The use of technology has been a growing force in education. Once, classrooms were relatively isolated, nestled into a school in a suburb, small town or city. Now, regardless of physical location, today’s students have access to the larger world through the Internet. However, the focus of education itself has not necessarily changed.

Educating has always been about preparing students to be successful citizens, in whatever way possible. Strong reading, writing and math skills continue to be important, as does character. Being able to get along with others, having self-control and patience, being honest and trustworthy: these have always been traits teachers have hoped to instill in their students, and that remains true today.

Strong character is essential in the use of technology used for classroom learning. The Internet itself is a wide source of knowledge, as well as being the gateway to further content. As students attending traditional and online schools alike begin to use the Internet more and more for research, they need to learn how to utilize this tool in an ethical manner. Thus, teachers should inform students how to find credible websites when working on research projects as well as how to properly cite their sources in order to avoid plagiarism. Teaching students how to use the Internet responsibly early on will not only help students academically but also teach them to respect the work of others.

Good character is also imperative when using the Internet in a more social way. As students interact on the web, they are becoming digital citizens. Just as they must learn to adapt to their role as members of their school community, they must learn that, when they participate online, they are creating an identity representing themselves, and possibly their school.

The use of social networking has the potential to create problems, as students use sites like Facebook to connect and communicate. As a result, issues such as gossip and bullying are no longer left behind when the school day ends, since student communication continues online. Bullying, in particular, has reached new levels with the advent of cyberbullying. Luckily, there are several things students, parents and teachers can do to prevent this. A website created to help promote positive interaction on the Internet gives some excellent tips.

While there are potential problems in the use of technology, it is an excellent instructional tool for developing good character. Social interactions within the school, in the classroom, in the cafeteria and on the playground have always provided excellent teaching opportunities. The Internet simply provides another venue. Teachers can teach proper behavior and take opportunities to get involved and correct when needed. Finally, teachers can model good behavior by considering what they say online, and being cognizant that nothing is private on the Internet.

With the increase in the use of technology, a focus on the basics of good character must be maintained. Being able to interact well with others has always been crucial, but perhaps even more so now, as students are conversing with people across the world, and of many different backgrounds and races. As the world gets smaller, being able to participate in that world in a positive way is more than important than ever.

This post was written by guest contributor Lindsey Wright, a freelance writer who is fascinated with the potential of emerging educational technologies, particularly the online school, to transform the landscape of learning. She writes about web-based learning, electronic and mobile learning, and the possible future of education.

To learn more about educating students for digital citizenship, don’t miss the keynote panel at the upcoming National Forum on Character Education and the remarks of digital citizenship expert, Dr. Jason Ohler.

Most of us probably know that school gardens are a great teaching tool that can be used to enrich curriculum and improve physical health, but we believe in gardens as a way to grow character.  We see this everyday in our garden.

We see children sharing, working hard, and being kind. We watch kids grow responsibility as well as vegetables. We see kids engaged, excited, motivated, and proud of their school.  We watch as kids make connections between their school, their community, and the planet.

New research published by the Royal Horticulture Society (and who knows gardening better!) shows that as well as helping children lead happier, healthier lives, gardening “helps them acquire the essential skills they need to fulfill their potential in a rapidly-changing world and make a positive contribution to society as a whole.”

In fact, evidence suggests that gardening can play such a vital role that we believe every child should be given the chance to experience the benefits. So we will be sharing what we’ve learned along the way- how to start and maintain a school garden, how gardens create opportunities to embed character education principles, and what kids, teachers, and families have to say about gardening at the 18th National Forum on Character Education.

Our presentation “Where Gardens Grow Character”  on Friday, Oct. 21 at 2:15 will include opportunities to share your school garden stories and you’ll walk away with: a list of gardening resources we’ve found helpful; a bibliography of garden research; and a hand made memento from our beloved garden.

Please join us!  Because gardening in schools is a necessity.

Posted by Susi Jones, Tricia Elisara, Nancy Younce, Julian Elementary School, a 2010 National School of Character

Students set personal goals at the start of the year.

 A focus on the whole child and each child’s moral and social development pervades the program at Beauvoir the National Cathedral Elementary School, a 2011 National School of Character. The school invests a great deal of time and resources into the “social curriculum,” which is seen as being just as important as, and even part of, the academic curriculum.

All classes spend the first 6 weeks of the school year developing class norms according to the Responsive Classroom methodology. Part of this is the development of class constitutions, contracts, or promises.

