TRAP HOUSES CHARLES RICE LEARNING CENTRE, TEXAS, USA

Language Arts / English

CONTENT

Language Arts / English

Reflective Writing

Character

Empathy, Responsibility

Global Goal

Skill

Reflective writing skills

Age Group

9-10 years / Grade 4

Learning Standards

McREL Learning Standards: Grade 4 Writing

Prerequisite

None

LEARNING GOAL & PURPOSE

These super-awesome kids from Charles Rice Learning Centre, a suburb in Dallas, Texas of the United States of America show utmost responsibility towards their community. They teach us the importance of actively looking for opportunities of change and taking actions to create a positive impact.

When the kids noticed ‘trap houses’ in their community resulting in inappropriate problems by drug users, they decided to take charge and address the problem. As responsible and concerned citizens, they made sure that they did what they had to in order to close down the ‘trap houses’.

Lesson Plan

Hook:

Tell them about what responsibility means to you and 10 things that you think are important things you think that everyone can do to be responsible residents of their community/country/world. For example:

  • Volunteer to be active in your community
  • Be honest and trustworthy
  • Follow rules and laws
  • Respect rights of others
  • Be informed about the world around you
  • Respect the property of others
  • Take responsibility for your actions
  • Be a good neighbour
  • Protect the environment

DFC Video Activity:

Play the video BTC2014 USA: Trap Houses (http://bit.ly/2fBKJ5J)

Activity: Share your ideas!

  1. How did the students tackle the unsafety in their community due to the presence of ‘trap houses’?
  2. What do you find special about the students in the video?
  3. What are some ways of how you show responsibility by being a good citizen?
  4. What is one thing that you would have done differently than the students in the video?

Activity (Reflective Writing):

Ask the students to perform a reflection exercise as follows; Ask the students to complete the following self-reflection using the following rating scale:

1 = Not Yet, 2 = Need Support, 3 = Making efforts, 4 = Almost a habit, 5 = I CAN

Followed by the rating, the students can do Reflective Writing of their goals that would subsequently improve their rating in their future. In others words, what are some of the positive things they will do after the exercise that would subsequently improve their rating in their future?

 

Reflect on the following

What I think?

What are my goals?

Volunteer to be active in the community

 

 

Be honest and trustworthy

 

 

Follow rules and laws

 

 

Respect rights of others

 

 

Be informed about the world around you

 

 

Respect the property of others

 

 

Take responsibility for your actions

 

 

Be a good neighbour

 

 

Protect the environment

 

 

 

Teacher Tip: Students can take help from peers and the teacher during brainstorming the ideas for the creation of the goals.

Closing the Loop and Assessment:

Emphasize on the idea that: Do not wait for other people to make changes in your community or country; if it is something that you can go out and do yourself, do it because ‘YOU CAN’. Do not ignore things because responsibility is not only about what you do for others but it is also about what you do not do.

At the close of the session, ask the students to think, pair, share about 1-2 actions they would do differently after this lesson.

Ask the students to complete the following self-reflection using the following rating scale:

1 = Not Yet, 2 = Need Support, 3 = Making efforts, 4 = Almost a habit, 5 = I CAN

  1. I take responsibility to correct problems in my community ___
  2. I am able to identify different people involved in a problem____
  3. I am able to identify what may be causing the problem _____
  4. I am able to understand different parts of a problem before finding a solution _____

Suggested activity: Identify a ‘problem area’ around your community. What are the 2-3 most important actions that you will carry to correct that problem area?