presented by Matthew Davidson and Kyle Baker
Grade Level: MS + HS; Experience Level: Practicing Character Educators

This session shares research‐based strategies for creating a flexible system of support to intentionally shape the culture and competencies needed for enhanced teaching and learning. Participants will be given specific tools used by schools around the country for creating an intentional culture of safety and engagement, developing competencies for positive behavior, and developing competencies for deeper learning.

presented by Glenna Hess and Florence Chang
Grade Level: ES + MS; Experience Level: Practicing Character Educators

In 2008-2009, Jefferson County Public Schools (Louisville, KY) started the CARE for Kids program, a district-wide initiative to help students develop ethically, emotionally, socially, and intellectually. This session will elaborate on cooperative/collaborative learning structures and strategies and the impact they have on school culture/climate and student achievement. The session will present research findings from a multi-method four year evaluation of the program, including understanding the connection between increasing student voice and academic achievement. The session will include sample video clips, a sharing of project assessments/measures, and a discussion of transforming classrooms from teacher directed to classrooms in which teachers and students are active participants.

presented by Kristin Woodward and Amanda Cottrell
Grade Level: ES ; Experience Level: Novice Character Educators

Join us for a high energy, hands-on session that will launch inspirational ideas on how to weave quality character education into core academic lessons. Learn how to foster leadership skills through confidence-building community meetings, memorable literature that focuses on character trait awareness, and by incorporating pro-social language within all subject areas. Plus, discover how heartfelt songs, cheers, and poems can transform the climate and culture of your classroom into a positive place to learn, share, and grow academically and socially!

presented by Richard Benjamin, Betty Siegel, and Thomas Panter
Grade Level: ES + MS; Experience Level: Practicing Character Educators

This interactive session uses case studies drawn from our continuing search for “20 Schools On The Move.” This project aims to guide planning and implementation by teacher and student leaders desiring to leverage leadership of character and integrity toward the simultaneous development of character and academic goals.  Several initiatives will be presented and some will be ‘mined’ from session participants.

presented by Betty Caldwell
Grade Level: MS + HS; Experience Level: Practicing Character Educators

Learn the 12 Power Tools for working effectively with students with ADHD.  Based on neuroscience and classroom-proven, this presentation dispels the myth that ADHD is a result of a lack of moral character or discipline on the part of the sufferer.  This is an interactive, hands-on experience that is both stimulating and illuminating. You will leave knowing how to maximize the strengths of the ADHD brain for greater character development and academic achievement.

presented by Lucy Frontera
Grade Level: MS + HS; Experience Level: Novice and Practicing Character Educators

Getting to know your students, building empathy and self-reflection are all benefits of the Laws of Life Essay Contest, which asks students to reflect and write about what is important in life. Learn how the contest gives an authentic purpose for writing, meets Common Core standards, and can improve classroom climate.

presented by David Wangaard
Grade Level: MS + HS; Experience Level: Practicing and Advanced Character Educators

Join us for activities that highlight strategies to advance integrity in secondary schools and provide students an excellent opportunity to develop ethical/moral awareness, judgment, commitment and behavior in support of integrity.  A model secondary-school implementation program will be described with resources and activities to encourage the school culture to support academic integrity and resist the epidemic of cheating.

presented by Peg Arnold, Charlottle Boucher, Barbara Martin, Janet Beaudoin, and Jennifer Evans
Grade Level: ES + MS + HS; Experience Level: Practicing Character Educators

This session describes the collaboration among elementary, middle and high school staff, students and parents to prevent bullying and promote civility in our community. The project has grown to include common vocabulary, joint activities, community-wide programs and student – to – student mentoring based on core values of Purpose, Respect, Integrity, Dedication and Effort. The presentation will walk participants through a model for developing a multi-level character program based on positive values and student leadership.

presented by Rita Thorson and Mark Chapin
Grade Level: ES + MS; Experience Level: Novice and Practicing Character Educators

Reduce bullying and empower your students with the Wildcat Way. This session will share how to use DPI-suggested materials along with teacher created, schoolwide programs to get students involved in addressing bullies in your school and stepping up as leaders. Students take a leadership role in our bully-prevention program and take ownership of the school.