Students also set specific personal goals called “hopes and dreams.” Both are posted and referred to regularly in each classroom. During daily morning meetings in each classroom, students greet each other, play a game together, share something of importance to one or more students, and read the morning message.

Even the youngest Beauvoir students start the year with learning the social curriculum in age-appropriate ways. When entering Pre-K, all students are given stuffed bears that they name, make clothes for, and then use for role playing throughout their first two years at Beauvoir. The bears are a tool to teach empathy teachers adapted from the book Bears, Bears, Everywhere by Luella Connelly.

Beauvoir is one of five cathedral schools located in the U.S. and one of three on the beautifully maintained grounds of the National Cathedral located in Washington, DC. Beauvoir is a private primary school, serving preschool aged children through third graders.

Beauvoir will be presenting at the 18th National Forum on Character Education in San Francisco, Oct. 19-22.

by Lara Maupin, Director SSOC/NSOC

Kristen Pelster, Principal at Ridgewood Middle School in Missouri

Joe Mazzola and I attended the Department of Education’s Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools annual conference this week. We were quite pleased to see the Department’s emphasis on how school climate can enhance the conditions for learning reflected in the selection of keynote speakers and workshops. Researchers and practitioners shared how improving school climate can improve academic achievement and reduce bullying.

We were especially thrilled that the Department asked dynamic principal Kristen Pelster of Ridgewood Middle School in Missouri to be the kickoff keynote speaker. Kristen told her school’s powerful story of transformation from the worst school in the district to National School of Character. How did they do it? Character education! By holding kids to high expectations and giving them the support they needed to meet those expectations, Ridgewood culture began to change. Over time, Kristen was able to empower her teachers and students. Without changing anything about how they taught academics, Ridgewood students improved academically. Of course, this is a story we know well at CEP. We see it repeated time and time again in our National Schools of Character. But it was gratifying to see over 1500 conference participants from around the country “get it” too.

Throughout the conference, we heard the message repeated:  Our kids deserve to be safe in school. Once they are safe, they can learn. We can do better. We know that our nation’s teachers are working hard for kids. They simply need our support – and they need tools which will enable them to build positive classroom cultures. Character education provides these tools, without adding “one more thing” or taking time away from academics. As researchers at the conference confirmed, we now know that when we focus on the social, emotional, and character development of students, we gain “time on task,” which results in academic improvement.

As Kristen said when she was asked how could she spend time on character, “How could I not?”

On a similar note, this year’s Promising Practices winners include schools like Gallup Hill Elementary in Ledyard Connecticut and South Grafton Elementary in South Grafton, Massachusetts whose P.E. teachers have helped to transform the recess period into constructive game time using character education and organized athletic activity. Their actions have greatly diminished playground shenanigans and bullying and encouraged cooperative play and teamwork.

All of these actions are the result of somebody seeing a need and doing something about it. Somebody took a few extra steps out there on the court, the field, and the playground and made a big difference.  We can’t measure how deeply these extra steps might impact a young kid somewhere.  These people might not ever know. 

So often, as teachers and mentors, we impact our students in tremendous ways that we don’t ever hear about; we hope that what we’re doing is making a difference somewhere to someone, and we keep on going.  Thurgood Marshall captured the sentiment so well when he wrote “None of us got where we are solely by pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps.  We got here because somebody – a parent, a teacher, an Ivy League crony or a few nuns – bent down and helped us pick up our boots.”

Kudos to these teachers and community individuals who have taken a few extra steps, bent down, and helped pull up some bootstraps.  What’s going on around your own playgrounds, playing fields, and sport courts this summer? Let us know.

Lesson Plans

Introducing Recycling: Introduce students to the concept of recycling and show them its importance through this reflective and easy-to-implement activity.

Developing Enrichment Toys for Zoo Animals: A more extensive activity that will take some planning and coordination, this plan outlines a science-based activity that has students research animals, their needs, and then design materials to be used in their habitats at the zoo, with the supervision of a zookeeper.

Waves of Life: A fun way to introduce frequency and wavelength properties in a science class while tying the concept to our experiences of emotions.

Promising Practices

Save the Bay: A great example of a school getting involved in an environmental issue of vital importance to their local community by aiming to help initiatives to revitalize the nearby Chesapeake Bay.

Schoolyard Habitats: By developing an outdoor habitat on school grounds, this school got the entire community involved and created a space that can be used for class studies throughout the years to come.

Litter Getters: Each afternoon, one class from this school takes just a few minutes to walk through the school and its yard to pick up trash, thereby keeping the grounds beautiful and getting the students invested in maintaining a clean environment.

