Archive for School Implementation
Teachers Make a Difference
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“I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous.
I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration.”
-SOURCE: Dr. Haim Ginott, child Psychologist/Teacher
Respect in the Classroom
Posted by: | CommentsRecently I was conducting my three-hour “Building Good Citizens for Texas” Teachers & Staff Development class in a small school district in east Texas. Usually I begin by asking the staff to discuss why Character Education is needed in schools today. Over the past several years I have received substantially the same few answers – “kids are not being taught values (some say basic courtesy,) any more”, “ kids are meaner to each other today”, “parents are not involved in the child’s life”, and other responses along those lines.
In this most recent experience, however, when I asked that basic question, “What particular value do you see is most needed in your students?”, three people, almost in unison, responded, “Respect”. What a clear indication of what needed to be done in this district!
Many positive strategies are in place in those schools, teachers were generally positive, and quite involved in our activities that day, but it was apparent that they were not reaching the students in the matter of respect.
I am reminded of the Hal Urban article I recently discussed in this forum. A comment from Dr. Urban was highlighted in that column – “What we accept, we teach!” As we continued to discuss causes for the lack of respect in this east Texas district, it became apparent that students were just not being required to strive for the high standards teachers were expecting of them.
Perhaps we are guilty of a similar “blindness” with some of our students. We all acknowledge that at least some of our students come from pretty tough home situations. It can be easy to excuse a child for a disruption if we know they are struggling even to get to school, let alone be attentive, obedient, and positive about the school experience.
But the “real world” for which we are supposed to be training these children really pays little or no attention to your “tough situation at home”.
High expectations are a critical piece of encouraging respect with our students. Harry Wong, the very successful teacher, author and presenter on Classroom Management, quoted a six-year old student who told him, “My teacher thought I was smarter than I was, so I was! How is that for expectations met? Can’t we correlate high expectations by the teacher to higher academic achievement? Worth a try, don’t you think?
Character education is all about having high and consistent expectations that our students will do what is right. We have a serious obligation to help each and every student to, first of all, know what the right choice is, and then make that right choice a habit. We must expect that all students, as well as the property within our responsibility, are treated with respect. That expectation of respect must become a habit. And a critical piece of forming that habit in the students is our modeling of respect by treating each one of our students with respect. Yes, even when correcting or imposing consequences, we must do so with respect.
School has begun for most of you. How about making RESPECT the theme for your room and for your campus? It WILL make a difference.
HAVE A HAPPY AND SUCCESSFUL YEAR!
Applying the Broken Windows Theory to Schools
Posted by: | CommentsIn a decades-old social experiment,
In the
In
After much discussion and analysis of this experiment, the general conclusion has been “When a broken window in a building is left unrepaired, the rest of the windows are soon broken by vandals.”
Police in big cities have dramatically cut crime rates by applying the “broken windows” theory. Rather than concentrate on felonies such as robbery and assault, they aggressively enforce laws against relatively minor offenses – graffiti, public drinking, panhandling, littering.
When order is visibly restored at that level a signal is sent out: This is a place where behavior does have consequences. If you can’t get away with ignoring the “small stuff”, you surely better pay attention to the rules for the “big stuff”.
The Broken Window Theory has become a proven strategy. It has worked in a variety of settings over nearly forty years. Shouldn’t we be applying this knowledge in our schools?
The words to that old song, “Little Things Mean a
Are we tending to the “little problems” on our campuses?
How can the Broken Window Theory (now reality) be applied to the management of our own classrooms?
The simple answer is by modeling and articulating appropriate behavior in every activity of the school day, and reinforcing students when they exhibit “character”!
The Role of Character Education in Effective Teaching
Posted by: | CommentsIn the latest issue of “The Journal of Research in Character Education”, there are some significant findings for teachers, especially those involved in the teaching of Character Education.
Hal Urban, a successful teacher in a multiethnic public school for 35 years shares some of the lessons he learned along the way, and many successful strategies from his classroom.He begins his presentation by quoting Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “Intelligence is not enough. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.”
Urban states, “The best news of all is that we now have solid research to prove that schools with an effective character education program promote higher academic standards. Yes, this even means higher scores on standardized tests. The reason is simple: an environment of mutual respect results in a better place for teachers to teach and a better place for students to learn.”
The second important message Mr. Urban emphasizes relates to the correlation between character education and classroom management. He states, “What you accept, you teach.” According to Urban, “In other words, if a student in your class says something rude and mean-spirited, and you don’t deal with it, you’ve taught that student and his or her classmates essentially two things: (1) What you just did is acceptable behavior in my classroom, and (2) It’s OK for the rest of you to behave the same way. What you accept, you teach.”
As teachers, we must model positive character, emphasize it consistently, and call attention to it as we recognize it in our students. More on “Modeling” next time.
SOURCE: Journal of Research in Character Education, Vol. 5, No. 1, 2007,
“The Nuts and Bolts of Effective Teaching”, Hal Urban, Teacher, Author, Speaker
Character Education Improves Grades
Posted by: | CommentsDuring the 2004-2005 school year, schools which had been designated Character Plus Schools as provided by House Bill 946, reported the following results:
- Improved TAKS scores——————–39%
- Improved local grades———————45%
- Fewer Discipline Referrals—————66%
- Improved Attendance———————–33%
SOURCE: TEA’s 2005 Comprehensive Annual
Report of Public Schools to the 79th Legislature
Teacher-Friendly Program Adopted By More Texas Schools
Posted by: | CommentsBuilding Good Citizens for
1. It is an integrative implementation design – no lesson plans required. The emphasis on each character trait is an integral part of the discipline plan; in other words, it is just part of the school climate, what teachers are doing on a daily basis.
2. Students are recognized for appropriate choices, doing what is right, and acting responsibly.
3. Because students are more responsible, academic achievement is improved, and TAKS results increase.
4. With effective Character Education in place, enhanced school safety, and positive school atmosphere lead to fewer discipline referrals, more teaching time, and less stress for teachers.
5. Building Good Citizens for Texas encourages active community participation, leading to better communication with parents and other stakeholders.
