THRIVE THROUGH CHARACTER EDUCATION

▶ The Canyon Center for Character Education (CCCE) aims to cultivate human flourishing through character and virtue formation in pursuit of practical wisdom.

▶ The CCCE has developed various resources to support professionals in understanding character education and its components.

▶ The following informational flyers were developed to enhance knowledge and allow stakeholders to share within their organizations.

▶ At the conclusion of the booklet, please find ways to connect and collaborate with the CCCE if you are interested in implementing character education in your role.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

MISSION STATEMENT

In support of Grand Canyon University’s mission, the Canyon Center for Character Education encourages human and societal flourishing by shaping transformative leaders and supporting all professionals to advocate for the common good and advance character education, virtue formation and practical wisdom.

VISION STATEMENT

The Canyon Center for Character Education promotes societal flourishing, cultures of virtuous character and responsible stewardship through collaborative and dynamic partnerships with transformative leaders and communities to infuse character education across diverse professions and environments.

OVERARCHING GOAL

The goal of the Canyon Center for Character Education is to build a national movement around character education using GCU College of Education’s vast network of students, faculty, alumni and partners to promote school cultures that encourage human and societal flourishing through virtue formation.

CANYON CENTER FOR CHARACTER EDUCATION INITIATIVES

• Cultivate understanding of character formation with university stakeholders.

• Develop curriculum to deepen the emphasis on character within school leadership programs.

• Similarly, develop two new specialty tracks focused on character to be added within school leadership programs: Christian leadership and educational entrepreneurship.

• Create character content to be made accessible on GCU’s existing Professional Learning Network (PLN), a virtual platform for current students and alumni that will include resources, videos, discussion threads and learning modules.

• Engage learning using the PLN, utilizing embedded new content for PLN participants.

• Provide scholarship opportunities to leverage and create new opportunities for collaboration with school districts.

• Select school leaders, many hailing from the two master’s programs in school leadership, to participate at four in-person summits that will focus on character formation and its implementation within schools.

The Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Family Foundation, Inc. awarded Grand Canyon University a three-year, six-month grant of $2,271,000 to support the development of the Canyon Center for Character Education.

What are Virtues?

Grand Canyon University’s Canyon Center for Character Education within the College of Education aims to provide an understanding of character, virtues, virtue development and character education to promote school cultures that encourage human and societal flourishing through virtue formation.

VIRTUES DEFINED

Virtues are positive personal strengths that enable behaviors and actions that reflect high moral standards. Virtues are empowering and are key to fulfilling an individual’s potential. Virtue formation includes the actions related to forming or the process of forming virtues whether for individual or societal growth. This can be accomplished with modeling and teaching.

VIRTUES UNDERSTOOD

No definitive list of virtues can be given, as the virtues will, to a certain extent, be relative to individual constitution, developmental stage and social circumstance. However, a general idea can be broken into four categories of virtues: intellectual, moral, civic and performance. Although virtues can be divided into different categories, they form a coherent, mutually supportive whole in a well-rounded life. Character education is all about their integration, guided by the overarching intellectual virtue of practical wisdom or ‘good sense.’

INTELLECTUAL VIRTUES

• Supports discernment, right action and pursuit of knowledge

• Enables problem-solving

PERFORMANCE VIRTUES

• Equips and enables one to navigate life and uncertainty for success

• Enables intellectual, moral and civic virtues

MORAL VIRTUES

• Guides social connections and decision making

• Enables one to make ethical decisions

• Examples: Compassion, courage, gratitude, honesty, humility, integrity, respect, open-mindedness

• Examples: Curiosity, critical thinking, judgment, discernment, reasoning, reflection, resourcefulness

CIVIC VIRTUES

• Supports citizenship and community

PRACTICAL WISDOM

This is the overall quality of knowing what to want and what not to want when the demands of two or more virtues collide and to integrate such demands into an acceptable course of action. This integrative virtue is developed through experience and critical reflection that enables us to perceive, know, desire and act with good sense. This includes discerning, deliberative action in situations where virtues collide.

• Examples: Confidence, determination, motivation, perseverance, resilience, teamwork 1 Reference Jubilee Center: Jubilee Centre for Character & Virtues (2017). Framework for Character Education in Schools. Available at: https://www.jubileecentre.ac.uk/userfiles/jubileecentre/pdf/character-education/Framework%20

• Enables collaboration and contribution to address systematic problems for the common good

• Examples: Citizenship, civility, community awareness, neighborliness, service, volunteering, culturalist

WHAT ARE VIRTUES? GUIDING QUESTIONS AND ACTIVITY

Ways to Use this Resource:

■ Informational

◾ Use this resource for your own information.

