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I don’t always do separate lessons for my girls groups and my boys groups, but this one I did just for my 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 got 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 intergity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.
Then I pulled out my knife and cutting board. (I think I disappointed them that it wasn’t to cut an ice cream cake.) The picture below is my son who was doing everything he could from spoiling my surprise since he saw me practicing my lesson a few days before.
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Anyway, I turned them all into private detectives who would be using invisible ink to write down the secret meaning of integrity. Our secret ink. . .lemon juice!
After the boys wrote their meanings, I ironed their papers. My picture below is hard to see, but after you iron the paper, you can read what they wrote.
They actually look better in person. Also the key is to iron them on a thick towel, making sure to iron the back of the paper. If you iron the lemon juice, it tends to smear. Also q tips work better than paint brushes.
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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