Using the 11 Principles of Effective Character Education to Start, Strengthen, & Assess Your Program

1. Using the 11 Principles of Effective Character Education to Start, Strengthen, & Assess Your Program Region 10 - Project Character School Leadership Team Workshop April 3, 2004 Matthew L. Davidson, Ph.D Research Director Center for the 4th & 5th Rs (Respect & Responsibility) DavidsonM@Cortland.edu 607-753-5798

2. 1-Minute Ice-Breaker • Turn to a neighbor sitting near you and say hello (if possible, introduce yourself to someone you don’t already know or get the chance to talk to very often). • Each person should share 1 piece of good news and 1 thing you’re looking forward to in your life.

3. Eleven Principles of Effective Character EducationFrom: The Character Education Partnership   1. Character education promotes core ethical values as the basis of good character.  2. ‘Character’ must be comprehensively defined to include thinking, feeling, and behavior. 3. Effective character education requires an intentional, proactive, and comprehensive approach that promotes the core values in all phases of school life. 4. The school must be a caring community. 5. To develop character, students need opportunities for moral action.

4.  6. Effective character education includes a meaningful and challenging academic curriculum that respects all learners and helps them succeed.  7. Character education should strive to develop students’ intrinsic motivation.  8. The school staff must become a learning and moral community in which all share responsibility for character education and attempt to adhere to the same core values that guide the education of the students.  9. Character education requires moral leadership from both staff and students.  10. The school must recruit parents and community members as full partners in the character-building effort.  11. Evaluation of character education should assess the character of the school, the school staff’s functioning as character educators, and the extent to which students manifest good character. 

5. What, exactly, is character? • From its Greek origins, the word “character” literally translates as, “enduring, lasting, or distinguishing mark.” • Values are how we describe the enduring mark of individuals and communities. • Character might best be defined as, “values in action.”

6. Smart versus good: “Two great goals” set against each other “Character education is not a new idea. It is, in fact, as old as education itself. Down through history, in countries all over the world, education has had two great goals: to help young people become smartandto help them become good.” —Tom Lickona, Educating for Character

7. Performance & Moral Character • Performance Character: • The knowledge, habits, & dispositions necessary for achieving human excellence in performance environments—in school, extracurricular activities, & in our work. • Moral Character: • The cognitive, emotional, & behavioral dispositions necessary for ethical functioning. The character that moderates our personal goals with the interests of those outside of ourselves, and with shared moral values such as justice & caring, respect & responsibility, honesty & integrity.

8. “To educate a person in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society.” —Theodore Roosevelt • “The good-to-great companies placed greater weight on character attributes than on specific educational background, practical skills, specialized knowledge, or work experience. Not that specific knowledge or skills are unimportant, but they viewed these traits as more teachable (or at least learnable), whereas they believed dimensions like character, work ethic, basic intelligence, dedication to fulfilling commitments, and values are more ingrained.” —Jim Collins, (2001), Good to Great

9. “How many lies do you have to tell before you are a liar?”—M. Josephson • For students (and adults, too), moral identity is frequently preserved by bracketing off or compartmentalizing their “moral self.” • We do a good job cultivating identities like, “athlete” and “scholar,” “artist,” but pay little attention to cultivating moral identity.

10. Why the two-dimensional character distinction? • It acknowledges moral dimension of human excellence or achievement, AND establishes a role for character in the realization of human excellence or achievement. • It reserves a legitimate place for moral excellence in our quest for human excellence. • “If character counts, then show me what it will do for my GPA” —Chicago area High school student.

11. Performance, Talent & Performance Character • Performance is the outcome (the grade, the honor or award, the achievement); performance character are psychological processes that help you pursue your personalbest—whether the outcome is realized or not (work ethic, courage, self-discipline, etc.) • It’s possible to achieve performance and not have performance character. • Talent is the natural ability you are born with (intellectually, artistically, physically, morally etc.); Character development is the process by which you challenge yourself to get the most from your talent.

12. How is Character Developed? • Character is like a muscular system—not just one muscle– that must be exercised in order to develop. • Can muscles be taught? Yes. • Can muscles develop “memory” or habits? Yes. • Can muscles atrophy? Yes, if they are not used • Muscles have different potential, but all can be developed—just how much and for how long is what most want to know.

13. What kind of values? • Performance Values: • Are “willing values” required for success in performance environments. • E.g., perseverance, courage, hard work, optimism, self-control, discipline, orderliness. • Moral Values: • Are values that carry obligation. • Are universal (universalizable)—we would will all persons act according to them. • Are reversible—we would want to be treated this way. • E.g., Respect, responsibility, justice, kindness.

