Excellence Scenarios:
1. Suzy Cue’s grades are terrible! At mid-quarters, she was only passing 2 of her classes – PE and band! She decides to get serious. Each night, she comes home and does her homework. Most nights she has to work until bedtime. She makes flashcards. She reads her study guides aloud to herself. She recites vocabulary words while she’s brushing her teeth. This quarter, Suzy received 6 C’s and 1 D.
How does Suzy demonstrate excellence?
2. Pansy Pinkerton knows her stuff! She’s always received A’s. She pays attention in class. When she gets home from school, she breezes through her homework in less than an hour, and then goes outside and to practice her soccer skills. This quarter, Pansy received all A’s.
How does Pansy demonstrate excellence?
3. Fred Ficklestein knows everyone in school – even all the new kids. He can talk to anyone about anything. He can’t wait for the school year to begin so that he can meet and greet all of his classmates. He can’t wait for Fridays ‘til 4! What an opportunity to see everyone! Fred races to get there at 2:50 and he stays until 4:10. During that time, he’s connected with 5 new people, joked around with several large groups of people, and planned a party at his house for next week.
How does Fred demonstrate excellence?
4. Sam Spade never talks to strangers. Walking into a new class each year is terrifying. When school has Fridays ‘til 4, Sam considers not telling his mother and leaving at 3 as usual. Instead, Sam forces himself to go. He walks into the room and works hard to look at people and smile at them as they move on. He talks to one person who he already knew from American History. It was scary but not as bad as he thought. He knows that the next time he goes it will be better. Maybe he will talk to two people then.
How does Sam demonstrate excellence?
5. Jock LaRue is an amazing athlete. In basketball, he is the top scorer in all the games. He often has to skip practice because he participates in other sports. Because of his ability, he has been on the varsity team since 9th grade. In a game, his coach may tell him to pass the ball, but Jock doesn’t because he knows he can score. And he does. He always does a cute little victory dance whenever he makes a basket.
How does Jock demonstrate excellence?
6. Stan LeMan is not an amazing athlete. He’s actually a little clumsy, but he loves basketball. He did not make the team but received the coach’s permission to attend practices. Stan did not miss a single one. The coach used him as an alternate when other players were sick. Stan listened to his coach and learned from him all during that year. He also read about basketball, studied basketball plays, and practiced whenever he had free time. By the following year, Stan made the team. He did not get to play often, but he kept working hard. In several years, he became a good, solid player.
How does Stan demonstrate excellence?
Means to End - Scenarios:
1. Ronald really loves his school iPad, but, sadly, he will have to turn it in at the end of the year. He desperately wants one of his own. Most of the kids at school already have their own iPads. He should too! The base level iPad costs $499. He would like a model that has a little more memory and is a little more expensive ($599). This way he can play more games and have more apps. He believes he has three options:
- He could ask his parents for an iPad for his birthday (11 months away).
- He could offer to do yardwork for neighbors charging $10 an hour.
- He could take money – a little bit at a time—from his dad’s wallet. His dad is preoccupied and will never notice.
He really, really wants one!
What should Ronald do?
2. Jamie and Martha have been best friends since kindergarten. Jamie is shy, so this friendship means a lot. She totally trusts Martha and can be her goofy self with her. In 6th grade, things are different. Jamie doesn’t have any classes (except lunch) with Martha. Jamie has classes with a lot of acquaintances, but no good friends. There is one girl, Linda, who is in four of Jamie’s classes. Linda is funny, smart, and has good friend potential. Jamie wants to get to know her better. One day, Linda asks Jamie to sit at her lunch table. Jamie does. When Martha walks by, Jamie gets ready to wave and invite her friend to sit down, but Linda interrupts her, saying, “Ew, don’t invite her over, she’s gross!” Jamie really wants to be Linda’s friend.
What should Jamie do?
3. Good grades are important to Harry and to his parents. Harry knows that a math test is coming up, and he knows that he is unprepared for it. He has a lot of activities after school. He gets his homework done, but he doesn’t always have time to study for the test. The math teacher can’t tell how much studying he does, right? He just has to ace the test. Anyway, two days before the test, Harry is walking into school and finds the answer key to the test by the teacher’s car. There is no doubt; it is labeled “Answer Key to 6th Grade Math Test Oct 22.” This could make it so easy! No one gets hurt, and everyone can be happy.
