September Character Trait – Honesty
September 22, 2008
Johnny was walking to the office to deliver some papers for his teacher. On his way, he found a dollar on the hallway floor. What should he do with that dollar? He really wanted to add it to the money he was saving for his new video game, but he knew it did not belong to him. What should he do?
Your English paper is due tomorrow, but you haven’t even started. That’s O.K. You can just Google the topic and get a couple of pages. Is there anything wrong with that? How about copying a video and then selling that copy, or even using a logo without permission?
There are serious consequences for unauthorized use of others’ property. The above examples of ignoring the importance of honesty in everyday life can become a habit that might make a difference in your school success, or even on your job
Remember, your character is how you behave when no one is watching. If you make HONESTY a habit in everything you do, then making the right choice in every circumstance is so much easier. Thinking about what to do with that dollar, or whether you should just copy that reference for your English paper and submit as your own is just not considered. If HONESTY is your habit, you make the right choice, and never have to worry about the consequences.
Teacher’s Action Plan:
· Using these examples, come up with some of your own scenarios that will be relevant to your students.
· Invite the students to give examples of situations in which HONESTY can be critical.
· Discuss the importance of HONESTY in friendships, as well as in school activities.
Teachers Make a Difference
August 31, 2008
“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
August 26, 2008
Recently 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!
CAN WE ADDRESS BULLYING AT SCHOOL?
June 19, 2008
Are you seeing an increase in bullying in your school? Why is this happening? Can we do anything in the classroom and on our campuses to make a difference?
According to recent research findings, the answer is “yes”.
In discussing bullying, Oliver,
(my emphasis)
While boys typically engage in direct bullying (teasing, taunting, threatening, hitting and stealing), girls who bully are more apt to utilize more subtle indirect strategies (spreading rumors and enforcing social isolation).
Various reports and studies have established that approximately 15% of students are either bullied regularly or are initiators of bullying behavior. (Olweus, 1993) School size, racial composition, and school setting (rural, suburban, or urban) do not seem to be distinguishing factors in predicting the occurrence of bullying (Batsche & Knoff, 1994; Nolin, Davies & Chandler, 1995; Olweus, 1993; Whitney & Smith, 1993).
In contrast to prevailing myths, bullies appear to have little anxiety, and to possess strong self-esteem. There is scant evidence to support the contention that they victimize others because they feel bad about themselves.
A 1995 study (Charach, Pepler, & Ziegler, 1995) found that students considered victims to be weak, nerds, and afraid to fight back. However, 43% of the students said that they try to help the victim, 33% said that they should help but do not, and only 24% said that bullying was none of their business.
School personnel may view bullying as a harmless right of passage that is best ignored unless verbal and psychological intimidation crosses the line into physical assault or theft. But as noted earlier in this message, “Bullying can have lifelong negative consequences . . .”, and should be addressed before it becomes physical.
Acknowledging the above facts related to the problem of bullying, the majority of study results agree that “A comprehensive intervention plan that involves all students, parents, and school staff is required to ensure that all students can learn in a safe and fear-free environment.”
Keeping in mind that to address such an issue, we must start with a climate of mutual respect between adults and students across the entire campus. All students deserve a safe and accepting environment. With that in place, some specific suggestions are:
· Begin with a questionnaire to make parents and students aware of the extent of the problem, and to justify intervention efforts.
· A parental awareness campaign can be conducted through a variety of strategies such as PTA/PTO, parent newsletters, and parent-teacher conferences.
· Role playing within classrooms; it is especially helpful to demonstrate what students can do to assist victims, and to show how everyone can work together to create a school climate where bullying is simply not tolerated.
· Consistently include the “character message” in all phases of the school day. Model it, talk about it, praise the students who exhibit those positive traits, and point out the benefits of strong character.
Discuss the bullying issue with the entire class, not just with the students exhibiting the bullying behavior.
¹Journal of Counseling and Development, EJ 489 169
Applying the Broken Windows Theory to Schools
May 5, 2008
In 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
April 11, 2008
In 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
March 27, 2008
During 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
March 27, 2008
Building 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.