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Character-Building in Catholic Schools: What Works

Character-Building in Catholic Schools: What Works. Dr. Thomas Lickona Center for the 4 th & 5 th Rs www.cortland.edu/character. GOALS OF THE WORKSHOP. Have fun. Learn the 12-point comprehensive approach to character-building—and practical strategies you can use.

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Character-Building in Catholic Schools: What Works

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  1. Character-Building inCatholic Schools: What Works Dr. Thomas Lickona Centerfor the 4th & 5th Rs www.cortland.edu/character

  2. GOALS OF THE WORKSHOP • Have fun. • Learn the 12-point comprehensive approach to character-building—and practical strategies you can use. • Be an ethical learning community.

  3. What is character education? • The deliberate effort • to develop moral and performance virtues • through every phase of school and classroom life.

  4. Every moment is a character moment. • Every human interaction, every experience of the day, affects a student’s values and character, for good or for ill.

  5. Component #2 • An ethical learning community

  6. Class Handshake Shake hands with (hug if you prefer)—and warmly greet—6 people.

  7. Hand signal for quiet

  8. THE DAILY FOUR Share good news (with a partner; 1 min each). Tell about someone or something you’re grateful for (new partner; 1 min. each). Affirm someone in the class. Make us laugh. (Joke must be clean.) —Hal Urban, Lessons from the Classroom: 20 Things Good Teachers Do (www.halurban.com) 9

  9. “Just Do It!”Action Ideas List

  10. Component #1 The teacher as: • caregiver (building bonds) • model • mentor (moral and spiritual guide/coach)

  11. CLASS INTERVIEW (Day 1)(Kim McConnell, 6th-grade teacher) • “You may ask me questions about my life as a teacher or my life outside of school. 2. “Please take notes on my answers.” 3. “Your first homework assignment is to write a one-page Biography of Mrs. McConnell.” 4. “Read it to an adult in your family and turn it in tomorrow.” 2nd assignment: Interview another adult in the school.

  12. What is good character? 14

  13. BIG IDEA Students need PERFORMANCE VIRTUES to become smart and do their best work.They need MORAL VIRTUES to become good and behave ethically. 15

  14. Performance Virtues • Best effort • Commitment to improvement • Work ethic • Determination • Confidence • Initiative • Creativity • Moral/Ethical Virtues • Respect • Honesty • Love • Justice • Self-control • Humility • Moral courage 16

  15. Smart & Good High Schools The concept of the 2 sides of character—performance character and moral character—emerged from our 2-year study of award-winning high schools: Smart & Good High Schools www.cortland.edu/character The big ideas and strategies of the report have since been adapted K-12. 17

  16. What are virtues? Objectively good human qualities: • Good for the individual person—necessary for human happiness • Good for the whole society—necessary for people to live and work together.

  17. Virtues are not mere thoughts but habits we develop by performing virtuous actions. —Aristotle

  18. The Necessity of Practice We becoming virtuous by repeatedly acting in good ways until it becomes natural and even easy to do so—and unnatural to do the opposite.

  19. Children develop character by what they see, what they hear, and what they are repeatedly led to do. Directed practice is the most important part. —James Stenson, Compass: A Handbook of Parent Leadership

  20. Repetition Matters • Coach Phil Caruso, to his championship team: “What I’m most proud of was that we went the entire season without a thrown bat, a thrown helmet, or a profanity outside the dugout.” __________ • “That didn’t happen because I said once at the start of the season, “No thrown bats, no thrown helmets . . . ” I said it before every game. I congratulated them at the end of every game. “If you want something to be important to kids, you need to repeat it over and over.”

  21. What influences character? Family School Church Community/Society/Media Personal choices made by young people themselves. 23

  22. Where Does the Faith Come in?

  23. The 3 Goals of Life • salvation—our own and others’ • service—using our God-given talents to build God’s kingdom on earth • sanctity—growing in holiness. Jesus:“Be thou made perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5:48). St. Gregory:“The goal of a virtuous life is to become like God.”

  24. A Christian view: The human person is weakened by original sin and personal sin. Therefore leading a life of virtue is a struggle. But because we are redeemed by Christ, grace (God’s life in us) is available to help us. • The journey of a Christian is one of being gradually “transformed in Christ” (von Hildebrand 1948). St. Gregory (335-395 AD):“The goal of a virtuous life is to become like God.” Jesus: “Be thou made perfect.” • This process of transformation begins in Baptism through the Holy Spirit. It is meant to continue throughout our lives. As we die to self and become transformed in Christ, we become increasingly capable of self-giving and sacrificial love—Christ-like love.