What should Harry do?
4. Sophia and her friends love to make IMovies! Last Thursday, Sophia tied Fran’s shoelaces together and then went across the room and called Fran over. Naturally, Fran fell out of her chair and flat on her face. It was HILARIOUS!!! And, Sophia caught it all on her iPad. Fran was a good sport about it. She knew Sophia was just joking and she didn’t get hurt. Sophia thinks all of her friends will enjoy this funny, funny iMovie. She emails it to all of them. One friend, Jan, received the email. She likes Sophia and Fran a lot. Jan imagines what it would be like if it were her shoelaces tied together. It makes her uncomfortable.
What should Jan do?
Courage - Scenarios:
1. Zoey Zagda is a 14-year-old girl. She is walking down the street and notices a house on fire. She doesn’t think but zips into the burning house. She finds a child cowering in the corner and is able to bring him to safety. There is no one else in the empty house.
Is this courage? Why/not?
2. George dePilot has been flying planes for 20 years. One of the two jet engines on his plane stops mid-air. The flight is full. The plane begins to lose altitude. George has trained for this sort of situation and knows exactly what to do. He feels confident that he can land the plane, and he does. Other than a few cuts and scrapes, there are no injuries.
Is this courage? Why/not?
3. Anastasia is a sad girl with no friends. She goes to school knowing that she will be invisible for yet another endless day of middle school. One day, she witnesses a robbery. Anastasia knows that it’s dangerous, but she knows if she stops it, people will notice her. She will be famous! She tackles the man from behind and saves the family. The man goes to prison. Anastasia is now known at school as the girl who stopped the robbery.
Is this courage? Why/not?
4. James Poulet is terrified of gnats. In the summer, he barely goes outside for fear of them. However, during a family picnic, he has to go outside. He is sitting in the car to avoid the gnats when he notices his little sister falling off her bicycle. It doesn’t look like a bad injury, but she is upset and no one is noticing her. James takes a deep breath, leaves the car, runs through a swarm of gnats, and goes to his sister.
Is this courage? Why/not?
5. Xena knows no fear. Xena is invincible! She saves a drowning child, stops a runaway train, and rescues a litter of puppies all before lunch!
Is this courage? Why/not?
6. Bram Bones has pinned Ichabod Crane to the wall and is preparing to punch him. Unaware of the conflict, Fred Astaire glides down the hall. Fred loses his footing, trips, and slams into Bram. Bram, in turn, falls down and knocks himself unconscious. The bully is defeated!
Is this courage? Why/not?
Cooperation/Competition Scenarios:
1. Jock is an incredible basketball player. So far, he has scored 42 of the 50 points scored by the Raiders. With 30 seconds left, the score is 50-50 (Go Raiders!). Jock has the ball but is poorly positioned to score. He thinks he could do it though. However, he has a teammate, who is not a consistent player, positioned right by the basket. Jock could easily pass to his teammate.
What should he do? Why?
How would his actions affect himself and the group?
2. Mrs. Steele is the toughest teacher in the school. After every test, she posts the student grades (using the student ID numbers, no names) on the bulletin board outside her room. This way, all students know exactly how they compare to their classmates. Bee scored a 98 on the last test, the highest grade. Some friends ask her to join a study group.
What should she do? Why?
How would her actions affect herself and the group?
3. In Biology class, there is a lot of group work. The entire group gets a single grade. Rex is a good student and wants an “A.” He knows that the other members of his group are mostly C/B students.
What should Rex do? Why?
How would his actions affect the group?
4. It is difficult to get a good role in the middle school play. Suzanne is a great actress! She knows it would be unusual for a 6th grader to get a lead, but she is confident that she can. She is REALLY good! When the cast list comes out, she discovers that she is villager #5. She is very disappointed and angry.
What should Suzanne do? Why?
How would her actions affect herself and the group?