LESSON 2: Values and Barriers
STUDENT PRINTABLE 2: "Values and Barriers"
Supporting Lesson and Printable: Lesson 1 "What are Barriers?" and Printable 1 "About My Father"
TIME REQUIRED: One 40-minute class period, with additional time for student presentations and/or writing essays about values and barriers.
LESSON OBJECTIVE: Through reading and class discussion, students will understand what values are and how they are important in facing barriers.
LESSON STEPS:
1. Ask students what they think the word values means. Guide them to define values as: beliefs that are important to you and that help to guide your life.
2. Distribute copies of Printable 2, "Values and Barriers."
3. Ask for volunteers to read Jackie Robinson’s Nine Values aloud to the class. Review the definitions of each value to make sure that students understand them.
4. Have students revisit Printable 1, “About My Father.” Ask students to identify values that Jackie Robinson used when facing barriers and challenges.
5. Returning to Printable 2, “Values and Barriers,” explain to students that Jackie Robinson’s nine values can be useful in facing barriers today. For some examples, read the quotes from current baseball players on the printable.
6. Divide students into groups (ideally nine). Assign each group one or more of Jackie Robinson’s Nine Values.
7. Instruct each group to create a class presentation about the importance of the value they’ve been assigned and how it can be used to face a barrier. Encourage them to be creative, e.g., performing a skit, drawing a comic strip, writing a song, etc. Have each group make its presentation to the class.
8. Have students write essays about their own barriers, and how they have used values to face those barriers. Conduct Lesson 3: Essay Organizer to help students understand important steps in the essay-writing process. Encourage students to enter their essays in the “Breaking Barriers Essay Contest” in which they can write essays about barriers they have faced in their own lives, and how they used Jackie Robinson’s values to face those barriers.
EXTENSIONS:
- Discuss the concept of character defined as features and traits of an individual that reflect the sort of person he or she is. How do values reflect a person’s character? How do a person’s actions display his or her values and character? What does it mean when a person is described as having “strength of character”?
- Have students research the life of Martin Luther King, Jr., and report on barriers he faced and broke during the Civil Rights movement. What values did Dr. King rely upon to face barriers?
- Have students research and discuss contemporary examples of individuals who have broken barriers, and values that they relied upon in facing barriers.
- Encourage students to conduct interviews with family and friends to discuss any barriers they have faced, as well as values they have called upon to overcome these barriers.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
Mini-Poster: "Jackie Robinson's Nine Values": Download this printable featuring MLB players and Jackie Robinson’s Nine Values.
