Professional Development Workshops

CHARACTER COUNTS! offers a variety of outstanding professional development workshops. Dynamic CHARACTER COUNTS! trainers deliver each of the following interactive professional development workshops in half-or full-day format. The 12 core values and skills: the Six Pillars of Character (trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship) and Six Success Skills (learning, self-discipline, diligence, positivity, perseverance, resilience) are the foundation for CHARACTER COUNTS! workshops. We will tailor your workshop to fit your needs.

Email us, call 515-271-1910 or submit a training request for more information about our workshops and pricing.

Choose from a wide variety of character education and SEL workshops.

Introduction to
CHARACTER COUNTS!

This introductory workshop uses instructional strategies that educators can replicate in the classroom and offers resources, tools, and best practices to make character an integral part of school life. The workshop covers concepts like

• the Six Pillars of Character
• decision-making strategies that include Best Possible Results and the stakeholder’s approach
• TEAM as our dynamic driving strategy
• positive school or organizational climate
• behavior change theory
• growth mindset
• research-based instructional strategies

This topic is available as a half-day or full-day workshop.

Student Development
Workshop

The Student Development Workshop is our comprehensive three-day workshop. Our master trainers provide hands-on learning in a group setting. Participants learn techniques for integrating the Six Pillars of Character into their lives, schools, and classrooms. In addition, participants learn about the TEAM approach to character development and best practices for implementing CHARACTER COUNTS! in their classrooms, school, activities, and district.

The training may be taken as a three-day onsite training or a two-day onsite training with the third day of implementation planning completed online.  Participants may register for Drake University Graduate credit for an additional fee.  Schools may wish to offer the course for state-issued licensure renewal points.

Character Development
in Early Childhood

Designed for early childhood educators, this workshop explores the skills needed to enhance the social and emotional growth of the early childhood classroom.  Early childhood educators will walk away with tools and strategies to implement a high-quality character development initiative for young children. These resources are easily integrated into the social and emotional curriculum of the early childhood classroom.

At least one Early Childhood kit must be purchased for this training, as the resources contained in the kit will supplement the training. Early Childhood kits may be purchased for $199 per kit.

This topic is available as a half-day or full-day workshop.

Increasing Positive
Parent Engagement

This workshop may be offered for school staff or for parents.

For Staff

Parents are a child’s first and most important character educator. It is important for schools to work more collaboratively with parents in raising children.  This workshop will give educators tools to gain parent’s support towards the school’s efforts to promote good character. It will also include successful engagement activities and strategies on how to deal with challenging parents.

For Parents

This workshop focuses on increasing positive parent engagement in the education of their children.  The workshop equips parents with tools and strategies to use at home to support the school’s CC! efforts. Parents will learn how to encourage and model the Six Pillars of Character at home, especially in challenging situations.  If requested, the parent sessions may also address managing behaviors of at-risk youth.

This topic is available as a two-hour or half-day workshop.

Dealing with At-Risk, ADHD, and Other Learning Challenges

This workshop provides an overview of current research and best practices to recognize symptoms and effectively assists students with various behavioral and learning challenges including Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Oppositional Defiance Disorder (ODD), Anxiety Disorder (ASD), Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD), and other emotional or behavioral challenges.

The workshop will demonstrate and teach the proper use of fidgets, a proven effective strategy to provide sensory input, assist with anxiety, concentration, and the ability to listen and self-soothe.  Also, participants will learn proven Cognitive Behavioral Therapeutic methods to teach youth how to use positive self-talk and dispute cognitive distortions.  Participants will also learn other vital relaxation skills such as deep breathing, positive mental imagery, and progressive muscle relaxation.  Other components included are truancy training, including cultural competency and socioeconomic awareness, and diversity.

This topic is available as a two-hour or half-day workshop.

Pursuing Victory With Honor – Building Character Through Sport

Athletics and activities provide an exceptional opportunity to teach students character skills and practice those character skills in a meaningful way.  Character traits like work ethic, teamwork, leadership, and integrity contribute to the short-term success of the athlete and team and the long-term development and success of the individual.

In this workshop, participants will learn tools and strategies to coach the Six Pillars in athletics and activities by turning values into behaviors, as well as develop implementation plans to Teach, Enforce, Advocate, and Model the Six Pillars of Character on their teams.  This workshop includes Pursuing Victory With Honor Playbook resources at no additional cost.

This topic is available as a half-day or full-day workshop.

Civility in Communities

A community culture built around the Six Pillars of Character can positively impact community members and encourage civility among citizens. If communities want to work together with civility, then they must promote civil behaviors like seeking to understand, win-win negotiation, and building connections. In this session, participants will learn strategies to shape a culture of civility in their community by demonstrating civility in their own lives and create a personalized civility plan to help guide their actions in challenging situations.

Objectives:

1. Utilize tools and strategies to personally demonstrate civility and shape a culture of civility in the community.
2. Identify key issues in the community that create conflict and incivility.
3. Create a personalized civility plan to enhance your civility in challenging situations.
4. Discuss ways to model civility in order to positively impact the culture and climate of your community.

This topic is available as a two-hour or half-day workshop.

Community Coalition Building

A community’s culture shapes the character and behavior of the individuals living in that community.  Therefore, communities should work to create their community’s culture with intentionality.  In this session, participants will learn how to create a CHARACTER COUNTS! Community Coalition to help build a community culture that reflects the Six Pillars of Character in action.

Objectives:

1. Create a CHARACTER COUNTS! Community Coalition.
2. Learn tools and strategies to shape the culture of the community.
3. Identify key organizations in the community that play a significant role in shaping the community culture.
4. Create a CC! Community Coalition implementation plan designed to shape the culture of your community.

This topic is available as a two-hour or half-day workshop.

Stress Management

Stress levels are impacting our educators and students and an increased rate. The Ray Center at Drake University (home of CHARACTER COUNTS!) is offering support through professional development to help schools address these challenges.

Session Overview
Stress is inevitable. It is impossible to remove it from your life completely. Thus, it is critical that we learn and implement strategies to manage the stresses we face. This interactive session emphasizes the new science of stress management with a focus on awareness, mindset, actions, and reflection. Participants will engage with research-based strategies to build their own stress management plan in order to overcome the challenges they face in their own life and as leaders.

Session options can range from 90 minutes to 3 hours. The program can be customized to focus on both Personal Stress Management and/or Team Stress Management.

Customize Your
CHARACTER COUNTS! Training

At CHARACTER COUNTS!, we know that each school is unique has distinct challenges or focus areas.  Whether you are interested in using CHARACTER COUNTS! to combat bullying, or integrating CC! with your PBIS or other SEL program, we can design and deliver customized character education programming to meet your specific needs.