Integrity
Acevedo, Diana… Our class discussed different types of integrity including personal and academic
integrity. We then read and discussed the following quotes: "Every time I've done something that
doesn't feel right, it's ended up not being right." --Mario Cuomo "To know what is right and not do it is
the worst cowardice." –Confucius "My grandfather once told me that there are two kinds of people:
those who work and those who take the credit. He told me to try to be in the first group; there was less
competition there." --Indira Gandhi "What is right is often forgotten by what is convenient." --Bodie
Thoene. Students were then placed in groups and assigned one of the quotes to use as inspiration for a
skit showing an example of the importance of having integrity.
Addison, Brian… My class discussed the definition of "Integrity". Then the students wrote down three
people in their lives that they felt defined the word Integrity. After the completion of that, the students
explained why they chose these people and how they exhibited the characteristics of Integrity.
Aird, Monica… For the character trait of integrity, our homeroom watched the video "Teaching IntegritySpreading Sunshine" which explained the trait and what it means to be an integral part of society. The
video also provided students with examples of how to show true integrity in their everyday lives through
"spreading sunshine" at home, during school, and in their communities. After viewing the video,
students shared personal stories of integrity that they have used or have admired others for using.
Finally, we reviewed the meaning behind the quote: Your integrity is your gift to yourself and to the
world. To conclude, students completed the "Are You A Person of Integrity?" survey provided on
goodcharacter.com with results as follows: I always try to do what is right, even when it is costly or
difficult- True= 17 False= 4, I am true to my very best self- True= 18 False= 3, I live up to the highest
ethical standards- True= 18 False= 3, and I don't compromise my values by giving in to temptation
True= 17 False= 4. Students also filled in the blank for the last item on the survey beginning with "I think
I am / am not a person of integrity because..." Some of their answers were: I think I am a person of
integrity because... I think of others before myself, stand up for my beliefs, focus on what is important,
help others, make people smile, teach others, follow my morals, am true to myself, am not easily
tempted, am honest, am kind, always do the right thing, and doing something wrong makes feel guilty
and nervous.
Angel, Christine… For the character trait of Integrity my class watched two short videos relating to the
trait. In one of the videos the topic of finding/returning a wallet was discussed. Afterwards, the class
copied down three questions relating to integrity and answered each one based on their own life
experiences. Some students shared their responses.
Arocha, Christy… Mrs. Arocha's girls discussed the meaning of the word "integrity." When we finished
the discussion we read the book, "The Secret Olivia Told Me" by N. Joy. We discussed how the girl in the
story showed integrity by knowing what she did was wrong and confessing to Olivia. When we finished
we shared examples of how we can show integrity.
Arczynski, Kristine… My first graders listened to songs on integrity:
http://www.integritytime.com/tunes.htm Then we talked about acceptance. I had my girls each go
around the room and finish this saying, ___________, does a great job including me in ___________.
Thank you ___________ for including me in _____________.
Cardoso, Diacris…Our homeroom defined the word integrity and discussed the importance of this
characteristic. We then watched a short video of Aesop's fable "The Boy Who Cried Wolf". The students
discussed the importance of the video and provided ideas on how to improve themselves.
Chaiken, Sherri… Students gave ideas as to what they thought integrity meant. I read some quotes and a
short story describing integrity. We brainstormed examples. Students wrote one instance where they
have shown integrity and one instance where they have not shown integrity. The class voted for a
classmate that consistently shows integrity.
Claudio, Lisette… My class discussed the definition of Integrity. Then we brainstormed how we can
show and have integrity. The boys wrote down on index cards 2 examples of how they displayed
integrity.
DeLaFe, Katrina… For the month of March students in my class had the opportunity to really express
their thoughts and ideas on what integrity meant to them, as well as relate to some situations in which
the character trait of integrity could have been modeled. The lesson was started off as I listed different
words and phrases that are related to "integrity" on the board. Along with these synonyms and related
words, I also listed some non-examples or antonyms. Using all of these different words and phrases that
were listed on the board, students worked together to come up with their own definition of
integrity. Now that students understood what the character trait of integrity meant, I read aloud two
different scenarios. At the end of each scenario, students were given some time to reflect on how they
would have reacted in that situation, and if they were in that situation what action could they have
taken to ensure that they were modeling integrity. Students were provided with some guided questions
to assist them in reflecting and writing their thinking pieces on these scenarios. At the end of the lesson
students did get an opportunity to share their responses with the class.
Ecelbarger, Bridget… For the month of Integrity, I gave students different scenarios of right choices and
wrong choices. Students could either choose to be true to themselves and not be a follower or they
could follow the path of a follower and see the consequences at the end. Students were able to see both
sides of the spectrum and see why it is important to be who they feel most comfortable being. Following
this lesson, students wrote in their journals what integrity meant to them.
Fernandez, Yelina… As a whole group we had a discussion of ways to show integrity as this concept has
been tossed around the classroom since the beginning of the school year. I gave the students one day
to voluntarily show integrity. At some point during the school day they were to engage in an act of
integrity. By dismissal the students had to turn in a summary expressing their act of integrity while
reflecting on the experience. The summaries were then glued onto construction paper. To conclude the
activity, the construction papers were attached with yarn to create “Our Classroom Integrity Quilt”.
