Character Education and 21St Century Community Learning Centers

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Character Education and 21St Century Community
Learning Centers

• Presented by
• Cynthia Belliveau, Ph.D.

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What IS Character Education?

• Character education is a national movement
  creating schools that foster ethical,
  responsible, and caring young people by modeling
  and teaching good character through emphasis on
  universal values that we all share. It is an
  intentional, proactive effort by schools to
  instill in students important core traits such as
  caring, civic virtue, citizenship, respect,
  responsibility and trustworthiness.

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21St CCLC and Character Education

• Character Education can and should be a focus of
  21st Century Community Learning Center programs.
  In the legislation, it is written that 21st
  Century Community Learning Centers are to
  provide expanded academic enrichment
  opportunities for children attending low
  performing schools. Tutorial services and
  academic enrichment activities are designed to
  help students meet local and state academic
  standards in subjects such as reading and math.
  In addition 21st CCLC programs provide youth
  development activities, drug and violence
  prevention programs, technology education
  programs, art, music and recreation programs,
  counseling and character education to enhance the
  academic component of the program. (www.ed.gov)

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11 Principles of Effective Character Education

• 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.

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11 Principles of Character Education

• 4. The school must be a caring community.
• 5. To develop character, students need
  opportunities for moral action.
• 6. Effective character education includes a
  meaningful and challenging academic curriculum
  that respects all learners and helps them succeed.

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11 Principles of Character Education

• 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
  students.

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11 Principles of Character Education

• 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.

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11 Principles of Character Education

• 11. Evaluation of character education should
  assess the character of the school, the school
  staffs functioning as character educators, and
  the extent to which students manifest good
  character.

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How Does Your 21C Center Meet the Essential
Elements?

• Take each of the 11 elements and discuss to what
  extent your 21 CCLC is putting the element in to
  practice and which ones you want to improve.
  Make a plan to address the identified elements.
  Discuss what can be done and who can help. Use
  the websites and ideas in this presentation to
  help!

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Outcomes of Character Education

• Greater awareness of the ethical dimensions of
  life.
• More positive and caring school environment.
• Improved ability to resolve ethical dilemmas.
• Courage to act on ones decisions.
• Improved environment for both learning and
  teaching.
• Greater sense of civic responsibility.
• Deeper connection to community.
• Increased ability to work cooperatively.
• Reduction in at risk behaviors.

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Character Education Initiatives

• The list below is not intended to be exhaustive,
  but to give a general sense of the types of
  programs under the general category of Character
  Education.
• Moral Reasoning/Cognitive Development
• Discussion of moral dilemmas to facilitate
  student development of moral reasoning
  capacities.
• Social and Emotional Learning
• A process in which students learn to understand
  their own and others feelings, resolve problems,
  and gain key behavioral skills.
• Service Learning
• Students addressing the authentic needs of
  communities while meeting academic standards and
  learning objectives.

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Character Education Initiatives

• Moral Education/Virtue
• Academic content (Literature, History) used to
  teach about moral traditions in order to
  facilitate moral habits and internal moral
  qualities (virtues).
• Life Skills Education
• Practical skills (communication and positive
  social attitudes (self esteem) stressed.
• Citizenship Training/Civics Education
• American civic values taught as preparation for
  future citizenship.
• Caring Community
• Caring relationships fostered in the
  classroom/school.

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Character Education Initiatives (Cont.)

• Health Education/Drug, Pregnancy and Violence
  Prevention
• Program oriented approach used to prevent
  unhealthy/anti-social behaviors.
• Conflict Resolution/Peer Mediation
• Students trained to mediate conflicts as a means
  of developing constructive conflict resolution
  skills.
• Ethics/Moral Philosophy
• Ethics or moral philosophy explicitly taught.
• Adapted from Partnerships for Character
  Education Survey

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But why is Character Education So Important?
DONT WE HAVE ENOUGH TO DO ALREADY ???????????
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Afterschool programs improve students'
performance and interest in school.

• Children and youth who regularly attend
  high-quality after-school programs have better
  grades and conduct in school more academic and
  enrichment opportunities better peer relations
  and emotional adjustment and lower incidences of
  drug-use, violence and pregnancy. (U.S.
  Department of Education, September 2000)
• 21st CCLC participants in Chattanooga, Tennessee,
  have shown improved school attendance. At one
  school, absentee days dropped from 568 days to
  135 at another the drop was from 148 to 23.
  (U.S. Department of Education, September 2000)
• Participants in the Boys and Girls' Clubs of
  America's national educational enhancement
  program, Project Learn, increased their grade
  average and showed improved school attendance and
  study skills. (S. Schinke, 1999)

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Afterschool programs encourage students to be
respectful of others the community.

