Honesty/Integrity
(Fifth Grade Level)

Purpose: By the end of this session, I want my students to desire a reputation for honesty.
Supplies: Candy for game rewards. (“Liar Liar” movie for clip)
Other resources: Overhead sheet, student handout. 

• Great article on honesty: http://character-education.info/Articles/Honesty_Urban.htm 
• Great article on moral absolutes: http://character-education.info/Articles/Sommers.pdf 

Teaching Hints: 

• When I teach this lesson, I personalize it by admitting how my own dishonesty hurt me during my early life, leading me to adopt honesty as a personal core value.  Students want to know how you've struggled with honesty, yet why you're passionate about it. Think through your own life experiences. How did a romantic relationship go sour because of dishonesty? Have family members, co-workers, employers, or friends hurt you with their lack of integrity? Have you seen a business or individuals fail because of their lack of integrity? How have your own failings in this area hurt you? How has your honesty helped you? 
• If you have a bad reputation concerning honesty among your students, consider getting a guest speaker. Or, simply admit that you often fail in this area, but after thinking through this lesson, you desperately want to improve. Students can spot hypocrisy a mile away. Be honest with them in this lesson. Don't talk down to them. Let them know you're in this struggle for integrity as well. They'll respect you more in the end. 

Opening Game: "Liar, Liar"

Have each student write three items of interest about themselves. Two should be true; one a lie. Students guess which is a lie. Throw candy to students who guess correctly. Adult leaders can go first to give them an example. My personal items of interest were:  

a - I dated the same girl all the way through high school. (False - I actually dated the same girl for only 3 of my high school years.)
b - I'm writing a book on famous intellectuals. (True)
c - My twins, David and Paul, were born in Vienna, Austria. (True)

[I like this game because 1) students and teachers get to know each other better, helping overall with school empathy 2) it's interesting, thus students enjoy it 3) It leads us into the subject of honesty.]

(Give one piece of candy to the remaining students who have none.) 

Transition: I can tell from this game that we're all pretty good at lying! Today we'll talk about whether or not we want to use that ability, as we talk about honesty.   

Defining Honesty

What is lying? What is honesty? (Put the elements on the board as they guess them.) Your resulting definition might be something like this:  

"Honesty means telling the truth rather than lying or deceiving."

Discussion: What are some reasons that people lie? (Get them to discuss. Below are some reasons they may suggest.)

• It's a handy way of getting out of trouble quickly. (Give an example)
• It keeps me from having to make people uncomfortable with the truth. (Give an example)
• It's sometimes profitable in business to lie about a product.  (Give an example)
• Telling tall tails makes for interesting conversation.  (Give an Example)

Transition: Those are the reasons it's so tempting for us to lie. But let's examine our feelings about situations where others lie to us.

(Leader: Above we engaged student's minds to help them understand honesty. In the next points, we're attempting to engage their emotions to help them desire honesty. We're doing this by helping them realize how much they despise being lied to and deceived by others.)

Is Lying Wrong?

1. Eventually, we usually get caught.

Which Tire Was Flat?

Four high school boys decided to skip their morning classes and go have some fun instead. After lunch they checked into school, reporting to their teacher that a flat tire had held them up all morning. They were relieved when their teacher smiled and said, ''Well, you missed a test this morning, so take your seats apart from one another and get out your notebooks.'' After settling into their chairs, she said, ''Now for the first question: which tire was flat?'' (From Foster Quinn)

Discussion Questions

1) How did the four boys get into trouble?
2) When you realize that someone has lied to you, how does that affect your relationship with that person?
3) When you catch someone in a lie, can you ever really trust that person again?
4) Why is it so tempting to lie?
5) How can we become more honest?

The problem with lying is that eventually you get caught. And after you've been caught, even if it's only once, it's extremely difficult for people to ever trust you again.

''No man has a good enough memory to make a successful liar.'' -- Abraham Lincoln

2. Lying Hurts People

Ask, what are some times when people lied to you? (Teacher can tell some of these times as well.) How does it hurt you when people lie to you? (Teacher can share as well.)

Movie Clip:  (although this specific clip has nothing offensive, this is an “R” rated movie.) In a movie called “Liar, Liar,” Jim Carey played the part of a parent who always told his child that he’d do things with him, but never came through.

Show the scene (or ask students to describe it from memory) where the child is at his birthday party awaiting his dad, who broke his promise to attend. Ask, “what do you think the child is feeling? Have you ever felt that way when people lied to you?

Lying is a quick fix that you pay dearly for down the line. (Steve Miller)

Lying hurts our friendships.

When a friend lies to you, how does that hurt your friendship? (Let them discuss.)

It takes only one lie to make our friends and families question everything we say. 

Discussion: How many of you saw the movie, Spiderman? In what way did Spiderman lie to Mary Jane? (He told her he didn’t love her.) How did that lie hurt him? (She almost married somebody else.)  How did telling the truth help him? (Mary Jane became his good friend.)

Conclusion

Sometimes, lying looks like the easiest thing to do. But do you remember from this lesson some of the problems that lying causes? (Let them respond.) This week, let’s try to tell the truth, even when it’s not the easiest thing to do.