Reflecting on Responsibility

When you spend time reflecting on responsibility, are there areas that you’d like to improve upon?

Grade Level: 6-12

Character Skills:

Responsibility

SEL Skills

Self-Awareness
Responsible Decision-Making

Academic Skills

Diligence
Curiosity and Passion

Definitions

Responsibility

Do what you are supposed to do. Try your best.
Persevere. Keep on trying.
Be self-disciplined.
Think before you act. Consider the consequences.
Be accountable for your words, actions, and attitudes.

Self-Awareness

Identify and understand emotions, values, attitudes, motivations, mindsets, and personal attributes.

Responsible Decision-Making

Make decisions based on rationality, ethics, and effectiveness.

Diligence

Have a growth mindset and is willing to learn from mistakes.

Curiosity and Passion

Enthusiastic about understanding more about themselves, others, and the world around them.

Share This Activity

Learn more about our character, social-emotional, and academic outcomes.

Students will choose a quotation about responsibility and create artwork with the quote. Then, they’ll reflect on why they chose that quote, how it applies to them, and if they have responsibility skills they’d like to improve.

Materials/Preparation

Paper, markers, and colored pencils or computer access to make a picture
Access to the Internet to research quotes about responsibility (or see sample quotations below)

Activity Instructions

Ask students to find a quotation they like about responsibility.
- Students may want to also use the following key words/key phrases to find responsibility quotations:
  - Persevere
  - Self-discipline
  - Accountability
  - Goals
Create responsibility artwork of your favorite responsibility quote.
- Examples:

Reflection

Divide the students into small groups, and ask them to share their artwork and answer these questions:

Why you chose this quote about responsibility?
How does this quote apply to your life?
- Does it reflect your current responsible behavior or what you strive to do?
- Can you think of a time when being more responsible would have been valuable to you?
What steps could you take to work on your responsibility skills?

Responsibility Quotations

“There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.” – Beverly Sills
“Character consists of what you do on the third and fourth tries.” – James Michener
“If you think you are too small to make a difference you haven’t spent the night with a mosquito.” – African proverb
“If you think you are too small to make a difference you haven’t spent the night with a mosquito.” – Dalai Lama XIV
“When we tackle obstacles, we find hidden reserves of courage and resilience we did not know we had.” -A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” – Arthur Ashe
“Life isn’t perfect; any failures you have are actually learning moments. They teach us how to grow and evolve.” – Phillipa Soo