Official JAG competency wording: Explain the value of good character
Category: Character Development
Source themes: integrity, trust, personal values
Source: JAG Competencies Descriptions.docx.
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Reviewed OSEU and Wolakota interview connections
P124 — Explain the value of good character
Explore P124 · Lakota Identity and Virtues - Stephanie Charging Eagle - OSEU #2 · OSEU 2
Reviewed teaching connection (Supporting): The speaker connects virtues, roles, and doing one’s best with contributing to a larger circle. OSEU 2 foregrounds unique individual identity and strength. This is an ethical reflection context, not an occupational ethics code.
Updated for Proposed August 9, 2024: The account supports OSEU 2’s individual identity and strength; a traditional-to-contemporary continuum is not the specific focus of the passage. Original JAG–interview approval retained.
Most importantly, we have to acknowledge that there is a system in place that was… I guess you could say… forced upon us… to acknowledge who we are, you know…in that way. And that is with the blood quantum… and that is the reality. So, we have to work with that. But we… what we want our students of South Dakota… who use this curriculum… is that we consider ourselves people of the Oceti Sakowin… because we come from that land… we come from that lineage of people… who fought for that…who lived that life… who acknowledge spiritually who Wakan Tanka is… who Tunkasila is. If we were to… this is just my personal… I guess this is personal for me… if I were asked to pick people in my community who would be the people that would be acknowledged as Lakota… because of criteria, certain criteria…I would have to say first that they live the life of a Lakota person… which is a male or female… and to live that life as a Lakota person would. And that is, you know, all the teachings we've gotten as a Lakota woman…what I was taught were certain responsibilities… certain roles that I had to know and to be able to do as a woman… and that was my role in the circle… and the male is the same. So I wouldn't be like a male and the male wouldn't be like a female. The… our roles and responsibilities. So I would have to look at the individual and say, “They are… I would say they are Lakota because every day they live that life. They're generous in the way that we as Lakota people are generous. They are spiritual in the way that our Lakota people are spiritual.” And so it's all these very abstract virtues or characteristics. And then language… to be able to speak the language… not just surface language…but to be able to understand when we say, “tiospaye,” what does that mean? We know that means “extended family,” but what does that word really mean? And to have the language in that sense would be another very important criteria. The other thing is… to understand the spiritual part of who we are…to understand that we are one in a circle…but that to be the best we are in that circle individually is what makes us whole… strong as a whole. We are never an individual for ourselves, but that we do our best to be who we are. And that's what I believe… when we talk about variety and resilience, that is the key there… for me to be the best educator… not because I'm going to get lots of money. I never…I'll never be rich, you know…but to be the best educator…to be the best woman… to be the best in what I do because I'm doing it within the circle to make the circle stronger. And that I believe is the variety and the resilience of our people. And that's what we would like our students of South Dakota to see and understand.
Learn About: How does Stephanie Charging Eagle connect individual responsibilities with the strength of the circle?
Learn From: Which value would you want to guide your contribution to a group or task, and what action would show it?
05 Wolakota Project Video Transcripts and URLs.docx · WP-0196; video S5GCCDw08c4; passage containing: to be the best in what I do because I'm doing it within the circle. Teaching interpretation is separate from official wording and the interviewee’s account.
P124 — Explain the value of good character
Explore P124 · Our Four Values - Victor Douville - OSEU #6 · OSEU 7
Reviewed teaching connection (Supporting): The interview makes character visible through responses to difficulty and caring for others. Students can connect good character with conduct rather than reputation alone.
Updated for Proposed August 9, 2024: The teaching concerns values supporting communities through change, now addressed by 7.1; revised 7.3 focuses on continuing the way of life. Original JAG–interview approval retained.
You have fortitude to stand up to a lot of problems we have and not back off.
Learn About: How does Douville connect fortitude with responding to problems?
Learn From: What would persistence guided by a value look like in a chosen learning challenge?
05 Wolakota Project Video Transcripts and URLs.docx · WP-0021 · video ID vo87MSHQpNQ · cited transcript passage. Teaching interpretation is separate from official wording and the interviewee’s account.
P124 — Explain the value of good character
Explore P124 · Sacredness & Children - Jace DeCory - OSEU 4 · OSEU 4
Reviewed teaching connection (Supporting): The passage presents character through modeled conduct. Students can explain how others observe behavior, while keeping character separate from appearance or status.
Updated for Proposed August 9, 2024: The revised standard retains the meaning supported by the cited interview passage. Original JAG–interview approval retained.
One of the most important parts of relative and kinship is that our elders modeled appropriate behavior.
