Character education lessons, activities, and resources

Pillar: Responsibility

Purpose: Provide students an opportunity to become more aware of their behavior by documenting their strengths and weaknesses in terms of personal responsibility.

Objectives:

  • Students will discuss how being dependable, accountable, and doing their best shows they are responsible.
  • Students will reflect in writing their ability to show responsible behaviors over a set number of days.
  • Students will share lessons they learned about themselves through this reflective opportunity.

Discussion: Discuss these concepts until you feel everyone understands and can differentiate between them

  • What does dependability mean? Look like?
  • What does accountability mean? Look like?
  • How are they different? Similar?
  • How does doing your best show you are responsible?

Activity:

  • Have the students keep a “responsibility journal” for two or three days. Tell them that the journal should have three sections.
    • Being Dependable
    • Being Accountable
    • Doing My Best
  • Tell the students to pay close attention to their behavior over the next few days and document challenges they face in these areas.
    • Here are some examples to model
    • Being Dependable
      • Avoided someone because I did not do them a favor I promised I would do.
    • Being Accountable
      • Made a mistake but took responsibility for it and tried to fix it.
    • Doing My Best
      • Did not pay attention and fell asleep in class.
    • Stress that they will not get penalized for recording irresponsible actions. Say, “The idea is to become more aware of your behavior, and to work on the areas that give you trouble so you can be more responsible.
    • When the few days are up, have the students bring in their journals and discuss strengths and weakness. Ask how situations could be handled differently next time. Throughout the discussion praise their observations and challenge everyone to become more responsible.

 

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