An ambitious person is confident and self-motivated, both of which are qualities we want to see in our children. But ambition sometimes gets us into trouble. It encourages us to compete with others over scarce resources and that causes us to be selfish and uncompromising sometimes. It’s important to recognize that there are other people in the world and we have an ethical obligation to think about their needs as well.
Ask the students what they dream about and you are sure to get a wild variety of interesting answers. Students dream all of the time and some use them to set lofty goals for their life pursuits. Others see dreams as fake pictures of reality. However they are viewed, thinking about dreams is a chance for students to become more self-aware about what they value and what they really want out of life.
We experience life with other people. This is true in our families, schools and workplaces. We are taught the importance of being individuals and being responsible for our own actions, yet many of our life experiences involve others and our successes and failures are determined by how well we are able to work with other people.
Freedom is a concept near and dear to the hearts of kids. Freedom means they can do what they want, when they want. But there are limits to freedom placed on children by parents, schools and society. When kids confront these limits they must decide whether or not to disobey the rules or conform to them. This is an inescapable ethical dilemma that stays with them for the rest of their lives.
Every student knows a little something about enemies and conflict. They don’t get along with everybody and these inevitable conflicts force them to make choices about how to treat other people. These choices have real consequences as they impact their capacities to build and sustain friendships.
Students confront problems everyday. Some are small like how to study for an exam or get a ride to school, and some large like how to support their friends who are in unhealthy relationships. All of these problems involve the choice of whether to intervene or do nothing and let the situation play itself out. Each choice is hard and leads to consequences.
The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles is a captivating telling of courage of a young girl who was escorted to school by federal marshals to stake her claim to a free education. Ruby Bridges was that girl and …
In Norma Jean, Jumping Bean the main character is a young kangaroo who must learn to follow rules. When she gets in trouble for jumping, she resolves to never jump again. By the end of the story, she has the …
Many people believe that one must suffer in order to achieve success and happiness, or that people can only appreciate success once they’ve known true hardship. Before reading James and the Giant Peach, in which a young, mistreated orphan embarks …
I am teaching argumentative writing and I want to focus on the theme of obedience by exploring the pros and cons of following rules even when you disagree with them. Using the Albert Einstein quote, “Never do anything against conscience, …
Character development is at least as important as the development of academic skills. A strong character fuels self-discipline and self-motivation, both of which breed success in life. But character development sometimes feels like impossible work, especially when a person’s difficult life circumstances get in the way. How a person turns out is often determined by forces out of his/her control.
Suffering is a fact of life. Sometimes the suffering occurs on an individual level; others times it is shared with others. People react to suffering in very different ways. Some become bitter while others use the suffering as a motivating force to help other people. Suffering causes reflection and sets the framework for our ethical choices around what type of person we want to become.