presented by Sara Stankus, Catherine McCauley, and Gabrielle Rhodes
Grade Level: ES; Experience Level: All

A high performing learning culture involves high expectations and standards for teachers, students and all stakeholders.  School culture can be shaped and changed based on core beliefs and shared leadership.  In order to increase student achievement, attendance, and moral development, certain structures must be in place.  These can include empathy building cognitions; shared leadership, service learning, and a positive discipline approach encompassed in a strong foundation of character education.

presented by Dave Gamache
Grade Level: ES + MS + HS; Experience Level: All

Rachel’s Challenge is the largest school assembly program in the nation with programs ranging from K-12, college and into the corporate world. It is based on the life of Rachel Scott who was killed at Columbine High School. Her acts of kindness and compassion, coupled with the contents of her six diaries, have become the foundation for this powerful program that encourages each person to start a chain reaction of kindness.

presented by Kalyn Mace-Guilloux, Helen Stiff-Williams, and Sheila Hill-Russ
Grade Level: MS + HS; Experience Level: Practicing Character Educators

This session will focus on reducing bullying behaviors of students in the digital age. With the increase of technology, there is a new platform for bullying, which can have deadly or life-long consequences. Effective tools will be shared with participants to teach empathy and bullying prevention in middle and high school. School bullying policies will also be addressed with suggestions for improvement based on participant’s examples.

presented by Brian Lockrey and Rebecca Thrush
Grade Level: MS + HS; Experience Level: Practicing Character Educators

Cyberbullying has exploded into a significant source of distress among students, families and educators.  Learn from a computer forensics and Internet security expert the best practices in documenting and reporting cyberbullying to electronic media providers and local law enforcement.  Further, a school psychologist and school counselor will present skills educators may teach that eliminate cyberbullying and simultaneously increase students’ optimism and resilience.  Uniquely based in principles of positive psychology, techniques include Sunnyside Thinking, What’s Strong with You and more.

presented by Michele Borba
Grade Level: ES + MS + HS; Experience Level: All

There is no silver bullet for bullying prevention. Instead, effective bully-proofing involves systemic, proactive changes throughout your school. Participants in this session will engage with Dr. Borba’s six Rs of bullying prevention—the most effective and proven ways to reduce bullying including help for the bullied, the bully and the bystander. Best yet, these are things that can be implemented on Monday morning without spending a cent.  At a time when the nation’s bullying problem only seems to be getting worse, these six steps have never been more important. This session is also suitable for individuals or a school team who will leave with a plan to implement back in their school site.

presented by Jonathan Cohen
Grade Level: All; Experience Level: All

Cruel, mean and/or bullying behaviors are a national health crisis. A six step, research-based Breaking the Bully-Victim-Bystander Cycle program will be introduced, which includes coordinated schoolwide; assessment; small group (classrooms, morning meetings, advisory); educator-mental health-parent partnerships; and school-home-community goals and implementation steps. This work is aligned with CEP’s 11 Principles of Character Education. Participants will learn about the (free) Upstander Alliance Tool Kit: A set of text and web-based guidelines and tools that support students leading the efforts to transform school communities from a culture of bystanders to a culture of Upstanders or socially responsible students and adults.

presented by Matt Langdon
Grade Level: ES + MS; Experience Level: Novice and Practicing Character Educators

By concentrating on building a positive school environment, the need for antibully programs is removed. An ideal way to build that environment is to foster heroism by providing concrete and achievable methods. Teaching heroism avoids the problems inherent in implementing antibully programs: a vague definition, a misunderstood problem, the creation of a long-lasting label, and a negative focus. Join us to learn how to create heroes in your school.

presented by Karen Morse
Grade Level: ES + MS; Experience Level: Practicing Character Educators

Teachers who respect the unique individual qualities of each student and who themselves understand the atypical needs of gifted and highly gifted individuals prone to increased sensitivities, perfectionism, intensity, and introversion will better create safe learning environments where confidence and healthy leadership with integrity emerges.

presented by James Pirkle
Grade Level: All; Experience Level: All

The Validation Program gives students, as well as educators and school personnel, realistic opportunities to engage and connect with each other through a supportive and affirming reinforcement process. Students, teachers and administrators are inherently engaged, connected, and responsible for identifying the positive and true attributes of one another. Leadership qualities manifest themselves for everyone. Learn how to “wake people up” to the key virtues essential to creating harmony, good will, and respect among one another.

