What Does It Mean to have a Moral Universe?
Subject / Skill(s): English / Self Confidence
Grade(s): 9 – 10
Standards Addressed:
 Transact with texts to formulate questions, propose explanations, and consider alternative views and
multiple perspectives.
 Analyze ideas and information from text and multimedia by formulating questions, proposing
interpretations and explanations, and considering alternative views and multiple perspectives.
 Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with diverse partners; build on
the ideas of others and express own ideas clearly and persuasively.
Objective: Students will be able to explain the idea of having morals and values. Students will recognize
that sometimes it is hard to do the right thing when there is peer pressure or a large group. Students will talk
about how to ask for help when they need it.
Estimated Total Time: 50-60 minutes
Materials Needed:
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Poster board or big paper
Markers
Yes/No signs
Leader’s Guide
Starter (15 minutes)
1. Make a list on the board of people students interact with on a daily basis (teachers, friends,
parents/guardians, etc.).
2. Split students into small groups of 4 or 5, and make sure they all have a small poster board or big paper
and markers.
3. Ask students to think about two questions:
a. What does it mean to have a moral universe?
b. What do we expect from people in society?
4. Instruct students to make a sign of the things they expect from people in the world.
a. Examples: respect, kindness, compassion, etc.
Gallery Walk and Commentary (10 minutes)
1. Have students hang up their posters.
2. Allow student groups to walk around and look at the posters.
3. After 5 minutes, have a 5-minute “noticing of something” one group noticed on another group’s poster.
What does it mean to have morals, and why is it harder to stick to them in a large group? (20
minutes)
1. Explain the word “morals,” and ask students what theirs might be. Explain that the decisions and
choices we make and morals we live by are influenced by what is important to us, or what we value.
Point out that everyone makes different choices and that there are as many different set of values as
there are people. We all need to respect our values, as well as respect the values of others.
2. Have students stand up for a “ping-pong” debate.
a. Hang up sign Yes/No signs for “sides” students can move to during Q&A.
b. Ask questions that have to do with morals, such as the following examples:
i.
It’s ok to steal.
● Ask one person per side to comment on why they moved where they did.
● After students pick a side, add “If someone close to me needs medicine and
they’re going to die if they don’t get it, it’s ok to break into a pharmacy to take the
medicine.”
● Once students change again, take a moment to talk about why they switched.
● Explain that it can be complicated to “do the right thing” sometimes.
● Note the students that don’t move for this one, even in a life or death situation.
Ask them why they didn’t move.
ii.
If I didn’t study for a test, it’s ok to cheat.
● Ask one person per side to comment on why they moved where they did.
● Ask students if panic causes them to cheat.
● Ask students if it is hard to ask for help in a situation like this. Then, open it up to
asking for help in general.
○ This question often has a lot of answers.
iii.
Come up with another question, OR have your students come up with another one to
respond to. Other possible moral questions could have to do with events in history
(connect to the text To Kill a Mockingbird) or to events that have been happening in the
world today.
c. Start a discussion with students about morals they have on their own versus how they act when
they’re in a group. Discuss the difficulty of maintaining your values in the face of pressure to
change them. Remind students that, once we know what is important to us, we must live by
those morals, or values, even in the face of pressure.
Conclusion (10 minutes)
Conclude that it can be hard to stand for the right things in life, especially when you’re in a “panic” situation.
Relate this lesson to Chapter 15 in To Kill a Mockingbird. Students need to understand why it’s so hard to do
the right thing when you’re persuaded by a group. In the case of To Kill a Mockingbird, why is Atticus such a
role model? Relate it to his ability to stand on his own/by his morals. End the discussion by reminding students
that we must stay true to our beliefs and make decisions that align with the rules and values we live by.
Questions for Assessment:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What is does it mean to have morals?
What is group mind, and why is it tough to do the right thing in a larger group?
How do we expect to be treated in the world?
How can we make the world a better place?
Why is it so hard to ask for help?
Chapter 15 summary, To Kill a Mockingbird:
Chapter 15 A week after Dill’s arrival, a group of men led by the sheriff, Heck Tate, come to Atticus’s house in the
evening. As his trial is nearing, Tom Robinson is to be moved to the Maycomb jail, and concerns about the
possibility of a lynch mob have arisen. Later, Jem tells Scout that Alexandra and Atticus have been arguing
about the trial; she nearly accused him of bringing disgrace on the family. The following evening, Atticus
takes the car into town. At about ten o’clock, Jem, accompanied by Scout and Dill, sneaks out of the house
and follows his father to the town center. From a distance, they see Atticus sitting in front of the Maycomb
jail, reading a newspaper. Jem suggests that they not disturb Atticus and return home.
At that moment, four cars drive into Maycomb and park near the jail. A group of men gets out, and one
demands that Atticus move away from the jailhouse door. Atticus refuses, and Scout suddenly comes racing
out of her hiding place next door, only to realize that this group of men differs from the group that came to
their house the previous night. Jem and Dill follow her, and Atticus orders Jem to go home. Jem refuses, and
one of the men tells Atticus that he has fifteen seconds to get his children to leave.
Meanwhile, Scout looks around the group and recognizes Mr. Cunningham, the father of her classmate
Walter Cunningham. She starts talking to him about his legal entailments and his son, and asks him to tell
his son “hey.” All of the men stare at her. Mr. Cunningham, suddenly ashamed, squats down and tells Scout
that he will tell his son “hey” for her, and then tells his companions to clear out. They depart, and Mr.
Underwood, the owner of the newspaper, speaks from a nearby window where he is positioned with a
double-barreled shotgun: “Had you covered all the time, Atticus.” Atticus and Mr. Underwood talk for a while,
and then Atticus takes the children home.