Transcript VSCTC Character Ed

In your opinion, what is
Character Education?
Write down at least 3 thoughts on
the BUS paper.
Why the 11 Principles?
• Cornerstone of program
• Serve a guideposts & help build program
• Character Education Partnership’s (CEP) guide to
an effective program
What is Character Education?
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Core values
Intentional effort
Must permeate the school climate & curriculum
EVERYONE!
What does CE involve?
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Positive school culture
Moral education
Positive youth development
Civic education
Service Learning
Basically, it is our job to help young people become
responsible, caring, & contributing citizens.
Why “Do” Character Education?
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Not a new concept
Transform school (discipline, achievement)
Teach core values
Help students reach full potential
Improves job satisfaction & retention among staff
Flip over the BUS paper.
Right Hand/Left Hand Activity
Team
Activity
The Beatles
Where Do I Get Started?
THE 11 PRINCIPLES
Principle 1
The school community promotes
core ethical and performance values
as the foundation of good character.
PreAssessment – What?
Make a list of
the values that
you feel are
most important
in your own life?
What Does This Mean to Me?
• Determine core values
– Virtues, traits, pillars, expectations
• Core Values vs. Performance Values
• CE Mission & Touchstone
WESTWOOD PLEDGE
I will make good choices today.
I will respect myself, my
teachers, and others.
And give my best effort in all I
do.
Basic Implementation
• Representative group of stakeholders has input
into core values.
• Common language is used
• Staff ownership
• Values are everywhere!
• The school has defined what values “look like” and
“sound like.”
“Great learning and superior ability
are of little value unless honor, truth,
and integrity are added to them.”
~Abigail Adams
First lady of the United States, 1797-1801
Listen Up!
Activity
Establishing
Core Values
Through Music
Video: Special thanks to Barbara Gruener – Westwood Elementary, Friendswood, TX
Principle 2
The school defines “character”
comprehensively to include thinking,
feeling, and doing.
PreAssessment – How?
Make a list of
the ways you
think people
learn to develop
character?
Is this what your students sound like?
What Does This Mean to Me?
• Link values to behavior & behaviors to values
– How do you want your students to act?
• Create moral awareness
• Develop other perspectives
• Raise questions in the classroom
– Moral reasoning
– Ethical decision making
– Social problem solving
Basic Implementation
• Student responsibilities in classrooms
– Aaron Thompson
• Model & Practice
– Show empathy
– Not interrupting
– Welcome students into class (caring environment)
• Lead discussions of real-life problems
• Teach lessons on core values
Activity
My
CHARACTER
Garden
My “CHARACTER” Garden
Plant (Draw) the following:
• 3 Rows of Peas (Green)
• 4 Hills of Squash (Yellow or Orange)
• 3 Rows of Lettuce (Different Green)
• 2 Turnips (Purple)
Principle 3
The school uses a comprehensive,
intentional, and proactive approach
to character development.
PreAssessment – When?
Think of a
teachable
moment that
you have
recently used in
your classroom?
What Does This Mean to Me?
• The Hidden Curriculum
– How does your school rate?
– Complete Survey – labeled Exercise #2 worksheet
• Decide your approach
– Large group, small group, open, developmental,
thematic, calendar
Basic Implementation
• Develop a plan/direction for CE program
• Classroom routines set (based on core values)
• ALL school activities
– Classes, extracurricular, cafeteria, halls, playground
• Embedding values in curriculum
– Employability Grade
– Use variety of activities (rubric)
Intelligence is not enough.
Intelligence plus character—that is
the true goal of education.”
~Martin Luther King, Jr.
Summary of Principles 1 - 3
Top 5 Ways to Find Joy at Work (D. Letterman)
5) Find every supporter a task, however small.
4) Widen the circle of the informed.
3) Remain positive.
2) As the bits of the “cube” start moving, keep
communicating & coordinating
1) Celebrate each “Rubik’s Cube” moment of
accomplishment.
Principle 4
Creating a Caring
School Community
PreAssessment – How?
How would you
characterize
your relationship
with students?
What Does This Mean to Me?
The ABC’S of Effective Community Building
A is for Autonomy
B is for Belonging
C is for Competence
Three Aspects of Community Building
• Between Staff and Students
• Among Students
• Among Adults in the School Community
Basic Implementation
• Show Interpersonal Warmth and Concern
• Encourage Student Thinking and Expression of Ideas
• Encourage Student Collaboration, Autonomy, and SelfDirection
• Pay Attention to the Beginning
• Teach Social and Emotional Skills
• Set the Tone
• Belonging Among the WHOLE Staff
• Building Positive Relationships with Parents
Principle 5
Providing Opportunities
for
Moral Action
PreAssessment – What?
What
relationships, in
your own life,
have made the
greatest impact
on your
character?
What Does This Mean to Me?