14. Values and the Sun • Like the sun, we can’t grasp values in their entirety. • Values have infinite particulars based on developmental level, environmental context, and the value itself. • Remember to teach in layers not lumps!

15. Wooden’s Pyramid of Success

16. Westmoor Elementary Skills • Apologizing (grades 2/3) • Accepting Consequences (grades 1/2/5) • Asking for Help (grades K/1/2/3/4) • Using Brave Talk (grades 1/3 ) • Dealing with an Accusation (grade 2) • Dealing with Disappointment (grades 3/5) • Giving and Accepting Compliments (grades 2/3) • Ignoring (grades 1/2/3) • Interrupting (grades K/1/2/3) • Knowing When to Tell (grades 1/3)

17. The Faces of Responsibility

18. Jeff Beedy: “Leader to Detractor Scale” 5 Leader: understands role as a contributing team member; actively models the value. 4 Contributor: understands role as a member of team & seeks opportunities to display teamwork. 3 Participant: understands role as a member of team, but displays little proactive teamwork. 2 Observer: engages in teamwork only when directed & to promote self-interests. 1 Detractor: Detracts from team. No regard for teammates.

19. 1-Minute Buzz Break • In groups of 2-4 people list the performance values and moral values that are critical for your kids. • Take at least one value and attempt to break it down into the specific knowledge and skills required for putting this value into action.

20. Principle 6 “Effective character education includes a meaningful and challenging academic curriculum that respects all learners and helps them succeed.”

21. Character must be taught through the curriculum! • Through the curriculum—formal, informal, & hidden. Make the implicit, explicit. • Through diverse opportunities to help students develop performance and moral character. • Through direct instruction and through discussions of emerging teachable moral moments. Take a stand—it is essential for student development! • Through classroom and school-wide discipline that is fair, consistent, and co-created.

23. The Heartwood Curriculum • The Heartwood Institute creates ethics curricula for children from preschool to grade six. • Based on good multicultural children's literature, the curricula are designed to introduce a language of ethics and to foster literacy, good judgment and moral imagination. • Read aloud stories, discussions and activities promote understanding of the universal attributes:

25. The Heartwood Institute 425 North Craig Street  Suite 302  Pittsburgh, PA 15213  412-688-8570  1-800-HEART-10  hrtwood@aol.com http://www.heartwoodethics.org

27. "Cinderella," by Charles Perrault "Cinderella," by the Brothers Grimm "The City of Trembling Leaves," by Walter van Tilburn Clark "Sixteen," by Maureen Daly "What Means Switch," by Gish Gen "The Makeover of Meredith Kaplan," by Barbara Girion "Sonnet 130," by William Shakespeare "Love Poem," by John Frederick Nims "Too Early Spring," by Stephen Vincent Benet “The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter,” (excerpt) by Carson McCullers "Up on Fong Mountain," by Norma Fox Mazer "Houseparty," by Walter Bernstein The Art of Loving WellTable of Contents

28. The Loving Well Project Nancy McLaren, Project Director School of Education, Boston University 605 Commonwealth Ave. Boston, MA 02215 Phone: 617/353-4088 Fax: 617/353-2909 http://www.bu.edu/education/lovingwell/index.html

29. “Facing History & Ourselves”Examining History and Human Behavior • Foundational beliefs: • Democratic education must be an “apprenticeship in liberty.” • History is a moral enterprise. • Teaching is a craft. • Adolescents are our future. • Since 1976 more than 17, 000 educators have participated in Facing History workshops and institutes • An estimated 1, 500, 000 students are reached each year.

30. The Facing History Cycle

32. Columbine Elementary SchoolPersonal & Social Responsibility Standards • Practices organizational skills… • Supports and interacts positively with others… • Takes risks and accepts challenges… • Accepts responsibility for behavior… • Listens attentively, follows directions, stays on task… • Evaluates own learning… A = Advanced B = Basic I = In progress P = Proficient

33. Math • Tries a variety of strategies to solve a problem… • Exhibits a knowledge of basic math facts… • Shows effort… • Social Studies • Participates in discussion… • Understands concepts… • Completes projects & assignments… • Shows effort… • Science • Works cooperatively in groups… • Understands concepts… • Completes assignments & experiments… • Shows effort…

34. Mr. Shoeneck’s Standards of Excellence • I will honor commitments. • I will only make statements that add value and stick to the purpose at hand. • I will come to meetings prepared and determined to contribute. • I will offer alternative proposals to those things with which I disagree.

