character education

It’s a Great Day to Focus on Character!

October 21, 2011 By Deb Chitwood 8 Comments

Today’s part of Worldwide Character Counts! Week, which makes it a great day to focus on character. But, actually, every day is a great day to focus on character.

If you’d like to know what you can do right away in your family, here are some suggestions:

Register for Character Counts! Week and check out some of the resources.

The Film Clips for Character Education are only available for free through tomorrow. If you don’t see this until after October 22, you can still study film clips (maybe on YouTube) or watch a movie like Babe and ask the following questions on the theme of respect from Film Clips for Character Education: The Six Pillars of Character Part 1 Study Guide:

What kind of leadership did Babe show when he tried to be like a sheepdog?

Was it Babe’s fault when he tried to be mean and aggressive like a sheepdog?

What attitude and behavior were successful in getting the sheep to do what Babe wanted?

Is it better to force someone to do something or to persuade them to do it? Why?

Or watch a movie like Cool Runnings and ask questions on the theme of trustworthiness:

Why did the coach think it was necessary to cheat?

Why did he decide to tell the truth about his past cheating?

Are successful people you know truthful people? Do they keep their promises?

Can you ever redeem trust? If so, how?

Start reading a book of your own or with your family that emphasizes positive values.

When my kids were growing up, we especially loved to read biographies and autobiographies of inspirational individuals, The Book of Virtues, and Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie series.

Here’s a video based on another book that’s great for helping kids develop positive character traits:

Have You Filled a Bucket Today?

Bucket Fillers website

Use comic strips to discuss character.

If you have teenagers, you could use the Doonesbury Discusses CHARACTER COUNTS! Week series and lesson plans as a starting point. For younger kids, pick an age-appropriate comic that has a good example for a character discussion.

Plan to do something to make a difference. It can even be a family project.

Here’s today’s Character Counts! Week Daily Character Idea for Kids:

Find Out Friday

Is there a pressing issue in your community? Find out how you can get involved and help make things better for everyone. Research the issue and groups that are taking action on it to find out what you can do.

Along with making a difference in your community, there are many ways you can make a difference from home. I talked about a few in my Make a Difference from Home post last year. Since then, I’ve found more resources and added them to my Make a Difference page.

If you’d like more ideas, check out my post What about Your Kids’ Character? with links to lots of character-education resources.

I’d love to hear if you’re doing anything special this week or if you have a regular activity in your family that focuses on character.

Photo Credit: Photo by Ricardo Eliezer de Souza e Silva Maas at Flickr Creative Commons (License).

Linked with Thought-Provoking Thursday.

Filed Under: Character Tagged With: character, Character Counts, Character Counts! Week, character education

Don’t Miss Worldwide Character Counts! Week

October 7, 2011 By Deb Chitwood 19 Comments

Worldwide Character Counts! Week 2011 is coming up October 16-22, and there are some free character-education resources you won’t want to miss!

Character Counts Week inspires and celebrates character. It focuses on the six pillars of character – trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship.

According to the Character Counts website:

Every year, the U.S. President, U.S. Senate, and officials around the world proclaim the third week in October CHARACTER COUNTS! Week. Last year 8 million kids in 54 countries participated. No matter what your political or religious affiliation, this event is about the universal values we share.

Daily Character Ideas:

I wrote about Character Counts week last year in my posts It’s Character Counts! Week and Make a Difference from Home. In my posts last year, I listed the Character Counts! daily character ideas for adults to emphasize during Character Counts! Week. Those ideas would be great to follow this year, too.

Free Character Education Resources:

There are some free resources for Character Counts! Week that you won’t want to miss out on. They’re wonderful for schools and homeschools as well as families in general. All you have to do is register to have access to the free resources.

My favorite resources are the “Tips for Parents” handout as well as the Film Clips for Character Education and Film Clips for Character Education Study Guide. I love the film clips, but they’re only free until the end of Character Counts! Week. So it’s a good idea to register as soon as possible if you’d like to view and discuss the film clips with your child.

Available year round is the Lesson Plan Bank with lesson plans for students in all levels K-12. Last year, I linked to the lesson plan called Sharing Our Surplus Stash: A Trick-Or-Treat Twist, which is designed to help 4-6 year olds learn about citizenship and develop an attitude of sharing/donating (and help you get rid of that excess Halloween candy at the same time!). A few new seasonal lessons focusing on fairness are There Is No Such Thing as a Perfect Pumpkin, Pumpkin Fallacies, and Putting the ‘pi’ In Pumpkin Pie.

“Do Right. Do Your Best.” Word-Art Freebie

Whether you’re part of a larger celebration or one within your own family, please join me in celebrating Character Counts! Week October 16-22!

