Honesty
(Fourth 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.
• One lie leads to another. Eventually, you get all tangled up in lies and can't find your way out.

Game Time: The Untangle Game

Divide into groups of four (must be an even number). Stand facing one another in a circle.  Instruct each student to grab the right hand of a student across from (not next to) him. Next, join left hands with a different person.  Then, try to untangle without anyone letting go. 

Next, try it with six people. Then, eight.

Discussion:

1) How is "The Untangle Game" like lying? (Lying leads to more lies and often tangles up our relationships. Like tangles, lies can be hard to untangle.)
2) Can you give an example of how lies tangle up life? (Teacher: Give an example from your own life or from family or friends.)

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?"