Our Centers for Ethics:

Weekly writing prompt

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January 10-16, 2010 Lights, Camera...Maxim! As the winter weather draws people indoors, students often enjoy seeing the blockbuster movies released for the holidays. Encourage them to think critically about the films they enjoy with this week’s prompts.

Write or discuss it! Foundations for Life gives teachers an easy way to improve students' critical thinking and composition skills. Each of these weekly prompts comes with a maxim illuminating an ethical issue. Students can analyze it and apply it to current events and their own lives, through discussion or writing. Each prompt also references at least one of the Six Pillars of Character: trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship. As a result, students can easily tie the author’s words to community values. Suggestions for using the prompts:

• Read the biographies in the Teacher’s Resource.
• Present the maxim to the students.
• Briefly discuss:
  •   What did the author mean?
  •   Can you think of ways the statement applies to something in your life?
• Point out the Pillar related to the maxim.
• Present the writing prompt to the students and have them answer these questions in their draft book or other format.

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Elementary level

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."
— Margaret Wolfe Hungerford, Irish writer (1855-1897) (from Molly Bawn)

Focus Pillar: Fairness
A new year is starting, but don’t forget the past! Think of your favorite movie from last year. Rate the movie on a scale from one, the worst you’ve ever seen, to five, the best. Use bullet points to list three reasons why you liked the movie.

Then, list three things you disliked about the movie and, to be fair, describe how these could be improved. Finally, write a sentence exclaiming, with correct punctuation, why this movie was the best of the year.

Secondary level

"We don’t see things as they are; we see them as we are."
— Anais Nin, French-born American author (1903-1977)

Focus Pillar: Fairness
You are asked by your local newspaper to review movies and tell the public whether they should see, rent, or skip new releases. Select one performance by an actor or actress you feel strongly about. Rate the movie on a scale of one to five (one being “poor” and five being “excellent”) and write a paragraph defending your point of view.

To remain fair, describe at least one aspect of the film in particular that you did not care for and explain how it can be improved. Conclude your review by recommending whether or not you feel others should see the film.

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