Linked with Thought-Provoking Thursday and Kirsty & Friends.

Filed Under: Character Tagged With: Character Counts, Character Counts! Week, character education, Film Clips for Character Education, Lesson Plan Bank, six pillars of character

It’s Character Counts! Week October 17-23

October 15, 2010 By Deb Chitwood 3 Comments

Next week is Character Counts! Week. The slogan for the week is “Make character your cause for celebration.” I wrote about Michael Josephson’s Character Counts along with links to some great newsletters for everyone in an earlier post. Character Counts is a wonderful site with many free resources on character education. There are many extra resources available for Character Counts! Week.

These resources are ideal for educators (including homeschoolers), but they’re helpful for parents, grandparents, or any caring adults. There’s a pledge to take and parenting tips for parents with children at each age level. Anyone can register for free Character Counts! Week resources here.

Character Counts Week is designed to inspire and celebrate character. It focuses on the six pillars of character (trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship).

Character Counts encourages the T.E.A.M. strategy at home and school:

Teach children that their character counts.

Enforce the Six Pillars of Character.

Advocate character.

Model good behavior.

Note: for educators, in addition to the Character Counts! Week resources, there’s a Lesson Plan Bank with lesson plans for students in all levels K-12. A timely example for preschool-1st grade is an interesting lesson plan called Sharing Our Surplus Stash: A Trick-Or-Treat Twist. It’s designed to help 4-6 year olds learn about citizenship and develop an attitude of sharing/donating. And it helps get rid of some of that upcoming excess Halloween candy!

For Character Counts! Week, Character Counts even has daily character ideas for children and another set of daily character ideas for adults (“An Idea a Day to Bust the Character-Recession”). Here are the adult ideas for next Monday-Friday:

Monday: Caring Coupons

Get out your scissors and start clipping coupons that care. You don’t have to get money off to get a buzz, sometimes it’s enough to read a feel-good story online or in the press and keep them on file to refer to when the news is just too much, or give them to friends for inspiration when they’re feeling down.

Tuesday: Recycle, Reuse, Reduce

Good citizenship includes being environmentally aware, and recycling makes cents! Find out where your local recycling depot is and raise some money for a local charity by recycling your bottles and cans. Not only are you doing your part for the planet, but also for your community.

Wednesday: Share the Load

So it might not be your actual JOB to return the shopping cart to the store, but how about taking a little time to share these tasks? Perhaps your supermarket no longer employs people to collect carts, or maybe your local diner waitress would appreciate if you wiped up the crumbs from the table you ate at, or could you leave that hotel room just a little bit tidier before you check out?

Thursday: Invite a 360-Degree Appraisal

Want to really show you’re trying to be better? Invite your coworkers to give you an annual review based on the values of the Six Pillars of Character.

Friday: Be Patient With Bad Manners

That includes your own! Bite your tongue, tone it down, and take deep breaths. Everyone gets frazzled in today’s demanding society, but try to stay calm and be polite all day. Treat others as if they were gentlemen – not because they are, but because you are.

Remember the quote by John Hays Hammond:

Please join me in celebrating Character Counts! Week next week!

Filed Under: Character, Making a Difference, Parents' Role Tagged With: Character Counts, Character Counts! Week, character education, daily character ideas, Lesson Plan Bank, Michael Josephson, six pillars of character, T.E.A.M. strategy

Character Counts

August 27, 2010 By Deb Chitwood 6 Comments

I love the quote by Vince Gill that says,

Success is always temporary. When all is said and done, the only thing you’ll have left is your character.

That thought is relevant for anyone, but I think it’s especially important for athletes and anyone in a field that focuses on winning and success.

Michael Josephson has a character-education program I love called Character Counts. The program can be used anywhere but is especially popular in schools and athletics. It emphasizes six pillars of character: trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship.

My dissertation for my master’s degree in education was on using Montessori methods to teach courtesy. For part of the literature review, I researched character-education programs in schools. I Iiked everything I read about Character Counts.

I had already been subscribing to the Character Counts newsletter for a few years. I found the stories helpful for my children as athletes. I still enjoy reading the stories for the great values they share. Character Counts has a character educator blog and newsletter. It also has a commentary blog with thought-provoking stories from Michael Josephson’s radio commentaries on character and ethical living.

The Character Counts newsletter for coaches and anyone involved in amateur sports is called Pursuing Victory with Honor. Don’t you just love that title?! There’s even a sportsmanship self-assessment for athletes and for coaches, parents, and administrators.

Here’s a beautiful video by Michael Josephson called “What Will Matter.”