KEY LESSON

Unit Learning Goal

Students will articulate their own values and beliefs about work.

Lesson Goal

Students will understand the importance of passion and care for work.

Assessment

During student discussion regarding the dilemma and the engagement and excellence debate, teacher impressions of conversations may be used to provide student feedback. Students will also complete the Money Matters and Engagement and Excellence worksheets, where responses to the questions can be evaluated.

portfolio documentation

• Money Matters dilemma worksheet

• Engagement and Excellence worksheet

• Interview a Worker: Identifying Influences on Work and Life worksheet (optional enrichment)

• Exit Ticket

Total TIME

45 minutes

Instructions

1. Dilemma Discussion [15 minutes]

Remind the students about the “good work” framework as defined by the “3 Es.” Use the “Money Matters” dilemma and worksheet to facilitate a whole class discussion regarding the “3 Es.” 

• Excellence: work that is high in quality

• Ethical: work that is socially responsible; workers are concerned about the consequences of their actions and the means by which their work is achieved. 

• Engaging: work that is meaningful (consider personal, social, and professional forms of meaning)

Discussion Questions: 

1. How did money influence William’s decisions? Do you think he’s making the right choice?

2. What does William enjoy?  How would you be able to tell if he’s “engaged” in his work?

3. How does engagement influence his ability to do good work?

• Add the “Money Matters” worksheet to students’ Good Work Portfolio.

2. Work together as a class to complete the “Engagement and Excellence” activity [20 minutes].

• Present students with the “Engagement and Excellence” activity

• Divide the class into groups of 4 and assign each group one of two positions:

1. You must be engaged in (enjoy or find meaning in) your work to be able to do it well.

2. Whether you’re engaged in your work has nothing to do with how well you do it. 

• Give students 5 minutes to come up with an argument to support their side’s position. Remind them to consider what the other side’s argument might be and to try to disprove it. Provide them with the “Engagement and Excellence” handout in order to help guide the activity. (The questions in this worksheet are meant to be a guide; it’s not necessary to write down full responses unless you want to assess students’ learning.) Remind the students of the following guidelines:

• Each team member will get to make TWO arguments to support its position. 

• Each team member will have two minutes to support his/her argument to his/her opponent. 

• Pair students off representing opposing viewpoints. Give each student 2 minutes to present one of their arguments to the other, alternating for a total of 8 minutes. [8 minutes]

• Bring the class back together and have some pairs share out their reflections on the activity. [5 minutes]

3. Exit ticket [5 minutes]. 

• Have each student complete the exit ticket.

• Explain to students that you will report back [next class] about which team was more convincing in their arguments based on the exit ticket responses. 

• Add this exit ticket and the worksheet to students’ portfolios.

Possible Enrichments

• Present students with the activity “Interview a Worker” by reading the assignment out loud together and/or watching this video. Allow time for questions. Explain that students will be completing the activity as an interview on their own time and reporting back to their classmates.

• Allot one to two weeks for students to complete this assignment.

• Add this report to the Good Work portfolio.