◾ Share this resource with others to help inform what virtues are.

◾ Use and share for learning about the types of virtues and practical wisdom with staff, community, students, within an organization, etc.

■ Discussion Starters

◾ Learning about virtues is important in selecting an organization’s core values/virtues to embed in its mission and vision. Use this resource as a guide to discuss what virtues are present in the organization and which are opportunities.

◾ Share with stakeholders to ask and learn more about the types of virtues they value.

■ Reference

◾ When considering which virtues you value or want to value within your organization, reference this resource for guidance.

Guiding Questions:

■ What are your thoughts about the types of virtues?

■ Which types of virtues do you value in your personal life?

■ Which types of virtues do you value in your professional life?

■ Which virtues do you deploy most often and which are opportunities for growth?

■ Which virtues or virtue types are present in your organization?

■ Which virtues do you model for others and/or teach others?

■ Is practical wisdom something you feel you employ?

■ How can practical wisdom be cultivated?

■ How can I/we enhance all types of virtues in my/our roles?

Activity:

■ With a group of stakeholders in your organization, break into groups.

■ Have each group review this resource and seminal documents from your organization (mission, vision, strategic plan, etc.).

■ Compare the documents and decide which types of virtues are present in the organization, if any, and which may align or need to become part of the culture.

■ Ask each group to create large posters to share group findings.

■ Place the posters around the room and allow stakeholders to walk around, viewing the other group findings. Participants can also comment, highlight, underline, etc. on aspects they also found or like.

■ After viewing all the findings, hold an open discussion to determine how the organization might integrate virtues into the culture, which virtues to focus on and/or which virtues to enhance a focus on. You may also work together or with a small team to rewrite your seminal documents with a greater focus on character and/ or virtues.

What is Character?

Grand Canyon University’s Canyon Center for Character Education within the College of Education aims to provide an understanding of character, virtues, virtue development and character education to promote school cultures that encourage human and societal flourishing through virtue formation.

CHARACTER DEFINED

Character includes the virtues and moral or ethical qualities distinctive to an individual that motivate and enable one to function as a moral agent, do one’s best work and effectively collaborate in the common space to promote the common good.

CHARACTER IN ACTION

Character consists of the traits that allow us to respond appropriately in different situations. Character can be caught, taught and sought as part of character education.

TAUGHT

• Explicit teaching

• Discussions

• Lessons

• Experiences

• Develops understanding, habituation and decision-making

• Activities

• Resources

CHARACTER SOUGHT

CAUGHT

• Witnessed in actions, choices and words

• Modeled by others

• Implicit teaching/hidden curriculum

• Caught by other individuals

• School Ethos

• Relationships

1 Reference Jubilee Center: Jubilee Centre for Character & Virtues (2017). Framework for Character Education in Schools. Available at: https://www.jubileecentre.ac.uk/userfiles/jubileecentre/pdf/ character-education/Framework%20for%20Character%20Education.pdf (Accessed: Sept. 21, 2021).

• Seek character

• Desire character

• Pursue character

• Human flourishing

• Enrichment

• Volunteering

• Service Learning

• Social Action

Have questions? Reach out to CharacterEducation@gcu.edu

WHAT IS CHARACTER? GUIDING QUESTIONS AND ACTIVITY

Ways to Use this Resource:

■ Informational

◾ Use this resource for your own information.

◾ Use and share for learning about what character is and ways to help others gain character virtues.

■ Discussion Starters

◾ In a professional learning setting, share the resource and ask educators to consider how their teaching of character aligns to the caught, taught or sought examples.

◾ Ask how educators can enhance their modeling and teaching of character through the examples on the resource.

◾ Ask if stakeholders believe one way character is obtained is preferred over others in their opinion.

Guiding Questions:

■ How are we ensuring character is caught? How can we improve?

■ How are we ensuring character is taught? How can we improve?

■ How are we ensuring character is sought? How can we improve?

■ Do you think character can be caught, taught and sought?

■ Do you think character is attained more through any one way?

Activity:

■ Gather the teachers in your school community, present this resource and hold a large group discussion about how character is caught, taught and sought. Discuss the importance of each.