presented by Hal Urban
Grade Level: All; Experience Level: All

This presentation is based on Halʼs recent book of the same title, and both are upbeat, lively, funny, and practical! The focus is on creating a “Caring Community” on the campus and in the classroom. Itʼs about helping kids develop solid character traits while maintaining high academic standards. Itʼs about bringing out the best: positive attitude, good manners, kind words, hard work, clean humor, and honesty. Urban, the author of the best-selling Life’s Greatest Lessons and an award-winning public school teacher for 35 years, will share with us his simple, practical, and do-able strategies for helping teachers become their best and for bringing out the best in their students.

presented by Vijay Manuel and Rob Comeau
Grade Level: HS; Experience Level: Novice and Practicing Character Educators

WJ Mouat Secondary School is one of Canada’s Top 10 high schools and boasts 1500 students and over 100 staff. Staff began formally pursuing a Character Education Initiative in the spring of 2010 with research and development taking place in the coming school year. A committed group of staff led the charge and had worked to introduce the concept, bring in speakers, and establish the school’s common language of good character. In the fall of 2011, students took over leadership of the initiative with the establishment of Mouat’s Character Council. Learn how to start your own Character Initiative and the various steps involved. Learn also how to take the initiative into the broader community! Mouat staff have been involved in helping to establish Abbotsford as a City of Character (abbycharacter.com), a movement which has grown at the same time as the one at Mouat.

presented by Janalee Jordan-Meldrum, Evelyn Fernandez, Laurie Dodson, and Rosa Berrocal
Grade Level: ES; Experience Level: Practicing and Advanced

Reevaluating your approach to character education? Looking for ways to deepen your impact? Join us for this participatory session featuring members of our character education leadership team—a parent, a teacher, a counselor, and an administrator—who will discuss lessons learned from a look back at 12 years of character education at Key School‐Escuela Key, a large preK‐5 two‐way Spanish‐English immersion school in Arlington, VA. Gain success strategies and strengthen shared leadership at your school.

presented by Mark Epstein and Marilyn Hinton
(More details to come)

presented by Evan Goldberg, Karen Korematsu, and Anthony Chavez
Grade Level: MS + HS; Experience Level: Practicing Character Educators

How can teachers use the stories of civil rights champions to build character in youth?  Cesar Chavez’s grandson Anthony Chavez and Fred Korematsu’s daughter Karen Korematsu will share the core values and personal stories of Cesar Chavez, who fought for farm worker’s rights, and Fred Korematsu, who fought against the Internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.  Free curriculum will be shared so educators can take these lessons back to their classrooms.

presented by Libby Hoffman and Betsy Neiva
Grade Level: MS + HS; Experience Level: All

Near the end of a turbulent year, the sixth-grade class at The Philadelphia School (TPS) discovered the power of truth-telling, apology, and forgiveness after a visit from Libby Hoffman, the co-founder of Fambul Tok, an organization currently reviving a centuries-old tradition of community reconciliation in war-torn Sierra Leone.   Inspired by what they learned, the students conducted their own fambul tok, and the result was so profound and transformative that Libby returned to capture their story on film.  During the session, students from TPS will share their story, show the resulting film, Middle Schoolers “Walk the Tok,” and describe how students at other schools can use the same techniques to create more compassionate and cohesive classroom communities.

presented by Sue Kidd, Cindy Patton, and Ed Dunkelblau
Grade Level: All; Experience Level: Practicing and Advanced Character Educators

In Kansas, we developed SECD standards for our children so that they are prepared for success in the world and don’t just pass “the test”.
We believe:
• Effective social, emotional and character development skills support academic achievement in students and constructive engagement by staff, families and communities.
• Students act in respectful and responsible ways when they have learned and practiced a range of SECD skills where adults are caring role models.
• Bullying/Harassment Prevention and safe school initiatives are most sustainable when embedded systemically in a whole school Social, Emotional, and Character Development (SECD) program.

