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MAKING SURE CHARACTER COUNTS!

MAKING SURE CHARACTER COUNTS!. Dr. Gary M. Smit gmsmit@comcast.net CHARACTER COUNTS! NATIONAL OFFICE www.charactercounts.org. Teachers affect all eternity . . . You never know where their influence stops. - Henry Adams.

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MAKING SURE CHARACTER COUNTS!

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  1. MAKING SURE CHARACTER COUNTS! Dr. Gary M. Smit gmsmit@comcast.net CHARACTER COUNTS! NATIONAL OFFICE www.charactercounts.org

  2. Teachers affect all eternity . . . You never know where their influence stops. - Henry Adams

  3. Down through history, education has always had two goals: to help young people become smart and to become good. — Dr. Thomas Lickona, Center for the 4th & 5th R’s,Educating for Character

  4. Mission - Yazoo County School District recognizes that each child is an individual; that all children are creative; that all children need to succeed. Therefore, Yazoo County Schools respect the individual needs of children and emphasize the social, emotional, physical and intellectual development of each child. Vision - Yazoo County School District is a student-oriented school district that focuses on the whole child. We promote a partnership between students, educators, parents, and community to achieve our goals of academic excellence, character development, technological proficiency, and preparing students for the transition to higher learning.

  5. Developing Good Character Takes Work Character education is a slow, difficult, life-course project – even when it is done consistently and with the greatest rigor.

  6. To Be Successful . . . CHARACTER COUNTS! requires: • theoretical clarity • implementation consistency • unwavering confidence • persistence over time • fostering good character in partnership with promoting intellectual development CHARACTER COUNTS! is not: • a quick fix • a poster on a wall • a passing educational fad

  7. What CHARACTER COUNTS! Can Do Student misbehavior, classroom disengagement, school-wide acts of disruptions, unsafe conditions. HIGH Student Factors: Background, ethnicity, mobility LOW No involvement in CC! Meaningful, Measurable, and Sustainable CC! 09-10 10-11 11-12 PERSISTENCE OVER TIME, IMPLEMENTATION CONSISTENCY, UNWAVERING CONFIDENCE

  8. Data South Dakota Study

  9. Data South Dakota Study

  10. DATA – Clegg Park Elementary School Des Moines, Iowa 1,302 566 213 96

  11. DATA- Blanchard Elementary, Montcalm County, Michigan 106 113 68 34 YEAR 2 of CC! YEAR 1 of CC!

  12. St. Johns County, Florida, over five years, of CHARACTER COUNTS! in comparison to neighboring Flagler County, without CHARACTER COUNTS! REDUCTIONS 81% 74% 69% 70% 57% 53% 16% 9%

  13. Nebraska • 85% of Nebraska teachers using the Six-Pillar framework reported an overall positive difference in the children they teach. • 73% reported students using the language of the Six Pillars • 75% reported changing their own behavior • 61% reported increased frequency of seeing students help each other • 55% reported seeing few instances of students blaming others • 50% reported seeing more instances of students being truthful

  14. LuckyPositive Results, LowUnderstanding ofAntecedentsReplication of Success Unlikely Positive Achievement of Results Leading Positive Results, High Understanding of Antecedents. Replication of Success Likely. Student and Staff Engagement • Research shows these schools: • Fewer discipline referrals; reduced juvenile crime; more engaged students; higher staff morale; greater parent support; higher student achievement Learning Minimal Results, High Understanding of Antecedents, Replication of Success Likely. Persistence Over Time, Implementation Consistency Losing Negative Results, Poor School Climate, Low Understanding of Antecedents, D’oh! Negative Frequently & Intentional Seldom or Unintentional Antecedents: Consistent, Creative and Concrete Practices Adapted from Doug Reeves, The Leadership and Learning Center

  15. Does CHARACTER COUNTS! overburden teachers with an additional responsibility remote from traditional education? • Shaping the character of children has always been part of the mission of public education in America. • Observance of civilized norms of behavior has always been essential to creating an environment in which teachers can teach and students can learn.

  16. But my plate is already so full! Character is the plate

  17. Watch Out For Excuses • We’ve done this before • Character is the job of parents. I teach content. • This too shall pass • It’s not going to make a difference • It’s the media’s fault • I don’t have time to teach character • No one cares about character just test scores • There is no such thing as common values • I haven’t been trained to teach character. • Whose values are we going to teach?

