KEY LESSON

Unit Learning Goal

Students will develop active strategies to accomplish good work in the future.

Lesson Goal

Students will understand the value of intrapersonal resources (e.g., personal values, habits of reflection and contemplation) in achieving good work.

Assessment

Students will be able to analyze a dilemma using key reflection strategies (questioning key stakeholders, responsibilities, consequences, and courses of action). They will craft a mission statement that captures their sense of personal purpose. Written reflections will be collected and assessed as part of the Good Work portfolio.

portfolio documentation

RESOURCES

Total TIME

45 minutes

Instructions

1. Opener: Dilemma Debate: Excellence at Risk [25 minutes].

  • Provide each student with a copy of the “An Appropriation of Identity” dilemma when they enter class. Allow students to sit and read the dilemma [3 minutes].

  • *Note: Remember there are short summary versions and video versions of the dilemmas if you would rather use these versions of the dilemma with your class. You may also feel free to adapt the dilemma as suits the needs of your class or context.

  • Divide the class into groups of 4 to 6 and assign each person in the group a “part” to play from the list below [2 minutes]. [Note: there are intentionally more roles than group members, so not every group will have one of each person represented.] 

    • Sofia

    • Jenny

    • Jenny’s Husband

    • One of Jenny’s Customers

    • Another neighbor of Sofia and Jenny’s

    • Another friend of Sofia’s 

    • Another friend of Jenny’s 

  • Allow the students to discuss and debate the dilemma with one another from the perspective of their assigned parts. [10 minutes]

  • Shuffle the students and have them assemble in new groups with new parts. Allow them to discuss and debate again with their new roles. [10 minutes]

2. Class Discussion: Stakeholders, Values, Choices [15 minutes].

  • Facilitate a class discussion with the following focus questions:

    • What did you notice in your role play? Did you all agree (alignment)? Were there disagreements (misalignment)?

    • Did your perspective change between your first and your second role?

    • What does Sofia value? What is important to her?

    • What are the ways that the situation could end? Does one ending feel more “just” to you than another?

  • Tips for the discussion:

    • Make sure that multiple “role play” parts contribute to the reflection. Highlight important differences.

    • Use statements from the narrative as evidence or support for answers.

    • Gather students’ thoughts about Sofia’s responsibility to take a particular course of action or not.

  • Ask students to look at the information in totality and vote on what they think Sofia should do (ask Jenny not to call her store Latina-owned,  , tell other friends about Jenny’s framing of the store, or any other alternative choices that may have been raised). Ask for a few points of justification [5 minutes]. Stress to students that this is a real case, that there is no perfect right answer, and that what we “should” do is a complex interplay of:

    • Values

    • Responsibilities

    • Considering who is affected and how

  • Make clear to students that it is important to use these same habits of reflection when encountering difficult situations in real life. When we face a dilemma, we should pause before making a decision to consider:

    • All of the stakeholders (people who could be affected)

    • Your personal values (what is important to me?)

    • Your responsibilities (to yourself, to your communities, to society)

    • “Good work” (excellence, ethics, and engagement)

  • Note: If completed, remind students of lessons learned in Lesson 2.1 on reflection.

3. Exit Ticket

  • Ask your students to consider:

    • Who are some of the stakeholders that you might consider when making difficult decisions in your life? Who is often affected by your decisions? 

    • [Students can draw, write, mind-map, etc. for this exit ticket]