■ Ask grade level teams to get together and list ways they embed the caught, taught and sought model of teaching character.

■ Ask grade level teams to consider how they may want to enhance their practices in each aspect of teaching character.

■ Bring grade level teams back together as a large group to share ideas and determine a plan for how to ensure all are embedding the caught, taught and sought model.

What is Character Education?

Grand Canyon University’s Canyon Center for Character Education within the College of Education aims to provide an understanding of character, virtues, virtue development and character education to promote school cultures that encourage human and societal flourishing through virtue formation.

CHARACTER EDUCATION DEFINED

Character education includes the acquisition and strengthening of virtues to live a flourishing life and contribute to the betterment of society. Character education is modeling and teaching virtue knowledge, understanding, literacy, reasoning and formation to cultivate a thriving society through development of confident and compassionate humans who are effective contributors to society, successful learners, moral decision makers and responsible citizens.

CHARACTER EDUCATION IN ACTION

Aids individuals in employing a balance of virtues and virtuous actions when using practical wisdom to make ethically sound choices, contribute to society and drive social change to live a life in a world worth living in.

Includes all explicit and implicit educational activities that help people develop positive personal strengths called virtues.

Serves as more than just a class subject and has a place in the culture and functions of families, classrooms, schools and other institutions.

Helps students grasp what is ethically important in situations and how to act for the right reasons so they become more autonomous and reflective in the practice of virtue.

Promotes individual and collective flourishing through leading, teaching, serving and learning with character.

Develops practical wisdom (good judgment) in self and others so that all can achieve human flourishing.

Offers a comprehensive, school-based approach that includes an intentional focus on promoting character, virtue formation and ethical decision making through curriculum, school ethos, school activities and engagement with family and community.

1 Reference Jubilee Center: Jubilee Centre for Character & Virtues (2017). Framework for Character Education in Schools. Available at: https://www.jubileecentre.ac.uk/userfiles/jubileecentre/pdf/ character-education/Framework%20for%20Character%20Education.pdf (Accessed: Sept. 21, 2021). Have

WHAT IS CHARACTER EDUCATION? GUIDING QUESTIONS AND ACTIVITY

Ways to Use this Resource:

■ Informational

◾ Use this resource for your own information.

◾ Use and share for learning about goals and aspects of character education.

■ Discussion Starters

◾ With a leadership team or team of teachers, ask which aspects of character education are in alignment with your school community goals.

◾ With a leadership team or team of teachers, ask which aspects of character education you wish to promote or enhance.

Guiding Questions:

■ Is character education a part of our school ethos and/or culture?

■ Are we implicitly and explicitly teaching character?

■ Is our character education focus comprehensive? Does it focus on promoting character, virtue formation and ethical decision making?

■ Are students being taught what is ethically important in situations?

■ Do we allow students to be reflective and autonomous?

Activity:

■ Gather the stakeholders in your school community, present this resource and hold a large group discussion about which aspects of character education your school supports and which you have opportunities for growth in.

■ With the feedback, select a small team of leaders in your community to research the opportunities for growth and find out specific strategies for making improvements.

■ With the team, develop a strategic plan for enhancing your character education initiative.

THE REAL IMPACT OF CHARACTER EDUCATION

CHARACTER EDUCATION

The best way to make a more just and caring world is to make more just and caring people (Berkowitz, 2011). Character education includes the acquisition and strengthening of virtues to live a flourishing life and contribute to the be erment of society. Character education is modeling and teaching virtue knowledge, understanding, literacy, reasoning and formation to cultivate a thriving society through the development of confident and compassionate humans who are effective contributors to society, successful learners, moral decision makers and responsible citizens. A focus on character education has life-long impact in the lives of both students and staff !

Character Education

Character education improvements for:

RESEARCH SHOWS USING CHARACTER EDUCATION CAN:

• Prepare students for ethical contributions in their careers

• Positively influence students’ behavior

• Increase academic success

Citations:

Arthur, J. and Fullard, M., O’Leary, C. 2022. Teaching Character Education: What Works Research Report.

RESEARCH SHOWS CHARACTER EDUCATION INITIATIVES WITHIN SCHOOLS CAN:

• Help motivate teachers to join the field and stay in the field

• Help teachers feel a sense of happiness in the profession

Arthur, J., Kristjansson, K., Cooke, S., Brown, E. and Carr, D. (2015) ‘The Good Teacher,’ University of Birmingham.