Gillins Hatcher, Jaqueline… Students were given the word integrity during homeroom and were ask to
write down what their thoughts were about the word. Once students understood what the word meant
students were ask to give example of what it mean to have integrity. The lesson was tied into Franklin
Academy Character traits. Students were able to express them self through words and thoughts and
spoke openly about thoughts of being honest and being true to themselves and others when there is no
one around and always making conscious decision. Students spoke candidly about school rules, and
how at times they are strict but understand if you have self-control over your action then it will work
out. My students believed that here at Franklin Academy students exemplify good character traits and
work hard at having integrity and self-control over their actions. They also believed that if you stay true
to your beliefs and stay out of trouble no one can take that away from you.
Giacobbe, Regina… Mrs. Giacobbe's class discussed integrity using the scenarios that were given to
teachers and then we made a booklet depicting each scenario and what we would do or would have
done and why. We also discussed how others might feel if they were in those situations and we acted
them out in front of the class.
Heuer, Craig… Mr. Heuer’s class did an activity where we brainstormed the definition of integrity. The
class defined integrity as: “Integrity – being strong enough to do what it is right even when it is hard or
doing what is right even when no one is looking.” We then decorated fish and wrote our names on
them; the student’s names were placed in a bowl. Students drew each other’s names and told at least
one reason how their chosen student demonstrates integrity. We also incorporated setting with
integrity in our writing prompt where students wrote about integrity at a location of their choosing.
Henry, Jacqueline… Mrs. Henry's girls brainstormed qualities about integrity. They wrote an expository
essay and they created an integrity quilt. (Great project given to us by Ms. Fernandez class, Thanks
boys!)
Herman, David… Mr. Herman's 5th grade class learned about the character trait Integrity through a
power point presentation. The teacher introduced the topic Integrity by defining the character trait
followed by a teacher directed discussion on the subject. The discussion related directly with the
concept of consistency of actions, values, methods, measures, principles, expectations, and outcomes.
This helped the students understand that integrity is regarded as honesty and consistency of character.
Following the discussion, the teacher presented the power point, and instructed the students to write a
brief paragraph about what they learned and what the term integrity means to them as individuals.
Furthermore, the students presented their writing and explained the importance of the character trait
integrity.
Hillebrand, Monica… The meaning of integrity was discussed. Students shared examples of times they
felt that they showed integrity. Students created a stick puppet. On one side they drew a happy face
and wrote “with integrity” and on the other side they drew a sad face and wrote “without integrity”.
Then different scenarios were drawn out of a hat. The students shared different ways the scenario
could be handled. After sharing, all the students held up either their happy face “with integrity” or their
sad face “without integrity” and had to describe why they chose that face.
Leljedal, Scott… For the integrity character trait, I had the students write a response to three questions,
and then we discussed their answers. 1. Have you ever heard the phrase "Let your life speak"? What do
you think that means? The students thought that means you should stand up for what you believe in
and be yourself. 2. What does integrity have to do with your character? The students said having
integrity shows you are honest, and makes it more likely that people will respect and trust you. 3. How
do you feel when you see someone who's not willing to stand up for his/her beliefs? The students
agreed that you would not trust or respect that person anymore because they are a hypocrite. Some
students felt that they would want to confront that person to see why they did not stand up for what
they believe in.
LeRose, Alexandra… In March, we explored the Character Education trait of 'Integrity' by role playing
different scenarios that exhibit the trait. We also discussed how Galileo used integrity with his findings
about the solar system. Then there was the integrity St. Patrick showed during his time and how he
used his integrity to bring the country of Ireland together.
Limeres, Giselle… For this month's character ED on INTEGRITY, we are writing a narrative play using the
concept problem and solution. The girls were grouped in 3 and were asked to write a play. One group
member is the narrator, and the other two are characters in the play. Each play has three scenes: the
first scene is the problem, the second scene includes the steps to the solution, and the third is the
solution that exemplifies INTEGRITY! Prior to beginning this activity, we had a class discussion about
integrity. I first explained that integrity means to show respect to yourself and others, being honest to
yourself and others, and to always do the right thing. I came up with some scenarios in which the
students had to come up with solutions to the scenarios that showed and exemplified integrity. For
example, one scenario was "You and your friend go into a candy store, and when you
leave you realize that your friend stole some candy. What would you do?" Some example solutions
were, "I would go back and return the candy" or "I would talk to my friend about honesty and being a
responsible citizen and I would walk back with my friend and help her apologize and return the stolen
candy." For the play, the girls are beginning scene one with a problem, and ending the play with a
solution that exemplifies integrity. They are really enjoying this! Maybe you can come in and watch
them perform it when they are all finished! ;-)
Mayhew, Sheila… In my homeroom, we talked about what integrity meant and then the students had an
opportunity to choose 2 of the writing assignments to do. They got the concept of integrity very well by
the writings that they did.
Montes, Abril… For this month's activity we discussed what integrity is and who shows signs of integrity.
