Student Resources

• Clara Barton and Responsibility Narrative
• Virtue in Action

Teacher Resources

• Analysis Questions 
• Virtue in Action  
• Journal Activity
• Sources for Further Reading  
• Virtue Across the Curriculum  

• Responsibility: Acting on good judgment about what is right or wrong even when it is not popular. Individuals must take care of themselves, their families, and their fellow citizens/others in civil society and a republic and be vigilant to preserve their own liberty and the liberty of others.
• Civil Society: The various volunteer organizations and associations that are separate from the government that are dedicated to the well-being of society 

Procedures 

• The following lesson asks students to consider the virtue of responsibility.    
• Students will engage with the story of Clara Barton and the virtue of responsibility as they consider the question: How does an individual’s responsibility to their fellow citizens affect the health of a civil society? 
• The main activity in this lesson requires students to read and analyze a narrative that explores Clara Barton’s responsibility towards her work and others. Students may work individually, in pairs, or small groups as best fits your classroom. The analysis questions provided can be used to help students comprehend and think critically about the content. As the teacher, you can decide which questions best fit your students’ needs and time restraints.   
• Lastly, the lesson includes sources used in this lesson for further reading and suggestions for cross-curricular connections. 

Anticipate

• Ask students to define responsibility in their own words. They should have this definition readily available for the lesson. 

Engage

• Scaffolding Note: You may use this activity to prepare your students and introduce the vocabulary and ideas discussed in this lesson.  
• Essential Vocabulary:  
  • Responsibility: Acting on good judgment about what is right or wrong even when it is not popular. Individuals must take care of themselves, their families, and their fellow citizens/others in civil society and a republic and be vigilant to preserve their own liberty and the liberty of others.
• Have students share their definitions of responsibility with a partner. Partners should compare their definitions and make any adjustments if needed. 
• Pair students with small groups and repeat sharing and adjusting definitions.
• Share the Bill of Rights Institute’s definition of responsibility. Ask students, How does this definition compare with the definitions we created? Do you agree that responsibility at the individual level is interconnected with a larger group (a family, a team, fellow citizens)? Why or why not? 

Explore

• Transition to the Clara Barton and Responsibility Narrative. Students will learn and analyze the story of Clara Barton to understand the civic virtue of responsibility. 
• Scaffolding Note: It may be helpful to instruct students to do a close reading of the text. Close reading asks students to read and reread a text purposefully to ensure students understand and make connections. For more detailed instructions on how to use close reading in your classroom, use these directions. Additional reading strategies are provided for other options that may meet your students’ needs.  
• Essential Vocabulary: 
  • Responsibility: Acting on good judgment about what is right or wrong even when it is not popular. Individuals must take care of themselves, their families, and their fellow citizens/others in civil society and a republic and be vigilant to preserve their own liberty and the liberty of others. 
  • Civil Society: The various volunteer organizations and associations that are separate from the government that are dedicated to the well-being of society 
• Transition to the analysis questions. Have students work individually, with partners, or as a whole class to answer the questions. 
• Scaffolding Note: If there are questions that are not necessary to your students’ learning or time restraints, then you can remove those questions.  
• Analysis Questions 
  • How did Clara Barton earn the nickname “The Angel of the Battlefield”? 
  • Barton displayed the virtue of responsibility in multiple events throughout her life. List two of them and explain how she contributed to the well-being of others by doing so. 
  • Why do you think voluntary organizations are so important in a healthy civil society?  
  • What are some ways that you can exercise the virtue of responsibility in your daily life? How will doing so benefit your family, your community, and yourself? 

Assess & Reflect

Virtue in Action  

• Scaffolding Note: You may use this activity to help your students reflect on the content they learned about Clara Barton and responsibility.   
• Distribute the Virtue in Action handout and review the directions with students. They will need to reference their personal definition of responsibility from earlier in the lesson.  

AND/OR

Responsibility Journal Activity  

• Have students self-reflect and answer the following question in their journal: 
  • In societies that lack freedom, overreaching governments tend to suppress the ability of citizens to form voluntary associations and organizations out of fear that they will exist outside of its control. The inability to create voluntary associations that could help with community problems leads to citizens distrusting each other. They also turn to the government as the solution for every issue since they are unable to exercise responsibility to solve it themselves. 
  • How does this inability to exercise responsibility negatively impact the health of a civil society? What is an example in the modern day of an individual improving the health of our civil society by taking responsibility? 

 

Extend

Sources & Further Reading  

• For additional sources and further reading on Clara Barton, explore the following list.  
  • Barton, Clara. The Story of My Childhood. Meriden: The Journal Publishing Company, 1907. 
  • Clara Barton: The Life and Legacy of the Civil War Nurse Who Founded the American Red Cross. Charles River Editors, 2020. 
  • Oates, Stephen B. A Woman of Valor: Clara Barton and the Civil War. New York: Free Press, 1995. 

Virtue Across the Curriculum  

• Below are corresponding literature suggestions to help you teach about responsibility across the curriculum. Sample prompts have been provided for the key corresponding works. For the other suggested works, or others that are already part of your curriculum, create your own similar prompts.    
  • To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee 
    • How does the character Atticus Finch demonstrate individual responsibility? How do Atticus’ actions affect the larger community of Maycomb?  
  • The Giver by Lois Lowry 
    • In this dystopian novel, the Receiver of Memory is given the sole responsibility of keeping memories from the time before Sameness. What problems arise from having one person bear responsibility for the entire community’s memories?