Berkowitz, M. W. 2011. Leading Schools of Character. In A. M. Blankstein and P. D. Houston, EdS. Leadership for Social Justice and Democracy in Our Schools. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin. Berkowitz, M. W. and Bier, M. C. 2007. What Works In Character Education. Journal of Character Education, 5(1), 29.

Deal, T. E. and Peterson, K. D. 2016. Shaping School Culture. Wiley and Sons, Incorporated.

Jeynes, W. H. 2017. A Meta-Analysis on the Relationship Between Character Education and Student Achievement and Behavioral Outcomes. Education and Urban Society, 51(1), 33–71. Santoro, D. A. 2021 Demoralized: Why Teachers Leave the Profession They Love and How They Can Stay.

Grand Canyon University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (HLCommission.org), an institutional accreditation agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Approved by the Program Director of the Canyon Center for Character Education on June 8, 2023. ©2023 Grand Canyon University 23CCCE0024

THE REAL IMPACT OF CHARACTER EDUCATION GUIDING QUESTIONS AND ACTIVITY

Ways to Use this Resource:

■ Informational

◾ Use this resource for your own information.

◾ Use and share for understanding the impacts of character education.

◾ Increase understanding by researching further with the references provided.

■ Discussion Starters

◾ When connecting with others in a school community, use this resource as a discussion starter for why character education may be important. Ask stakeholders if they feel the positive impacts shown are already present in the school community and if character education is present or may need to be.

◾ Use as a discussion starter at the beginning of a professional learning session with educators, asking if the impacts shown are something they would like to see more of. Then, discuss what character education is and how to get to the provided impacts.

Guiding Questions:

■ Which positive impact reflected is already present in our school community? Which is not?

■ Do we want to see some or all of these positive impacts? If so, how do we get there?

■ What is the further research to support these impacts?

■ How can we enhance or implement character education to attain these impacts?

Activity:

■ To further understanding of the actual impacts, ask small teams to research further using the references provided.

■ Ask teams to learn about specific strategies that lead to the positive impacts shown on the document.

■ Ask teams to report their findings and as a larger group, analyze which strategies you are using and which you may want to adopt.

How Character Education Compares CHARACTER EDUCATION DEFINED

Character education includes the acquisition and strengthening of virtues to live a flourishing life and contribute to the betterment of society. Character education is modeling and teaching virtue knowledge, understanding, literacy, reasoning and formation to cultivate a thriving society through the development of confident and compassionate humans who are effective contributors to society, successful learners, moral decision makers and responsible citizens. A focus on character education has life-long impact!

RESTORATIVE PRACTICES

Restorative practices build on student strengths while aiming to provide students with opportunities to be accountable, responsible and empowered as they build relationships and prosocial skills during conflict resolution. Character education enhances these concepts by helping students form these and other values for not only conflict resolution but good decisionmaking and actions throughout life. helping students form these and other values for not only conflict resolution but good decision-making and actions throughout life.

SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING

Social emotional learning

(SEL) involves developing specific skills related to well-being. SEL skills enable and support a young person’s determination and commitment to be a person of character. It is character strengths enacted with SEL skills that contribute to a life of flourishing in school, in relationships, in the workplace and as citizens.

Restorative Practices SEL Character Education

MULTI-TIERED SYSTEM OF SUPPORTS

Multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS) is a schoolwide, proactive and tiered approach to help educators provide academic and behavioral strategies for students with various needs. Character education is also schoolwide and differentiated for student needs, but it is focused on developing all students’ character in and out of school, for life-long development.

POSITIVE BEHAVORIAL INTERVENTIONS AND SUPPORTS

Positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) is a tiered framework focused on culture and equity for supporting students’ behavioral, academic, social, emotional and mental health aimed to improve social emotional competence, academic success and school climate. Character education can be the foundation for PBIS and move beyond expectations, behaviors and skills to cultivate flourishing individuals and focus on who they are as a whole.

HOW CHARACTER EDUCATION COMPARES GUIDING QUESTIONS AND ACTIVITY

Ways to Use this Resource:

■ Informational

◾ Use this resource for your own information.

◾ Use and share for understanding how certain programs may relate to or differ from character education.

■ Discussion Starters

◾ When connecting with others in a school community, share this resource and ask which programs you have in place and if character education is at the heart of it or an afterthought.

◾ Use as a discussion starter at the beginning of a professional learning session with educators, asking their ideas about the programs and comparison to character education.