In this session, we will demonstrate the need for combined Social, Emotional and Character Development Standards; explain Kansas’s plan/process and timeline and the nuts and bolts necessary for development and implementation and evaluation; discuss the impacts that we are seeing in KS and nationally; and help participants translate the work done in Kansas to their own sites.

presented by Ron Axelrod and Diane Pechstein
Grade Level: MS; Experience Level: All

Introducing sixth graders to ethical decision-making has been a primary program goal for the Safe Community Coalition, a group that brings together parents, educators, community members and students.  Students are presented with a model for ethical decision-making (the PROUD model) and participate in sessions on defining a person of integrity and working through a number of ethical dilemmas. The program challenges students to consider what it means to live an ethical life and how their behaviors contribute to the formation of an ethical community.

presented by Eileen Dachnowicz, William Trusheim, and Nina Kemps
Grade Level: ES + MS; Experience Level: Practicing Character Educators

Eager to learn new strategies for improving school culture or developing student leadership through service learning?  New Jersey, calling on the expertise of their NJSOC and NSOC educators, set up three Regional Networking Centers so that educators could have easy access to exemplary schools, learn effective strategies, experience coaching by schools with recognized success, utilize technology to share ideas, and use assessments to shape plans. Step-by-step, the presenters will take you through the process so that you can replicate a similar design in your own state.

presented by Robin Moten
Grade Level: HS; Experience Level: Novice and Practicing Character Educators

This session will highlight the journey of creating Birmingham Seaholm’s Leadership Seminar class. The class was developed six years ago with the intent of empowering students to create meaningful change within our school. We will be discussing how to develop leaders (and not leadership traits), how to create opportunities for character growth within a school and community setting, curriculum ideas and pedagogical structures.

presented by Dick Pieper
Grade Level: All; Experience Level: Practicing and Advanced Character Educators

We will provide an update on the state program that is prospering using multiple existing agencies and organizations. We will discuss how we train school leadership, develop skills of teachers, and create Promising Practices, State Schools and National Schools of Character while connecting it all with our Servant Leadership efforts in the state where institutions in cities are moving in a virtuous direction. See www.wicharacter.org

presented by Michael Rosebush and students
Grade Level: HS + Post-Sec; Experience Level: Practicing Character Educators

“Character Coaching” involves an adult “Character Coach” meeting one-on-one with a student to intentionally practice behaviors that strengthen one’s virtue – as determined by the student’s desire to develop as a leader of character.  This method has proved to be very successful at the U.S. Air Force Academy (USAFA) in 1) increasing the student’s competence & confidence in a targeted virtue; 2) increasing the student’s ethical reasoning capability; and 3) reducing behavioral misconduct.  Several educators from diverse settings have received Character Coaching from Dr. Mike Rosebush, and they will share their experiences and insights into how to implement Character Coaching in schools.

presented by Clifton Taulbert
Grade Level: All; Experience Level: Practicing Character Educators

In this session, Clifton Taulbert will engage participants in conversation and activities around the critical role of leadership behavior to ensure a successful teaching and learning culture. According to Taulbert, productive followership is not guaranteed. Teachers and students must be given a reason to commit and follow through. What others see being done becomes the catalyst that in part determines their response; thus the need to SLOW DOWN and be mindful that as leaders, you are being watched.

presented by Jon Terry
Grade Level: All; Experience Level: All

Character education efforts extend far beyond our nation’s schools. This session will bring you up to date on what’s happening at the national level to move character education forward. An overview of current policy issues related to character education, including current and pending legislation and opportunities for the greatest impact in this realm, will be provided. Participants will also discuss and learn more about CEP’s leadership role as an advocate for character education, as well as what they can do toward the same end.

presented by Janet Vinciguerra
Grade Level: ES + MS; Experience Level: Practicing Character Educators

What’s the difference between normal conflict and bully behavior? Students will observe the DIRTY DOZEN things that DON’T work and they’ll have the opportunity to role play the DOZEN that DO and result in WIN-WIN solutions. The 3-D visuals within the toolbox help students to recall and use their new skills.  Guided activities will assist your students to create a caring community.

presented by Jon Marshall and Sarah Caldwell
Grade Level: ES + MS + HS; Experience Level: Advanced Character Educators

