Teaching in Your PRIME

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Teaching in Your PRIME

• Marvin W. Berkowitz, Ph.D.
• S. N. McDonnell Professor of Character Education
• Center for Character and Citizenship
• University of Missouri-St. Louis
• 9 July 2009
• Character Education Conference St. Louis

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Contact Information

• Address Marillac Hall 402
• College of Education
• University of Missouri-St. Louis
• One University Blvd.
• St. Louis MO 63121-4499
• Phone [phone]
• FAX [phone]
• Email berkowitz_at_umsl.edu
• Webpage www.characterandcitizenship.org

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What is character?
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Head Heart HandsGood character consists of
understanding, caring about, and acting upon core
ethical values

• Character Education Partnership
• (www.character.org)

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The complex constellation of psychological
characteristics that motivate and enable
individuals to function as competent moral agents

• Marvin W. Berkowitz

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What is character education?
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Dispelling MythsThis is not your mothers
character education!
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Myth 1 Not the role of schools

• It is everyones role and is unavoidable
• All adults involved with children either help or
  thwart childrens growth and development, whether
  we like it, intend it or not.
• Aristotle

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Myth 2 Competes with the true purpose of
schools

• It is only in the past half century that
  Americas schools have become monomaniacal about
  purpose

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• Sputnik, the separation of church and state, and
  NCLB
• Even the founding fathers emphasized the need for
  schools to produce virtuous citizens

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Myth 3 Cant afford to do academics and
character ed

• It is not a zero sum game
• Many educators find that the best path to
  academic achievement is creating caring
  classrooms and schools
• Research suggests that high quality character
  education results in higher academic achievement

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Character education is

• A way of being, and most notably a way of being
  with others.

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For most educators

• It is a NEW way of being.

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What is character education?

• Systematic initiatives to foster student
  character development
• At its best, it is comprehensive school reform
• Grounded in relationships
• Grounded in school culture
• Informed by research and theory

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PRIME Character Education

• Prioritizing character education
• Relationships
• Intrinsic motivation
• Modeling
• Empowerment

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Prioritizing Character Education

• There are two primary purposes of education
  academic and character
• Schools often overlook character and focus
  primarily or exclusively on character
• Character has to be an explicit centerpoint of
  the schools mission and of the school leaders
  philosophy

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To educate a person in mind and not in morals is
to educate a menace to societyPresident
Theodore Roosevelt
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Dear TeacherI am a survivor of a concentration
camp. My eyes saw what no person should witness
Gas chambers built by learned engineers. Children
poisoned by educated physicians. Infants killed
by trained nurses. Women and babies shot and
burned by high school and college graduates. So,
I am suspicious of education.My request is
Help your students become human. Your efforts
must never produce learned monsters, skilled
psychopaths, educated Eichmans. Reading, writing,
arithmetic are important only if they serve to
make our children more humane.

• Sadker Sadker, 1977

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Examples of Prioritizing

• Central to school mission statement
• Character related touchstone
• School leader is the champion of the initiative
• Integrated across all school elements

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Resources for Prioritizing

• Elbot, C.F., Fulton, D. (2008). Building an
  intentional school culture Excellence in
  academics and character. Thousand Oaks, CA
  Corwin Press.
• Lickona, T., Davidson, M. (2005). Smart and
  good high schools Integrating excellence and
  ethics for success in school, work and beyond.
  Washington D.C. Character Education Partnership.
• Characterplus (2005). The Characterplus Way
  Plan Implement Refine. St. Louis Characterplus.

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Relationships

• The 3 Rs of character education are
  Relationships, Relationships, Relationships
• Need to consider ways to doing the same work that
  also build positive relationships
• Relationships should be targeted within and
  between all stakeholder groups

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Adult culture of the school

• Adults in the school must function as
• a caring professional learning
• community
• The must treat each other as they
• want students to behavewith
• character!

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Examples of Relationships

• Cross-age initiatives
• Cooperative learning
• Service that builds sustained relationships
• Professional Learning Communities
• Authentic partnerships
• Looping

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Resources for Relationships

• Urban, H. (2009). Lessons from the classroom 20
  thing good teachers do. Redwood City, CA Great
  Lessons Press.
• Watson, M. (2003). Learning to trust
  Transforming Difficult Elementary Classrooms
  Through Developmental Discipline. San Francisco
  Jossey-Bass.
• Denton, P., Kriete, R. (2000). The first six
  weeks fo school. Greenfield, MA Northeast
  Foundation for Children.

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Intrinsic Motivation

• Educators often rush to using extrinsic
  motivation to promote character
• The true goal of character education is for
  students to internalize moral values
• Different pedagogical strategies are needed to
  foster intrinsic motivation

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Examples of Intrinsic Motivation

• Developmental discipline
• Community service
• Studying role models
• Guided reflection on character

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Resources for Intrinsic Motivation

• Kohn, A. (1993). Punished by rewards The
  trouble with gold stars, incentive plans, As,
  praise and other bribes. Boston Houghton
  Mifflin.
• Dalton, J., Watson, M. (1997). Among friends
  Classrooms where caring and learning prevail.
  Oakland CA Developmental Studies Center.

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Modeling

• Cannot demand from students what you will not do
  yourself
• Lickona The single most powerful tool you have
  for influencing a childs character is your
  character
• Students learn more from what you do than from
  what you say
• Ghandi You must be the change you want to see
  in the world.

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Examples of Modeling

• Peer tutoring
• Multi-stakeholder working groups
• Teacher (and other staff) behavior
• School leader behavior (re staff)
• Open staff discussion of staff behavior

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Resources for Modeling

• Lickona, T., Davidson, M. (2005). Smart and
  good high schools Integrating excellence and
  ethics for success in school, work and beyond.
  Washington D.C. Character Education Partnership.

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Empowerment

• Character develops in part through as sense of
  ones autonomy
• Character education should focus on the
  empowerment of all stakeholders teachers,
  administrators, support staff, students, parents,
  community members, etc.
• A philosophy of empowerment should be at the
  heart of the school

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• The first service that one owes to others in
  community consists in listening to them.
• Dietrich Bonhoeffer Life Together

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Examples of Empowerment

• Democratic student government
• Class meetings
• Peer mediation
• Student guided curricula (e.g., project based
  learning)
• Student run honor system
• Student advisory committee
• Culture of staff collaborative decision-making

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Resources for Empowerment

• Power, F.C., Higgins, A., Kohlberg, L. (1989).
  Lawrence Kohlberg's approach to moral education.
  New York Columbia University Press.
• Developmental Studies Center. Ways we want our
  class to be Class meetings that build commitment
  to kindness and learning. Oakland CA
  Developmental Studies Center.