◾ Ask yourself and/or the leadership team if there is agreement with the information provided. If so, how can your community enhance the character education focus?

Guiding Questions:

■ Do we have any of these programs in place in our school community? If so, is character education at the heart of it?

■ Do we view character education as the foundation? Why or why not?

■ How can we enhance what we are doing by placing character education as the foundation to our other work in the school community?

■ Is our focus on character proactive or reactive?

Activity:

■ Gather a team to analyze the current character education focus in your school community, whether a program or nonexistent.

◾ Ask how proactive the focus is.

◾ Consider the details and whether a focus on character is a part of the entire school culture/ethos.

◾ Consider if the focus on character is embedded throughout all aspects of the school — curriculum, behavior, extra-curriculars, hallways, activities, assemblies, professional development, parent involvement, etc.

■ Discuss how character can be the foundation. Use the document as a reference.

■ Write a strategic plan for embedding and weaving character education as the foundation in your school community.

CANYON CENTER FOR CHARACTER EDUCATION

A REVIEW OF OUR COMMITMENT TO SCHOOLS AND SUGGESTED ACTION STEPS

Grand Canyon University’s Canyon Center for Character Education (CCCE) has so much to offer schools that are ready to implement character education into their curriculum. Through an individualized approach, CCCE offers a series of complimentary options for schools in regard to their timeline and commitment to implementing character education.

NEXT STEPS

Schools will participate in an initial meeting with their leadership (can be a team if desired) and CCCE’s Dr. Ashley Betkowski to further their understanding of character education and the complimentary resources available through CCCE.

Schools will meet with Dr. Ashley Betkowski a second time for a strategic planning meeting to determine their individualized school needs regarding character education initiatives and to develop an action plan for implementation and training.

Optional: Schools may invite staff, parents/guardians and students to take a survey at no cost that will help analyze their needs pertaining to the incentivized environment, school ethos and student motivation.

Optional: Schools may invite their leadership teams and educators to participate in Leading with Virtue, a complimentary seven-course asynchronous program that aims to increase understanding of what character education is and how they can lead a school community with character education embedded. (Please see our Program Guide for more information and the GCU Professional Development website to find courses. Search for “Leading with Virtue” or “character education.”)

Schools will invite staff, teachers and/or parents/guardians to participate in professional development, where staff will engage in learning experiences to help develop a shared vision for the school’s character initiative, gain best practices for implementing the initiatives in current practices and/or work together to understand their individual character and role in developing character in students. Parent/guardian training support can provide an understanding of the school’s approach and vision pertaining to character as well as help develop a shared language.

School communities will embed and weave their planned character education initiative across their school activities, culture, curriculum and community. Schools will monitor and adjust their initiative as needed.

Optional: School leadership, staff and teachers may join CCCE representatives for continued support in implementing and assessing character education initiatives.

Optional: School leadership teams may participate in CCCE Summits (eight Fridays and Saturdays throughout 2024-25) at no cost to gain practical strategies and ideas for implementing and enhancing their character education initiatives through engaging sessions led by leaders in the field.

Join our Professional Learning Network (PLN) for access to rich resources in the field and to collaborate and network with other leaders. PLN is a complimentary virtual hub that you can join at any time regardless of your collaboration with us in the future. Inquire here.

▶ Canyon Center for Character Education Framework for Purposeful Cultures of Character

▶ What is Character Education? Training Video

▶ Character Education in Action Training Video

COMMITMENT TO SCHOOLS AND SUGGESTED ACTION STEPS GUIDING QUESTIONS AND ACTIVITY

Ways to Use this Resource:

■ Informational

◾ Use this resource for your own information.

◾ Use and share to understand how your school and the CCCE can collaborate to implement character education in your school community.

■ Discussion Starters

◾ When connecting with others in a school community, share the document and ask if the timeline and commitments are something you can accommodate.

◾ Ask your school community character team which options are of interest to you and how you might want to integrate the various resources and options into your initiative.

Guiding Questions:

■ Do we want to collaborate with the CCCE on integrating character education?

■ Which options are right for our school community?

■ What can we commit to?

■ Are there other resources outlined that we can use as a starting point?

Activity:

■ Gather a team to lead character education initiatives.

■ Review this resource and determine the next best course of action for your school.

■ Reach out to the CCCE for support!

