six pillars of character

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

Character Counts – Help Your Child Develop Character

March 25, 2011 By Deb Chitwood 8 Comments

I’ve written more than once about Michael Josephson’s Character Counts website. The site has lots of great resources for character education and inspiration for both children and adults.

Be sure to check the links in my earlier post for the newsletters and sportsmanship self-assessment available through the site. Here are some of the best ways you can use Character Counts to help your child develop character:

Use the free teaching tools. There are lots of resources – even discussion guides to use with Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Hamlet. There’s also a section specifically for parents on the Free Teaching Tools page.

The teaching tools include free lesson plans (searchable by six pillars of character and by age from age 4-teens). The lesson plans are especially useful for educators and homeschoolers. Some of the activities are seasonal. For example, if you have a child age 4-6, check out the Be a Good Egg (Easter) health and science lesson plan on trustworthiness. There are also Earth Day activities for 6 year olds through teens.

Use the Michael Josephson Commentary for inspiring stories you can use to stimulate and reinforce discussions on character.

Use the quotations section for inspiration and to stimulate discussions of character.

I’m a real fan of quotations, and many sports coaches use quotations as a motivational tool. I create word art every Wednesday using motivational quotes. You could print out quotes for a notebook or for a school- or athletics locker. Quotes are especially helpful for older children and teens.

Of course, the best way to help your child develop character is through your own example. Be a person of good character yourself. Probably equally important is that you truly want to raise a child of good character. Ask yourself: Do you view raising a child of good character as more important than raising a “winner”?

Filed Under: Character, Parents' Role Tagged With: Character Counts, develop character, free teaching tools, Michael Josephson, 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.