A comprehensive character education initiative is not only for students, but also supports teachers—providing the benefits of support, collaboration and the nurturing of common goals.John Dewey Learning Academy, an award-winning alternative high school in LeCompton, Kansas, recently needed to address the difficult process of orchestrating a challenging building move–to a different school and a different community.  Teachers really wanted to ease student stress as they moved through this difficult process.As teachers and other staff began to develop their action plan for the students, they soon realized that their own concerns about the move were inhibiting their ability to provide a calming, caring environment for students.    Their character coach, Mary Catherine Getto, facilitated reflection and helped the staff proactively address the adult concerns and they revisited their goals to include support for one another and for students.  They developed a step-by-step plan for collaborative delegation of adult duties—while continuing to show sensitivity to student needs. They developed a timeline, and volunteers stepped up to lead committees to carry out the work.  As teachers felt more and more support, they became more comfortable themselves with the process and were better able to lead students in caring ways.

Through reflection and coaching within comprehensive character education communities, teachers can find solutions that allow them to advance their efforts effectively.

What is getting in the way of your implementation of comprehensive character education?  What specific concerns does your faculty have?  If you’d like to talk about effective implementation of your character education initiative, please contact Barbara Luther at bluther@character.org or at 202 296 7743 X 26.

As you are planning for the end of the 2010-2011 school year and begin to focus on the next, take advantage of CEP’s spring sale. Also, look for our upcoming webinars.

• Phone consultations—Want just a little help with specific challenges or help on figuring out next steps? A one-hour or 90-minute phone consultation with a CEP expert may be just what you need. These sessions are designed for individuals and/or school teams in a conference call setting where the exchange of information and ideas as well as methodology for next step action-planning will be richly informative and energizing.  Please contact Barbara Luther, Associate Director of Professional Development at 202 296 7743 or at bluther@character.org
• Temporary Price Reductions—CEP is immediately offering a 10% reduction on our professional development fees for all schools and districts nationwide!  The rates from now until Sept. 1 are reduced to $2450 per day or $4400 for two consecutive days of training for all currently unscheduled sessions.   All sessions will be facilitated by a certified CEP trainer. This reduced price includes all travel expenses.   Plus, the 11 Principles Sourcebook is reduced by 40% to $164 including shipping. The Sourcebook’s full retail price is $249 plus shipping.

We recommend booking Professional Development sessions as soon as possible.   For further information, please contact Barbara Luther at 202-296-7743 X 26 or at bluther@character.org.