All In The Family

Family and Relationships - Honesty

 (Parental) -- Joel tries to avoid the trip with Tony by asking for his father's permission. He hopes that his dad will say no; then he will be off the hook without looking cowardly in his friend's eyes.

·        Discuss with students whether they think Joel was right to depend on his dad to get him out of the trip.

·        Discuss Tony's relationship with his parents and how it compares with Joel's.

·         Should Joel have told his father the entire truth about Tony's plans for the day?

·        How do you think the accident will change Joel's relationship with his parents?

Honesty -- Have students read the following statements and mark their responses on the following scale: strongly disagree; disagree; agree; or strongly agree. Students should be prepared to defend their responses.

1.       Joel is an honest person.

2.     Joel is responsible for Tony's death.

3.     Tony's parents will forgive Joel.

Activities:

1. Have the students keep an "Honesty-Dishonesty" journal for one week.

In this journal, document examples of honesty and dishonesty in everyday life. Keep track of all the times you hear or tell "white lies." Pay particular attention to TV. See what role honesty plays in stories covered in the news. Note how often dishonesty is at the core of TV sitcoms and dramas. At the end of a week, write your conclusions and share them with the class. What did you learn about your own behavior from doing this project?

2.     As a class, brainstorm all the excuses and rationalizations people give for lying, cheating, and stealing, and then have a discussion about them. How valid are they? What’s wrong with each of them?

3.     Conduct a survey in your school or community asking questions like the following: Do you think people are honest enough? What are some examples of dishonesty you really dislike? What are some examples of honesty that you especially appreciate? Compile the results into a report.

 
Language Arts Activities – Using figurative language, especially similes and metaphors adds a lot of details to the book. Similes and metaphors are a lot alike a math sentence. For example, the simile "He laughs like a hyena" may be represented as: person's laugh = sound hyena makes. In order for simile and metaphor to be effective, though, students must understand both sides of the equation. See if you can convert the similes and metaphors to equations:

"Tony was like a kid expecting Christmas . . ." (p. 10)
"The sun sizzled in a sky so blue it could have been created out of a paint can." (p. 11)
"The words reverberated through Joel's skull like a scream." (p. 43)
" . . . Joel snapped, pulling the anger around himself again like a cloak." (p. 63)

After you’ve done that, see if you can come up with your own metaphors and similes by using ideas from the book.