  18. This is All About a “Way of Life” for Young People and Adults • CHARACTER COUNTS! is a character development framework based on shared beliefs and consensus values concerning qualities and traits associated with good character

  19. Six Pillars of Character • TRUSTWORTHINESS – honesty, integrity, promise-keeping, loyalty • RESPECT– courtesy, nonviolence, tolerance, autonomy • RESPONSIBILITY– duty, accountability, pursuit of excellence, self-restraint • FAIRNESS– openness, consistency, impartiality • CARING– kindness, compassion, empathy • CITIZENSHIP– civic virtue, lawfulness, common good

  20. To educate a person in the mind but not the morals is to educate a menace to society. The Why of CHARACTER COUNTS! – Theodore Roosevelt

  21. Sadly, we live in a culture without role models, where millions of students are taught the wrong values -- or no values at all. This culture of callousness has led to a staggering achievement gap, poor health status, overweight students, crime, violence, teenage pregnancy, and tobacco and alcohol abuse. . . . Good character is the product of good judgments made every day. Former Secretary of Education Rod Paige

  22. It’s easier to make a good person better than to make a bad person good • You need teachers to model moral behavior, students to buy into the behavior and parents to reinforce the behavior at home.

  23. More or Less Questions to ask: • What would you like to see more of or less of in your school? • Which pillar is violated most often? How do you know? TRUSTWORTHINESS RESPECT RESPONSIBILITY FAIRNESS CARING CITIZENSHIP

  24. You Can’t Separate Excellence and Ethics We don’t want to graduate kids who become mediocre teachers, incompetent surgeons, or sloppy mechanics. And we don’t want to graduate kids who become crooked CEOs, steroid-popping athletes, or citizens who don’t vote. - Lickona and Davidson, Smart and Good High Schools, 2005

  25. Sources of Character • Who occupies the chairs around your board of directors’ table? Board of Directors

  26. People do not automatically develop good moral character; therefore, conscientious efforts must be made to instruct young people in the values and abilities necessary for moral decision making and conduct. The Six Pillars of Character — Aspen Declaration, 1992

  27. Trustworthiness • Instill appreciation for the fact that trust is essential to: • Meaningful personal relationships • Enduring and rewarding friendships • Successful associations in school, extra-curricular activities, and the workplace. • Instill a desire to have trusting relationships and to be worthy of trust. • Create an understanding of the kinds of words and actions that build or undermine trust. • Create an understanding that relationships built on trust can be permanently damaged by untrustworthy behavior.

  28. Respect • Treating people with respect means letting them know that their safety and happiness matter; that they are important and worthy simply because they are fellow human beings. • Treat others the way you want to be treated. • Value and honor all people for themselves, not what they can do for you. • “Respect is the thread that weaves throughout all human encounters.”

  29. Bullying Behavior • Most prevalent between ages of 8 and 14 (Olweus, 1993) • A bullying attempt takes place every seven minutes in the U.S. (Bullies Beware, 2000) • The average bullying attempt lasts 37 seconds (Bullies Beware, 2000) • Bullying relationships are often established by the sixth week of school (Bullies Beware, 2000) • Observed bully behavior is usually two or three levels below what actually occurred (Fried and Fried, 1996)

  30. What Is Bullying? • A person is being bullied when he or she is exposed repeatedly and over time to negative actions on the part of one of more persons.

  31. Direct and Indirect Bullying • Direct – Involves relatively open attacks on a victim • Indirect – Involves social isolation and/or exclusion

  32. Shooting Stabbing Flashing a weapon Hitting/kicking Shoving/punching Spitting/pushing Intimidating/extorting Stalking Sexually harassing Stealing Damaging property Threatening Taunting/ridiculing Name-calling Writing graffiti Staring/leering Gesturing Starting rumors Eye-rolling Continuum of Violence

  33. Myths of Bullying • Only boys bully. • Once a bully, always a bully. • There’s more bullying at larger schools or in larger classes. • Bullying is a result of competition and the struggle to achieve good grades.

  34. More Myths of Bullying • Students are usually victims of bullying because of outward deviations. • There is a connection between bullying others or being bullied and the family’s socioeconomic level. • Those who bully have low self-esteem. • Bullies are agitated and aggressive. • Standing up to a bully by fighting back will deter the behavior. • The best way to handle a bully is to avoid or ignore the problem. • Schoolyard bullies usually outgrow aggressiveness.