High achieving schools have healthy, caring environments that are devoid of bullying.  For clarity, school environment can be separated into two categories: (1) School Climate – “the affect of the school” and (2) School Culture – “the way things are done in the school.”  Both must be assessed for effective planning.  Participants in this session will interact with web-based parent, staff and student culture/climate surveys and step through a school report used in The CHARACTERplus Way® for effective planning.

presented by Kym Acuna
Grade Level: MS + HS; Experience Level: Advanced Character Educators

How can a school help their teachers to implement service learning? To answer this question it’s important to first understand their knowledge about, ownership of and goals for the service learning initiative. This session will present findings from a doctoral dissertation that looked at teachers’ and administrators’ experiences in implementing service learning. These findings are useful for school leadership in program planning and individual teachers for self-reflective practice.

presented by Kyle Baker
Grade Level: MS + HS; Experience Level: Practicing Character Educators

Leadership doesn’t happen by accident. Only through implementation of leadership development practices that can be conveniently integrated into all areas of the school culture can each student, educator, and member of the school community be empowered to develop their unique capacity for leadership. In this session, participants will receive tools and strategies that have been implemented in more than 50 schools across the country resulting in increased academic achievement, decreased disciplinary referrals, and enhanced student and teacher engagement.

presented by Kathy Beland
Grade Level: MS + HS; Experience Level: All

How we interpret events and others’ intentions strongly influences our behavior and character.  Adolescents can be especially susceptible to misinterpretations, attributional biases, and damaging self-theories. This session explores how to help secondary students understand the power of thought on emotions and behaviors, and how to use this awareness to build character strengths, develop a growth mindset, and engage in learning.  We will utilize think-pair-shares, a self-assessment tool, a simulation, and discussion to explore this theme.

presented by Madonna Murphy
Grade Level: Post-Sec; Experience Level: Novice Character Educators

This session will document how the University of St. Francis implemented the seven components of effective character education to become an institution of character and realize its mission to develop leadership and integrity in all is students, both undergraduate and graduate. It will also demonstrate how the College of Education prepares teacher candidates to be persons of character and to be teachers of character by integrating ethical and moral development throughout the teacher preparation curriculum.

presented by Darcia Narvaez
Grade Level: All; Experience Level: All

Learn five basic steps for Integrative Ethical Education for teaching any age level. Learn about your students’ potential for different moral mindsets, rooted in different states of the brain. Which do you foster by your classroom practices? A Safety Mindset keeps a student vigilant and self-centered and can lead to a Vicious Mindset. An Engagement Mindset fosters relationships and can lead to a Communal Mindset. Find out how to foster the mindsets that are linked to virtuous behavior.

presented by Stephanie Itle-Clark and Lisa Forzley
Grade Level: ES + MS; Experience Level: Novice Character Educators

Stories have been used since ancient times to entertain, awaken the imagination, and impart moral and community virtue. In this fascinating workshop, participants learn how and why stories work their magic and how humane and animal-themed literature can inspire students to “try on” new character traits. This proactive approach to building character will allow attendees to go home with the skills and materials needed to create memorable humane-themed activities that will educate, captivate, and inspire.

presented by Tamra Nast and Pauline Roberts
Grade Level: ES + MS + HS; Experience Level: All

Using local and global examples from Birmingham Public Schools in Birmingham, MI, attendees will see one model of integrating Service Learning into the curriculum.  The use of technology, practical steps, “take aways”, and discussion with other schools will drive the learning in this session, engaging us all to motivate our students to become leaders of integrity.

presented by Cathy Berger Kaye
Grade Level: All; Experience Level: All

Essential to character development and engagement is the concept of youth voice and choice. Yet, our schools all too often lack the essential ingredient of trust that encourages and allows for many aspects of youth initiative and authentic participation. If we trust our students more, what could possibly happen? Let’s embark on a thoughtful exchange to uncover and discover how trust may make all the difference in a school culture. We will examine the connection between trust and creativity. We will see the enactment of trust in schools around the world. By uncovering the Five Steps to Trust, we can truly transform learning into action. What may we discover? Welcome (and even joyful) consequences.

