Children learn about integrity by watching adults, siblings, and peer interactions. When it comes to integrity, seeing is believing, and belief is repeated. So providing direction for them can help them navigate this important component of SEL. 

You may be thinking, "integrity" is not a simple concept (or word!), and you are right. Kiddos need to both see integrity in action, and to have the reasons behind those actions broken down into the concepts they can understand (just like we do with math).

By providing the framework of Integrity (our lesson below) your students will begin to experience integrity from the inside-out, and outside-in. Experiential learning along with lessons is a powerful combination. Integrity is one of the most meaningful lifelong subjects about which children and their future adult selves will engage. Our goal is to provide you with some steps that can help you to be good company on the start of that journey.

According to the International Center for Academic Integrity, the five fundamental values of academic integrity are:

• Responsibility

• Respect

• Fairness

• Trustworthiness

• Honesty

Classroom Lesson To Encourage & Teach Integrity:

We’ve designed a simple, in-classroom lesson for Teacher’s to utilize below. It includes instructions and a writing exercise to get students brainstorming collectively together (and practicing that writing!) as they explore the areas of integrity. If you have students that are pre-handwriting, you can utilize this lesson but instead of writing, you can encourage coloring pictures with art supplies and work on one word within the definition of integrity at a time, such as ‘fairness.’

Classroom Activity & Instructions:

1. Print our free printable, ‘Exploring Integrity Through Poetry.’

2. Write on the board at the front of your classroom.

   1. I N T E G R I T Y.

      1. Responsibility

      2. Respect

      3. Fairness

      4. Trustworthiness

      5. Honesty

3. Begin the Lesson: Discuss the definition of Integrity using the words above.

   1. We love this definition for students as it shows them the concept and the actions all in one, “Integrity is about being consistent and reliable in your actions. It links the walk (your behaviors) with the talk (your own mission and goals), building trust through consistency.”

   2. You could also utilize the definition from the Oxford Dictionary: “the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness.”

4. Host a Q&A with your class! Here are some question examples:

   1. What does being responsible look like? What does irresponsible look like?

   2. How do you know when someone respects you as a person?

   3. How do you know when the end of a sports game or game you might play with friends is fair? What does fair mean to you?

   4. How do you know what trust is? Who do you trust in your life?

   5. What is honesty? Have you ever experienced being dishonest? What happened?

5. After you host your Q&A, handout the printable poem.

   1. You might also make this a group activity with two students paired together.

   2. Encourage them to come up with big ideas to explore writing poetry. Anything goes. Fun words, quiet words, big words, crazy words, pictures. Help them to explore the words and ‘behaviors’ and ‘actions’ that may reflect Integrity. In a pair, they can discuss amongst themselves.

6. Collective Shareouts:

   1. Once students are done with this activity, ask a few of them to share one or two poems.

7. Throughout the week, bring ‘actions’ you see live throughout your day, back to positive behavioral mentions of students acting with Integrity and point to your words on the board. This will reinforce what Integrity means and help kids to begin to understand that they already embody these actions / behaviors!

   1. Mention a student randomly who may have embodied one of the elements of Integrity. “Sam! I see that you’re being responsible by pushing in your chair! Wow, you are developing integrity through responsibility.”

Written by Happy Sad’s Chief Resident Psychologist, David Zeitler.