Then we broke up into groups where each group was given a prompt to discuss and display what actions
they needed in order to show integrity. Each group then acted their prompts and we talked about
different slogans (e.g., "No, I am not comfortable doing that") that we could use and say for a variety of
different situations.
Nunez-Ledo, Karen… Students wrote essays in my class explaining why integrity is important.
O’Donnell, Sally… For integrity we discussed doing the right thing when no one was looking just because
it is the right thing and doing the right thing even when it is hard to do! We thought of times that we
have shown good integrity for both at home and in school.
Ortiz, Christina… For March's character trait lesson (i.e., integrity) my class discussed the definition of
integrity. We discussed how a person with integrity looks, acts, and sounds like (e.g., confident, humble,
polite).Then, I split up my students into groups of six and had them discuss with their peers when they
or someone they know have exhibited integrity. Next, I had the students role play. I called on students
randomly and gave them a scenario (e.g., what would you do if you saw someone accidentally drop their
money on the floor?). The student would need to think about and then answer how they should react in
that scenario in order to display integrity. Afterwards, we will discuss how a person with integrity would
act in those situations.
Osborne, Kristen… In my classroom, we looked at two situations entitled "what would you do?” The
first situation dealt with honesty and the students read the situation and then discussed in groups what
they would do and we shared their answers. The second situation the students read about dealt with
trustworthiness. Again in groups, they discussed what they would do if they were in the situation and
then we shared their responses. Finally, we discussed the historical figures we've studied so far in social
studies and talked about how they exemplified integrity. We ended by sharing ways the students can
display integrity in their own lives.
Palmisano, Theresa… Our class discussed the following question: Does thinking about how you want to
be remembered tell you anything about how you should live your life? We then made cards about: "Let
your life speak" discussing acts that we feel speak the story of our lives and shared the cards as a class.
Paredes, Adriana… I open the discussion with the question, Are you a person of integrity? What does it
mean to be a person with integrity? Then, we talk about how on how to be a solid, principled, true to
your very best self. After that they took a self-evaluation quiz and wrote a paragraph on how to change
and be a solid person.
Perez, Vivian… For our lesson on integrity we defined the word and discussed ways of showing integrity
in different scenarios. As a culminating activity the students finished the following statement: " Five
years from now, I want to be remembered as..." Some responses:" as a good, kind, and loyal friend"rystopher"as someone funny"- Edward"a good, caring, nice person who was there for others" Belineda"a hard working, well-behaved student that tries hard even though I fail sometimes" Annette"one of the coolest guys in school and the nicest" - Anson"the one that was helpful, caring,
sweet, loving, perky, my style, and how I brighten people's days" -Deanna"as a good friend" Anthony"as ntelligent" -Michael"as a generous person" - Trisha"a nice, sweet, and kind person" Deandra . For my Language Arts classes, the students wrote their own poem inspired by Rudyard
Kipling's "IF". These poems focused on integrity advice ending with "You'll be a man my son".
Ribeiro, Nancy… During the month of March my class and I discussed the meaning of Integrity. We
analyzed several scenarios, responded to questions, and determined what acting with integrity looks
like. The students also created Integrity posters. I read several integrity quotes to the class and
discussed the meanings. The class was then divided into groups in which they had to create a
skit using the integrity quote assigned.
Rosenkrantz, Lauren… In Homeroom we had a debate. One side of the class was for academic integrity.
The other half made their argument for against academic integrity. The two sides had a friendly
argument on such topics as plagiarism. Each side gave there valid points and in the end we agreed that it
was not right to copy from other people hard work. When you copy someone else’s assignment you do
not learn anything.
Tome, Jessica… The meaning of integrity was discussed. Students shared examples of times they felt
that they showed integrity. Students created a stick puppet. On one side they drew a happy face and
wrote “with integrity” and on the other side they drew a sad face and wrote “without integrity”. Then
different scenarios were drawn out of a hat. The students shared different ways the scenario could be
handled. After sharing, all the students held up either their happy face “with integrity” or their sad face
“without integrity” and had to describe why they chose that face.
Urizarri, Giselle… I introduced the lesson by defining the meaning of Integrity and discussing examples of
being true to yourself and doing what’s right. Each day I read a scenario to the class (bullying, stealing,
rumors,..) and asked the students to respond to the scenarios with a solution that showed Integrity.
After reading and reviewing these scenarios, I split the girls into groups of four and asked them to make
up scenarios of their own in which someone showed poor integrity. Then, I asked them to come up with
a way to solve the problem by showing good integrity. Finally, each group of girls came up to the front
of the class and acted out their scenario.
Wachsman, Katey… In our class we played a game where we acted out scenarios about how we would
act if a friend prompted us to be dishonest, steal or help them cheat. We also talked about if there are
degrees of lying and/or cheating ~ for example is stealing a candy bar as terrible as stealing a car. :)
Wells, Suzanne… We discussed what integrity means. My boys defined integrity as this: doing what is
right, all the time. We then had an open discussion about times in the classroom every day that we can
exhibit this character trait. Whenever the boys show this trait, they get recognized for it.