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Banking on Family

Grades: 
6, 7, 8
Subjects: 
Language Arts
Philanthropy
Social Studies
Keywords & Concepts: 
Character Education: Trustworthiness

Learners examine their family trust relationships and connect their experiences with the trust bank account. They brainstorm things their family depends on them for and decide if they feel trustworthy at home.

Duration 
PrintOne 20-minute Class Period
Objectives 

The learner will:

  • explain the meaning of a trust bank account.
  • explore family interactions to determine an underlying motivation for trust relationships.
Related Resources 

Instructions

Print

  1. Anticipatory Set:

    Ask learners to raise their hands if they would be willing to lend ten dollars to a stranger. Their brother or sister? Their parent or grandparent?

    Discuss how they know if they will get their money back from someone. Trust is earned within a family by making deposits in a trust bank account [a buildup of many positive experiences with another person that cannot easily be undermined with a single withdrawal]. You can review trust capital from the previous lesson.

    Those trustworthy relationships are built up with family and friends, but not with strangers.

  2. Ask, "Does your family see you as trustworthy?"

  3. Make a collective list of things our families depend on us to do and say. (Examples: walk the dog, eat a healthy snack, make my bed, use please and thank you, be home on time to take care of my sister, save some of my allowance, etc.)

    Does anyone always do the things on their list without reminders? Discuss, "If you need a reminder, are you trustworthy?" (The discussion should reveal that needing a reminder doesn't mean you aren't trustworthy.)

  4. Talk about how doing these things helps the common good of the family and what happens if you don't do these things.

  5. Play the "Five Whys" game with partners. One partner says one thing they do (or don't do) for their family. Examples: I do not always walk the dog, or, I take care of my sister after school.

    The other partner repeatedly asks, "Why?" Each time, they get deeper into the reason they are or aren't following through.

  6. If time, partners switch roles to ask why five times.

Philanthropy Framework

  1. Strand PHIL.I Definitions of Philanthropy
    1. Standard DP 01. Define Philanthropy
      1. Benchmark MS.4 Give examples of how individuals have helped others.
  2. Strand PHIL.II Philanthropy and Civil Society
    1. Standard PCS 01. Self, citizenship, and society
      1. Benchmark MS.1 Define the phrase <i>community/social capital</i> and discuss how it relates to all communities.
      2. Benchmark MS.4 Describe the characteristics of someone who helps others.
  3. Strand PHIL.III Philanthropy and the Individual
    1. Standard PI 01. Reasons for Individual Philanthropy
      1. Benchmark MS.1 Define and give examples of the motivations for giving and serving.
      2. Benchmark MS.2 Explain and give examples of enlightened self-interest, egoism, and altruism as they relate to philanthropy.
      3. Benchmark MS.8 Identify and describe examples of community/social capital.