Student Recycling Initiative: Started by students, this program aims to educate all students and get the school involved in recycling the correct materials. Now all students and staff participate in the daily collection.

Environmental Club: This student club meets weekly to discuss environmental issues. Each member researches a topic of interest and presents a Powerpoint on the subject, while guest speakers and fundraising activities get the whole school involved in efforts to impact the wider community.

Lil’ Scientists: A unique collaboration between 8th grade science students and local kindergarteners. The 8th graders research topics and come in to the kindergarten classrooms several times throughout the school year to lead a presentation on such age-appropriate lessons as hand-washing and recycling.

We hope these ideas might spark some thoughts for practices to implement within your own school. What Earth Day-related activities is your school already taking part in?

Students come to us in all shapes and sizes. They come in all abilities as well. It is an ongoing task charged to educators to find ways to challenge students at all levels of ability. Teachers at Orrs Elementary School work together to provide meaningful learning experiences at all level of mastery.

Lessons based on choice menus by interest or learning style is one way to challenge students. Another way to challenge students is to provide differentiated lessons to meet the needs of all learners. Teacher-led small groups in reading or math can provide challenging opportunities with teacher direction.

Character education focusing on self-discipline and self-motivation can lead to students working alone or collaboratively on ways in which to challenge themselves and thus taking ownership of their own learning.

Finding ways to challenge all students remains a top priority at Orrs Elementary. A series of character lessons have been applied this year across grade levels. Teachers collaborated on differentiated lessons with a character theme that includes skills across content areas.

Students have been empowered by choice during these lessons to incorporate expressions of understanding of both the content/skill base and the concepts of good character targeted by the lessons. Displays of student work emphasizing these positive character traits have lined the hall at Orrs throughout the school year.

Students are able to recognize many of the values learned in the work of their grade level peers and in students younger or older than they are. This series of lessons has given students a voice both individually and collaboratively about character issues.

High-stakes testing is a reality in schools these days. Testing success, however, is not the only goal at Orrs Elementary School. Teachers have consistently executed lessons that seek mastery over mere performance. Real world applications are stressed across grade levels.

Teachers work as teams to create lessons that will challenge students at all ages and levels and provide an understanding of the practical application of skills at the earliest age. Questions that are constantly asked of students include “how can I use this in real life?” And “what are the practical applications of this skill?”

Having such questions present at all phases of planning and implementation insures that students focus on the heart of the matter of education. For students and faculty at Orrs, that heart of the matter is the mastery of standards so that students are prepared for grades to come and eventually life.

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.

Students are encouraged to personally use and highlight others’ use of the school’s core values throughout the day. The core values are incorporated into academic lessons and deliberately used in classroom conversations. Students frequently work together in small groups or pairs. We know that learning is a social activity and this collaboration is essential in developing a caring learning community.

At other times, multiple classes are able to collaborate together. The school’s reading buddies program is a cross-age mentoring program that allows upper grade levels to work together with younger students.  Another way classes collaborate among each other is when they all work together as a team to keep the school’s Peace Flag flying.  On days when the flag flies, it serves as a tangible symbol of Lake Carolina’s caring community. On the other hand, when major discipline infractions occur the Peace Flag cannot fly. Administrators, teachers, and parents use the event as a learning experience to help students discover what better choices were available and which of the school’s core values should have been used to avoid the Flag not flying.

A caring school community not only involves teachers and students, but also parents and community members. Teachers at Lake Carolina view themselves as active, invested members of the greater school community. They attend students’ extracurricular activities such as sporting events and dance recitals in the community.  They also partner with parents to organize community events such as a family heritage night that embraces our school’s cultural diversity, family game nights, and service learning projects.  Community members also participate in these events and frequently serve as volunteers during the school day, mentoring and reading with students.

The faculty and staff’s efforts to build a strong school community result in students feeling comfortable enough to openly share with adults at school their concerns about academic struggles, conflicts with peers, or difficulties at home. In many ways, the greatest attribute of a School of Character is its caring community.

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.

So, having said all of this, if educators are serious about mitigating and eradicating bullying in schools, they will need to take a broad and strategic approach–one that focuses on the school’s entire culture. Beyond having a good strategic plan to guide the entire process, success requires committed leadership, hard work, collaboration with all stakeholders, tenacity and lots of patience. Remember, cultural change takes time, so think “crock pot,” not “microwave oven.”

