Our Centers for Ethics:

Weekly writing prompt

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April 27 – May 3, 2008 "Give me your tired, your poor..." This line, from “The New Colossus,” a sonnet by 19th-century American poet Emma Lazarus, appears at the base of the Statue of Liberty. Many Americans have ancestors who accepted this invitation, journeying from distant shores with few possessions — but plenty of big dreams. Use the prompts below to examine the challenges immigrants face and to think about the respect they deserve. You might incorporate the famous final lines from the Statue of Liberty's plaque:        Give me your tired, your poor / Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,        The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. / Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me:        I lift my lamp beside the golden door.

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

"We hate some persons because we do not know them, and will not know them because we hate them."
– Charles Caleb Colton, British clergyman and author (c. 1780-1832)

Focus Pillar: Respect
Imagine that you are a reporter and you have to interview someone from another country about their experience coming to the United States. Write five questions that you would ask this person to find out what it was like leaving home and arriving in a foreign land.

Suggested extension activity: Have students conduct the interviews and present findings to the class.

Secondary level

"We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children."
– Haida Indian saying

Focus Pillar: Respect
Talk to your parents and other family members about where your ancestors came from and the stories that they have passed down. Pick an ancestor that you would like to learn more about and come up with five questions that you would ask if you could talk to them today. Include these questions in a letter to him or her.

Suggested extension activity: Using primary sources and family interviews, have students write a report about their chosen relative.

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