  35. Create a Climate of Character • Aggressive behavior drops up to 50% when playgrounds are structured. • Organize games for large and groups, and teach kids games they can play alone. • Empower students to be able to say, “That’s not what we do at our school.”

  36. Don’t insist on ownway Flexible, entertain another agenda, no control issues Willing to compromise Able to apologize readily, easily, and naturally Able to share and offer to share Know how to change the topic Have healthy self-esteem Have a positive attitude and sense of humor Characteristics of Kids Who Don’t Bully and Aren’t Bullied

  37. Support from: Administration At least 85% of staff School counselor, psychologist, and social worker Parents and community Everyone open to change Positive school climate Staff cohesiveness and teaming focus Violence-prevention curriculum in all grades Cooperative learning modeled Peer mediation Weekly classroom meetings Ongoing training of staff, students, and parents Committed to the program for 3-5 years Part of a larger, comprehensive CHARACTER COUNTS! Initiative Anti-Bullying Checklist The more of these components your school has, the easier it will be to implement an anti-bullying initiative.

  38. Responsibility • Responsibility is an important aspect of good character concerned with the moral obligation to choose attitudes, words and actions, and the duty to accept personal responsibility for the consequences of those actions.

  39. Two Types of Responsibility Teachers Help Students Develop Both Personal responsibility • Helping individual students to develop the motivation and skills to practice self-discipline. Collective responsibility • Helping students to develop a sense of responsibility toward their fellow class- and schoolmates.

  40. School as a Community For a classroom to be seen as a positive learning environment, students must believe that they are part of a safe and caring community – both in and out of school. • Have students take responsibility for their own actions. • Hold each other accountable for following rules.

  41. School as a Community • Students often fail to see the school as a community, having an intrinsic worth. Thus they justify rules about class attendance, bullying, stealing or cheating solely in terms of how they benefit the individual. • Help students to develop appropriate responses that articulate with a clear sense of what it means to be a member of this classroom or school. • “That is not how we do things here at ____________ school.” • “At our school, we show respect for others.”

  42. School as a Community • Teachers need to give students that taste of the pleasure of saying “we,” rather than “I.” • Saying “we,” the child is aware that a supportive, dependable community is behind him or her. • In order to develop the pleasure of saying “we,” teachers must deliberately call students’ attention to the “spirit of the class” or “pride in the school” and seize upon whatever events draw members of a class or a school together as occasions for furthering their collective consciousness.

  43. Procedural Fairness: Fair Notice Impartiality Gathering of the facts Fair Hearing Substantive Fairness: Merit Need Might Equality Seniority Effort Fairness of Decisions Fairness: actions, processes and consequences that are morally right, honorable and equitable.The wide variety of approaches to fairness means that for every decision there will be people who claim it is unfair.

  44. Elements of Caring: • Concern for others’ well-being • Compassion • Empathy • Kindness and consideration • Charity • Sacrifice • Gratitude • Mercy and Forgiveness

  45. Citizenship • The duties, rights, conduct and responsibilities of a citizen. • Includes: fulfilling civic duties; respecting authority and the law; giving of one’s time and resources.

  46. What is Needed to Create Classrooms of Character • Create awareness of the pillars using visual displays and integration of the common language. • Build bonds and model character • Teach academics and character at the same time • Character-based discipline • Provide opportunities for ethical reflection • Communicate with parents • Connect with colleagues

  47. 1.Creating Classroom of Character – Awareness Embedding the vocabulary Visual displays Use of quotations Journaling Class motto or slogan Compact - Students will… The Teacher will… Classroom meetings

  48. Repetitive – messages about the meaning & importance of the core values should be frequent and conspicuously repeated to promote a common language. Pervasive – the core values should pervade all aspects of organizational activity and all direct contacts with students. Use of a common language to describe and teach character substantially increases the effectiveness of character-building programs by exposing young people and adults to consistent and pervasive messages.

  49. 2. Build Bonds and Model Character • Teach as if relationships matter • Get to know students as individuals • Power of example Modeling • Children "learn what they live" so it is important that all adults who interact with children demonstrate positive character traits at home, school and in the community.

  50. Key Ideas • Children need to form caring attachments to adults. These caring relationships will foster both the desire to learn and the desire to be a good person. • Values are best transmitted through these caring relationships. Kids care about our values because they know we care about them. • If children do not experience an adult as someone who respects and cares about them, they are not likely to be open to anything the adult wishes to teach them about values.

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