As for the strategic plan, CEP can help. We offer an excellent resource for this very purpose–one that goes to the heart of school culture. It is free of charge online. I am referring to the 11 Principles of Effective Character Education. One school leader referred to them as a “GPS system” to guide one along the path of meaningful change. To learn more, or to download a copy, please go to http://www.character.org/elevenprinciples 

Following the 11 Principles will help curb violence at your school and drive other positive changes. We know this to be true from managing the National Schools of Character program for 13 years. It has given us a rich and extensive database of case studies that consistently show how violence and other problems decline as culture improves. At the same time, other important metrics also move in the right direction—including academic achievement. A safe, caring, supportive school culture doesn’t just solve problems. It also creates an environment where young people flourish in countless positive ways.

To make the point, let’s look at three schools that followed the 11 Principles of Effective Character Education and took a broad and strategic approach to creating healthy cultures. Each one drastically reduced violence and other problems. Beyond that, they also showed remarkable improvement in a host of other important areas.

Seckman High School in Imperial, MO, stresses team work, empathy and service. The assistant principal said the emphasis goes far deeper than “banners hanging from the cafeteria ceiling.” Over a 5-year period, out-of-school suspensions decreased 98%; in-school suspensions decreased 30%; fights decreased 65%; and drug-related incidents decreased 74%. Seckman was also named a Top 10 Performing School for Science; their graduation rate rose to 94%; and ACT scores hit an all-time high.

Waterloo Middle School in NY was once riddled with disciplinary and academic problems. A veteran staff member said it was “the black sheep of the district.” That is not true today. One teacher said the school “created a strong sense of family and built a culture of caring.” They emphasize respect and acceptance. Students pledge each day not to use their hands or words to hurt themselves or others. Over two years, serious offenses decreased 71% and other reportable offenses decreased 50%. Also, passing scores on the NY math assessment increased 49% and attendance climbed to 97%.

Julian Elementary School is located near San Diego. Their motto is “We can change the world with our own two hands.” Their culture includes service and respect. In a survey, 100% of parents said the school created a positive climate for learning. Last year, they achieved the highest Academic Performance Index rating in school history. Of note, it went up 45 points for socioeconomically disadvantaged students and 74 points for those with learning disabilities. As for problems, disciplinary actions for violence and bullying decreased by 71%.

The three schools showcased above are all different, yet they have several things in common. First, each one follows the 11 Principles of Effective Character Education. Second, they all created healthy, supportive, respectful cultures. Third, each school significantly mitigated major problems. And fourth, they all showed improvements in academics and other key areas.

The CEP database includes many other real-world case studies that show similarly striking results. But let’s look at a final school that is not in our database. Dunbar Senior High is in Washington, DC. It was founded in 1870 and has a long and rich history. However, like many other urban schools, it faces major challenges. Three years ago, the principal was fired and a private consulting firm took over. Even after the radical change in leadership, things failed to improve.

In December, the Washington Post reported on a Dunbar teacher who resigned because she was disgusted by the response to a cyberbullying incident. It was one of many cases of harassment and violence she claimed were tolerated or overlooked. The teacher said the consultants created “a culture of neglect, insecurity, zero accountability and poor communication.” She added “the culture, one of tolerance for sexual violence, was one she could no longer be part of.”

U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, talked about culture at the Summit. He said bullying goes to the very heart of school performance and culture. The Secretary views safety as a moral issue and said schools “should be cultivating a culture of trust and accountability.” CEP agrees with Secretary Duncan. We actually view culture as a two-way street. A good one solves problems and makes things better; a bad one exacerbates problems and makes things worse.

In conclusion, bullying is a daunting and frightening problem. If you want to take the issue on at your school and truly make a difference, you will have to take a strategic approach–one that focuses on the disease (unhealthy culture), not just the symptom.

When teachers seize teachable moments in their classrooms to build character, they’re doing much of the same but seemingly a bit more authentically since the integration isn’t in the shape of a formal lesson. Morning Meetings or Sensitivity Circles help to accomplish the same integration goal by creating a safe place to share and modeling listening and empathy to connect a classroom community.

This year our high school PALs formed Integrity Teams and taught character lessons; there was a great deal of engagement in the lessons delivered by their teenage role models! But were those lessons more powerful than when those same teens modeled good character by performing their traditional German Dances for us or leading us in a Red Ribbon pep rally? It probably depends upon the learner. 

Just as there are many different learning styles, so we have many, many ways to integrate character into our curriculum, all equally ‘value-able’ methods if they can empower our students with character strength.