IN THIS ISSUE

Feature: MyLife 24-7 Ambassadors Know What’s Good for You
Teacher's Lounge: National CHARACTER COUNTS! Week Toolkit
Lesson Plan Bank Spotlight: MyLife 24-7 Lesson Plan
Michael Josephson Commentary: The T.E.A.M Approach to Teaching Character

ON THE SIDE

Announcements
Resource of the Month: Virtue in Action E-zine
Training Programs
Donuts in the Lunchroom: Movin’ in the Right Direction
CC! in the News: Ralphs Celebrates CC! Week
Did You Know? CC! Week Facts and Figures
Web Poll: What Do You Think of Secretary Duncan’s Emphasis on Charter Schools?

Sign Up for Free CC! Week Resources

Sign up now and start planning for the biggest national CC! Week ever. The third installment of free resources is ready for download. It features a lesson to write a letter to the President, business outreach material, and a parent’s pack to help get everyone in your community involved.

Last year more than 5 million kids celebrated CC! Week. This year a nationwide celebration and promotion of good character is needed more than ever.

Involve your community during the week of October 18-24, 2009. Bring parents, local businesses, and schools together to celebrate the Six Pillars of Character: trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship.

Click here to get started.

My Life 24-7 Ambassadors
Know What’s Good for You

You may have noticed a new addition to the projects from Josephson Institute. MyLife24-7.org was officially launched earlier this year with the purpose of giving youth a voice in developing character and leadership skills in schools and communities around the world.

Student leadership is the heart of MyLife 24-7. Members of the “Good for You” movement volunteer their time to ensure that the project remains in step with what teens really want and need.

Collaboration with teens is an excellent way for teachers to reach out and involve students in proposed activities that affect the community. Allowing students to organize, manage, and deliver projects not only improves leadership skills but allows real-life application of academic subjects. If you're not familiar with the new site, click here.

This month, two Ambassadors – Jivanto van Hemert of Santa Monica, California, and Megan Dawkins of Lakeway, Texas – are guest contributors to the Chronicle newsletter. They write about the importance of collaboration with a view to what teachers can do to involve teens in National CHARACTER COUNTS! Week 2009.

Jivanto:

National CHARACTER COUNTS! Week is a celebration of good character, good decision-making, and promoting a lifestyle that is good for you.

Needless to say, the importance of involving an entire community in recognizing, exploring, and celebrating good character cannot be overstated. Celebrating good character provides an opportunity to deepen all relationships within schools and communities. It’s been oft been said that “It takes a village to raise a child” and never is that more true than when you’re trying to raise a child of character.

Character. Such an elusive thing. To me, character is the culmination of all the Pillars of character. To be a person of character, one must strive to exemplify Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring, and Citizenship in every aspect of their life. Not perfection in all areas, or any for that matter, but a desire to strive, to reach for better character.

To inspire youth to become people of better character is the highest calling and one that as educators you are already dedicated to. What better way to improve your community than by improving the youth who will be your community of tomorrow? I implore all of you to collaborate with students in celebrating CC! Week. Use this week as an excuse, an affirmation, or a prod. Use this week to bring about better character in all members of your community, and thus in turn to make your community a better place.

Megan:

It’s time for a celebration of trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, citizenship: the Six Pillars of Character. Teachers, it’s time to get involved with your students and build a healthy relationship. Don’t let this week interfere with your lesson plans. Instead, mold your plans around this week. Give awards for outstanding character, and get the whole community involved.

This is a wonderful opportunity to get students to appreciate and celebrate good values and the blessings that come from them. It is SO important to celebrate the things everyone can get involved in, and not just the well-behaved students or the ones who get straight A’s. To me, character is a personality trait that doesn’t define what’s different about one person compared to everyone else, but a trait in which good qualities shine through the flawed traits.

CHARACTER COUNTS! Week needs to be celebrated. Get everyone involved and fill the week with parties and festivals. Recognize the good in everyone and let your admirable traits shine for everyone to see!

For more information on how to get your teens involved in something good, visit MyLife24-7.org.

Our Fall Catalog’s Here!
Check out all the new items we’ve added to enrich your curriculum and help transform your classroom at every grade level. We'd love to mail you a copy. Click here to send one on its way. While you’re waiting, you can shop at our virtual catalog.

Teacher's Lounge

National CC! Week Toolkit

With little over a month to go before National CC! Week (Oct. 18-24, 2009), you may be feeling like you have nothing planned, nothing organized, and no time to develop your celebrations. Fear not! We’ve developed a quick guide to getting started and making an impact on the character of your community. Read on and make this year your biggest CC! Week celebration ever.

Publicity

National CC! Week is a celebration of character and also a high-profile way to attract attention to your CC! initiative.

• Make sure everyone knows what’s going on. We’ve provided a press release packet in the free resources. Download it and get your students involved in writing.
• Design posters and fliers and deliver them to libraries, bookstores, and local businesses.
• Don’t be afraid to ask for donations, either monetary or something more substantive such as customized banners.

