the educational laboratory for the 21^st century. The most important innovations in education from now on will flow from you and not from the public system; they’re going to flow from America probably as well, and the schools that you are running. …My point is, you are in that sense what on sailing vessels is known as the trim-tab. The trim-tab is a tiny little rudder on the end of a big rudder, because the rudder itself is too big to turn on an ocean line. When you’re turning the wheel of the ship do not be under any illusion that you are turning the rudder, you can’t, there’s too much force on it . What you are turning is the tiny little rudder on the back of the rudder which turns the rudder itself, and that little trim tab finally turns the rudder that finally turns that whole ship. That’s where you are you’re in that ability to make that kind of difference, it seems to me, within education.

Watch a five minute clip from his keynote address:

If you are interested in learning more about engaging Dr. Rushworth Kidder as a keynote speaker for your next event or conference, please be in touch directly with the WashingtonSpeakersBureau®.

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CFS, The School at Church Farm- Exton, PA, USA

Next week, the Ethical Literacy team at CFS, The School at Church Farm, over a period of three days, will facilitate an assembly presentation with the Pecha Kucha introducing right-versus-right ethical dilemmas (see video below), conversations in the cottages, a chapel presentation the following day, and an exit survey.

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The following is the fifth in a series of questions that could be interesting to explore with your students. We developed these questions for focus groups at Westside High School in Omaha, NE. The format here is simple.

1. Watch this film, and decide if it would be of interest to your students. If so, watch it again with them and:

2. Explore the topic of cheating with your students by posing a research-based question. It’s critical that you pose the question out of a genuine interest in the students’ point of view. Make sure you do not refer directly to a student (as in “Do YOU cheat?”), but indirectly and earnestly (“Have you ever observed cheating at our school?”). The purpose of this conversation is to enlighten you, as an adult, about the cheating situation at your school.

For example, you could say: “I don’t condone or approve of cheating, but I know it happens at our school. The research shows that ‘if you think about the morality of cheating, you’re less likely to cheat.’ I want to explore this research with you.”

Questions:

1. In your experience, are teachers at our school fairly consistent and equitable about cheating?  Explain your answer.
2. How effective do you feel our consequences for cheating really are?  Explain your response.
3. There are lots of reasons why students cheat.  Let’s brainstorm these reasons: (brainstorm:  typical responses include “boring class content”, “time management”, “pressure to get into college”, “peer pressure – competitive peers”, “challenging content”)
4. Which of these reasons for cheating could be addressed by our faculty?  What are your ideas for how to address this?

After thoroughly discussing these questions, leave it at that. We will provide other opportunities for you to explore cheating with students.

Did you find this content useful? If yes, get connected to receive updates from the Ethical Literacy Learning Community by subscribing to our e-communications. Click here.

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WHS EL Student Bullying Videos from Ethical Literacy Learning Commun on Vimeo.

As part of Bullying Awareness week the students on the Ethical Literacy Committee created, wrote, and filmed these videos for use in homerooms to address the issue of bullying.

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Albert had worked for a private residential school for over two years as a guidance counselor. He was making good money and had already received one promotion and was close to another. He had learned a tremendous amount while there; it was hard work, but very rewarding. However, he had been treated unfairly as an employee and didn’t believe in the administration, or how they handled the school’s finances or employees. He came to the point where his frustrations with the administration were testing his commitment to the school and students.

He asked himself: Do I continue to do my work and disregard my concerns? Or do I leave my post where I help students to find another similar job at another school?

Albert knew that it was right on the one hand to continue his employment because he was a valued asset and worked very well with the students. He had helped many kids successfully turn their lives around and became a valued member to their family and community. It was personally rewarding. Albert wanted to remain loyal to his students and community of peers.

But it was right on the other hand for Albert to quit and find another job because he was being treated unfairly and did not feel the administration possessed the integrity and willingness to make many of the necessary changes to reverse his negative feelings toward them.

Albert has two choices and both are right. Which should he choose?

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Purpose:  This is a quick activity to help build student’ awareness of ethics, and the question of “What is right?”, as a dimension of almost any news story.  This activity also provides you, the teacher, with an understanding of the news sources your students trust and their skill in distinguishing fact from opinion.

Preparation:

You will need:

1.  Internet access per pair of students in your class. 
2. If you don’t have internet access, provide a variety of printed newspapers. 
3. Find one news article that blends facts and opinions – the shorter the better. 
4. Make copies of that article to distribute to your class, and provide three colors of highlighters.

Step-by-step

1. Review the core ethical values of your school.  If these have not been established, use the downloadable Building Decision Skills curriculum to establish the core ethical values of the students in your class.  (Allow one class period for this process).  Otherwise, refer to the Institute for Global Ethics research, which indicates that most people around the world agree that our operating principles should include the following broad values categories : Honesty, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, and Compassion. Spend some time discussing what these words mean/look like in advance of this activity.
2. Once you’ve agreed upon and reviewed your core ethical values, ask students to think about how these ideas come up in the news:
   a.    What news sources do they read, and why?
   b.    What kind of news do they like to know about?
   c.     What topics and themes do they follow?Continue to validate and explore your students’ interests.
3. Discuss fact vs. opinion. Facts can be proven, and good journalists provide evidence for facts and sources.  Opinions express a point of view.  Provide and analyze the article, then ask students to circle facts and underline opinions.
4. Now ask students to think about how core ethical values show up in the article.  What is the article about, and which value(s) are at its core?
5. Then jigsaw the discussion.  Call on students to talk about the facts, opinions and values expressed in the article, paragraph by paragraph.  Be prepared to offer your own views about the article.
6. Finally, ask students to pair up and look at a news article on their favorite website, or to scan news articles in the papers you provide them.  Ask them to highlight opinions and facts, and to identify the values underpinning the news (email us for a sample of this final step). 

Follow-up discussion:  

Why is it important to know the difference between facts and opinions?  What basic standards for journalism can you construct with your students, based on the core ethical values of “honesty,” “responsibility,” and “fairness”?  How do these standards compare to the basic research standards in place in your class?  What’s the relationship between “trustworthy news” and “ethics: the study of what is right and what is good”?

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This activity is available to activity Building School Culture Trainers and participating Ethical Literacy Schools.

Please Login or register to download and/or read the rest of this content.

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