35. 5. I will avoid working in isolation and will seek the thinking of others. 6. I will not be limited by current boundaries and limitations. 7. I will look for “How Can We” rather than “Why We Can’t.” 8. I will focus on helping others toward their purpose through listening and sharing of thoughts.

36. Reflecting on CharacterMonte Pointe HS, (Phoenix, AZ) • Is character important for public figures, or are skills and performance all that matter? 2. Write about the character of a person you greatly admire. How has that person’s character affected you? 3. As a society, have we lost sight of the qualities that constitute character?

37. Is character defined by universal qualities or does it depend on cultural setting and individual viewpoint? • Describe a “defining moment” in your life when your character was shaped or strengthened. What has been the effect?

38. 1-Minute Buzz Break • With a colleague from your grade-level or content area, brainstorm two character in the curriculum connections—one performance character and one moral character—using the “character in the curriculum” activity sheet.

39. Why Be Good? • This all important question has many different answers—reward, recognition, punishment, disproval, cultural influence. • Motivation is the bridge between what we know and what we do. • What’s the motivation for elementary-age students? For middle and high school students?

40. Principle 7 “Character education should strive to develop students’self-motivation.”

41. Character Education is an inside job! • Character education must develop self-motivation, students who “Do what is right, even if nobody is looking.” • Competence in reaching those goals must be internally referenced, monitored, pursued. • When it comes to promoting self-motivated individuals: • Tangible extrinsic rewards used primarily for controlling people’s behavior tend to undermine intrinsic motivation AND self-regulation. • Extrinsic rewards are less detrimental if they are not used contingently and if the social context is oriented more towards support than control. • Verbal rewards that convey information or feedback that affirms people’s competence tend to maintain or enhance intrinsic motivation.

42. Do you have outies or innies? • Do your students worry only about the final outcome? • Do your students have a helpless response to success or failure? • Can they make sense of an outcome and create a better plan for the future?

43. Outies, Innies, What’s The Difference • Outer-focused individuals experience: • Increased performance anxiety. • Helpless response to success & failure • Q: “How did this happen?” A: “I don’t know” • Less personal enjoyment or satisfaction from the activity. • Inner-focused individuals experience: • Increased self-reflection and self-awareness. • Strong intrinsic motivation. • A healthy approach to competition, with less performance & moral character “clashes.” • Are Less likely to engage in “gaming strategies.”

44. Developing the Complete Moral Person—Head, Heart, and Hand • Developing “Innies” interconnects head, heart, and hand: • Through careful individual planning, self-assessment, and skill development. • Through a balance of community support & challenge for individual strengths and weaknesses. • By providing a sense of control over our behavior. • Empowering students to understand, monitor, and change their behaviors.

45. 1. Temperance 8. Silence 2. Order 9. Resolution 3. Frugality 10. Industry 4. Sincerity 11. Justice 5. Moderation 12. Cleanliness 6. Tranquility 13. Chastity 7. Humility Benjamin Franklin’s Virtues

46. Character Record Book • How have I shown respect today? • How have I failed to show respect today? • How will I show respect tomorrow? —Franklin Classical Charter School

47. Got Goals? Directions: In the three columns below list at least 5 goals for each category. When you have listed at least 5 goals for each category, circle your top 3 goals and rank them by order of importance. AcademicExtra-CurricularCharacter For each of your goals from each category above, list potential assistance you will need (from friends, coaches, teachers, etc.) to help you reach your goals.

48. 100 Goals • Write at least 100 goals. • Divide them into categories. • E.g., education, career, fun/adventure, spiritual, travel, reading, learning, etc. • Select the 10 most important goals. • Write a paragraph explaining the importance of your #1 goal. —Hal Urban, Teacher, Redwood City, CA

49. Trouble Card How to avoid trouble and make a good decision: • Is this something that would be considered wrong by my parents, teachers, or religion? • Does it go against my conscience? • Will it have bad consequences, now or in the future? • Will I feel sorry after doing it? • Will it cause me to lose self-respect? (adapted from Phyllis Smith-Hansen, Lansing Middle School)

50. Essential Character Activity • What is one thing you could do to improve your school’s approach to recognizing and celebrating good character? • Take one of your school’s values and create an innie-promoting, self-monitoring tool for students.