IN THIS ISSUE

CC! Week Celebrations:
    • Red Ribbon Week Tie-In and Community-Wide
     Involvement
    • Sustaining CC! Beyond CC! Week
Partnership: CC! School Agendas
Character in the Curriculum: Connect With Character—Free Samples From Our Newest Product
Free Resources for Teachers: Cash for Classrooms
Commentary by Michael Josephson: Choose Generosity Over Judgementalness

ON THE SIDE

Announcements
CC! in the News: Federal Funding for Character Education
Resource of the Month: Quotation Mini-Posters
Did You Know? Information: The Armor Against Infection in Schools
Website Poll: Would You Spy on Your Kids?
2007 Conference Dates and Training Programs

CC! Week Celebrations

More than 5 million youth were represented in last month’s National CHARACTER COUNTS! Week celebrations in 51 countries, making this year’s event our biggest ever. We have dedicated this issue of the Chronicle to highlighting events that offer insight into merging CC! with existing interventions and suggestions to help you sustain the message throughout the year and beyond.

San Clemente Celebration

Many of you celebrated CC! Week in conjunction with Red Ribbon Week, the drug-awareness program that falls during the same period. We created integration materials as part of our free resources package on our website and were delighted to learn many of you used them. We spoke to several groups about how they seamlessly merged the two issues, involved the whole community, and provided a great time for all while keeping character development at the top of the agenda.

Anderson Kick-Off: TRRFCC Assembly

Finally, we give suggestions and advice from contributors to the News Blog to help those of you who used CC! Week as a kick-off to your first year of CHARACTER COUNTS! While it is a lot of fun and a wonderful way to celebrate character, real value comes from sustainability and depth of developing good character in every aspect of life.

Red Ribbon Week Tie-In
More than 30% of you who sent us news of your CC! Week activities celebrated in conjunction with Red Ribbon Week. Sponsored by the National Family Partnership, Red Ribbon Week is the oldest drug prevention campaign in the country and reaches thousands of schools annually.

One of the unique aspects of CC! is the role it plays as an umbrella framework under which the message of other social-emotional learning initiatives can be disseminated. The values of the Six Pillars of Character are a universal vocabulary that reinforces the message of events like Red Ribbon Week.

Westwood

Westwood Elementary (one of the Character Education Partnership’s Schools of Character award finalists) in Friendswood, Texas, illustrated this convergence by choosing “Drugs Are Not in Our Character” as their theme.

The slogan was adapted to coincide with daily Pillar connections and everyone dressed in the color of the chosen Pillar. On Wednesday, Hometown Heroes, the group that won a Promising Practice award from CEP in 2006, led a pep rally of more than 100 athletes, student leaders, and other role models wearing Trustworthy blue to say “Trust me to be drug-free.”

The Hometown Heroes distributed red erasers with the legend “Drugs Are NOT in My Character” on the front and the Six Pillars of Character on the back. The remaining erasers were distributed at a local church’s Trunk or Treat event so the community children could share in the character message.

Thursday and Friday were equally colorful. Students wore purple and red with the slogans “Be Fair to Your Future – Be Drug-Free” and “Read All About Us: Good Character. Good Choices.” The literacy committee hosted a storybook parade and students received red dogtags from guidance classes throughout the week.

Barbara Greuner, Westwood’s counselor, told us the week was “truly amazing! I’d love to recommend you coordinate CC! Week with Red Ribbon Week every year. They go so well together!”

Diamondback Door Decorating

Red Ribbon Week was also integrated into the celebrations at Diamondback Elementary School in Bullhead, Arizona, where the whole community turned out for the CC! parade organized by principal Joe Buzzelli. “We tied in Red Ribbon Week with the police and fire departments to better our community involvement,” Buzzelli told us.

The events culminated in a door-decorating competition sponsored by the police department. Winners were treated to a pizza party.

Sustaining CC! Beyond CC! Week
An effective program can sustain your message throughout the year. Training is often the key to maintaining the momentum of your celebrations. The focus for Bentley Elementary School in Owosso, Michigan, was to increase awareness throughout the community.

