Values

"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched.  They must be felt with the heart."

-Helen Keller

Peer Pressure- video

The following video depicts some teens making a choice.
http://www.values.com/inspirational-stories-tv-spots/115-Peer-Pressure

Processing:
1.  What was your first impression of the students?
2.  What did you think they were pressuring the boy to do?
3.  What influence do your friends have on your decisions? 
4.  How influencial are friends in the kind of person you become?
5. What kind of friend are you?  Is it important to you that your friends make the right choices?

Integrity

If you don't have integrity, you have nothing. You can't buy it. You can have all the money in the world, but if you are not a moral and ethical person, you really have nothing.
Henry Kravis

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/integrity_4.html#ZB3WI8BicGIPzm55.99

Life Inventory

Classroom/ Group Activity
In this activity have the student generate as many answers to each questions as possible.  Tell them not to think about any of the questions too deeply.

1. When do I feel fully alive? (events, activities, things, etc.  that really make you feel that it is great to be alive and be you)
2. What do I do well? (what special gifts, attributes, talents, skills do I have to contribute to the lives of others? what skills have I mastered?)
3. What wishes should I be turning into plans?  Any dreams I have discarded that I should start dreaming again?
4. What should I start learning or doing now?
5. What should I stop doing now?

If the class is comfortable doing so have them share some of their responses.   
 Discussion:
What question was the easiest for them to answer? Why?
Was their an area of your life that you hadn't thought about for a long time that a question made you remember? 
What resources do they have to move forward in these areas?
Have them write a short term goal regarding their answer to questions four and five.

Eulogy

Thinking about what is meaningful...
Class discussion/ activity

 Definition of a eulogy: a speech or writing in praise of a person or thing, especially one recently dead (wikipedia.org). 

Start by explaining to the class that when you are looking toward the future, there IS going to be an end. It is how we have influenced others and our legacy that is left that is remembered in our eulogy.

You may need to read them an example of an obituary to give them some ideas (www.eulogyspeeches.net).

Have the class take a few minutes and write their own eulogy.  This is the eulogy that is given at the END of a full life (ex. 85 years old).  Who will give the eulogy?  What words will they use to describe you?  What did you accomplish?  Who did you leave behind?

If you have a class that is comfortable with each other, or you are running a group counseling session, have them share their eulogy.

Who Am I?

Thinking About Your Roles in Life

Classroom Activity:  Before you set goals, some self-exploration may be neccessary.  Start by having the students list 15 roles and responsibilities they have in life.  These may be the many "hats" that they wear (sometimes having the hats in class to represent some examples helps them see all of the purposeful spots they fill in life).  These may be beliefs you hold, characterstics or traits that you have, talents, habits.  Things that would be sorely missed (in your identity and meaning of life) if they were not in your life. For example:  brother, student, son, grandson, friend, neighbor, church member, dogs best friend, etc. 
1.  Consider each of these Who Am- I's seperately.  How would you feel if that role or characteristic was gone?  What would you do?  What would your life be like?
2.  After reviewing each item this way, place the items in rank order by putting a number by each of the items.  Place a 1 by the item that is most essential to your sense of self, whose loss would require the greatest struggle and adjustment.  Put a 15 by the item which is least essential to your identity.  Remind the students that this is personal and their list will not look like anyone elses.
3.  Invite members of the group to share or compare their list.  Invite comments and questions.

Auction Block Activity

Classroom Activity
Topic Areas: Goal Setting, Values

We work toward the goals that we think are important.  Part of the goal setting process is determining what is important and why.  It is in this formulation of goals that our values play an important role.  We are willing to put time, effort and money into the areas that we feel are important to us.  These areas can change over time as our values change.  The pre-teen and teen years are certainly times of transition when different sets of values are experimented with.  These changing values can be a significant factor in the goals that we keep and the ones we discard or reevaluate.

Time frame: 20 minutes plus discussion time

Materials needed: One auction list handout and pencil per person

Activity: Give each participant an auction list handout.  Explain to them that they have $2,000 to bid on the items from the list.  The items will be auctioned off one at a time.  All bids must be increments of $100.  The item will go to the highest bidder.  Run it just like a regular auction.  Give the individuals time to look down their list and see which items they wish to bid on and how much they think they might offer.  This amount should be written in the column marked "Proposed Bid'.  They are not held to that amount but it gets them thinking about the items and their worth to them.  During the auction have everyone keep track of how much the item was actually sold for and who the winning bidder was.  After you have auctioned off all of the items, there will be some students with money left.

Tell the students before you begin that anyone who has $500 or more left at the end of the auction can spend their entire remaining amount on one of three secret boxes after the auction is complete.  These three boxes can be sold to as many people as have the money and wish to buy them.  This part is not a bidding process.  Do not tell them what is contained in each of the three boxes.  The three boxes contain the following: Box One- you bought a lottery ticket and won a million dollars; Box Two- You dropped out of high school and took a job at below minimum wage with no chance of advancement; Box Three- You graduated from high school, went to college and took a job that pays a reasonable salary, but you dislike what you do.

This activity is played to show where our values and goals lie.  What you were willing to spend your money on gives you an idea of what you think is important.  Those with money left over at the end have no real strong goals as of yet, or at least none that were on the list.  The secret boxes at the end of the auction are used to show that if you don't know where you are headed them you will just end up with whatever life hands you.  The reason you had money at the end of the auction could be because you didn't feel strong enough about anything on the list to bid all you had.  Goal setting helps give direction to your life.  As you mature and find your values or lifestyle changing, your goals can be adjusted accordingly.

Worksheet/ Auction List

Discussion ideas:
What items sold for the highest amount?
What items sold for the lowest amounts?
In what category would you put the higher selling items?
In what category would you put the lower selling items?
Why did some items sell for more than others?
Why were some people willing to bid a higher amount for some items than they were willing to bid on other items?
What does this tell us about the value people place on different things in life?
Why didn't everyone wan the same items?
Were any items not bid upon or had low bids?  Why?
Did anyone purposefully save their money for the secret boxes?  Why?
how can we apply this activity to real life?

Taken from Activities that Teach by Tom Jackson