Teachers were asked by Edutopia, “If you only had a single day to teach, what would you teach?” Almost every teacher mentioned character traits like caring, respect, responsibility, growth mindset, gratitude, and so on.
If we all feel so strongly that character education is what we want to teach, it must be important enough for us to somehow fit it in. But, short of having a direct teaching curriculum to follow, how can a teacher find the necessary resources to teach character?
CHARACTER COUNTS! has the answer with concrete strategies to purposefully and decisively teach desired values and behavioral traits.
Application
- Following best instructional practices is one approach to intentionally teach character. What works best for you to engage students in active learning? How do these best practices apply to teaching desired values and character traits?
- Why can it be a challenge for us as teachers to integrate character into our daily life and instructional practices?
- What can we do at our school to more effectively teach character to our students?
- How could I use the resources that were shared in the video with my students?
- Another approach to use is to teach academics and character at the same time. What does that mean for you as a teacher? How can you make that happen?
- What assessment can our school use to determine if our words are being transferred into choices made by our students that lead to desired behaviors?
Hear more from Gary on Twitter – @GSmit4Character
