I don’t always do separate lessons for my girls groups and my boys groups, but this one I did just for the boys. I knew that I wanted them to have an understanding of what integrity was, so as they were eating their lunches I started to ask them what they thought integrity meant.
I received all kinds of responses, from, “I don’t know” to “being respectful” to “It’s why I can hold my head up high.” I didn’t know this ahead of time, but my 6th graders have been learning about Jackie Robinson in their ELA class and have talked about what integrity means there. In the end, we decided that integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.
I pulled out my knife and cutting board. They were a little confused, but were so excited when I told them we were going to make invisible ink, using…lemon juice! I turned them all into private detectives who would be using invisible ink to write down the secret meaning of integrity.
After the boys wrote their meanings, I ironed their papers. My picture is hard to see, but after you iron the paper you can read what they wrote!
Here’s just a sample of what they had to say:
- Integrity means sticking to your values.
- Integrity is showing someone you care.
- Integrity means sticking to what you think is right when the world is doubting you.
I think they get it.
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