Building Background
What is personal responsibility?
It means accepting your decisions due to your own choices and actions. What does personal responsibility look like to you?
When you have personal responsibility, you don't react to the things around you. You have self-control, self-motivation, and you know right from wrong.
What are some steps in accepting personal responsibility?
Making good choices in your life.
You are responsible for how you feel or think.
You choose the direction for your life.
Do not blame others for the choices you have made.
Mindful Moment
Butterfly Body Scan
1. Sit or lie down comfortably with your eyes closed. Breathe naturally, noticing how it feels to breathe in and out.
2. Now imagine a butterfly that's light as a feather. It can be any color you like. Take a moment and picture the butterfly in your mind.
3. Imagine your butterfly is hovering nearby. We're going to pretend that the magic butterfly rests on different parts of our body, and when it lands, that part of our body feels relaxed and pleasant.
4. Let's start with our foreheads. Imagine your forehead relaxes when the butterfly rests on it.
5. Imagine the butterfly moves from your forehead to one of your shoulders, Your shoulder relaxes while the butterfly rests on it. Continue this with different parts of your body.
6. Now, relax your whole body and rest, feeling the rhythm of your breathing.
7. When you are ready, sit up slowly and reach your hands to the sky. Take a deep breath in and lower your arms as you breathe out.
Responsibility Chain
Materials needed: 3 in strips of paper, markers
Give every student one sheet of paper and a marker.
C: I want everyone to take 30 seconds to stop and think. Look down and everyone takes some deep breaths in and really think. What is one thing that you are really good at being responsible for? Stop and think. (practice mindful moment) Okay now everyone takes their marker and let’s write down what we are strong in. I am going to write that I am really good at following the rules. What could you write down?
(students write down their answers)
C: Good now we are going to go around and share. As students share responses they bring them to you to start stapling together into a chain. (In the middle staple in one blank chain line without them looking that is a different color from all the rest so you can find it easily) When chain is done, discuss.
C: Look at how strong our chain is and how many things we can be responsible for? Wow we all have a lot of responsibilities. When we all take care of our responsibilities how do you think that makes us feel?
C: That’s right it makes us feel strong. But, what would happen if I decided one day at school that I didn’t want to follow the rules today. What happens? (Rip the blank chain at that point)
C: That’s right, my chain is now broken. Don’t worry! I didn’t rip anyone’s link , it was a blank one I snuck in there, see? It’s okay everyone’s answers are still there. But yes you are right. It made our chain much weaker. The same thing happens to you. If, one day you just decide that you don’t want to take care of your responsibilities anymore, it might make you weaker. Or if people in your classroom decided they didn’t want to follow the rules or be respectful it could make your classroom weaker. Or if you decided you didn’t want to clean your room at home it might make your home feel weaker. Learning to take care of our responsibilities makes us stronger because we learn how to take care and be in control of ourselves.