Prior to the week’s events, a tornado left many residents homeless. The school sponsored those families during the week. Household items were collected and distributed under the Pillar of Citizenship, and CC! Week became a service-learning project for the school.

Bentley Elementary, Owosso

A growing body of evidence points to long-term academic benefits of service-learning when students are able to reflect on their participation. This can take many forms, from journaling to creating poems about their experience. The more it’s integrated into the curriculum and is part of school activities rather than an add-on, the more effective it will be. Strong parallels can be drawn between service-learning and the Six Pillars of Character.

Bentley Elementary was part of a district-wide roll-out of CHARACTER COUNTS! this year and 12 members of the community have attended Character Development Seminar trainings so far. Additional follow-up was provided by national faculty member Gary Smit who talked to the local Chamber of Commerce to cultivate community support for the initiative.

The program is spreading through the district’s five elementary schools, two middle schools, and one high school, and the 12 CDS graduates have developed a calendar of similar activities and events at all locations. “When there is a transfer within the district, that student will see the same message regardless of what school he or she moves to,” says Jenny Gosaynie, Bentley Elementary's principal.

Some of Owosso’s strategies include the Six Pillars of Character reflected in discipline procedures, distributing the CC! Agendas (see our Partner Product article for more information on this product) to all students, and marking middle school report cards with rubrics showing progress made in character education.

In the Accelerated Reader Program, students are required to read three books, two of which have to pertain to one of the Pillars. To complete the level, readers must submit a report detailing which Pillar is reflected in the book and how it is demonstrated.

An Army of One – or One Hundred
Are you a character-education coordinator with little more than a computer to organize your implementation? Then take a leaf out of the book – or spreadsheet – of Leslie Mowers in San Clemente, California.

San Clemente CC! Info Booth

Since taking on the role of coordinator in 1997, Mowers has kept a journal and database of contacts and e-mails. The community’s events have grown from a fair with 22 booths to a 70-booth jamboree with more than 2,000 attendees.

San Clemente Explorers

Artifacts illustrating the implementation and organization process such as the spreadsheets created in Microsoft Office programs not only help you keep on track if you are solely responsible for coordinating events, but also serve as a great guide to pass on to new staff.

Anderson Kick-Off: Balloon Animals

Organizational situations are as varied as the types of celebrations. If you’re lucky enough to live in an area like Madison County, Indiana, you can draw on the expertise and dedication of a local institution such as the Center for Character Development at Anderson University.

Established in 2000, the center is “committed to character education and creating a working laboratory of CC! implementation,” director Don Peslis says. Not only was the center extensively involved in developing and mobilizing events this year, but it also sent volunteers from the School of Education to learn about hands-on implementation of character education as part of its teacher training service module.

Anderson Kick-Off: Face Painting

Peslis strongly advocates engaging higher-education professionals to develop and garner support. A key part of the center’s philosophy is “If there’s no successor, there’s no success.”

Diana Ross, director of the School of Education, adopted character education as a principle in the teacher-training curriculum, and Peslis himself teaches a course in Leadership for Character Education. Students taking the course must meet a service requirement by volunteering in CC! Week activities, which gives them an opportunity to see character education in action.

“Schools for higher education are the locus for sustaining character education,” Peslis says. “And that requires funding.” Anderson University is creating an endowment for the center, but the effort depends largely on donor philanthropy. Peslis and his team, which includes hundreds of volunteers, have adopted “Education-based, Community Embraced” as their slogan as they work to develop ongoing, sustainable leadership in schools and communities.

To find out about trainings that will help you sustain your program, call our national office. Ask about our in-service development programs or see the announcement in this edition.

"If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant. " -- Anne Bradstreet, American poet (c. 1612 - 1672)

Partnership

CC! School Agendas
An excellent way to keep your character-education message at the forefront is to use a CHARACTER COUNTS! school agenda. Alliance Publishing and Marketing, Inc. has partnered with Josephson Institute to create personalized student planners that feature inspiring stories of people of character.