presented by Jenni Newbury
Grade Level: MS + HS; Experience Level: All

The FREE Get Into It lessons and resources challenge both students and educators to be agents of change in their schools and communities. Learn more about the service-learning-based lessons, online interactive games, Active components (for after-school programs, recess, or P.E.) and our “Movies that Move” DVD. Explore how these elements fit into Special Olympics Project UNIFY – a national effort to empower youth leaders to build schools of acceptance and respect. Free materials will be distributed.

presented by Marilyn Perlyn
Grade Level: ES + MS; Experience Level: All

Chosen by the Broward Education Foundation as a “new teaching idea of excellence,” OCHO can be implemented by an individual class, grade level, or entire school. OCHO has a three-fold focus on character development, literacy, and service-learning. Learn step by step how to implement this heart stretching project in a really big way! Students improve reading skills, create a free book fair, connect eighteen character traits to their own lives, and become leaders who can bring about change.

presented by Zoe Weil
Grade Level: MS + HS; Experience Level: All

What does it mean to be kind within a globalized economy, in relation to agricultural, energy, production and other systems? The most ostensibly kind teenager may be complicit in exploitation and suffering as well as environmental degradation when she eats in the cafeteria or buys a new electronic device. But how would she know? Fostering good character in a globalized world necessitates an education that extends the best qualities we seek to foster beyond the classroom walls.

presented by Pam Hardy and Jennifer Burns
Grade Level: MS + HS; Experience Level: Practicing Character Educators

Hyde Schools is the national leader in family-based character education.  The belief that parents are the primary teachers and the home is the primary classroom has guided the development of a workshop for parents and educators called The Biggest Job We’ll Ever Have.  Based on the 10 Priorities of Parenting and Teaching Excellence, educators will learn how to connect with parents and begin to form the partnerships that are so fragile between schools and homes today.

presented by Philip Brown, Michael Corrigan, Phil Vincent, Jonathan Cohen, Linda McKay, Molly McCloskey, Doug Grove, and Allan Cohen
Grade Level: All; Experience Level: Advanced Character Educators

Prosocial Education represents the programs, school reform processes and adult and student skills that support the development of children into mature, caring, and ethical citizens. This panel of researcher and practice leaders will discuss the promise and issues associated with this project to weave together the myriad threads, from character education and social-emotional learning to school climate improvement, that form the prosocial education tapestry. Can we gain greater voice and navigate more surely against the tide of current educational policy by sailing together on the same ship?

presented by Ed Dunkelblau and Maurice Elias
Grade Level: All; Experience Level: Practicing and Advanced Character Educators

Evaluating efforts to promote the character and social and emotional development of children and prevent problem behaviors is both a practical and ethical imperative and a pragmatic challenge. This session is an open discussion and problem-solving session to address your evaluation concerns, including the essential area of “consumer satisfaction.” It will be led by two experienced implementers and evaluators of character and social-emotional programs and school and district-wide change efforts. The emphasis will be on what works and how to do it in the spirit of continuous improvement.

presented by Lara Maupin and Barbara Luther
Grade Level: ES + MS + HS; Experience Level: Novice and Practicing Character Educators

This introduction to CEP’s school improvement process will help you get the most out of the Forum and identify the next steps in your character education journey. Two CEP directors will explain the terms you’ll hear throughout the event—such as National School of Character (NSOC), State School of Character (SSOC), Promising Practices, and the 11 Principles of Effective Character Education—and how these programs can help you improve your school. Whether you’re new to character education or interested in taking your character education initiative to the next level, you’ll leave this session with a clear idea of how CEP’s framework has transformed hundreds of schools into schools of character.

presented by Pam Goldberg and Brianna Marshall
Grade Level: ES + MS; Experience Level: All

Children need skills, resources and protective factors to deal with social and emotional challenges and keep them safe. A child may have good character, but
may not understand feelings or know how to deal with peer relationships. Suicide, the 3rd leading cause of death in children 10-14 years of age must be stopped. This thought-provoking presentation will demonstrate why social and emotional learning must begin in elementary school to prepare children for the inevitable drama that is part of life.

presented by John Bluthardt and Linda McKay
Grade Level: ES + MS; Experience Level: All

During a time of funding cut backs, this information-packed presentation and discussion will introduce federal, state, and foundation grants that support character education and social and emotional learning. We will discuss funder profiles and guidelines, including newly emerging funders; demonstrate how to position your program and write an effective proposal; and share success stories. Attendees will walk away with new ideas and resources, including a list of funders. Come ready to discuss your experiences and ask questions!

