INTEGRITY

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 the ir jobs, not their technical skills.

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LESSON:

Say It and Do It
Time Allocation: 20  minutes
Materials/Resources: whiteboard, markers, enough space for students to stand and participate in the activity without touching anyone else, computers/ tablets/ smartphones (students - optional), paper, pens/ pencils

ANTICIPATORY SET IDEA:

 Write the following words on the whiteboard or project them onto the screen for all the students to see.

     o Honesty, Success, Adventure, Happiness, Responsibility, Popularity, Fun, Love, Friendships

 Ask students to read the list of words and then ask them what these words represent.

 After a few students have taken a guess at what they represent and if no one guesses correctly, tell them the correct answer is Personal Values. All the words on the whiteboard could be a personal value 

 Ask students to define what personal values are. Write this definition on the whiteboard.

     o Personal values are things that are most important to a specific person. Personal values vary from person to person – there is no right or wrong answer in choosing your values.

 Then, have students think about and write down 2 -3 of their own personal values.

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WATCH THE VIDEO:

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DIRECT INSTRUCTION:

Tell students: when we truly believe in something, it is difficult for us to behave in a manner that is not consistent with what we believe. T he musician Mark Hall once said, “You will say what you think , but you will do what you believe.” Take honesty for example; if you firmly believe that honesty is the best policy and a classmate asks you to share your answers with him on the test, your answer will be an automatic “no.” If for some reason you do end up getting talked into sharing your answers, then you will feel badly about the incident and either never repeat the behavior or you will change your values. You may adopt the value that cheating is only “ok” when it is helping a good friend or some other rationalization. Your values are reflected in your behavior.

GUIDED ACTIVITY:

Have the entire class stand up and face you. Explain that you will point both of your arms in one direction and they are to copy you by pointing both of their arms in the same direction and to call out the direction that they are pointing.

 You can only do four different directions:

     o Arms pointing up

     o Arms pointing down

     o Arms pointing left

     o Arms pointing right

 Go through all these directions and have students practice copying you and calling out the directions they are pointing.

     o Make sure students understand that the directions are how they see them so when you point your arms to the right, they will be pointing their arms to the left. They are mirroring your actions.

 After letting them practice, now it’s time to challenge them. Move your arms to one of these directions and wait for them to move their arms and to call out the direction. Repeat this process a number of times, moving your arms to a different one of the four directions each time.

 Stop and explain that you are changing the assignment. This time, you want them to move their arms the same direction that you do but say the opposite direction.

     o For example, you point your arms down – they would also point their arms down, but would say “Up.”

 For the third round, they are to say the direction that your arms move, but they are to move their arms in the opposite direction.

     o For example, you point your arms up and they should say “Up” but point their arms down.

 Now, for the last round, tell students that if they mess up and make a mistake, they must sit down at their desk. Start the round by repeating the same sequence as before and see how many remain after each change. Encourage those who are sitting to help spot students who make a mistake.

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: 

NEW FRIENDSHIP INITIATION

It’s the start of the school year and you recently started hanging out with a new group of friends, only because none of your old friends got scheduled into the same classes as you. So far, your new friendships are going great; you have a lot in common with your new friends and they seem to have a lot of fun . Your favorite place to hang out with them is at the local mall where you mostly just gossip and watch the other people shop. Today, your friends wanted to do something different and they decided that since you are the “newest member” to the group , you must be put through an “initiation”. So they grab you by the arm and pull you into the nearest clothing store . You aren’t really sure what to expect but you try to have an open mind, considering they are your friends and they wouldn’t do anything to hurt you or get you in trouble. Your friends inform you that to be considered part of the group, you must steal something from the store. They tell that it’s not a big deal and that they do it all the time. You know what consequences you could face for stealing but there are also consequences for not doing it. In this moment, you have to decide what is more important – friendships, reputation, honesty? What do you do?

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 options that you have in this situation?

3. What are possible positive or negative consequences for you, depending on your decision?

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 , “ Are they really your friends if they put you in this situation?”

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 , “ WHAT IMPACTS COULD Y OUR DECISION HAVE ON YOUR OVERALL INTEGRITY AND YOUR FUTURE ?”

REVIEW AND CLOSING:

To end the lesson, ask these follow -up questions for a class discussion:

     o How hard was it to point your arms and call out the same direction that I was doing?

     o How hard was it to say the correct direction and point your arms in the opposite direction?

     o How hard was it to say the opposite direction and point your arms in the correct direction?

     o Why was this hard to do?

     o How hard is it for you to say one thing but to be thinking another?

     o How hard is it to act one way when you are feeling another way?

     o How does this activity relate to your personal values?

     o Can we act differently from what we really believe? Explain.

     o How do our values and beliefs dictate what our behavior will be?

CORRELATION TO OBSERVATION TOOL: The Frequency Observation Tool (FOT) has a category where students will be observed and rated on their ability to know their personal values and to follow them. This lesson will give students the opportunity to define a few of their personal values as well as understand why it’s important to behave in accordance to their values.

DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION IDEAS
-Visual: Visual learners will benefit from the activity by watching the teacher and other students participate.

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

-Kinesthetic: Kinesthetic learners will benefit from the movement involved in the activity.

-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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