I was so fortunate to have the opportunity to attend the class my cooperating teacher is teaching at USD. The class is Children's Literature and I was able to attend the session that focused on Character Education. Along with a multitude of incredible ideas to incorporate character education into a classroom, she also provided a piece of insight that really stuck out to me: character education should not be thought of as a subject, but rather a way of running a classroom. Just as we do not turn on and off who we are as compassionate, thoughtful, empathetic people throughout the day (although there may be times when these characteristics may be more or less apparent) it should be the same in our classroom. By fostering an environment of character education throughout the school day, integrating it into all subject areas and designing the "feel" of the room around ultimate respect and caring for others, we will be more successful at giving our students the opportunity to flourish as they continuously grow. Rather than thinking about character education as a subject that is taught at a certain time, in a certain way, the view needs to be shifted to thinking about how we can cultivate and model empathy, compassion, and kindness (to name a few).
Here are some incredible ideas on how this can be done from my cooperating teacher:
1. The first and foremost rule of the classroom that is always being thought about:
TAKE CARE OF EACH OTHER
2. Provide students with numerous examples of caring and people who make a difference. Hopefully, one or more of these people/actions will speak to one or multiple students and inspire them to get involved.
- Ryan's Well Foundation
- Spirit Bear Youth Coalition
- UNICEF
- World Children's Prize
3. Highlight important characteristics through inspirational quotes each day of the first couple weeks of school.
4. Picture Books (with kids as the main characters)
The Teddy Bear
One Smile (This benefits the Pay it Forward Foundation)
Ordinary Mary's Extraordinary Deed (related to math/counting)
Boxes for Katje
Alex and the Amazing Lemonade Stand
The Lemonade Club by Patricia Polacco (Patricia Polacco has written many stories, often based on true stories like this one, that have a very powerful meaning)
5. Think about a year long program that you might want to start within the classroom. For example, in this classroom, we do random acts of kindness. Each week the students write the random acts of kindness they performed that week on strips of paper. Each month, the strips are connected as a chain and onto the previous month's chain. The (very long) chain is displayed in the classroom- reminding us to perform random acts of kindness.
Kitri,
ReplyDeleteLooks like you had a "just-in-time" moment with the Children's LIt class. Sometimes, we hear or see things that don't resonate with us at that particular place and time. But when you really are focused on something, and can serendipitously have a learning experience to support your need, then you can maximize your future impact! I love the ideas you presented. I love the random acts of kindness. . .Imagine if kids donated $1 of their own money at the beginning of the year, and then the class evaluated and decided on a microloan for someone in a third-world country, they could track the progress throughout the year . . and gain cultural understanding and empathy!
jeff
Kitri, We just did a unit on Random Acts of Kindness, but I like your idea of making it a year long thing. Here is a prezi presentation that we did to introduce the unit to the kids:
ReplyDeletehttp://prezi.com/ngvp_enhxpre/copy-of-random-acts-of-kindness/
Also, to piggy back off of Jeff's post, one year, my class (and several others) adopted a Montessori school in India and raised enough money to buy them a copy machine. The directress of the school, who got her PhD in the states, flew down for the presentation and showed our students the conditions of the school in India. It was so meaningful and powerful to the students and made them appreciate the things that they have and don't even think about (running water, pencils, books, etc.).
DeleteThanks for sharing this Kitri! I love the idea of creating a yearlong project, such as random acts of kindness, to help create and support a positive classroom environment throughout the entire school year.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I LOVE kid president!
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