Learn About: What does DeCory say learners notice in others’ behavior?
Learn From: What respectful behavior would you model in a group learning activity?
05 Wolakota Project Video Transcripts and URLs.docx · WP-0208 · video ID oYIir295Jgc · cited transcript passage. Teaching interpretation is separate from official wording and the interviewee’s account.
P124 — Explain the value of good character
Explore P124 · The Story of the Girl and the Wolf - Pearl Kennedy-Colombe - OSEU #5 · OSEU 5
Reviewed teaching connection (Supporting): Pearl Kennedy Colombe tells of a girl who forgets a promise to a helpful wolf, apologizes, and resumes bringing food. This supports P124 by inviting students to discuss character through the story’s actions.
Updated for Proposed August 9, 2024: New connection to the overall current understanding. No specific OSEU standard alignment is claimed. Original JAG–interview approval retained.
Another story they tell, it happened over across the river. This girl was going to school at Stephane and she was sickly. She had TB and she ran away. She didn't like it, the nuns were kind of mean to her because of her being sickly, you know. So she ran away. And at that time, there were still a few wolves around. And she made it into that creek by the river, she made it there. And it was getting dark and it was like an autumn time of the year, cold. And she was really feeling bad and here this wolf came up. And he told her, and they talk native, you know, Dakota. And he told her, I'll help you. If I help you, what would you do for me? So she told him, I'll bring you meat every day. I'll bring you something to eat. And leave it, you know, a certain place. And here, that went on for, you know, about a year. And here, she was still getting, you know, sick. So here one day she forgot.
Learn About: What details in this passage support the speaker’s account of promises and responsibility? What would you need to hear in the full interview before interpreting it?
Learn From: How could you discuss character through the story’s actions? Use a fictional or classroom example if you prefer, and explain which part of the speaker’s account informed your approach.
05 Wolakota Project Video Transcripts and URLs.docx · WP-0044; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZcG9bCrRiU; opening passage. Teaching interpretation is separate from official wording and the interviewee’s account.
P124 — Explain the value of good character
Explore P124 · Pick-Sloan Act & Loss of Honesty - Vernon Ashley - OSEU #6 · OSEU 6
Reviewed teaching connection (Supporting): Vernon Ashley describes land losses, tribal leadership, government formation, and seeking legal expertise. This supports P124 by inviting students to consider honesty in public responsibility.
Updated for Proposed August 9, 2024: New connection to the overall current understanding. No specific OSEU standard alignment is claimed. Original JAG–interview approval retained.
While I was in the service from 1942 to 1946, in 1943, the Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Indian Affairs went to me before Congress to explain to him what the Pick's long plan was to do, to harness the Missouri and build these earthen dams and inundate thousands of acres of land. But the general of the Corps of Engineers was Pick, and he was a stubborn guy, and so he said, we don't have to contact the tribes, we'll take their land by condemnation. That all these things I faced when I came back from, that was in 1943, so I was discharged in 1946, and then went into tribal leadership role, and faced all these big problems. And the first thing, we had to form a government.
Learn About: What details in this passage support the speaker’s account of honesty and public responsibility? What would you need to hear in the full interview before interpreting it?
Learn From: How could you consider honesty in public responsibility? Use a fictional or classroom example if you prefer, and explain which part of the speaker’s account informed your approach.
05 Wolakota Project Video Transcripts and URLs.docx · WP-0069; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOoTVjNEbf4; opening passage. Teaching interpretation is separate from official wording and the interviewee’s account.
Human Shaped Learning connection
Chapter 3: Building Trust in the Classroom
Reviewed teaching connection: Reviewed connections: P124. Also supported by P124 competency. Use consistent expectations, attentive listening, and invitations for students to offer ideas.
Human Shaped Learning with Front Matter.docx · Ch. 3, actual manuscript pp. 28–34; What Trust Looks Like in the Classroom
Chapter 4: Learning Happens in Relationship
Suggested teaching connection: Suggested teaching connection for dialogue, based on P124 competency. Use a shared problem, invite students to explain ideas to one another, and make time for respectful dialogue.
Human Shaped Learning with Front Matter.docx · Chapter 4: Learning Happens in Relationship
Chapter 17: Identity and Learning
Suggested teaching connection: Suggested teaching connection for identity, based on P124 competency. Invite an identity or values map using students’ chosen interests, experiences, or fictional examples.
Human Shaped Learning with Front Matter.docx · Ch. 17, actual manuscript pp. 127–133; Strategies for Centering Identity
Plan with these recommendations and select more HSL chapters.