Year 1, Lesson 1.3: The 3 Es of Good Work

Unit Learning Goal

Students will understand “good work” through excellence, ethics, and engagement.

Lesson Goal

Students will be able to define the three elements of “good work” (excellence, ethics, and engagement) and discuss how qualities of “good workers” relate to these elements.

Assessment

• Monitor class discussions for student understanding of the 3 Es of good work.

• Analyze Exit Tickets for evolution in students’ thinking about the meaning of “good work.”

CASEL Alignment

Self-Awareness, Social Awareness

Portfolio Documentation

• Lesson 1.3 Exit Ticket

Resources

• List of qualities of a good worker that the class came up with in lesson 1.2

• Optional: 3 Es Video

• Optional: Core concept blogs on Excellence, Ethics and Engagement

Prerequisites

• Lesson 1.1 - An Introduction to The Good Project Lesson Plans

• Lesson 1.2 - Qualities of a Good Worker

Total Time

45 minutes

Instructions

1. The 3 Es. [15 minutes]

• Introduce the 3 Es of Good Work: Excellence, Ethics, and Engagement. You may wish to do this in a few different ways from the options below:

  • Watch the 3 Es video from The Good Project.

  • Display a visual of the framework and talk through the three parts.

• Ask students what these words mean and crowd-source a set of definitions for these terms that are similar to the definitions provided by The Good Project.

• For your own understanding, see the in-depth core concept blogs on Excellence, Ethics and Engagement. Depending on the grade level, you may wish to share these resources with your students.

• Ensure that students understand what each one of the 3 Es mean. Ask for clarifications and questions. (This conversation may take some deep exploration of a term like ethics, which can be complicated.)

2. Categorizing the Qualities. [20 minutes]

• In a visible physical or digital space, create a chart with three columns, one for each of the 3 Es (excellence, ethics, and engagement).

• Ask students to look over the qualities of good workers that they generated in the previous class. Ask them to try to categorize the qualities by placing each one under one (or more) of the 3 Es columns. (Consider letting students do this in small groups if time allows. Be sure to ask each group to share out with the rest of the class.)

  • If it’s difficult to determine whether a word belongs in one or another column, discuss why. Decide as a group if perhaps it should appear in more than one column.

  • If there are qualities that appear to be unrelated to the 3 Es, perhaps create a new overarching category or special column for those.

Note: Make clear to the students that you will be using the 3 Es as a framework going forward, but allow them to explore their own interpretations of these concepts and additions to this framework during this activity

• Point out that excellence, ethics, and engagement interrelate in practice.

• Pick up on areas where the qualities or descriptors you categorized may cross areas or have caused disagreement and why.

• Describe how the 3 Es interact with and support one another: a strong sense of ethics may allow someone to do work that is more excellent; feeling engaged might lead someone to stay motivated and to do work that is more ethical and excellent, etc.

5. Closing and Exit Ticket. [5 minutes]

• Ask students to complete the Lesson 1.3 Exit Ticket.

  • Students will complete the thinking routine: “I used to think good work meant… Now I think…” (As a short example, I used to think Good Work was work that was done perfectly. Now, I think that Good Work is not just done well, but done with passion and care.)

• Keep the written reflection for the Good Work Portfolio.

Lesson Walkthrough

Watch this short video guide for lesson specific advice from The Good Project Research Team.