• The 300 Project, a statewide after-school
  program developed by the Georgia School-Age Care
  Association, offers the more than 750
  participating middle school students community
  service opportunities from stocking food banks to
  performing puppet shows on substance abuse for
  younger youth. The program reports that
  approximately 80 percent of parents and 60
  percent of youth and teachers agree the program
  enhances youths' interpersonal skills and helps
  them learn how to make a positive contribution to
  their community. A majority of the youth said
  they enjoyed volunteering and that they planned
  to volunteer in the future. (U.S. Department of
  Education and U.S. Department of Justice, June
  1998)

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After-school programs provide students with
values habits that will help them succeed in
life

• The 4-H Share/Care After School and Summer
  Program for 2,000 youth in New Mexico focuses on
  substance abuse prevention, developing leadership
  capacity, increasing self-esteem and fostering
  active citizenship through hands-on learning
  activities. Staff at one fifth grade program
  reported that 96 percent of the youth indicated
  on year-end surveys that they "have a goal to not
  use drugs." (National 4-H Council, 2001)

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What are Character Traits?

• ResponsibilityBeing accountable in word and
  deed. Having a sense of duty to fulfill tasks
  with reliability, dependability and commitment.
  PerseverancePursuing worthy objectives with
  determination and patience while exhibiting
  fortitude when confronted with failure.
  CaringShowing understanding of others by
  treating them with kindness, compassion,
  generosity and a forgiving spirit.
  Self-disciplineDemonstrating hard work
  controlling your emotions, words, actions,
  impulses and desires. Giving your best in all
  situations. CitizenshipBeing law abiding and
  involved in service to school, community and
  country. HonestyTelling the truth, admitting
  wrongdoing. Being trustworthy and acting with
  integrity.

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Character Traits

• CourageDoing the right thing in face of
  difficulty and following your conscience instead
  of the crowd. FairnessPracticing justice,
  equity and equality. Cooperating with one
  another. Recognizing the uniqueness and value of
  each individual within our diverse society.
  RespectShowing high regard for an authority,
  other people, self and country. Treating others
  as you would want to be treated. Understanding
  that all people have value as human beings.
  IntegrityA firm adherence to a code of
  especially moral or artistic values. Being
  honest, trustworthy and incorruptible.
  PatriotismA love for and loyalty to one's
  country.

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What traits do your students need to work on???

• Identify the traits you want to work on pick
  one or two at first. Get everyone on board to
  help parents, teachers, aides, bus drivers,
  students, etc. Make a plan using the following
  suggestions.

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The 7 E's of Teaching a Character Trait

• By Dr. Thomas Lickona
• 1. Explain it - define it, illustrate it, and
  discuss its importance.2. Examine it - in
  literature, history, and current events.3.
  Exhibit it - through personal example.4. Expect
  it - through codes, rules, contracts and
  consequences.5. Experience it directly.6.
  Encourage it - through goal-setting, practice and
  self-assessment.7. Evaluate it - give feedback

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Developing A Code of Ethics- Classroom Management

• Ask students to brainstorm values and ethics that
  they believe are important to a good life.
  This can be done in teams, or a large group.
• Looking at the large list, ask students to pick
  the top 5 that they feel are important to the
  operation of the after-school program.
• Using the top five, students and teachers write a
  After-school Code of Ethics which can be
  displayed in each of the classrooms.

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After the Code How to Use!

• Once the code is written and displayed, ask
  students to determine how they will enforce the
  code.
• How will they remind each other of the code?
• How will they encourage positive behavior?
• Can they behaviorally define each of the
  character education terms so that they know when
  the trait is being displayed?

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Sample Code of Ethics

• Girl Scout Law
• I will do my best to be honest and fair, friendly
  and
• helpful, considerate and caring, courageous and
• strong, and responsible for what I say and do and
  to
• respect myself and others, respect authority, use
  
• resources wisely, make the world a better place,
  an
• be a sister to every Girl Scout.
• Girl Scouts of the USA, NY, NY, 1996

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Sample Code of Ethics

• West Point Honor Code
• A cadet does not lie cheat, or steal,
• or tolerate those who do.
• United States Military Academy
• West Point, New York

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Ideas for Involving Students as Leaders in
Character Education and Service-Learning

• Students can...
• Decide on ways to celebrate and reward good
  character and service in their schools.
• Lead discussions on character traits in class
  meetings .
• Create bulletin boards in the classroom on
  different character traits and how to pursue them
  through service to the community.
• Hold weekly Moral Forums in which students deal
  with different moral dilemmas. Younger students
  can be brought in to the conversations and helped
  to learn steps of ethical decision making.

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Ideas for Involving Students as Leaders in
Character Education and Service-Learning

• Help younger students to act on positive
  character traits and to avoid negative ones.
• Teach a variety of programs related to character
  education to younger students and throughout the
  community.
• Complete surveys and interviews of students about
  how to improve the character of their school.
• Serve as community outreach leaders to agencies
  and organizations helping to organize service
  activities and positive character events.