There are five designs to choose from: primary, original elementary, column elementary, middle/junior high, and high school/college. Each design includes a section showcasing a different historical figure who made a difference in the world.

School Agendas

The profiles offer inspirational stories of individuals whose character and accomplishments match one of the Six Pillars of Character. They are intended to be used as lesson ideas for teachers and parents/guardians to help implement or reinforce the CC! program.

Age-appropriate layouts and designs provide ample space to record daily assignments. Students are more successful when they learn how to plan. Primary, elementary, and middle/junior-high designs include a home/school communication section that encourages correspondence between teachers and parents/guardians, plus ideas on how to create a unified approach to character education at home and school.

High school/college agendas help students manage their evening and weekend time. They include a section for weekly goal setting, plus resource materials to serve as a reference tool.

All agenda covers can be personalized with school name or mascot. There is a wide variety of cover designs to choose from. The student code of conduct can also be made part of the agenda.

Supplementary products include pages for lesson planning and grading for teacher’s editions of the agenda and wall charts and people of character posters.

To learn more about this wonderful classroom resource, visit the Alliance Publishing website or call them at 800-518-5176.

"The problem with the rat race is that even if you win you're still a rat. " -- Lily Tomlin, American comedienne and actress (b. 1939)

Character in the Curriculum Tips Foundations for Life program offers free writing prompts, lesson plans, and cross-curricular connections based on character-related maxims that complement your existing programs. Learn more about Foundations for Life at www.FFL-essays.org. Monthly Lesson Plan: Connect With Character -- Free Samples From Our Newest Product We are delighted to announce the addition of Connect With Character to our product list. Currently in production, Connect With Character is a standards-based curriculum-integration product containing seven complete lesson plans, one for each of the Six Pillars of Character plus a unit on making good decisions. It includes numerous extension activities, a comprehensive user’s guide with teaching strategies, a CD-ROM with reproducible copies of all handouts and assessment rubrics, and a fun board game to stimulate class discussion on the values of character education. We are developing five age-specific kits (4-6, 6-9, 9-11, 11-13, and teenagers). To sample a lesson from the 11- to 13-year-old kit, click this link. Everyday Ethics > Find free Foundations for Life resources > Purchase Good Ideas books

Cash for Classrooms
Teachers pay approximately $500 out of their own pocket for classroom materials each year. Wouldn’t it be great if you could get some of that back? Cash for Classrooms helps you do exactly that.

By purchasing gift cards through their website, teachers are eligible to receive cash-back payments of up to 6% of the value of the card. Participating retailers include Macys, Bath and Body Works, iTunes, Barnes & Noble, and Subway. Start shopping now and make sure you get everything on your wish list.

Commentary by Michael Josephson

Adapted from Michael Josephson's Gabriel Award-winning radio commentaries, airing Monday through Friday across the nation.

Choose Generosity Over Judgementalness
Every time my wife and I leave a Lakers game we're confronted by half a dozen beggars with outreached cups. Usually we just try to avoid eye contact and pass quickly – annoyed rather than moved.

I've got lots of justifications for this callous indifference: “It's just a scam.” “Surely, they have other options to begging.” “They’ll probably use the money for drugs or alcohol.” “How can I give to one and not to all of them?” “If I give tonight, will I have to give every night?” “If I give beggars money, I’ll just encourage more people to be beggars.”

When all is said and done, it’s a rather shameful exhibition of my ungenerous nature. Regardless of their character or hidden motives, they're so much less fortunate than I am. Why am I so unwilling to help? A dollar or two would be meaningful and $5 or $10 would be momentous.

The truth is, if every night I gave each one a dollar or even five, it wouldn't affect my lifestyle one bit. I spend more than that on snacks and parking. If I made it a point to carry a bunch of ones and fives, I could, without fanfare, provide a little bit of peace or pleasure to people who need it much more than I.

