FOR CHARACTER
creating schools and communities of character
                                                                                                                           March/April, 2007
An electronic newsletter to help make sure character counts!
                                                                                                                                                        Gary Smit

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CHARACTER COUNTS! and the Six Pillars of Character are service marks of the CHARACTER COUNTS! Coalition, a project of the Josephson Institute of Ethics.  For more information about training opportunities and resources available to assist schools and communities in the integration of a character education initiative, check out their web site at: www.charactercounts.org or call them at 1-800-711-2670.

IN THIS ISSUE…
Character Education - Our Shared Responsibility
Coming to Grips With Harassment and Bullying
Information You Can Use
Character Education in the News
Civic Mission of Schools Needs to be Revitalized
Activity Corner
Commentary by Michael Josephson

TAKE A MINUTE FOR CHARACTER
Who Packs Your Parachute?

Charles Plumb, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate, was a jet fighter pilot in Vietnam. After 75 combat missions, his plane was destroyed by a surface-to-air missile. Plumb ejected and parachuted into enemy hands. He was captured and spent six years in a Communist prison. He survived that ordeal and now lectures about lessons learned from that experience.

One day, when Plumb and his wife were sitting in a restaurant, a man at another table came up and said, "You're Plumb! You flew jet fighters in Vietnam from the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. You were shot down!" "How in the world did you know that?" asked Plumb. "I packed your parachute," the man replied. Plumb gasped in surprise and gratitude. The man pumped his hand and said, "I guess it worked!" Plumb assured him, "It sure did--if your chute hadn't worked, I wouldn't be here today."
 
Plumb couldn't sleep that night, thinking about that man. Plumb says, "I kept wondering what he might have looked like in a Navy uniform, a Dixie cup hat, a bib in the back, and bell bottom trousers. I wondered how many times I might have passed him on the Kitty Hawk. I wondered how many times I might have seen him and not even said 'Good morning, how are you,' or anything because, you see, I was a fighter pilot and he was just a sailor."

Plumb thought of the many hours the sailor had spent on a long wooden table in the bowels of the ship carefully weaving the shrouds and folding the silks of each chute, holding in his hands each time the fate of someone he didn't know.

Now, Plumb asks his audience, "Who's packing your parachute? Everyone has someone who provides what they need to make it through the day."

Plumb also points out that he needed many kinds of parachutes when his plane was shot down over enemy territory. He needed his physical parachute, his mental parachute, his emotional parachute, and his spiritual parachute. He called on all these supports before reaching safety. His experience reminds us all to prepare ourselves to weather whatever storms lie ahead.

Besides being a military story, there is a connection to character education. I am convinced that one of the most important ways to create classrooms of character rests with a teacher striving to build relationships with students. Making the difference in connecting with students, particularly at the high school, allows for teachers to model core values. Remember, it was Henry Adams who said “teachers affect all eternity... you just don’t know where their influence stops."

Gary Smit
gsmit@forcharacter.com

For back issues of the Newsletter, check the  For Character Web Site.  Also, there are only a limited number of dates available for opening year in-service sessions. For more information about how your school can have an in-service that provides practical implementation strategies for integrating character education into the life of a school, please send an e-mail or call me at 630-426-0334.

CHARACTER EDUCATION - OUR SHARED RESPONSIBILITY

The U.S. Department of Education has recently updated a brochure entitled Character Education ... Our Shared Responsibility. The brochure was developed to inform parents, educators and the community about the Department's support, resources and involvement in character education. It is available in English and Spanish. You may want to order additional copies to share with your community and in your summer training programs or at your back-to school events. As noted by Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, "Education at its best should expand the mind and build character."  You may request up to 1,000 copies of this pocket-sized brochure. Additional copies of the brochure can be ordered by calling the U.S. Department of Education's Publications Center (ED Pubs) toll-free at (877) 4-ED-PUBS or (877) 433-7827; TTY/TDD: (877) 576-7734. Also, you may fax your request to: (301) 470-1244; order online at: www.edpubs.org; or request a copy in writing at: ED Pubs, Education Publications Center, U.S. Department of Education, P.O. Box 1398, Jessup, MD 20794-1398.

