Exercise: The class will read aloud and discuss the handout entitled, "Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development: A Brief Outline."6
Exercise: The class will divide itself into the same groups of five as in Lesson 2. Each group will be assigned section A, B, or C from the handout entitled, " Moral Dilemma Scenarios."7 Each group will discuss and decide which answer best describes their collective response. Each group will also decide which stage of morality decision making the Boy was in for each of the two acts in Brecht's play, and share their answers with the rest of the class.
Lesson 3, Part Two: "Morality and Justification"
Exercise: The Instructor will divide the class into groups of three and assign one of the following scenarios. Each group will devise an ending for the scenario. The whole scenario must be written as a script for three characters, and up to five pages in length. Each group will read their script aloud to the class. The whole class will reach consensus on which two scripts are the best choices for further development.
Scenario One: The setting is in a household kitchen, where a teenager is beginning to make an art project for school. The project is a diorama box with pictures and other representations of the teen's cultural heritage. One of the teen's parents enters and is questioned by the teen about their cultural heritage, including nationalities and religious observances. The parent is very reluctant to discuss the topic. A grandparent living in the house overhears their conversation and enters. The grandparent reveals to the teenager that he or she was adopted.
Scenario Two: The setting is a middle school classroom. The teacher is introducing a new student who does not speak English. Most of the students in the classroom welcome the new student by helping them with their English, and being supportive. One student ridicules and plays tricks on the new student.
Scenario Three: The setting is a town meeting. The meeting is convened to discuss the potential need for putting all persons of one ethnic group in internment camps, since the USA is currently at war with the country of that ethnic group's origin.
Scenario Four: The setting is the living room of a middle-aged couple and their teenager. All are present discussing why the teenager is forbidden from socializing with another teen who is from a single-parent home, and of a religious background very different from theirs.
Scenario Five: The setting is a vacant apartment where an elderly landlord is showing a young newlywed the apartment. The two get along very well. The landlord leaves to answer the doorbell. The other young newlywed, who is of a different race than the first newlywed, arrives but is rudely sent away by the landlord. The first newlywed overhears both her or his new partner and the landlord displaying racial prejudice.
Exercise: The Instructor will divide the class into two groups. Each group will develop through rehearsal one of the agreed upon scripts written in the preceding exercise. It will be necessary for the students to add characters. Students may alter the endings of their scripts. Each group will perform their developed script for the other half of the class.
-
Endnotes
1 David Walsh, E-Mail, E-Commerce, E-Kids: Parenting in a Digital Age (New Haven, CT: lecture sponsored by the International Festival of Arts and Ideas, 2000), June 27, 2000.
2 Walsh, lecture.
3 Viola Spolin, Theater Game File (Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1989), card A54.
4 Eric Berne, What Do You Say After You Say Hello? The Psychology of Human Destiny (New York: Grove Press, 1968), p. 186.
5 Bertolt Brecht, He Who Says Yes/He Who Says No (New York: Attorney Jerold Couture for Stefan S. Brecht, 2000).
6 Deborah Stern, Teaching English So It Matters: Creating Curriculum For and With High School Students (Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, Inc, 1995), p. 260.
7 Stern, p. 261