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Build a Caring AfterSchool Program

• By caring community we mean that everybody in
  the schoolstudents, staff, administrationtreats
  everyone else with kindness and respect. To
  accomplish such a lofty goal, your students will
  need to play an active role in shaping the
  culture and environment of the classroom, as well
  as of the school at large. Here are some ways to
  make that happen.
• Hold class meetings in which students establish
  group goals, decide on rules of conduct, plan
  activities, and solve problems.
• Have your students collaborate on academic tasks
  by working in cooperative learning groups. Give
  them regular opportunities to plan and reflect on
  the ways they work together.
• Organize a Buddies program in which younger and
  older students get together to work oon-one on
  academic tasks and other kinds of activities.
• Teach conflict resolution and other social skills
  so that students become skilled at resolving
  conflicts fairly and peacefully.
• These strategies help students learn to establish
  and maintain positive relationships with others.
  They also turn the school into a laboratory where
  students practice the kinds of roles, and cope
  with the kinds of challenges, they will face in
  later life.

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Teach Character Through Your After School
Academics

• The curriculum you are currently teaching is
  undoubtedly filled with opportunities to engage
  your students in thinking about character and
  values. For instance, when studying a novel, why
  not have the kids scrutinize the character of the
  characters? I
• In history classes students should not only learn
  what happened, they should be given an
  opportunity to make ethical judgments about it.
  After all, history isn't just a timeline of
  events its about people making choices right
  and wrong.
• According to the Character Education Partnership,
  When teachers bring to the fore the character
  dimension of the curriculum, they enhance the
  relevance of subject matter to students natural
  interests and questions, and in the process,
  increase student engagement and achievement.

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Example Character Traits of Literary Characters

• As students read any story or book, ask them to
  consider and discuss the character traits of the
  characters. Which would they like to emulate and
  why?
• The following web-site has lessons and handouts
  to help this process.
• http//www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.
  asp?id175

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Books That Incorporate Character Traits

• The following website has a list of books that
• teach a wide variety of character traits.
• http//webtech.kennesaw.edu/jcheek3/chared.htm

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Have Discussions, Debates and Meetings

• It is difficult to overstate the benefits of a
  meaty, morally challenging classroom discussion.
  Properly facilitated, discussions like these
  develop students critical thinking skills,
  provide a group bonding experience, and engage
  the students in deep, meaningful reflection about
  the kinds of people they are and want to be.
• Classic hypothetical questions include What
  would you do if you found a lost wallet, or
  suppose your best friend begged you to help
  him/her cheat on a test? When a students ethical
  sense is in conflict with his/her desires, the
  discussion can really take off.
• One sentiment we heard frequently after taping
  these discussions was, I wish we could have
  discussions like this all the time in school. I
  feel so much closer to these people now. We
  think that kind of says it all.
• For further guidance in conducting productive
  classroom discussions (including Socratic
  method), go to www.goodcharacter.com and click on
  discussion techniques.

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Classroom Meetings

• Can deal with problems facing the group
• Can help students to support each other
• Can be a place to discuss current events or
  community concerns
• Can be a place to receive feedback about the
  after-school program

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Web Sites on Class Meetings

• The following sites have information and
  suggestions for how to conduct a class meeting.
• http//www.teachersfirst.com/lessons/mediate/media
  te8.html
• http//www.education-world.com/a_curr/profdev012.s
  html

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Service Learning!

• Service learning is a powerful approach to
  teaching in which academic goals are accomplished
  through community service. Service learning takes
  the kids well past merely performing the
  servicethey also select it, plan it, and then
  reflect on their entire experience. In addition
  to academic content, students practice valuable
  practical skills like organizing, collaborating,
  and problem solving. And they exercise such
  important character virtues as showing respect,
  taking responsibility, empathy, cooperation,
  citizenship, and persistence. Service learning
  is, in a word, tranformative.
• There are many different kinds of service
  learning projects for all age levels. A lot of
  them deal with community needs related to health,
  poverty, social issues, or the environment. Other
  good service learning activities involve students
  helping other students through mentoring and peer
  or cross-age tutoring. Here are some exemplary
  service learning projects

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After-school programs keep kids safe and deter
them from risky behavior.