COMING TO GRIPS WITH HARASSMENT & BULLYING

The law is clear about a school district’s obligation to prevent harassment of students and take action when it occurs, and now parents and advocacy groups are delivering a loud message to school officials and other policymakers that children should not have to endure ugly bullying at school as an inevitable rite of passage. They point out that students who are picked on are more likely to have trouble staying focused on learning. School boards and school boards associations have gotten the message and have been busily tweaking codes of student conduct, adopting or revising board policies, and approving new initiatives. Bullying has become a hot topic for the politicians, too, and many states have at least considered new legislation or other state action. This edition of the National School Boards Association’s "Leadership Insider" newsletter compiles viewpoints and resources about how school districts can address these problems. Articles include an overview of the legal considerations, a review of court decisions relevant to cyber-bullying, a warning about pitfalls in the anti-bullying push, profiles of anti-harassment and anti-bullying efforts in several states and communities, and a success story about how one school board set up a process to resolve a controversy over whether sexual orientation should be specified as a protected category in its anti-harassment policy. http://www.nsba.org/site/docs/39100/39055.pdf

INFORMATION YOU CAN USE

• PLAYGROUND HEROES: HOW CAN WE TEACH KIDS TO STICK UP FOR PEERS WHO ARE BULLIED? - In "Playground Heroes" in the latest issue of Greater Good magazine, researchers Ken Rigby and Bruce Johnson make clear that research has not only documented the great prevalence of bullying at schools; it's also shown that quite often, children serve as passive bystanders to bullying. They neither join in the bullying nor try to stop it, but just watch it from the sidelines. Yet when these observers do intervene, more often than not they're successful in stopping the bullying. So why don't they intervene -- and perhaps more importantly, how can parents and teachers effectively encourage them to intervene when it's appropriate for them to do so? Drawing on the results from a six-country study that they ran, called the International Bystander Project, Rigby and Johnson offer concrete strategies for helping children act on their best intentions.  http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/greatergood/current_issue/rigbyjohnson.html

• TEENAGE BRAIN RESEARCH - I don’t know if there is a more challenging age group to teach than the middle school student. I know when I conduct in-service training for middle school teachers, it is common to hear that sometimes kids at that age lack a clear understanding of what would be a good choice. They often know the right thing to do but somehow lack the discipline to make a good choice. Teachers will also state there can be “brain melt-down” evident in the behavior of middle school students. There is an interesting article about research associated with the teenage brain that may give credence to what many teachers have been saying. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/teenbrain/

• GRANT OPPORTUNITY FOR SCHOOLS: - The NEA's Teaching Tolerance project of the Southern Poverty Law Center offers grants of $500 to $2500 to preK-12 classroom teachers for projects designed to reduce prejudice among youth, improve inter-group relations in schools, and/or support educator professional development in these areas. Visit http://www.nea.org/grants/tolerance0411.html for more information.

• ANTI-BULLYING LEGISLATION HEADS TO GOVERNOR'S DESK   - Bullying -- including harassment through e-mails and text messages -- will soon be outlawed in all public schools and accredited private schools in the State of Iowa.  Recently, the House voted 56-42 for final passage of an anti-bullying bill.  "People look to us for leadership, whether it's civil rights issues, whether it's gay and lesbian issues, you name it. We are the ones who set the agenda and help change the culture," said Rep. Mary Mascher, a Democrat from Iowa City. "It's our job as leaders to set the way."  Gov. Chet Culver is expected to sign the bill into law. After that, schools will be required, by Sept. 1, to have procedures for reporting an act of harassment or bullying; to have procedures for collecting harassment and bullying incidence data; and to determine sanctions that can be enforced after confirmed incidents.

CHARACTER EDUCATION IN THE NEWS

Check out this article regarding Character Education by Charles C. Haynes and Marvin W. Berkowitz in Tuesday's USA TODAY (and responses). http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2007/02/post_48.html
Also, this column in the Minneapolis St. Paul Star Tribune connects Character Education with academic achievement at KIPPS. http://www.startribune.com/191/story/1017275.html

