Decide on your own personal words to live by after studying slogans and mottoes used by modern and historic leaders.

• 1.

  U.S. President Harry S. Truman went from being a store clerk to president during a trying time in American history. Find out about how the course of U.S. history changed during the Truman presidency.

• 2.

  A motto on Truman's White House desk reminded him of what was important and showed others what motivated his decisions. His motto was "The Buck Stops Here." (On the other side, the sign said, "I'm from Missouri.") What do you think that motto meant for him and his administration? Research this and other famous mottoes such as "liberté, égalité, fraternité." What other convictions guide leaders' decisions?

• 3.

  What ideas drive your actions and behaviors? What qualities are important to your family? What are your religious beliefs? How do you make important decisions? Discuss your ideas with friends or family. Sum up your own life's motto in a one-line slogan similar to these famous mottoes.

• 4.

  To make a motto sign for your desk, fold a rectangular piece of heavy paper such as oak tag in half, and then in half again. Use Crayola® Colored Pencils or Color Sticks to write your motto in large, fancy letters on both sides of the middle sections. Decorate the words with symbols if you like.

• 5.

  Fold the two end sections underneath to form a standing triangle. Seal with a Crayola Washable Glue Stick.

Standards

• LA: Integrate information from several texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.
• LA: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.
• LA: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with diverse partners on grade level topics and texts, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.
• LA: Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking clearly at an understandable pace.
• SS: Give examples of and explain group and institutional influences such as religious beliefs, laws, and peer pressure, on people, events, and elements of culture.
• SS: Identify and use various sources for reconstructing the past, such as documents, letters, diaries, maps, textbooks, photos, and others.
• VA: Select and use the qualities of structures and functions of art to improve communication of ideas.

Adaptations

• Possible teacher resources include: 1001 Smartest Things Ever Said by Steven D. Price; INSPIRATIONAL QUOTES ULTIMATE COLLECTION: 3000+ Motivational Quotations by Darryl Marks
• Encourage students to interview parents, grandparents, and other adults, to become familiar with quotes that are in their everyday life. Also have students look around their everyday surroundings for quotes. For example, U. S. coins have the quote, "In God We Trust." Discuss what the sayings mean. Have they always meant the same thing? What is the purpose of keeping quotes in our lives?
• Students work in teams of two or small groups to design a motivational quote for the team. Write the meaning behind the quote. Post team quotes in the classroom. Have classmates debate the meaning of each motivational quote.
• As a class, vote on a motivational quote that will represent the group for the school year. Think about what message you want to send about yourself and your classmates. Does the quote accomplish that?