Integrity Themed Morning Meeting Resources for Character Development
Integrity can be defined as "the quality of being honest, adhering to strong principles and character." Today's post is here to help you find morning meeting resources for social emotional learning and character development - specifically integrity.
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One quickly finds that our reputation is highly connected to our integrity, that the ways in which we choose to act make up what others think about us and what we think about ourselves.
I have used Morning Meetings/Community Meetings in my classroom as an avenue for having important conversations with my students about topics like these. Some other social emotional learning and character development topics I focus on include compassion, conflict resolution, managing emotions, gratitude, growth mindset, courage, responsibility, perseverance, and belonging.
I've always felt that our greatest endeavor as human beings is to work hard to help our inner beliefs and character shine through on the outside and that's why I'm such an advocate of theme-based classroom meetings and taking the time to encourage social and emotional development in our students--even when it's not in the curriculum map. #SHUTYOURDOOR&TEACHtotheirHEARTS #igiveyoupermission
It can be so tough for a child to always have their actions match their intentions and their beliefs. Children's emotions are constantly out of whack, people are constantly telling them what to do. They may feel that they are constantly making mistakes, and quite a few upper-elementary students I've taught have also felt their reputation was already tarnished and that there was no point in making changes because other students wouldn't give them a chance to grow.
We are so fortunate that we have the daily opportunity to make an impact on impressionable young people.
I know that many a teacher made an impression on me and made me believe that I could change the world and make a difference.
🌟 You can find all of the resources for the integrity unit in my website store or on Teachers Pay Teachers. Each Social Emotional Learning/Morning Meeting unit contains 15 days of editable lesson plans, a bulletin board, discussion questions, self-reflections and goal setting forms, student journal pages to accompany classroom discussions, activities, and reflections, suggested read alouds, videos, digital Google Slides for the teacher and student, and more!
To launch my morning meeting theme, I always begin with a key read aloud. I LOVE Mr. Peabody's Apples by Madonna as my key read aloud for integrity, honesty, and discussions focused on reputations.
Other Good Read Alouds for an Integrity Theme:
1) Babushka Baba Yaga by Patricia Polacco
2) A Day’s Work by Eve Bunting
4) Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters by John Steptoe
5) A Hen for Izzy Pippik by Aubrey Davis
Quotation analysis is another big part of my morning meeting routine. The following quotation is my FAVORITE from the set and gets at the relationship between integrity and reputation. I LOVE the ending, "the way to a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear."
One of the journal pages includes this quotation and questions to help students analyze the meaning of the quotation.
I also try to pull in music and other videos and sometimes I come across news articles that are perfect for sharing with students and adding to our discussion.
I love sharing this article about Ivan Fernandez Anaya, a Spanish runner who intentionally lost the race so his opponent, who was in the lead but fell down, could win. I like to have students discuss whether or not they would have made the same choice and what we can infer about Ivan based on his choice. We relate his actions back to integrity and what kind of belief systems he must have to do something so courageous and selfless.
I found this movement called “Because I said I would” whose mission is to
be a social movement and nonprofit dedicated to the betterment of humanity. We make and keep promises to end suffering, establish peace and build happiness. Our mission is to strengthen humanity’s will. We created the“Promise Card” to help hold people accountable to their commitments. Make and keep a promise to improve yourself, your family or your community.
BISIW will even send you promise cards if you request them.
A fantastic extension of this mission and project would be to create a classroom book or individual cards where students make commitments to themselves and their classroom community.
Just imagine all of the ideas they can come up with...B.I.S.I.W. be kind to a classmate who needs it; stand up to a bully; use a kind voice when speaking to classmates; apologize when my actions don't represent the person that I want to be.
I think an effort like BISIW in your classroom would help students be more courageous in their actions and act with more and more integrity!
We can make being the kind of person who sticks to our commitments and our convictions #COOL in our classrooms!
Another option would be to create general “because I said I would” cards together based on desired classroom behaviors, copy these cards as a set for each child as a reminder. Perhaps children can receive a “because I said I would“ card from the teacher or another student when caught doing the expected behaviors.
Additional Videos You May Like to Share with Your Students:
An Introduction to Because I Said I Would
What is Integrity (at minute 5:59 this video talks about God as the ultimate example of a leader with integrity. Please PREVIEW THIS VIDEO before watching with students.)
A Life of Integrity (1 minute video)
Integrity for Students (1 minute description)
You can download all of the morning meeting resources, including a handy lesson ideas and teaching resources page, in the Integrity Journal Theme Set and the Integrity Bulletin Board Quotations and Vocabulary set for free. Just click on the image below!
Check out these other amazing resources from participants in #kindnessnation and #weholdthesetruths.
ARE YOU INTERESTED IN LEARNING MORE ABOUT MORNING MEETINGS? What about Morning Meeting Professional Development that you can WATCH and learn in your PJ's?
Want to learn more about what the professional development is all about and what you will learn in the 5-day training? Head to this Morning Meeting Professional Development blog post where I've laid out all of the details for you!
THEMES TO GUIDE YOUR MORNING MEETINGS ALL YEAR LONG
If you’d like more social emotional theme units with a focus on encouraging students’ social, emotional, and academic success, you may be interested in the Morning Meeting Mega Bundle of 17 theme units. With units focused on kindness, compassion, growth mindset, gratitude, perseverance, responsibility, managing emotions, and so much more, your engaging morning meeting plans are done for you and your students will love them! You can save 10% on the Mega Bundle of all 17 themes with the code MM10.
As I’ve said, I use Morning Meetings/Community Meetings in my classroom as an avenue for having important conversations with my students about topics like integrity. I’d love to know when you carve out time for character development! Comment below!