Name: Jamie Leffert Date: February 5th, 2013 Grade: 5th Number of Learners: 22 Estimated Length of Session: 45 minutes

Actual Length of Lesson: 40 minutes Character Education: Rumor Spreading Prerequisite Knowledge and Skills: -Students have been taught about the causes and effects of bullying and all the ways they can avoid being bullied or being bullies. They have had various lessons on character education in past years. These lessons include how to be welcoming to new students, how to avoid anxiety when starting school, and learning how to compliment themselves when they are feeling down. Students know what a rumor is and that rumors are spread. Due to the specific circumstances at the school (spreading rumors is a particular problem they have been having), students should know some reasons as to why people might spread rumors. Content To Be Taught: -A rumor is a widely help opinion having no known source. It is a statement or story that is in circulation but has not been proved to be true -People spread rumors for various reasons, such as out of jealousy or due to a previous argument. -There are many ways to avoid spreading rumors and to keep yourself out of a situation involving the spreading of rumors. -Once a rumor is spread, the damage is irreversible. -Rumors are often changed over time as they are passed for a number of reasons (a person hears it wrong, someone only remembers certain details, etc.) Rationale: -It is vital for students to know the serious repercussions that come from spreading rumors or being actively involved in a rumor in any way. Especially at this sensitive age, students begin to say things to each other on a very personal level that can be very damaging. It is important to catch students early and help them realize that while they might hear people being bullies or spreading rumors, they dont need to be involved themselves. They need to know how to avoid rumors in order to help both themselves and their fellow classmates. This lesson will aid students because it will show them how rumors effect others. It will also give them a chance to discuss why people might spread rumors in order to help them understand the concept as a whole. This lesson will be following a lesson on bullying that took place two week before, so this information will be relevant to them. This lesson also fits under a number of Massachusetts Curriculum Standards. The first one this lesson covers is 5.2: Apply methods to accommodate a variety of feelings in a constructive manner in order to promote well being. This lesson also fits under learning standard 5.3, which states that

students will define character traits such as honesty, trustworthiness, selfdiscipline, respectfulness, and kindness and describe their contribution to identity, self-concept, decision-making, and interpersonal relationships. The third standard that this lesson fits under is standard 5.4, which states that students will be able to describe the effects of leadership on the promotion of teamwork. Goals: -Student will understand the effects spreading rumors have on the various people involved, the one who started the rumor and the victim of the rumor. -Student will understand what a rumor is and in which kinds of situations a rumor is used. -Student will understand that there are specific ways that people can combat the spreading of rumors by, for example, ignoring the rumor that is told to them. Performance Objectives: -Given various rumors stated about fellow students, classmates will be able to give possible apologies to those students. -Given various scenarios of rumors being spread, students will be able to respond to the rumors in a way that either ends them or helps the situation in some way.

Materials: -Audiotape of Mr. Peabodys Apples, smart board projection of pictures from Mr. Peabodys Apples, guiding questions to ask students during the reading, 22 pieces of white paper (for each student), story for the reporter game (seen in Appendix A) Procedure: -Opener: - Relation to Emily Dickinson (We read a story on Emily Dickinson the day before. In the introduction, the author wrote about how people thought she was crazy because she never left her house.) o Some people said she was crazy. What is this an example of? o If children say a lie, respond, What is another word for lie? o Today we are going to talk about rumors and how they effect our classmates and friends. -Development - Listen to Mr. Peabodys Apples o Asking questions throughout the text What do you think will happen? (When tommy sees Mr. P take the apple) Why arent people talking to him? (When hes walking to get an apple and people ignore him)

What do you think will happen when Tommy arrives to his house? (Will he say sorry? Will he even show up?) Can someone put into their own words what that pillow represents? Madonna says this book is about the power of words. What does she mean by that? - Rumor: A widely held opinion having no known source; a statement or story that is in circulation but has not been proved to be true - Telephone game o Students get in a circle on the floor. I start the telephone game by whispering to the person next to me that a student got a 100 on a history test. o Have another student change the message throughout the chain, saying that the student got a 60 on the test. The end result said by the person at the end of the chain will be different from what was first said. o Ask students how this game represents events that take place in real life o Ask students what might have motivated the student to change the story (in a hypothetical situation). For example, maybe they were jealous of the score or didnt like that student. o Ask students how that rumor affects others involved (How does it affect the student that actually got 100? How does it affect me, who told the truth in the first place?) - Paper Crinkling Activity o Every student is given a piece of paper. I tell students to crinkle their piece of paper every time they hear a rumor. I tell students rumors that I have heard about them (I will be sure not to be offensive. For example, I will say that I heard one of the students thinks the class pets name is silly). After this, I will tell students to flatten the piece of paper every time I say sorry to the students I told rumors about. I will then ask students to compare their flattened paper to one that hasnt been crinkled at all. I will have a discussion with them about how this represents telling rumors (No matter how many times you say sorry, you cant undo what you did by telling the rumor in the first place). -Closing - Discussion on rumors (still in a circle on the floor) o Why do people spread them? o How do rumors affect others? o What can we do to prevent rumors? Accomodations: -Since there is no formal work that the students are doing, my form of accommodation for this lesson is to make sure that ELL students and students with special needs are engaged during discussions and understand the content being taught. This is done through asking them guiding questions during our discussions

and asking questions of the whole class and having the whole class answer together. This is to make sure that these students are able to follow along and that they feel comfortable answering questions during the lesson. When the lesson was implemented, I made sure that these students voices were heard. If they began speaking about the subject, I would ask the rest of the class for their respect so that all students could have the chance to say something during discussion. Evaluation: -Since there is no formal worksheet for this lesson, evaluation will take place during our discussions that take place as we do the various activities. For example, when we do the paper activity, students should be able to identify the rumors amidst the things I say about them. Students will also be expected to explain what the crinkled paper represents. During our telephone activity, students will be evaluated on how well they can identify reasons people spread rumors and ways we can avoid being a part of rumors. I will also be evaluating students on how well they comprehend the reading of Mr. Peabodys Apples at the beginning of the lesson. Extension: - Reporter activity (This was implemented the next day, using the 15 minutes at the beginning of the day before math started) o I will write a complicated story about a friend of mine. I will include good things about the friend and weird things (for example my friend has 3 arms). I will have one student go out in the hallway. I will tell another student my story (quickly, to make sure they dont remember everything). Then, this student will go outside and tell the other student everything they remember about the report. The student that was outside will then come in and tell the report to the students. The point of this is to show students how stories are changed or remembered when they are retold. The story I say to the student is seen at Appendix A. References: 1.) Madonna. (2003). Mr peabodys apples. Callaway Publishers.

Appendix A Story told to student I have a friend who is 22 years old. She is 5 3 tall. She comes from North Dakota. One time, she lost her foot in a tragic breakdancing accident. They had to replace it with a dogs paw. So now she has one foot, and one paw. She says she kind of likes having a paw, and might actually get another one so she has two. She also smells like cottage cheese, but thats just because she uses it to wash her hair. She thinks it makes it looks shiny and clean. I think it just makes her smell like cottage cheese. Her favorite subjects in school are math and biology. She has three brothers and their names are all Brian. Her name is Brian too. Her mom just really liked the name Brian. Also, she doesnt talk like a human. She only meows. I think its because she thinks she was born a cat, but then transformed into a human in a freak nuclear accident. She doesnt like to talk about it much. Her favorite color is blue. She also told me that there are dragons hidden in Disney World, and that the fire they breathe is used to power all the rides. Last but not least, her favorite food is ice cream on top of pepperoni pizza on top of sushi on top of cake.