Core Values:  Some Activities for Middle School Students

A Learning Website For Middle School Students

 

Activity 5:  What would you do?  Why would you do that?

Activity 5 is a collection of 32 situations that students could encounter while attending middle school.  Select one situation at a time to present to your class.  Please Note:  Students will need a copy of The Core Values – Definitions Sheet to be successful with these activities. 

Here are a few suggestions on how these situations could be presented to your students:

Think It Through, Then Write About It
Select one situation.  Write it on the board.  Introduce it.  Then, have your students answer these questions in writing.

  1. What would you do in this situation?  Why would you do that?

  2. How would your choice affect you? 

  3. How would your choice affect the other person or the other people who are involved?

  4. Is there another choice that’s not listed?  What is it?

  5. Which core value goes with this situation?  Why do you think that?

 

Think It Through, Then Discuss It
Select one situation.  Write it on the board.  Introduce it.  Then, discuss these questions as a class.

  1. What would you do in this situation?  Why would you do that?

  2. How would your choice affect you? 

  3. How would your choice affect the other person or the other people who are involved?

  4. Is there another choice that’s not listed?  What is it?

  5. Which core value goes with this situation?  Why do you think that?

 

           It’s Your Turn!

  1. Select one situation.  Write it on the board.  Introduce it.

  2. Call on a student.  Ask:  What would you do?  Why would you choose to do that?   Let that student call on another student. 

  3. The next student should answer these questions:  What would you do?  Why would you choose to do that?   That student should call on the next student. 

  4. Etc.

 

Groups of Two
Group your students into groups of two.  Select one situation.  Write it on the board.  Introduce it.  Then, have each group discuss these questions.

  1. Which core value goes with this situation?  Why do you think that?

  2. What would your group choose to do in this situation?  Why would your group choose to do that?

  3. Is there another choice that’s not listed?  What is it?

 

Stand Up & Make Your Choice Known
Most of these situations have 3 choices – A, B or C.  Identify and label three areas in your classroom.  For example, you could label the north wall, Area A.  It would represent choice A.  You could label the west wall, Area B.  It would represent choice B.  You could label the south wall, Area C.  It would represent choice C.

  1. Select one situation.  Write it on the board.  Introduce it.  Have each student make a choice by standing in either area A, B or C.  For example, if a student agrees with choice A, he/she would go stand in Area A.

  2. Next, have one student from area A, one student from area B and one student from area C tell their classmates why they made the choice that they made. 

  3. Once they share their reasons, ask your entire AA group if anyone wants to change their choice and move to another area of the room.

  4. Repeat point 3 as many times as you have time for.

  5. Summarize the activity by asking kids what they appreciated about it and what they learned from it.

The Situations

 

You want to borrow a pencil from your teacher. 

  1. You go up to her and say: “I need a pencil.”

  2. You take a pencil off her desk.

  3. You go up to her and say: “May I please borrow a pencil?”

 

You pass one of your teachers in the hall. 

  1. You ignore him.

  2. As you approach him, you smile and say hi!

 

You bump into someone in the hall. 

  1. You say: “I’m sorry!”

  2. You act like nothing happened and you keep on walking.

  3. You turn to the kid you just bumped into and say: “Hey, watch it.”

 

You are at the bus stop and your friends start putting down another kid.

  1. You join in.

  2. You tell your friends to grow-up and stop it.

  3. You move away from your friends and stand off to the side by yourself.

 

The sub has handed out an assignment.  It’s due at the end of the hour.  Some of the kids in class start acting up.

  1. You act up, too.

  2. Working quietly, you do the assignment the sub assigned.

  3. You sit quietly, but you don’t do the assignment even though you understand it.

 

You are in the auditorium attending an assembly.  You are bored.

  1. You decide to pay attention, figuring that you can be polite for an hour even though you are not interested in what is being presented.

  2. You start talking to your friend who is sitting next to you.

 

You are in the gym attending an after school basketball game.  The visiting team is winning.

  1. You and your friends start booing and making a lot of noise so the other team can’t concentrate.

  2. You behave yourself and cheer for our school at the appropriate times. 

 

Music!  Decorations!  Snacks!  It's a Friday afternoon and you are at a school dance, where …

  1. You hang out with your friends – talking nicely, dancing, and sharing snacks, which you clean up.

  2. You run around, bump into people, and throw your candy wrappers on the floor. 

 

Someone bumps into you in the hall. 

  1. You shove them back.

  2. You turn around and say: “Hey, watch it!”

  3. You figure it was just an accident and keep on walking.

 

Your teacher has just assigned you a detention for being tardy. 

  1. You start talking back to your teacher.

  2. You think:  “Busted!  I better start getting here on time!”

  3. You continue coming late to class.

 

You find a ten-dollar bill in the bathroom. 