As I write this, I am resolved to choose generosity over judgmentalness. Yet there is a lurking self-doubt: Will I really follow through or just find more reasons not to help? Perhaps some of you are also willing to commit to kindness, and we can provide moral support for each other. Let me know what you think.

After all, our character is revealed not by our best intentions, but by our consistent actions.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

We welcome your response to the Commentaries. Click on this link to share your thoughts
on this one.

Commentary transcripts and audio files are archived here.

Subscribe to the free weekly commentary newsletter here.

Check Out Our New Virtual Catalog

We are now using an interactive catalog in our online store. Debuting this month, it lets users browse our product range by virtual page turning. If there is a product you want to recommend to a friend or colleague, simply click the “tell a friend about this page” button.

Our newly redesigned print catalog will still be available, but sharing product suggestions is much easier now with our virtual one. Visit our website and experience it for yourself.

View Chronicle archive

Do you have stories to share about character or character education? Please send them to ccnews@jiethics.org. E-mail your photos, too. We can use almost any format.

2008 Open Enrollment Calendar

We are pleased to announce our Character Development Seminar training schedule for 2008. Each three-day seminar is designed as a train-the-trainer conference, enabling participants to return to their communities and begin CC! implementation.

Scheduling time to assist graduates in presenting the program to their community is an important aspect of implementation. Further support is provided by the national office.

Who to Send?
We recommend you send at least 5-10% of your school to the training so as to reflect a wide range of personnel and faculty and any other individuals who interact with youth in your group.

Packed with information about the CHARACTER COUNTS! framework and other initiatives from Josephson Institute, the CDS is both challenging and rewarding. The seminars are led by two highly qualified members of the CC! national faculty who facilitate thought-provoking activities and discussions.

Each component of the training is designed to help attendees plan every stage of their CC initiative – from developing an action team to weaving the Six Pillars of Character into the curriculum to measuring progress.

Participants receive a spiral-bound book containing key slides and activities, a CD-ROM with sample presentations for businesses and schools, a copy of the Implementation Toolkit, and resources and guidance for curricular integration and making ethical decisions.

How Can We Fund It?
If there isn’t a CDS scheduled in your area, contact our national office and ask about commissioning your own. This option is particularly attractive to those who have larger teams. Funding can come from such sources as:

• Title I and II – Professional Development
• Title IV – Safe and Drug Free Schools
• Grants (federal partnerships in Education,     Safe Schools/Healthy Schools)
• Business sponsorships

Make it your New Year’s resolution to make character count in your community.

FFL Essay Competition Update

Have you wondered how you can integrate CC! into your curriculum in a meaningful and measurable way? The Foundations for Life writing program encourages students at elementary and secondary school levels to reflect on famous quotations that demonstrate the universality of good character.

Students select one that resonates with their life experience and write an essay demonstrating how they relate to it. The essay program enhances cognitive abilities, develops writing skills, and encourages excellence.

Research shows that when students are asked to rewrite their work and open it for critical analysis and constructive feedback, character develops along with self-esteem and performance. ¹

We encourage you to hold local essay competitions using the FFL program. We have hard copies of the kits for both elementary and secondary levels. Each kit includes quotation booklets and a teacher’s guide to help you run your competition and develop your students’ skills.

You can also visit our website and download the material. Regrettably, we will not be running a national competition this year due to funding constraints.

To see how communities have effectively promoted their local competitions, see our website.

¹ Berger, R. (2003) An Ethic of Excellence—Building a Culture of Excellence Within Schools. Heinemann

Final Chronicle Edition of 2007

This will be our last edition of 2007. We would like to take this opportunity to wish all our readers a very happy holiday season, and we look forward to receiving your news in 2008.

Federal Funding in Character Education

Concerned about increasing problems of alcohol and drug abuse in schools and on college campuses?

A Congressional bill (H.R.3043) delegating more than $24 million for character education was recently passed by the Senate and is now scheduled for debate in the House of Representatives.