Moral Action
is at the
Heart of Character Education
1. Getting Ready
2. Taking Action
3. Follow-up
Basic Implementation
• Create a Full Range of Opportunities for Moral
Action
• Foster the Conditions in which Opportunities for
Moral Action Become Significant Learning
Experiences
• Build School and District Level Commitment to
Moral Action
Activity
Lend a
Helping Hand
Principle 6
Providing a Meaningful
Academic Curriculum
“Character Education is not another
thing on the plate, it is the plate.”
Anonymous
PreAssessment – How?
Make a list of
the ways you
presently
address
character
development in
the academic
curriculum.
What Does This Mean to Me?
Intellectual Dispositions
• Curious
• Open-minded
• Metacognitive
• Eager to find truth & understanding
• Skeptical
• Strategic
Conditions for Intellectual Character
• Modeling and Cueing
• Developing Thinking Strategies
• Honoring Student Thinking
What we hope ever to do with ease we may
learn first to do with diligence.
- Samuel Johnson, author
Infuse Character into the Curriculum
• Embed Values in the Curriculum
• Develop Core Ethical Values Through Teaching
Strategies
• Discuss Ethical Dilemmas
• Provide Opportunities for Student Reflection
• Lead by Example
Basic Implementation
• Respect How Students Learn
• Develop Intellectual Character
• Embed Values in the Curriculum
Principle 7
Fostering Student’s
Intrinsic Motivation
PreAssessment – What?
What motivates
your own
behavior?
What Does This Mean to Me?
• Larger Goal – Developing Students Who Will
Become Good People and Responsible
Members of Society.
• Schools Meet the Basic Psychological Need
of Student’s ABC’s.
Basic Implementation
Identify Disciplines that support
Character Development
• Student Needs
• Create Shared Norms
• Live by Shared Norms
Recognize Good Character
• Pros and Cons
• Guidelines of Student Recognition
Fostering
We have to help (students) figure out - for
themselves and with each other - how one ought to
act… (Kohn, 1998)
Activity
Marshmallow
Tower
Principle 8
Engaging
School
Staff
Effective character education
engages the school staff as a
learning and moral community that
shares responsibility for character
education and attempts to adhere to
the same core values that guide the
education of students.
You must be the change you wish to
see in your school.
Walk the talk!
What is it that makes students’ favorite
teachers so special, so influential?
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Competent in their delivery of content
Make learning fun
Are kind, passionate and genuine
Have a way of making students feel connected
• Teachers/staff as role
model
• District
hiring/mentoring
practices
• Collegiality
Character education is a
process..not a program!
• Character education must
begin with a flight plan.
• Character education will
never work if teachers
and staff don’t care about
it!
The significant
problems we
have cannot be
solved by the
same level of
thinking that
created them.
--Albert Einstein
• Regular and adequate time
is made available for staff
planning, professional
development and reflection
in regard to character
education.
Principle 9
Fostering
Shared
Leadership
Effective Character Education fosters
shared moral leadership and longrange support for the character
education initiative.
Schools that are engaged in effective
character education have leaders
who champion the effort.
YOU ARE ALL LEADERS!
Understanding Effective Leadership
What is leadership?
The days of the principal
as the lone
instructional leader are
over.
When there is agreement on where you are going as a
school, and a climate that supports innovation, there will be
plenty of people to do the work.
Develop Student
Leadership
Provide Avenues for
Leadership (Staff)
• Standing committees
• Become a learning
community
• Shared decision making
• Provide leadership
opportunities for all
students
• Connect student with
community leaders
• Teach moral leadership
• Highlight youth leaders
Principle 9--- Overview
Staff
• The character education
program has leaders,
including the school
administration who
champion the effort.
Students
• Students are explicitly
involved in creating and
maintaining a sense of
community and in other
leadership roles that
contribute to the
character education
effort.
Principle 10
Engaging
Families and
Community
Members
Effective character education
engages families and community
members as partners in the
character building effort.
• Schools that reach out
to families and include
them in characterbuilding efforts greatly
enhance their chances
for success with
students.
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Newsletters
Website
Emails
Family Nights
Parent
Conferences/Open
Houses
Building Home-School Partnerships
• Framework for building home-school partnerships:
**Two-way communication
**Support for parenting skills
**Parent support for student learning
**Volunteering
**Parent involvement in decision making
Building Community Partnerships
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Service learning
Mentoring
Expertise Sharing
Discussion of ethics and character
• A true partnership for
character education
recognizes that the whole
community shares the
responsibility for
character development in
young people.
Benefits or partnership:
• Young people continue
learning whether in or out
of the school building
Principle 11—Principles of Effective
Character Education
• The character of the school:
To what extent is the school
becoming a moral/caring
community?
• The school staff’s growth as
character educators: To what
extent have adult staff—
developed an understanding of
what they can do to foster
character development?
Personal commitment? Skills
to carry it out?
• Student character: To
what extent do students
understand and act upon
the core ethical values.