Arriving At Relationship Perfection—A Guide For Teens
In the spirit of Ben Franklin’s wit and wisdom concerning the subject of self-improvement, you will be creating your own guide for becoming the perfect boyfriend or girlfriend. You will be working with a group of 3-4 other students to complete the assignment.
Follow these steps to complete your guide:
1. Decide with your group if you would rather focus on the perfect boyfriend, or girlfriend.
2. Discuss with your group what you believe the perfect boyfriend/girlfriend would be like.
3. Complete your guide using the following format:
a. Part 1: Virtues (20 points)
v Just as Franklin created 13 virtues that he felt were essential for achieving moral perfection, you need to come up with AT LEAST FIVE that you feel are crucial for the perfect boyfriend/girlfriend to have.
v You should arrange your virtues in order of importance, with #1 being most important, and so on.
v For each virtue that you list, you should also include 3-5 grammatically and mechanically correct sentences explaining WHY it is so important, and WHY you have ranked it with that particular number in your list.
v You should write you explanations with a careful consideration of diction, syntax, and tone—choose interesting and effective words, experiment with different ways of organizing your sentences, and write with a specific tone in mind. You may attempt to mock Franklin’ style if you’d like, or you can take on a style of your own.
So, here is an example of what your list may look like, although only #3 is completely finished:
#1—Independence (3-5 sentence explanation)
#2—Trust (3-5 sentence explanation)
#3—Sense of Humor—Sense of humor is very important because it ensures that a boyfriend will not be dull or overly serious; however, it is not more important than independence or trust. For even if a guy is fun, if he is too clingy or deceitful, things will never work in a relationship. On the other hand, having a sense of humor is more important than friendliness and shared interests, because it would be better if a guy can make you laugh, even if he is shy or interested in things that you are not.
#4—Friendliness (3-5 sentence explanation)
#5—Shared Interests (3-5 sentence explanation)
OVERà
b. Part 2: Aphorisms (15 points)
Just as Franklin has used aphorisms to convey his beliefs about life in short, witty ways, so should your group use them to convey your beliefs about the perfect boyfriend/girlfriend. For this part of the guide, you need to create the same number of aphorisms as there are members in your group (i.e. 3 group members=3 aphorisms). These aphorisms should convey some wisdom or insight about teen relationships in general. If you have problems, try using the general structure of one of Franklin’s aphorisms on p. 74 of your textbook, but change some of the words. For example, One ______is worth two ______.
c. Presentation (5 points)
Finally, you will present your guide to the class, sharing both your virtues and your aphorisms. Every member of your group should be school-appropriate, focused, and on-task in presenting this information to the class.
Your guides will be worth 40 points altogether, and you will have the rest of the class period, and the rest of class after your vocabulary quiz tomorrow to work on them. We will present them first thing ______.
Group Members:______
Virtues=______/20
-5 total, arranged in order of importance -3-5 sentence explanation
-use of proper conventions -effective diction and syntax
Aphorisms=______/15
-original aphorisms that reveal some insight about teen relationships (1/group member)
Presentation=______/5
-all group members are serious and professional in their conduct during theirs, and other groups’ presentations
Total Score=______/40