Our Centers for Ethics:

Weekly writing prompt

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.

Elementary level

"Trust yourself. Think for yourself. Act for yourself. Speak for yourself. Be yourself."
— Marva Collins, African-American educator (b. 1936)

Focus Pillar: Trustworthiness
Write an expository paragraph explaining what a student should do if he or she sees someone being bullied at school. Be sure to have transitions in your writing. For example:

• First
• Next
• Then
• Also
• Finally

Secondary level

"I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence."
— Frederick Douglass, African-American abolitionist, public speaker, and writer (c. 1818-1895)

Focus Pillar: Trustworthiness
Pretend you were at a party and all of your friends were drinking alcohol. They pressured you to drink, even though you didn’t want to. Write a personal narrative about this party and how you handled the situation. Be sure to use literary elements:

• Setting
• Plot
• Main and supporting characters
• Theme

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