If the bill passes, the money will be available through the Safe Schools and Citizenship Education account. So what are you waiting for? Mobilize your grant-writing team while the bill makes its way through the final debate so you’ll be ready to apply for funding if it passes. Our national office can help you set up a grant-writing committee.

Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM) worked with the Senate Appropriations Committee to help pass the measure in October. In 1994, Senator Domenici, along with former Senator Sam Nunn (D-GA), introduced a bipartisan congressional resolution calling for National CHARACTER COUNTS! Week.

Since then, New Mexico’s program has grown from one school to a statewide effort that incorporates character education into public, private, and parochial classrooms.

Readers may also remember our August issue in which we highlighted the CC! leadership camp hosted by the New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell. The Institute will receive $50,000 as part of the measure if the House passes the bill.

For more information on the progress of bill H.R.3043 visit the U.S. Congress bill tracking site.

If you’re considering applying for these funds or any other grants, contact our national office for help and support at 800-711-2670.

Quotation Mini-Posters

Quotation mini-poster sets challenge your students to ponder life and the world around them. These dynamic messaging system mini-posters display profound quotations against colorful backdrops.

Use these thoughts to integrate character education into lesson plans by encouraging thoughtful writing and discussion. Activity ideas included. Purchase securely online.

Are you innovating with our resources? Share your ideas and we'll publish them here. E-mail us at ccnews@jiethics.org.

All proceeds benefit CHARACTER COUNTS! and the nonprofit Josephson Institute.

Information: The Armor Against Infection in Schools

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a strain of staph impervious to antibiotics such as penicillin and amoxicillin. MRSA primarily affects hospital patients, but a new variety has evolved that can defeat even the most robust immune system.

MRSA cases have occurred among children in more than 35 states and only Virginia requires that infections are reported to health authorities.

Called community-associated MRSA (CA-MRSA), the bacteria slays white blood cells, the body's infantry against microscopic invaders, allowing it to quickly colonize its host.

Today, nearly 60 percent of skin infections that require emergency room treatment are caused by CA-MRSA. Bacteria exist in colonies where cells communicate through chemical signals, a trait that disease researchers hope to exploit.

Scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem believe they have isolated a protein signal within E. coli that causes cells to “commit suicide” when resources are scarce. While individual bacteria may die, the colony lives on. Using this protein, microbiologists hope to develop a class of antibiotics that will induce an entire colony to self-destruct.

Scientists at Indiana University are attempting to combat infection without killing bacteria. Head researcher, Professor Clay Fuqua, suggests that colonies could be disarmed by disrupting chemical signaling, essentially knocking out their lines of communication. This treatment method minimizes the potential for bacteria to evolve into even stronger, more resistant forms.

Unfortunately, these cures are far from the pharmacy. Take responsibility for protecting yourself and loved ones by arming yourself with information about the spread and treatment of CA-MRSA. Get the facts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website:

http://www.cdc.gov
Answers about MRSA in Schools
CA-MRSA Information for the Public
Educational Materials for MRSA Prevention

New software promises to allow parents to monitor children’s Internet use. Would you spy on your children?

a) Yes. Spying would allow me to protect my child from the dangers of the Internet.

b) No. Spying is a violation of privacy that can only breed mistrust.

Respond and see the results.

To ensure this newsletter is delivered to your inbox, please add ccnews@jiethics.org to your address book. To view a plain text version of this newsletter, select "text" in the preferences menu of your e-mail software. It's easy to remove yourself from our list -- just click here.

You have our word: We will never share your e-mail address with another company or organization.

In last month’s “Getting Community Buy-In – The Oswego-Montgomery CC! Coalition Experience in Illinois” we mistakenly attributed the Oswego 11 Point Strategic Action Plan.

The Oswego School Board established the plan and Dr. Janet Stutz developed the
strategic plan that worked outwards from schools already implementing CC!.
We apologize for any confusion.

Josephson Institute is working to create a world where decisions and behavior are guided by ethics.