presented by Scott Simpson, Jim Parry, Sarah Caldwell, and Jon Marshall
Grade Level: All; Experience Level: All

Student motivation is crucial to long-term, continuous success.  Movement away from rewards and punishment and toward authentic individual focus is essential.  Participants will examine the research supporting intrinsic motivation, challenges in moving from the traditional extrinsic to the more effective intrinsic motivational process and support strategies for implementing intrinsic motivation practices.  Clips from a new professionally developed video supporting character development will be integrated into the discussion.

presented by Philip Brown and William Trusheim
Grade Level: All; Experience Level: Advanced Character Educators

Character education, social emotional learning and professional learning communities are each important strategies for student development and school improvement. All three share an interest in making relationships more caring and effective in the service of better outcomes for students. All of these approaches can have greater impact if they take a more ecological, systems approach, which includes distributed leadership. A pilot project in ten New Jersey Schools, involving five New Jersey Schools of Character, will be discussed, and results and exercises will be shared.

presented by Roumen Bezergianov
Grade Level: MS + HS; Experience Level: Practicing Character Educators

This session will present how chess can be used as a tool for character education.  I am presenting the psychological and philosophical symbolism of the ancient game and its pieces, drawing from Logotherapy ideas of Viktor Frankl and the works of Rumi, Joseph Campbell, Gandhi, Maya Angelou and others, from which springs story-telling and conversations that help young people clarify their values and build motivation for a meaningful life.

presented by Patrick Case
Grade Level: MS; Experience Level: Novice and Practicing Character Educators

Too often character education programs start out new and exciting but quickly fade from the forefront to the forgotten part of school function.  This session describes the Character Education program employed by Canandaigua (NY) Middle School, including efforts to keep the focus of character development in the limelight for every student and staff member.  The session includes processes for program development, entreating participation from students, teachers, parents, and the surrounding community, and infusing character education into standard curricula across academic disciplines.

presented by Xiaojun Li
Grade Level: HS; Experience Level: Practicing

Service-learning is one of the most effective methods to build students’ character, providing young people with the opportunity to act on and affirm the values they learn in school. This presentation will share enlightening service learning methods, such as social practice and some student-led initiatives, designed to promote leadership and character education in one of the best high schools in China.

presented by Beatriz Martinez Kinnison
Grade Level: ES + MS + HS; Experience Level: Novice Character Educators

This session will provide practical strategies for educators to use with parents to engage them in partnerships with the school to build their children’s character, compassion, and integrity. Participants will learn ways to involve parents of children from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds through simulations and role play. Strategies from leading character education specialists and researchers will inform the presentation and a packet of parent engagement resource materials will be distributed.

presented by Anne O’Mara
Grade Level: ES; Experience Level: Novice and Practicing Character Educators

When character education and literacy are linked in schools, students establish their voices and express themselves as they read, write, and speak in a safe classroom and school community. Learn about six character education themes -Identity Awareness; Perspective Taking; Conflict Resolution; Family, Friends and Community; Social Awareness; and Democracy-and how to link them to culturally responsive literature to provide students with support to become productive members of their classroom, family, and community.

presented by Michael Popkin
Grade Level: ES + MS; Experience Level: Practicing Character Educators

The fastest way to supercharge your character education program is to involve parents, and the most effective way to involve parents is through a quality parent education program.  This presentation will combine brief video vignettes, experiential activity, graphics, and lecture to demonstrate how develop a winning parenting program.  Special emphasis will be given to how parents are being taught a variety of skills from discipline to encouragement for the purpose of developing qualities of character (including responsibility, courage, cooperation, and respect) to help build the leaders of the future.

presented by Ralph Singh
Grade Level: ES + MS; Experience Level: Practicing Character Educators

Ralph Singh of the Wisdom Thinkers Network will present his story project in a discussion on the role of wisdom stories to nurture spiritual growth in our children, from where integrity is reinforced and a culture of positive leadership is created. The session will also introduce web-based state of the art anti-bullying and social skills modules that are easily implemented in any tech oriented class room.