TEXANS BUILDING CHARACTER

Lesson Plan: Fairness
Six Pillar Shuffle

Time in session: 1 hour, 15 minutes
Evaluation time: 5 minutes
 

Goal: To present the Fairness pillar from Character Counts!sm to participants and discuss facts and figures from surveys about unhealthy behavior in American youth.
 

Objective 1: To increase participant understanding of survey information about the behavior of American youth. (25-30 minutes) Section: "Facts and Figures" from the Character Counts!sm curriculum Overheads 1 - 36 Outcome: Each participant will report an increased awareness of the prevalence of unhealthy behavior as indicated by recent surveys.

Presenter says:
Our parents said this and now we're saying it too: the world is a different place than when we were growing up. Many changes have benefitted families while other changes have not -- much of the time the affect of change depends on what resources are available to that family. We know that all families can be at risk if their resources such as finances, food, housing, social support and health are not sufficient to keep the family functioning in a healthy way. Certainly this generation has experienced a major change in family structure so that the traditional, first-time married, two parent family is now a minority family structure. Let's examine some of the stresses that put youth and their families at risk:

Overheads 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, and 13

Presenter says:
People involved in family activities are stronger and more resilient to manage stressors that are a part of life. Youth who participate in age appropriate, skill building activities also strengthen the assets that youth can then use to guide them through the changes of their world. Here are some statistics on how positive activities support our youth:

Overheads 15 - 20

Activity:
To reinforce the positive aspects of youth behavior, divide your group into several groups and have them answer one or two of the following questions. (You might want to make an overhead of these questions). Be sure to summarize some of the ideas that are shared. (8-10 minutes)

1. Can you name more examples of volunteer service that the youth in your area are involved in?
    
2. Please name some community projects that would benefit from the help and enthusiasm of youth.
    
3. How could county groups plan their character education model to include youth in a leadership role?

Presenter says:
I want to show you a few more overheads that will provide us with information on how today's youth perceive their world.

Overheads 22 - 36

Presenter says:
Let's shift our thinking from the statistics above to talking about the pillar of fairness.
 
 

Objective 2: To increase participant understanding of the Fairness pillar from the Character Counts!sm curriculum. (15-20 minutes) Section:  Character Counts!sm Six Pillars: Fairness Overheads 1 - 44 Outcome: Each participant will report an increased understanding of the Fairness pillar from the Character Counts!sm curriculum.

Presenter says:
How many times have you thought to yourself, "That's not fair!" You might have been talking about the rain on a sunny Saturday or a penalty given to your favorite sports team. On the other hand, many of us can remember an adult saying to use, "Life's not fair, so get on living!" Each of us probably has a very strong understanding of what is fair and what is not fair. Let's check this out a bit more through a small group activity.

Activity:
(Presenter will show selected overheads from Character Counts!sm Six Pillars: Fairness section and ask small groups to discuss each overhead for several minutes.)

1. What is fairness? (Overhead 2 or 3)
    
2. Can groups be fair? (Overhead 4)
    
3. Is this saying accurate? (Overhead 19, 29, or 44)

Presenter says:
We have several principles of fairness that will be useful for your own character education project group and also for the audience that you are going to serve. Let's talk about the next few statements with our projects and audiences in mind:

Activity:
As a large group discuss the principles listed on Overheads 6 and 7. Ask the group how these principles will apply to the groups they are going to work with on their character education project.

Sample questions:

1. Can we apply these principles to most/all situations?
2. Do all ethnic or racial groups agree with these principles?
3. Do men and women view these principles differently?
   Will youth below the age of 12 have difficulty with these principles?

   

Objective 3: To increase experience of counties and groups in using and developing activities that promote six pillars. (10-15 minutes) Section: Character Counts!sm Six Pillar: Fairness overheads that have not been used, such as Overheads 19 - 44 Outcome: Each participant will participate in activities that TAEX team shares with group. Participants will share other ideas for promoting character activities.

Presenter options for a very brief Objective 3.

Optional Activity 1:
Let's consider how the community pillar of fairness could be used to increase the resiliency skills of all youth but particularly youth at risk.

Optional Activity 2:
Select a topic that group did not have time to discuss before and use overheads as needed.

Presenter says:
Fairness is a key pillar to the citizens of our country. Your project group will have no difficulty involving children, youth and adults in discussing what's fair and what is not fair.

Please take a moment to complete the evaluation of this session.

Thank you.

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Page last updated: August 7, 2007