Building a Caring Community

Posted on February 13, 2011 by Rebecca Sipos

This post was written by Jessica Skinner, School Counselor at Lake Carolina Elementary School in Blythewood, South Carolina

Building a caring learning community goes beyond the four walls of a classroom. At Lake Carolina Elementary, the faculty and staff have been deliberate in their approach to developing a caring community since the school opened in 2002. We have worked to foster authentic relationships among students, faculty, families, and other members of our surrounding neighborhoods. We acknowledge that each of these stakeholders is an essential part.

As a team of educators, we realize that in order to build a strong school community, it is imperative to invest in each other as colleagues. Teachers participate in professional workshops and outside-of-school activities to cultivate genuine relationships with each other and develop the faculty into a cohesive team. What we learn as professionals is then transferred into individual classroom communities by incorporating strategies such as daily morning meetings and end of day closure gatherings that give students the opportunity to connect with one another. Continue reading →

Bullying in Schools: A Strategic Solution

Posted on January 24, 2011 by Rebecca Sipos

Written by Joseph W. Mazzola President & CEO Character Education Partnership

Bullying in our nation’s schools is rampant.

Consider the following data points from the 2010 Federal Bullying Prevention Summit: every day, 160,000 students stay home out of fear of getting bullied at school; 1 in 3 students will be bullied this year (about 18M young people); 75-80% of all students observe bullying; and, depending on definition, 15-35% of students are victims of cyber-bullying.

Fortunately, our elected officials and others are now taking bold action. To their credit, for example, 43 states have passed anti-bullying legislation.

I had the honor of representing CEP at the Summit. The key takeaways were: (1) bullying in schools is widespread; (2) the ramifications are very serious; (3) we need to learn more through research; (4) several government agencies are truly committed to taking this issue on; (5) policies and definitions need attention and clarity; (6) there are 67 programs that claim to combat bullying; (7) none of them has been shown to be effective through research; and (8) there is no simple, silver bullet solution.

As with all complex and chronic problems in our schools, narrowly focused intervention strategies typically fail to make a lasting impact. Zero tolerance policies, hallway posters and such all sound very good in theory. There is no doubt that they are also implemented by well-meaning people who really do want to make things better. However, according to many experts, such measures are shallow in nature and thus fail to achieve their intended purpose, especially over the long haul. Continue reading →

Engage families, communities in character-building

Posted on October 6, 2010 by Rebecca Sipos

The following post was written by Barbara Gruener, Westwood Elementary Counselor and Lynn Hobratschk, Westwood Elementary Principal. Gruener will be presenting at the 17th National Forum on Character Education.

In a town settled by Quakers, otherwise known as Friends, Principle 10 wasn’t too difficult to sell. A small bedroom community outside of Houston, Friendswood was founded with core values in mind. But knowing about character and putting character into action are two different things, so in 1987 a group of 120 concerned citizens gathered to decide which values would be important to focus on for the students and families in the Friendswood Independent School District. And so our character education initiative began. Continue reading →

RAGBRAI and Core Values

Posted on August 3, 2010 by Rebecca Sipos

Last week my brother and sister completed RAGBRAI—the bicycle ride across Iowa. From the starting point in Sioux City to the end point in Dubuque, they rode 480 miles over the course of the week. They both came home tired but euphoric. They’d had a wonderful time.

My sister couldn’t stop talking about how friendly everyone was. “Iowa has to be the most hospitable state ever,” she said. At every stop, people from all walks of life offered their homes to the bicyclists (and there were a lot of them. One count on the first day reported 20,000). The bikers camped out in their yards, slept in their basements, and shared their family rooms.

My sister also noticed a decorating trend in Iowa. “Everyone decorated their houses with words and sayings,” she said, “sometimes just plates on the wall that read ‘Love,’ ‘Family,’ ‘Friendship;’ sometimes framed poems or quotes.” Two she particularly remembered:

“We may not have it all together, but together we have it all.”
“Do take care of the little things or they may become big things.”

I couldn’t help but think there was a connection. Decorating their homes with the core values they believed in surely helped reinforce their hospitable behavior. CEP’s framework, the Eleven Principles of Effective Character Education, begins with a focus on core ethical and performance values. When schools decide what they value most and work to achieve those values, good things happen.

If you want to learn more about CEP’s Eleven Principles of Effective Character Education, there will be lots of opportunities at our national conference, the 17th National Forum on Character Education in October. Come experience the many success stories that have sprung from embracing character education.
From our all-day Foundational Training on Oct. 27, to an in-depth workshop “Aiming for Virtue” to myriad breakout sessions, you’ll find lots of ways to learn more and to develop your own success story.

Optimizing the High School Experience

Posted on July 27, 2010 by Rebecca Sipos

Since my first blog post generated a response from a high school teacher wondering about what the Forum will offer for educators at the secondary level, I thought I’d feature one of our PreForum workshops today: Optimizing the High School Experience.

Just take a look at the takeaways:

Participants will learn how to help secondary students…
Develop skills in perspective taking and empathy that lead to respectful and compassionate behavior.
Appreciate diversity and work collaboratively with their peers.
Build safe and respectful environments in their classrooms and school.
Develop positive relationships with their teachers.
Address underlying thoughts and emotions that interfere with learning.
Become self-motivated and engaged learners.
Identify their strengths, set goals, and prepare for their future. Continue reading →