  25. The goal of Christ-like character builds on the base of the human (cardinal) virtues: • prudence (wisdom) • justice (respecting the rights of others; giving others, including God, what is due them) • temperance (self-control) • fortitude (courage, patience, & perseverance). • The cardinal virtues are developed through effort and practice, but are also aided by God’s grace.

  26. By themselves, however, the cardinal virtues are not enough to develop Christ-like character. The three “theological virtues” are also needed: • faith in God, which enables us to believe in God and the teachings of His church • hope in God, which leads us to view eternal life as our most important goal and to place total trust in God • love of God, which enables us to love God above all things and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God.

  27. The Catechism: These three theological virtues are infused by God into the souls of the faithful at Baptism and dispose us to live in a relationship with the Holy Trinity. • They are not separate from the cardinal virtues. • They “are the foundation of Christian moral activity; they animate it and give it its special character” (Catechism, 1813).

  28. The Christian is prudent, just, courageous, and self-controlled out of faith in God, hope in God, and love of God. • The theological virtues, like the cardinal virtues • grow stronger through our effort and practice • in cooperation with God’s grace.

  29. Where Does the Faith Come in? • The ultimate mission the Church is to turn us into alter Christi—”other Christs.” • Our goal as Christians: to develop the character of Christ.

  30. BIG IDEA Any virtue, and character as a whole, has 3 parts: • Habits of the mind • Habits of the heart • Habits of behavior

  31. Good Character You have to . . . • know it in your head • feel it in your heart • show it with your hands.

  32. Billy’s Story A 4th-grader, Billy was surly, wouldn’t do his work, and got into fights nearly every day. His father was in prison. His mother was an alcoholic. Billy himself was already starting to use alcohol. How could you help Billy: • Stop fighting? • Develop his character (head, heart, and hand)—so he is a more respectful and responsible person? In 3s: Come up with a plan. (2 min.)

  33. BILLY’S PLAN • He could be the special friend and protector of a 1st-grade boy in a wheelchair. • He could help the boy on and off the school bus, sit with him at lunch, be his guardian on the playground, and visit him daily in his classroom. • If he got in any kind of a fight at school, he lost the privilege of further contact with the 1st-grader for the rest of that day. (The next day was a fresh start.)

  34. Richard Curwin, Rediscovering Hope: Our Greatest Teaching Strategy • Problem teens were paired with seniors in nursing homes and kids in hospitals. • They made daily visits, helped them in various ways, & formed close attachments. • For most, significant changes in their attitudes and behavior occurred.

  35. You have to look at people with two eyes. One eye sees what the person is now. The other sees what the person can become. You have to keep both eyes open all the time. —Miles Horton

  36. Component #11 • Caring beyond the classroom Students who engage in service are kinder, higher in self-esteem, more accepting of cultural diversity, less likely to have discipline problems, and more likely to do well on state tests. —U.S. Department of Education

  37. St. Rocco Case Study • Award-winning K-8 Catholic school (see handout) • An example of a comprehensive character-building approach

  38. Component #12 • Parents as partners “Building Catholic Character: 5 Things Parents Can Do” (handout)

  39. Communicate to Parents • “Parents are the first and most important character educators.” • “The school’s job is to reinforce the character virtues being taught at home.”

  40. Character Education Homework • Parent and child, independently, each make a list: “Who are 5 of your heroes? Why?” • Then compare and discuss lists.

  41. Parent-Kid Communication Tool: Back-and-forth Questions • How was today on a scale of 1 to 10—where 1 is “terrible” and 10 “terrific”? Why? • What happened today that you didn’t expect? • What did you accomplish today that you feel good about? • What did you learn today? • What’s an interesting conversation you had?

  42. The Family Meal: Have a “Topic.” • What was the best part of your day? • What did you learn today? • How did you help someone today? • What is something you’re grateful for? • What’s a problem you’re having that the rest of the family might be able to help with?(see handout for 35 dinner topics)

  43. Faith’s positive impact on character Teens who regularly practice their religious faith are: More involved in service activities Less likely to steal, be violent, or use drugs and alcohol Less likely to have sex. -www.childtrends.org

  44. Why Go to Mass? • The Third Commandment. • The Command of Christ. • The Command of the Church. • What we do at Mass (sacrifice & meal). • The consequences if we don’t go. • The benefits if we do.

  45. Eucharistic Miracle at Lanciano Around the year 700, a Basilian monk in Lanciano, Italy, had continuous doubts about the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. He begged God to remove his doubts. One day, as he was saying Mass, following the words of the consecration, the bread literally changed into Flesh and the wine into Blood. He called the faithful to the altar to witness what had happened. The changed substances are preserved to this day at the Church of St. Francis in Lanciano.

  46. Component #1 The teacher as: • caregiver (building bonds) • model • mentor (moral and spiritual guide/coach)

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