Honesty
(Third Grade)

Purpose: By the end of this session, I want my students to desire to be honest.  

Other resources:  

Great article on honesty: http://character-education.info/Articles/Honesty_Urban.htm 

Teaching Hints: 

• 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 dishonesty? Have you seen someone fail because of their dishonesty? How has being less than honest hurt you? How has your honesty helped you? 
• Use one or more of these personal stories in your lesson. You'll find that as you share personally, your students will reflect and share their own life lessons about honesty.

1. Define Honesty (Discussion)

"What is honesty?" (Write their answers on the board and come up with a working definition. Something like, "Telling the truth; not lying or deceiving.")

2. Understand Why People Lie (Discussion)

"Why do you think people lie?" (Get some discussion. You might want to get the ball rolling by sharing what's tempted you to lie in the past, or why you feel others have lied to you.) Possible reasons:

• They're about to get into trouble, so they lie and say "I didn't do it!"
• They want attention, so they tell lies to impress people: "Over Christmas, I jumped out of a helicopter and skied down a steep mountain, causing an avalanche."
• To make interesting conversation, they pass on information that might not be true, as if they know it to be true. "Did you hear about Jenny? She stole a watch from Sears and got caught."

3. Understand How Dishonesty Hurts Those Lied To

Discussion (With these questions, try to move them beyond understanding lies and gossip to feeling how it hurts them and others):

1) How does lying hurt people? (Teacher: get the ball rolling by sharing how gossip once hurt you.)
2) Have you ever been hurt by a rumor that went around about you? Can you tell about it? How did it feel?

4. Understand How Dishonesty Hurts Those Who Tell Lies

Ask: "How does lying hurt the liar?"

• If you're caught even once, people won't trust you anymore.
• When you really need people to believe you, they might not.

Story Time: The Classic Aesop's Fable, "The Boy Who Cried Wolf"

There once was a shepherd boy who was bored as he sat on the hillside watching the village sheep. To amuse himself he took a great breath and sang out, "Wolf! Wolf! The Wolf is chasing the sheep!" The villagers came running up the hill to help the boy drive the wolf away. But when they arrived at the top of the hill, they found no wolf. The boy laughed at the sight of their angry faces. "Don't cry 'wolf', shepherd boy," said the villagers, "when there's no wolf!" They went grumbling back down the hill.

Later, the boy sang out again, "Wolf! Wolf! The wolf is chasing the sheep!" To his naughty delight, he watched the villagers run up the hill to help him drive the wolf away. When the villagers saw no wolf they sternly said, "Save your frightened song for when there is really something wrong! Don't cry 'wolf' when there is NO wolf!" But the boy just grinned and watched them go grumbling down the hill once more.

Later, he saw a REAL wolf prowling about his flock. Alarmed, he leaped to his feet and sang out as loudly as he could, "Wolf! Wolf!" But the villagers thought he was trying to fool them again, and so they didn't come. At sunset, everyone wondered why the shepherd boy hadn't returned to the village with their sheep. They went up the hill to find the boy. They found him weeping.

"There really was a wolf here! The flock has scattered! I cried out, "Wolf!" Why didn't you come?" An old man tried to comfort the boy as they walked back to the village.

"We'll help you look for the lost sheep in the morning," he said, putting his arm around the youth, "Nobody believes a liar...even when he is telling the truth!"

Discussion: How did lying hurt the shepherd boy? How can lying hurt us in the same way?

Summary and Action Point

Lying hurts us. Lying hurts others. Today, let's think before we speak. Let's ask ourselves, "do I know that what I'm about to say is true?"