  1. You turn it into the office.

  2. You ask a few kids if it belongs to them.

  3. You keep it and don’t say anything.

 

It’s during exchange of class.  The kid in front of you just dropped all his books.

  1. You stop and help him.

  2. You walk right on by.

  3. You kick one of his books down the hall.

 

One of your friends has said something about you that is not true and you are really mad.

  1. You start a fight with him/her in the hall on your way to class.

  2. You make an appointment with your counselor to talk about this problem.

  3. You write your friend a note, in which, you calmly ask them what is going on.

 

Your best friend really likes a certain person and you have promised not to tell anyone.

  1. You tell one other person and that person promises not to tell anyone else.

  2. You share this secret with most of your friends.

  3. You keep quiet.

 

Your friends are talking about one of the kids you hang out with.  You do not agree with what they are saying. 

  1. You speak up, telling them you don’t agree and why you don’t agree.

  2. You just sit there and don’t say anything.

  3. You get up and make an excuse to leave.

 

A student, new to this school, has just walked into your Language Arts class, for the first time.

  1. You ignore her.

  2. You go up to her after class and offer to show her where her next class is.

  3. You smile at her.

 

When you get really angry with another kid, you think it’s best . . .

  1. To talk about the problem – peacefully.

  2. To pick a fight.

  3. To ask your counselor for advice.

 

You think classroom rules:

  1. Are not needed.  After all, everyone knows the difference between right and wrong.

  2. Are needed.  That way everyone knows exactly what they are allowed to do and not allowed to do. 

 

You see some trash in the hallway...

  1. You pick it up and toss it in the wastebasket.

  2. You ignore it.

 

You are walking down the hall and you have some trash in your hand…

  1. You toss it on the floor.

  2. You toss it in the wastebasket.

 

You are late to class.  You see a locker that’s open….

  1. You continue walking on down the hall.

  2. You close it.

  3. You look inside it and take a pencil.

 

You walk into your second hour, chewing gum.  Your second hour teacher does not permit her students to chew gum, so you . . .

  1. Pretend you are not chewing gum and chew it when she is not looking.

  2. Toss your gum in the wastebasket.

 

You are at lunch, eating lunch with your friends.  Your best friend is once again talking to you with his mouth full of food.  Is it OK to talk with your mouth full of food.

  1. Yes.

  2. No.

  3. Sometimes.

 

Your best friend has just told you that he has stolen $50 from his first hour teacher’s desk drawer.  He has asked you to keep his secret.

  1. You agree to keep his secret.

  2. You tell him you think that what he did is wrong and that he had better put the money back.

  3. You tell him that you will keep his secret.  But then you begin thinking about it and you really think that what he did is wrong so you write his first hour teacher an anonymous note telling her about this situation.

 

You are in the lunch line and the student in front of you places three cookies into their pocket.

  1. You ignore it.

  2. You tell one of the lunchroom monitors what you saw.

 

You are at lunch and talking with your friends.  You interrupt your friend in the middle of their sentence so you can give them your viewpoint on the topic under discussion.  Is it OK to interrupt somebody when they are talking?

  1. Yes.

  2. No.

  3. Sometimes.

 

Someone has just paid you a compliment.

  1. You smile and say, “Thank you!”

  2. You ignore them because you are embarrassed.

  3. You disagree with them because you have a difficult time accepting a compliment.

 

You copied your friend’s homework paper and handed it in as your own work.  Placing your paper in front of you, your teacher asks you this question:  “Did you copy this?”

  1. You deny it because you would receive a zero and that would hurt your grade.

  2. You admit that you did it.

  3. You deny it because you don’t want to get your friend in trouble.

 

You are in the bathroom and your friend starts trashing it.

  1. You ignore your friend.

  2. You join in and help your friend trash the bathroom.

  3. You walk out because you think trashing a bathroom is wrong.

 

You are on a fieldtrip, eating lunch in a restaurant, with your friends.

  1. You behave yourself and enjoy lunch with your friends.

  2. You and the kids you are sitting with talk in loud voices, act rude and leave a mess at your table.

 

You are on the school bus and you start fooling around.  The bus driver asks you to stop it.

  1. You do what the bus driver asked you to do – you stop fooling around.

  2. You ignore the bus driver and continue fooling around.

  3. You talk back to the bus driver.  Then you stop fooling around.

 

You’re bringing some treats in for a class-related activity.  You trip and drop everything on the floor.  What a mess!

  1. You walk away from the mess as quickly as you can.

  2. You go to a teacher and ask for help.

 

© Joan Marie Brown    
Mrs. Brown, a Technology Educator, is the author of this website. 
Created August 2002, updated September 2006.  
This webpage is hosted by Wayne RESA.


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