From Dr. Gary Smit, CHARACTER COUNTS! national trainer
I can’t recall when it happened. But, somewhere along the way, someone must have started dosing me with the character education Kool-Aid, because I have come to realize that character is present in all that I do when teaching students or leading a school. Check it out. You’ll come to see that character is more than preaching values and hoping kids make good choices to put values into action.
My character lessons
- I’m a work in progress and there will always be a gap between who I am and who I want to be.
- I don’t have to be sick to get better and that every day brings opportunities to improve my life and my character.
- Be mindful of core values even when my mind is full.
- The school’s culture is shaped and developed over time by the actions and values of the principal, teachers and support staff in the school.
- Professional Development should not be about a workshop, class, or conference. It’s a mindset.
- Character is more important than competence.
- People will evaluate my words by my deeds.
- Character is the product of our values and choices, not only defining who we are, but will be a factor in determining our future.
- It takes years to build up trust and only seconds to destroy it.
- I often judge myself by my best intentions and most noble acts, but I’ll be judged by my worst act.
- I can’t control what will happen to me but that I have a lot to say about what happens in me.
- Your title, degree or background makes little difference unless students know that you care, respect them and believe in them.
- Example has more followers than reason.
- Attitudes, both good and bad, are contagious.
- Educators are not only in the ‘TEACHING’ profession but in the ‘LIFE-CHANGING’ profession. Always remember that in all of your interactions.
- The value of a leader is directly proportionate to a leader’s values.
- It takes a conscientious effort to be kind, but that kindness changes lives.
- The easiest way to eat crow is while it’s still warm. The colder it gets, the harder it is to swallow.
- If you want milk, you have to do more than sit on a stool and hope a cow will walk up to you.
- I know my goals and I intend to hold myself more accountable than anyone else.
- The life you live is the life you teach.
- Successfully teaching character does not come from what teachers do occasionally, but what they do consistently.
- If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten. Even a dead fish swims downstream.
- A great leader’s legacy is not in what they do, but what the people they serve do.
- Great teachers will teach more by who they are than by the academic content they teach.
- A successful class is not about having the right rules but about building right relationships.
- What you allow, you encourage; what you permit, you promote.
- Character is easier to keep than it is to recover.
- The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority.
- Recognizing a problem is not solving it; saying it is not doing it.
- Real success is being significant.
Application
- CHARACTER COUNTS! is so much more than just the Six Pillars of Character. What do you think this means?
- The lessons on character came from personal experiences that Dr. Smit has had working in schools or supporting teachers and principals in the implementation of CHARACTER COUNTS! Write 3 slogans or maxims of lessons that you have learned as a teacher related to character and values.
- How can we put into practice these desired lessons of character in action at our school?
- What would be a story of character at our school or one that you have observed that speaks to our school’s effort to intentionally and explicitly teach CHARACTER COUNTS!
- Who has been your role model or mentor? In what way have they impacted you as a teacher?
Hear more from Gary on Twitter – @GSmit4Character