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Lesson 6 – Michael 2: Michael and the Halloween Flyer, Part 2

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Michael 2Michael and the Halloween Flyer, Part 2

Learner Story 

Lesson 6


Michael talking on the phone to his grandfather, Pap, about his week:

Mom came home from work and started to print off some papers she needed for a meeting with the bank the next day and her printer was out of ink.

“Michael,” she asked, “Have you been using my printer? It’s totally out of ink and I just put new ink cartridges in it last week.” I hadn’t thought about how much ink it took to print 50 color flyers front and back. So I showed her the flyers.

I thought Mom would get all excited about the flyers like I was, but she didn’t.

She sat me down at the table and read through the flyer then said, “Michael, you did a very good job on this flyer. You were very thorough in finding the facts and it looks really professional. But first of all, you used all the ink in my printer on them and second of all, I’m not sure it’s a good idea to give these out to the Trick or Treaters.”

I couldn’t believe she was saying that, and I started arguing with her. Sure, I was sorry about using all her printer ink, but wasn’t letting people know about childhood obesity more important than the cost of a few lousy ink cartridges?

“Why wouldn’t it be a good idea to hand out my flyers?” I argued, “Everyone needs to know how bad candy is for you and how much of a problem childhood obesity is.”

Mom tried to explain. She said, “If you give out these flyers to overweight children, it may hurt their feelings. People can be overweight for a lot of reasons other than eating too much candy. Sometimes they have medical issues or they have a really hard life and they eat the wrong things because they are kind of depressed. Or sometimes their families just don’t have enough money to buy good food. If you give these flyers to a child like that, it may cause them to eat more candy because the flyer makes them angry. It’s like when I tell you to turn off the TV and you get mad and decide to keep watching.”

I hadn’t thought about the things she was saying. I was just concerned about kids knowing how bad candy was for them and how bad it was for them to get fat.

Mom continued, “And most of these kids are just eating what their parents give them. It’s not just the children who need to know what’s in your flyer, it’s the adults who let their children eat junk.”

It kinda made me angry, but I could see her point. I hadn’t realized that sometimes problems are a lot more complicated than they appear. But I’d done all that work on the flyers and didn’t want to just throw them away. So Mom suggested that we get some healthier treats to give out and instead of handing out my flyers to the Trick or Treaters, I take them to school and ask Mrs. Donovan if I could pass them out in my current events class.

So I did. And guess what, Mrs. Donovan gave me a grade of 110 in current events that week. And, even better, she showed my flyer to the principal and he enlarged it to poster size and tacked it up on the school bulletin board so everyone could see it.

I didn’t get the word out about childhood obesity the way I’d wanted to, but it worked out even better.


Michael 2: Michael and the Halloween Flyer, Part 2

DISCUSSION GUIDE

SITUATION: Michael’s mother learns about Michael’s plan to hand out flyers to any overweight children that are Trick-or-Treating and explains to him how this could offend people. Instead of passing out the flyer, Michael gives a presentation for current events week, which a way for him to help that doesn’t offend people.

ASSESS THE CHARACTER AND THE SITUATION:

1.  What could Michael have done before creating the flyer to have avoided this problem in the first place?

 

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

2.  If Michael had followed his plan, what would have the kids have said who got a flyer?

 

What lessons could Michael learn from this experience?

 

QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF BASED ON WHAT HAPPENED SO FAR.

4.  What offends you? How do you know what might offend someone else?

 


HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT

“HERE’S YOUR HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT.  REMEMBER TO COMPLETE IT BEFORE OUR NEXT SESSION.”

5.  Imagine that you have a friend with a very messy room and that you prefer to keep your room very neat. Instead of telling your friend what to do – like saying that his room looks like a pigsty and telling him to clean it up – what else could you do?

 

6.  What ICONz could you use to help you?

 

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Lesson tags: Lesson 6M2
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