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Excuses, Excuses!
by Cynthia Wetmiller
Face it, we all make excuses. It is the easy way to avoid confrontation or having to acknowledge that we failed to do something that we were supposed to do. At the root of making excuses are a lot of character traits, most of which are not traits that we want to encourage in ourselves or the children we teach.
Here are a few of the negative character traits connected with making excuses:
1. Procrastination
2. Disrespect
3. Tardiness
4. Dishonesty
5. Irresponsibility
6. Selfishness
This character education lesson will help you create a sense of awareness in your classroom about the negative character traits associated with excuse-making:
1. Split your classroom into small groups.
2. Within their small groups, have the students discuss the many excuses people give for their behavior, their lack of ability, their lack of commitment or their inability to follow through with a task. The goal for this activity is for the students to brainstorm and list all the excuses they can think of that people commonly give (i.e. "I am too busy," "The dog ate my homework," "There was traffic," etc.). Flip chart paper should be handed out to each group to record responses.
3. Now that each group has a list of excuses, a discussion should begin within each small group about the negative character traits associated with each excuse. For example, if the excuse "There was traffic" is on the list, the negative traits of tardiness, irresponsibility, disrespect and selfishness could be listed. Why? Being late is irresponsible, disrespectful of other people's time, and selfish.
4. End this class activity by having each group prepare a short five-minute presentation on its excuse list and the negative character traits associated with making excuses.
5. Here are a few ideas that can help make this examination of behaviors related to excuse-making last longer than one class period:
*Once a month, discuss current events and have your students search for excuses associated with the events.
*Keep an "Excuse List" in your classroom on a bulletin board or poster, etc. to keep a running list of excuses that students recognize in themselves, their peers, etc.
*Have each student keep an "Excuse Diary" so that they can monitor how often they make personal excuses. They can also keep track of excuses that have affected them personally at school, home or in the community.
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