CIVIC MISSION OF SCHOOLS NEEDS TO BE REVITALIZED

American democracy is at risk because civic education has been downplayed amid a decade’s-long push for more testing and accountability in reading, math, and science, according to a new study released by the National Association of State Boards of Education. Schools need to re-emphasize citizenship as a fundamental mission of public education, the study concludes, and state boards of education must promote civic learning to prepare students for their responsibilities as engaged citizens. The lack of civic instruction among students has resulted in lackluster levels of awareness about the basic functions of domestic government and a dangerous ignorance about international affairs that could have profound implications for the nation in today’s global society, concludes the report. "Promoting civic engagement in our schools and among our students is fundamental to preserving our traditional American values of self-government and our leadership among nations. It is that personal connection to an individual’s community that creates, nourishes, and renews the soul of civil society," said James Carnigan, chairman of the report committee and chairman of the Maine State Board of Education. The report recommends that state boards of education transform the culture of schools and re-emphasize civic education in the standards-based reform movement. The topics of government, history, law, and democracy need to be incorporated into a state’s core academic standards. Schools should be encouraged to offer students service-learning opportunities and other experiential learning activities. State boards of education are also urged to align pre- and in-service requirements for teachers with the goals of civic learning. http://www.nasbe.org/publications/Civic_Ed/civic_ed1.html

ACTIVITY CORNER

There are two excellent resources I would like to share that can be used to teach character and academics at the same time. The first involves using film clips to present short scenes from major motion pictures for use as teaching resources.

Episode 1: "The Pilot"
Designed to encourage students to explore issues such as: Making a Difference, Teamwork, Race Relations, Mutual Understanding, Generosity, Tolerance, and Human Rights.
Appropriate Curriculum Applications: Character Education, Language Arts, History, Civics Grade Level: 6-12

Pay It Forward
Remember the Titans
Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport

Episode 2: "The Spirit of America" 
Designed to encourage students to explore the common character traits underlying American Patriotism such as: Solidarity, Integrity, Freedom, Dissent, and Responsibility with a study guide written by The American School Counselor Association.
Appropriate Curriculum Application: Character Education, Civics, History, Language Arts Grade Level: 6-12

The Spirit of America Theatrical Montage
Glory
It's a Wonderful Life
Born on the Fourth of July
Saving Private Ryan

Check out the web site at Film Clips on-line.

The second is the Virtue in Action Program.  Virtue in Action provides monthly lessons for grades 6-12 that are easily incorporated into existing English and Social Studies curricula, as well as homeroom periods. Lessons focus on a current event, issue, or entertainment personality that illuminate a virtue. By focusing on events and personalities relevant to students' lives, lessons inspire students to live out the virtues and to participate in civic life.

Lessons are presented via written text delivered via website, email and mail each month throughout the school year. Lessons are "turn key", making it easy for teachers to implement in class. Each lesson contains:
·    Stories of current events, issues and famous personalities that illuminate a virtue
·    Discussion Questions
·    Writing Exercises
·    Extended Learning Activities including:
·    Community service projects on the local, national and global levels
·    Reading comprehension
·    Critical thinking
·    Writing skills
·    Vocabulary
·    Listening and debating skills
·    Research and presentation skills
·    Current events and issues
·    Geography
·    Service learning in students' local, national, and global communities

COMMENTARY BY MICHAEL JOSEPHSON
When You Thought I Wasn`t Looking

Whether you`re a manager trying to instill company values in employees, a coach trying to teach positive life skills to athletes, or a parent trying to build good character in your kids, you`ll be more effective if you consistently teach, enforce, advocate, and model the desired behavior and attitudes. At CHARACTER COUNTS!, we use the acronym T.E.A.M. to capture this four-step strategy.

Modeling is not simply demonstrating. It`s living and acting with the realization that everything you say and do will either support or undermine your efforts to convey values. Ralph Waldo Emerson highlighted the importance of consistency between words and actions and the futility of the Do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do theory when he said, “What you are thunders so loudly, I can`t here what you say to the contrary.”

This poem by an unknown author expresses it another way:

When you thought I wasn`t looking,
I saw you hang up my first painting on the refrigerator, and I wanted to paint another one.

When you thought I wasn`t looking,
I saw you feed a stray cat, and I thought it was good to be kind to animals.

When you thought I wasn`t looking,
I saw you make my favorite cake for me, and I knew little things are special things.

When you thought I wasn`t looking,
I heard you say a prayer, and I believed there is a God I could always talk to.

When you thought I wasn`t looking,
I felt you kiss me good night, and I felt loved.

When you thought I wasn`t looking,
I saw you cared, and I wanted to be everything I could be.

When you thought I wasn`t looking, I looked...
and I wanted to say thanks for all the things I saw when you thought I wasn`t looking.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

QUOTE

Marian Wright Edelman, the Executive Director-Children’s Defense Fund has stated “…never have we exposed children so early, and relentlessly, to cultural messages glamorizing violence, sex, possessions, alcohol and tobacco. Never have we pushed so many children onto the tumultuous sea of life without life vests.”