An Approach to Moral Dilemmas: ICED

Character and practical wisdom are a lifelong process of development and growth. The cultivation of character and wisdom requires reflection and practice, to be strengthened through habituation and experience. Reflecting and discussing moral dilemmas in community empowers individuals to gain understanding, perspective and greater wisdom.

The following Approach to Moral Dilemmas can be used as a community discussion guide to enhance character-based decision making.

I - IDENTIFY

⦁ Identify the problem, moral or ethical issue and the virtues present and potentially in conflict

⦁ Identify initial reactions and emotions

⦁ Identify stakeholders involved

⦁ Identify codes, laws and policies that might relate to the situation

C - CONNECT

⦁ Connect to the situation by considering your own personal experiences and biases

⦁ Connect your personal identity and/or mission to the potential action choices of the dilemma

⦁ Connect the organizational mission to the potential action choices of the dilemma

⦁ Connect aims as they align to human and societal flourishing

E - EXPLORE

⦁ Explore the situation by gaining context of:

⦁ The emotions involved

⦁ The varying virtues involved and those of the stakeholders involved or affected by the dilemma

⦁ The virtues in conflict

⦁ The diverse perspectives of the individuals involved

⦁ The pros and cons of potential action choices in the situation

⦁ The effect on others and the community based on potential action choices in the situation

⦁ Explore perceptions and perspectives by:

⦁ Discussing what decision would be right for all involved

⦁ Engaging in dialogue that illuminates what others see as the right decision and why

⦁ Consider what the community, organization and/or professionals might consider the right course of action and why

⦁ Explore options, alternatives, pros and cons

D - DETERMINE

⦁ Determine the right course of action after considering the pros and cons of each action choice

⦁ Determine if your perspective changed after engaging in the reflective process and/or dialogue

⦁ Determine if your personal or professional virtues influenced your choices

⦁ Determine if the decided course of action aligned with personal or professional aims for flourishing

Adapted from: Bohlin, K. E. (2022). The Practical Wisdom Framework: A Compass for School Leaders. Journal of Education, 202(2), 156-165. doi.org/10.1177/002205742110288 Spelman, M. (2022). Ethical Dilemma Reflection Framework. North Central College, Naperville, IL. Warnick, B. R., and Silverman, S. K. (2011). A Framework for Professional Ethics Courses in Teacher Education. Journal of Teacher Education, 62(3), 273-285. DOI: 10.1177/0022487110398002

AN APPROACH TO MORAL DILEMMAS: ICED GUIDING QUESTIONS AND ACTIVITY

Ways to Use this Resource:

■ Informational

◾ Use this resource for your own information when faced with character-based or moral dilemmas

◾ Share the resource with others to help them grapple with moral or ethical decisions

◾ Use and share for learning how to enhance practical wisdom through dilemma analysis with staff, community, students, within an organization, etc.

■ Discussion Starters

◾ Use the framework phases or bulleted items to spark discussions about virtuous action choices or dilemmas

◾ Share with stakeholders to ask what they reflect on when faced with dilemmas that involve a collision of virtues

■ Reference

◾ When faced with a moral dilemma or when helping others faced with dilemmas, reference this resource for guidance

Guiding Questions:

■ How can this approach to moral dilemmas be used in our organization for cultivating practical wisdom?

■ How can this guide be scaffolded for students or families of our community?

■ How can this guide be a foundation for decision making in our community?

■ How can we use this guide to develop a collaborative community that works together for collective decision making in pursuit of the common good?

■ How can this guide become common practice?

■ How does this guide support inclusivity and equity?

■ How does the use of moral dilemma analysis foster character and practical wisdom?

Activity:

■ Gather stakeholders in common roles

■ Start with an opening activity that opens the mind and allows individuals to feel safe when being vulnerable (for example, try improv warmups)

■ Present a character-based dilemma that would be relatable and age appropriate to the group. The dilemma should involve a collision or imbalance of virtues where there may not be a right or wrong answer and there are two or more action choices

■ Have groups review this resource and seminal documents from your organization (mission, vision, strategic plan, etc.) if applicable to aligning to aims

■ Ask groups to use this guide to proceed through phases and reassure participants that what they share does not affect their position and that they are in a safe place to express their opinions and ideas

■ Allow groups to share their choices and experiences with the whole group for comparisons, reflection and learning

Our

FRAMEWORK

The CCCE’s framework provides a structure for creating a culture of character. The framework outlines high-level components, provides more detailed steps and includes practical applications. Organizations can use the framework as a guide and find support to meet their needs as they integrate character education.

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