Planning

You’ll find something for every age group in our free resources packet.

• Make sure all your staff is aware of the lesson plans available. Everything you need is there, whether you’re teaching elementary, middle, or high school. Character can fit into any subject area. If – and it’s a big if – you can’t find anything there, check out the Lesson Plan Bank. All the lessons there are standards-aligned and searchable by subject. Challenge your faculty to teach character during National CC! Week.
• Create a log for students to complete every time they learn something about good character.

Performance

When CC! Week comes round (in just over a month), involve the students in the celebration by encouraging them to write about events. Ask:

• What are you learning?
• How can you demonstrate good character after CC! Week?
  
• How can your celebrations make a lasting impact?
  
• Students to take photos of events and create posters for display all year round.
  
• What would have worked better? What went well? Have students critique the celebration.Use their findings to plan for next year.
  
• Is CC! making a difference?
  
• Do you need a refresher? Ask older students to analyze data such as absences and disciplinary action and calculate pre- and post-CC! figures. Consider signing up for our workshops where we send faculty to you for a CC! check-up.
  

Although money can be an issue, there are plenty of ways to strengthen your commitment to character. Contact our national office for more support and check out our free resources on the Web.

Lesson Plan Bank Spotlight

MyLife 24-7 Lesson

Josephson Institute has recently begun a new website aimed at involving youth in the character-building process. As this month’s commentary points out, character is best built as a team effort. By providing a forum for youth on MyLife24-7.org, we hope collaboration between youth and adults will grow.

If you’re not familiar with the new site, click here. For ideas on how you can get your students involved, access the lesson plan here.

Would you like to see your lesson plan published? Submit it to our Lesson Plan Bank. Lessons will be entered in a monthly draw to win CC! balloons!

The T.E.A.M Approach to Teaching

I want my kids to be smart and successful, but I also want them to be good. I want them to be the kind of people other parents would like to see their kids marry. I want them to make sound values-based decisions that help them be safe and happy.

Like most parents, I spend lots of time trying to instill virtues like honesty, respect, responsibility, fairness, and kindness.

But building character is more complicated than teaching math or manners. It involves the heart as well as the head. The goal is to make good thoughts and conduct a matter of habit. I want my children to know what’s good, to want what’s good, and to do what’s good.

Effective character-building is captured in the acronym T.E.A.M. (teach, enforce, advocate, and model).

We teach character by promoting the values and developing the ethical virtues that make up a good person – trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship. Kids should understand what each of these traits looks like.

We entrench these values by enforcing them, by backing up our rhetoric with appropriate consequences. What you allow, you encourage.

We passionately and relentlessly advocate our commitment to good character so our children have no doubt what we want for them and expect from them.

And we instill positive values by modeling the virtues we want to see in our children. This is done by how we deal with pressures, frustrations, fatigue, and other everyday actions, especially what we say and do when we think no one’s looking and we won’t get caught.

Comment on this in the Commentary blog »

Michael Josephson's Gabriel Award-winning commentaries air on radio stations across the country. They also appear daily in the Commentary blog, where you can post responses and see what others have to say.

Read the latest commentaries »
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Use the Commentary in your class »

View Chronicle archive

Do you have stories or photos to share about character or character education? Please send them to ccnews@jiethics.org.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Are You Good to Go?
If you love good ideas, this is one of our best! A compact compendium of 100 conversations and activities designed to stimulate discussion and focus students’ creativity on character. Perfect for advisory groups, afterschool programs, centers, homerooms, and before-the-bell. Made almost entirely from recycled materials.

Available from our online store for $15.95. Ages 11 and up.


Win Recognition for Your Character-Development Initiative
Every year the Character Education Partnership (CEP) honors approximately ten schools and districts as National Schools of Character for excellence in character development. More than half the states also give State Schools of Character awards. To see if your state participates, go to the CEP site.

The purpose of both awards is to identify exemplars in character education and to help them mentor others by providing models and frameworks.

Several CHARACTER COUNTS! schools have won in the past (including last year), so 2010 may be your turn. Visit www.character.org for details. The application deadline is December 1.

Building Character While Meeting Standards – Sign Up for Our Webinar
This webinar will help you weave character development into your standards-based lessons.

In this age of high-stakes testing, we know how difficult (and time-consuming) it can be to rewrite curriculum.There’s really no need if you have the right tools.

Participate in this webinar and learn integration strategies that you can use in your classroom immediately. The interactive format allows you to ask specific questions about advancing your character-education efforts.

The webinar will be held on September 29 at two times: 1-2 p.m. PST and 3-4 p.m. PST. Spaces are going quickly so sign up now to ensure a seat (and you can view the webinar with as many of your colleagues who can fit round one computer).

Don’t miss this great opportunity to learn more about effective integration while meeting standards in your curriculum.

