Students learn the concepts of contract and social contract and discuss the important role that rules play in enhancing the common good. They make an analogy between social contract and playing games (expectations, rules, trust, and relationships). They identify characteristics of someone who plays the “game of life” in a way that promotes the common good. 

The learner will:

• recognize the need for rules and regulations in games as well as in life.
• explore the concept of contracts and identify their importance in promoting the common good.
• identify characteristics that lend themselves to social contracts.
• identify ways to promote the common good by entering into social contracts.
   

Anticipatory Set:
Explain the rules for one of your favorite games without actually mentioning the name of the game. Ask the learners to raise their hands when they think they know what game you are describing.

• Display the following phrase: "Games would not be games without rules." Ask the learners whether or not they think the statement is always true, sometimes true, or not true at all. (They can indicate with a thumbs-up for always true, thumbs-down for not true at all, and flat hand for sometimes true.) Discuss the statement, asking students to support their responses with examples and explanation.
• Write the word contract on the display board and ask the learners this question: “If a professional athlete (choose one well known to the learners) enters into a contract with the owners of a team, what does this obligate the athlete to do?" (This may include showing up to play the game, playing the game according to the rules, playing to the best of his/her ability, etc.) Ask, "What does it obligate the owners of the team to do?" (This may include paying the professional athlete an agreed-upon salary, providing adequate equipment and training, providing transportation to and from the games, etc.)
• Lead the learner to understand that in a contract there are agreed-upon rules/understandings that are to be followed and honored. Challenge the learners to evaluate this statement: "All people who enter into a game also enter into a contract with the other participants in that game."
• To make this concept clear, ask the learners to consider what they would do if they were an organizer of games for elementary school students and some of the students refused to follow the rules of the organized game or didn't do their best to participate and help their team.
• Ask the students whether there is also a "social contract" between people in a community. Are there unwritten rules and understandings for playing the "game of life"? Have the learners discuss how this concept of "contract" plays out socially in their lives, in their classroom, in their school, in their community, and in their world. Discuss how important these social contracts are in the “game of life.”
• Ask learners to reflect on what they think is meant by the phrase “the game of life.” (Display the phrase on the board.) In light of what has already been discussed, if life is a game, what are some of the written rules (i.e., laws) and unwritten rules (for example, kindness/compassion) of this "game"?
• Pose these questions: Who makes up the rules of life? How did they come into existence? Do the "rules of life" ever change? Why or why not?
• Write the word common good on the display board and share this definition: the common good is about promoting  the welfare of the community and working together with other members for the greater benefit of all.
• Have the learners identify which rules in the “game of life” promote the common good. Ask them to brainstorm personal character traits that promote the common good (honesty, perseverance, integrity, fairness, collaboration, caring, giving/sharing, etc.).
• Assign learners to groups of three and give them a copy of Attachment One: Suggestions from Somewhere Else Middle School to discuss and complete.
• After the groups have selected items as part of the contract for building common good, read each item from the list aloud. Tally the group responses on one sheet and take a few minutes to talk through the items that lack a consensus. Ask the students to read the items that have the most tally marks and reflect on how to restate them so they sound like rules for "the game of life." Have students share these general rules with the whole class (i.e., help others in need).
• Tell the learners that they will soon be looking more closely at # 8 on the handout.
   

• Have the learners ask at home what contracts the adults in their lives have been involved in and what were some of the expectations that were a part of those contracts.
• Have the learners discuss with their families some of the “rules,” both written and unwritten, that are a part of their family’s “social contract.” Discuss how and why these “rules” came to be. Discuss whether these "rules" may change over time. Why or why not?
• Send home the family letter found in the Overview under School/Home Connection.

 

• http://www.learningtogive.org 
  
  
• Learning to Give Briefing Paper: Common Good
  http://www.learningtogive.org/papers/
  index.asp?bpid=14 
  
  
• Learning to Give Briefing Paper: Social Contract
  http://www.learningtogive.org/papers/
  index.asp?bpid=222