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Relates to
- Ethical Literacy® Outcomes: #5 Moral Courage
- Schools of Integrity 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
- 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]
- 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]
- Have each pair or group complete the worksheet about their chosen “giraffe”. [10 minutes]
- 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]
- Alternative: Simply collect the worksheets and use another class period to review moral courage by creatively presenting the information.
