“Be the Power of One” Building Character for Success

1. “Be the Power of One”Building Character for Success “Honestly Building Your World” Lesson 9.5 Created By: Pam Gunter

2. Preparation • Materials Needed: • One piece of 8”x10” piece of paper for each group. • Classroom Setup: • Sit in groups of 5-8 students.

3. Challenge for the Week – Follow Up How did everyone do with exercising courage last week? Would anyone like to share their accomplishment?

4. Introduction • As you will notice, each lesson builds upon previous lessons. Self-esteem, courage and respect all support honesty, plus they support each other. Without one, it is difficult to be truly successful. • Finding balance in character traits is important as we try to define who we are as a person and what we desire to be as we mature. • Honesty is evident in all we do. If we are dishonest in what we say and what we do, it affects our self-esteem, our respect for ourselves and courage to be around others because we may be caught in our dishonest acts, causing isolation. • If others are dishonest with us, it affects our trust in them, destroys relationships, and hinders growth.

5. The Activity • Have each student write down an experience when they were dishonest to someone. If they don’t have a first-hand experience, have them write down an experience when they were betrayed or lied to. Have them write down their feelings and emotions during their experience. Ask the students write down how the situation was resolved. • Now, have the students write down a positive experience when they were honest, or someone else was honest with them. Have them share how they felt and how it improved relationships with others. More importantly, how they felt about themselves. • As a small group, discuss how our honesty, or dishonesty affects others. Discuss how stealing, cheating, lying, etc. negatively affects our relationships, how we feel about ourselves and how others feel about us. Discuss how integrity, truthfulness, respect, etc., helps build relationships.

6. The Object of the Lesson Points instructor needs to bring out: • Honesty will build or destroy the world we choose to live in. • Being an honest person and associating with honest friends will help us be stronger, more trustworthy, have confidence in each other, and ultimately be happier, making a person more successful in all that they pursue. • Imagine our school and friendships if everyone chose to be honest all of the time. We could trust what people say, we wouldn’t have theft, we would learn and grow in a positive and trusting environment. We could change the face of the world. • Being honest is a choice that everyone has full control of. Make the right choice!

7. Challenge for the Week Honesty is the root of building a strong world. How can you impact the world for good by living the rules of your family, your school, the community, the nation? One person can change the world. Find one rule you struggle with and work this week on living that one rule. It has been said many times that 30 days will create a new habit; let’s get started!