Contests, Contests!
MyLife24-7.org is launching three contests that you won’t want to miss:

• Design this year’s MyLife 24-7 T-shirt. The winner will receive the International MyLife 24-7 Design Award and the design will be posted on the website.
• Write cool commentary on our blog. Winners will receive the International MyLife 24-7 Writing Award and get a biweekly column.
• Create a video promoting one or more of the Six Pillars of Character.
  
  

Virtue in Action E-Zine

Discuss current events with a character emphasis using the new CHARACTER COUNTS! edition of Virtue in Action, a monthly e-magazine.

It’s delivered right to your inbox and highlights an issue or person in the news. Each month includes a teacher’s guide focusing on one of the Six Pillars of Character. It provides discussion questions, writing prompts, and extended learning activities.

Perfect for advisories, home-room periods, leadership training, and English and Social Studies classes.

Annual subscriptions are $349 and not refundable.

Learn more and subscribe here or call 800-711-2670.

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

Character Development Seminars

CHARACTER COUNTS! is the nation's leader in professional development for character education. We offer workshops, in-service days, and 3-day trainings that award graduate credit. You can even host a training and save money.

Character Development Seminars can help you become a more effective leader and address behavior problems, student underachievement, and dropout rates.

Make plans to attend a training seminar in your area and transform your school. Learn more, enroll »

How Can You Fund It?
If there isn’t a CDS scheduled in your area, contact our national office at 800-711-2670 to learn about commissioning your own. This option is especially advantageous 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

Honoring the Badge Seminars
Teaches policing professionals to perceive, prevent, and resolve ethical problems to better manage risk and uphold the public trust.
Learn more, enroll »

Public Service Seminars
Helps public administrators deal with ethical issues and accusations of wrongdoing.
Learn more, enroll »

School Administration Seminars
Enables school administrators to address ethical issues pertaining to school matters.
Learn more, enroll »

Sportsmanship Seminars
Shows parents, coaches, athletic administrators, officials, and other youth-group leaders how to cultivate sportsmanship in young athletes.
Learn more, enroll »

Written by the music industry's dynamic duo Sally K. Albrecht and Jay Althouse, authors of the musical score All That I Can Be, this seven-song program exposes students to several different and upbeat musical genres: rock, gospel-style swing, and funky rap.

More importantly, the positive lyrics will engage and motivate your little musicians as they use their voices to celebrate being kids with character. So Small is a ballad about those times when they feel intimidated, ignored, or insignificant. With its calypso beat, Your Choices Count encourages them to think through their choices, big and small, before they act. And Dare to Make a Difference challenges them to forge ahead with courage and purpose as they blaze new trails.

An adaptable, meaningful script connects the songs. While each of these songs is a strong stand-alone, bundled together they make a profound impression and can have a lasting impact on both the songsters and their audience.

At Westwood, our third graders will perform this show during CHARACTER COUNTS! Week to honor our grandparents and thank them for being our character role models. Music is an incredibly powerful teaching tool. What better way to get kids movin' in the right direction than to put a song in their minds and a melody in their hearts that they can share with their world.

Barbara Gruener is a school counselor at Westwood Elementary in Friendswood, TX, a 2009 CEP National School of Character Award winner.

Learn more about Westwood’s CHARACTER COUNTS! program.

Ralphs Celebrates CC! Week

Starting mid-October, in partnership with Josephson Institute, the Ralphs chain of supermarkets in Southern California will be selling CHARACTER COUNTS! goods.

Wristbands, dog tags, pencils, cupcakes, lunchboxes… the list goes on. You can pick up your favorite CC! goods from Ralphs stores throughout the state just in time for CC! Week.

CC! Week Facts and Figures

Test your CC! Week knowledge with this quiz:

1. How many participants were there in the first National CC! Week?
2. How many years has National CC! Week been running for?
3. How many registrations were there in 2005?
4. How many registrants signed up in 2008?
5. How many children were involved in last year’s National CC! Week?

Answers at the bottom of the page.

A policy centerpiece for Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is nearly $5 billion for the Race to the Top initiative.

The initiative places heavy emphasis on opening new charter schools, which are operated independently and often permit more innovation, making it easier for them to compete. Some districts say this is unfairly biased toward urban communities.

What do you think of Secretary Duncan’s emphasis on charter schools?

Last month we asked what should be the underlying purpose of school. Here are the results:

Empowerment	53%
Deportment	13%
Preparation	4 %
Other	0 %

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Did You Know?
Answers:

1. Only the founding members of CHARACTER COUNTS! signed on to promote the first CC! Week.
   
2. CC! Week has been running for 16 years. 1993 was the inaugural event.
   
3. In 2005 there were 3,697. It was the first year registration records were kept.
   
4. In 2008 we received 14,135. Can we beat it this year?
   
5. 5.4 million children from all over the world were involved in last year’s National CC! Week.