• The behavior of students who regularly
  participate in Montgomery, Alabama's 21st CCLC
  Star Search after-school programs is improving,
  even though discipline problems have increased
  among other students. Overall, there has been a
  25 percent reduction in violence across the three
  sites. (U.S. Department of Education, September
  2000)
• Incidents of vandalism, stealing, violent acts
  and arrests were 50 percent lower among students
  in after-school programs in 12 high-risk
  California communities. (Fight Crime Invest in
  Kids California, August 2001)
• In a report on The After-School Corporation's
  (TASC) afterschool programs, evaluators conclude
  that, "Although risky behavior remained prevalent
  in the lives of students outside of their school
  and after-school experiences, students reported
  that certain risk behaviors became less common in
  their lives, including (among high school
  participants) alcohol use and sexual activity."
  (Policy Studies Associates, Inc., December 2002)
  
• After School Alliance

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Develop Violence Prevention and Anti- Bullying
Programs

• There are many websites that have information
  about anti-violence programs. This is a great
  place to start a character education program!
• http//www.stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov/

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Explicit Instruction in Character and Values

• The direct approach is to teach character
  education as a subject in itself, by creating
  specific character education lesson plans. This
  approach is often organized around a list of
  specifically named virtues like respect,
  responsibility, integrity, etc., and typically
  involves the kids in reading, writing,
  discussing, role playing, and other kinds of
  activities that help them understand and apply
  these values.
• If youd like help in designing lesson plans for
  character education, visit www.goodcharacter.com
  and click on teaching guides.Also, there are
  many commercially available CE programs that you
  can use right out of the box. Most of these are
  flexible enough to be implemented in a variety of
  ways.

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Dont Laugh at Me

• A pre-developed character education program that
  is free and a great way to start off any
  character education initiative.
• www.operationrespect.org

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Dont Laugh Me

• "Don't Laugh at Me" Lyrics
• I'm a little boy with glasses, the one they call
  a "geek" A little girl who never smiles cuz I
  got braces on my teeth And I know how it feels
  to cry myself to sleep
• I'm that kid on every playground whos always
  chosen lastA single teenage mother tryin' to
  overcome my past You don't have to be my friend
  but is it too much to ask
• Don't laugh at me don't call me names Don't get
  your pleasure from my pain In God's eyes we're
  all the same Some day we'll all have perfect
  wings Don't laugh at me
• I'm the beggar on the corner Youve passed me on
  the street I wouldn't be out here begging if I
  had enough to eat And don't think I don't notice
  that our eyes never meet
• Don't laugh at me don't call me names Don't get
  your pleasure from my pain In God's eyes we're
  all the same Some day we'll all have perfect
  wings Don't laugh at me
• I'm Fat. I'm Thin. Im Short. I'm Tall. I'm Deaf.
  I'm Blind. Hey aren't we all? Don't laugh at
  me dont call me names Don't get your pleasure
  from my pain In God's eyes we're all the same
  Some day we'll all have perfect wings Don't
  laugh at meDont laugh at meWritten by Steve
  Seskin Allen ShamblinSung byPeter, Paul
  Mary
•  

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More Ideas For After School Programs from the PSLA

• http//21cclc.paservicelearning.org/character.htm

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Other Character Education Resources

• Character Education Partnership1025 Connecticut
  Avenue, N.W.Suite 1011Washington, D.C.
  20036Phone [phone] www.character.org
• National umbrella for all character education
  organizations. Resource lists, bulletin board,
  very useful website.
•  
• CharacterCounts!/ Josephson Institute of
  Ethics9841 Airport Blvd. Suite 300 Los
  Angeles, CA 90045Phone [phone]  /  (310)
  846-4800 www.charactercounts.org
• A nationwide nonprofit initiative to support
  nonpartisan, nonsectarian character education.
•  
• Center for the 4th and 5th RsState University of
  New York at CortlandPO Box 2000Cortland, NY
  13045Phone [phone] http//www.cortland.e
  du/www/c4n5rs/
• Directed by Dr. Thomas Lickona, author of
  Educating for Character.
•  

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Character Education Resources

• The Giraffe ProjectPO Box 759Langley, WA 98260.
  Phone [phone]www. giraffe.org
• Moving people to stick their necks out for the
  common good. Creators of the K-12 "Giraffe Heroes
  Program."
•  
• School for Ethical Education440 Wheelers Farms
  Rd.Milford, CT 06460Phone (203)
  783-4439www.ethicsed.orgTeaches strategies to
  put ethics in action and offers assistance,
  curriculum material, resources, and professional
  development for educators interested in
  service-learning. Directed by Dr. David Wangaard
•  
• Institute for Global Ethicswww.globalethics.org
• Articulating the common ground of ethical values
  and analyzing trends and shifts in values, while
  elevating global awareness and discussion. Author
  Rushworth Kidder's site.
•  

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List of MORE Great Character Ed Websites

• http//www.suelebeau.com/charactered.htm

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Character Education Partnership

• Probably your first stop to learn about character
  education. CEP
• Sponsors a yearly Character Education Conference.
  The web-site has
• just about everything you need to know about
  character building. The
• web site also has an excellent section on
  character education evaluation
• and assessment.
• www.character.org