Character Education

When I think of schools, I think of classrooms, especially elementary and middle school classrooms. Then, I think of the teachers and the students in these classrooms. I am convinced that teachers in elementary and middle schools have a unique opportunity to be Teachers of Character.

We have always assumed that character development was the job of personal mentors and the schools reinforced these values I believe good character can be enhanced through education. We are living in a time when harmful social media messages abound, and very divisive societal elements are present The idea of character education in the school was very popular when I retired in 2000. Reinforcing values such as respect, kindness, and courage are at the core of character education.

Consider the typical classroom It is like a small community or family. Students come together every day for months. They share space and resources and develop relationships. What better place to promote character education than in these classrooms?

Clarissa Rice has a Master's degree and EDS in school counseling. Prior to retiring, she was the Counselor at Snellville Middle School for 27 years. Clarissa also taught English, Speech, and Drama.

Here is an example of how such programs can work A classroom, a grade level, or even an entire school system chooses nine or 10 character traits to emphasize during the school year. These are presented one at a time for a month. For this month, the group concentrates on that character trait For instance, if ‘Respect’ was the word of the month, various activities including essays, projects, bulletin boards would build on the concept. The emphasis should always be positive, with students bringing out class from examples shown by classmates. When the month ends, the character trait is retired to another area of the classroom to make way for the new trait

Character words can be chosen in many different ways: by the school, the classroom, the community, by any organization or leadership that manages the program. This is the way we did it at my school. It is powerful when an entire community does the program, but even one small group spending 10 minutes a day can have a positive impact on everyone With so much hate speech and harassment present in our society, a character education program can help set a different tone.

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