Our Centers for Ethics:

Weekly writing prompt

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February 14-20, 2010 Valentine's Day February 14th is Valentine's Day. This week students explore the Caring Pillar by writing a story about an alien and the kids' response to him on Valentine's Day.

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

"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not."
— Dr. Seuss, pen name of Theodor Seuss Geisel, American author and illustrator of children’s books
(1904-1991) (from The Lorax )

Focus Pillar: Caring
An alien has landed from outer space and enrolled in your class. During the Valentine's Day party, you notice there aren’t any cards in his box because the other kids think he is different. Write a story about the party and how you will solve the problem. Include the following:

• Characters, setting, plot
• Problem, rising action, solution
• Descriptive language

Secondary level

"I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."
— Maya Angelou, African-American poet and author (b. 1928)

Focus Pillar: Caring
An alien has landed from outer space and now attends Sheila’s school. She has struck up a friendship with him, but doesn’t really let anyone know about it. On Valentines Day, she receives a Valentine-a-Gram from him and everyone starts making fun of her. She doesn’t want to hurt his feelings, but does not want her classmates to think less of her. Write a short story and include the following:

• Sensory details
• Descriptive language
• Feelings of specific characters

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