By Lisa Greeves, Manager, Promising Practices
It’s February – the beginning of second semester, the middle of winter, the groundhog just saw his shadow, and your staff just finished their first semester grades. The winter doldrums have hit. Looking for some ways to inject character into routine staff development to spice up the year? Many of the 2011 Promising Practices in Character Education focus on rejuvenating your staff. Others are easily replicable and can be implemented mid-year, allowing you to see results and have an impact on students and staff before the school year is out. Try out a few of these practices.
The Central Administration Office in the Northwest R-1 School District in High Ridge, Missouri created a staff development practice titled Keeping the Promise for Your Citizenry. After discovering there was a need for covering shifts, The Northwest R-1 School District central office personnel have embarked on helping deliver “Meals on Wheels” for the elderly in the community during employee lunch times.
At Henry Raab School in Belleville, Illinois, staff members hold a Core Values Boot Camp as a way to boost the character education momentum for everyone – students and staff alike – mid-year. Held in January, the Core Values Boot Camp consists of a surprise military-themed assembly held for everyone to review their core values.
Imagine Schools, headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, encourages all of teachers at its 73 schools across the country to participate in a Year-End Character Self-Evaluation that is easy to replicate and tailor to your school’s timeframe and needs. Data and reflection is collected throughout the year and then presented and studied at the end. It’s not too late to implement a similar practice at your school in order to get some meaningful results come June.
In addition, many of the 2011 Promising Practices in Character Education are easy-to-implement practices that can start mid-year…or at any time of the year! Now might be just the right time to try something new! Check out these Promising Practices that lend themselves to starting at any time during the academic year.
Alton Middle School in Alton, Illinois utilizes a simple but effective practice that can be started anytime called Increase the Peace Flags that encourages peaceful relations between students. Small flags with the words “Increase the Peace” are flown outside each learning community office to serve as a visual reminder to students to resolve disagreements in a peaceful fashion.
Plattin Primary School in Festus, Missouri has had great success using Caring Corners to teach students to take ownership of conflicts and to resolve them peacefully. Every room (including playground) at Plattin Primary has a designated spot marked with a “Caring Corner” sign. Below the sign is a script that the students use as a guide to resolving conflicts.
North Star Academy in Parker, Colorado created the practice titled Making Character Memorable, which allows each child in the entire school to include a piece of writing in a published “book” of character development. Each piece of writing is character-oriented, and students all get a copy, creating a wonderful sense of ownership. Mid-year is a great time to focus on creating a character-focused writing project.
Finally, North Pike Elementary School in Summit, Mississippi, conducts a two-month character blitz in their practice titled Little Jags C.A.R.E. (Care and Respect Everyone). For two months, students and faculty “blitz” the community with caring and kind acts.
