By Shelby Clark
A few weeks ago, I attended the “Character through Communities” conference at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama—“Roll Tide!” (as I learned to say while I was there). This was my first time in Alabama and really my first time anywhere in the “Deep South” barring southern Florida (which, I think, many would argue doesn’t count). This conference, facilitated by the University of Alabama, the Hope Institute, and Samson University, was held in order to help educators, academics, administrators and others think more about how we can facilitate character education in schools, with a particular focus on the role of relationships and communities in fostering student character. What were some take-aways for all who care about fostering character or social emotional learning in students?
We are cultivating character in children, not assuming that character is something children innately have or do not have. Educators, administrators, researchers, parents, and more are planting the seeds and creating the right conditions in the gardens for students to grow into people of character. Clifton Taulbert, the opening keynote speaker, civil rights activist, and author of Eight Habits of the Heart, stated that “we can all be cultivators, we can all do something to make a difference [in the lives of children.].. Don’t remove yourself from the system.”
Keynote speaker and character scholar Marvin Berkowitz called upon the Hebrew saying “tikkun olam” or “to heal the world,” explaining that educators have an “ethical obligation to improve the world, to make it a better place.” He said, “We are in the world changing business.” Rather than a garden, Berkowitz compared schools to a petri dish. If we want schools to be places where children’s character can flourish, then we need to be providing the right nutrients for character to grow.
2. Administrators should create a school culture focused on character. One presenter insisted that administrators have a responsibility to create the school culture, and in particular a school culture focused on character. They asserted, “Principals have to carry the flag.” In particular, the conference emphasized that principals have to be role models of character, in essence “walking the walk” rather than “talking the talk.” In a later panel of school leaders, one leader mentioned that a school’s culture should feel like the building “is giving you a big hug.”
The administrators furthermore emphasized that creating a culture of character in schools is not about making quick changes, but rather about small changes over time. One speaker referred to the book Atomic Habits, which talks about how small, 1% changes can add up over time to give you extraordinary results; it is the same with school cultures. Administrators need to celebrate their small wins and look at failures as opportunities for growth. Marvin Berkowitz similarly commented that administrators and educators need to “Dream big, think small, and act now.”
Ideas suggested for how to focus your school culture on character included:
Make sure you have a structure and a plan regarding how to implement character in your school - “Just talking about it is not enough.”
Keep in mind that one size doesn’t fit all.
Provide protected time for character education (e.g., a character education class, advisory, etc.).
Secure resources for character education.
Discuss character education with staff and other stakeholders (e.g., in meetings).
Be intentional in your hiring and team selection (e.g., do they model character?).
3. Define your character education core values. Several of the presentations throughout the conference pointed out that there needs to be greater focus on defining and understanding core values. One presenter mentioned that, if a school team tells him that they want to help form productive citizens, his follow up questions include, “1) Do you have an operational definition of what a productive citizen is?; 2) Do you have initiatives to get to that?; and 3) How are you measuring that your students are getting there?” Drs. Ted Savage and Hank Staggs, keynote speakers, noted that having a common language regarding core values across a school system allows students to know that the expectations will look exactly the same in each of their classrooms. Ultimately, such uniformity helps erase confusion and makes more time for learning. Drs. Brendan White and Tanya Crockett likewise found that shared, common language around character is a staple of Character.org National Schools of Character.
Ideas suggested for how to define core values included:
Everyone makes a list regarding which values are most important to them. Once those lists are narrowed down to the top values of the group, everyone is asked to describe each value, and these definitions are compared in terms of overlap.
Begin with an existing framework of values (such as that of the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues). Have your staff and faculty narrow these down to their most important values, then have the parent community narrow these values down, then have your students narrow these values down again in order to find your final core values.
For younger children, ask them to vote for the behaviors they might prefer, rather than which values they prefer (see picture).
Assessment of elementary age students’ core values, presented by Ted Savage and Hank Staggs,
4. In the words of Marvin Berkowitz: “Relationships, relationships, relationships.” Clifton Taulbert noted that during his childhood growing up poor in the South, he had a variety of “porch people” in his community who felt responsible for him and helped him achieve success. He described one aunt who stood on her front porch every morning in order to hail down the school bus so he could go to school— otherwise it might have passed by. Taulbert quoted Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who said, “No one accomplishes anything alone.” State superintendent Eric Mackety further remarked that “children are children,” pointing out that they all want hugs, they all want adults to ask them how they’re doing, and they want to be able to ask adults how they’re doing.
Ideas suggested for developing relationships included:
Creating teacher-run interest-based clubs that students can join. Teachers are then passionate about running these clubs and can share their passions with students and develop relationships with them.
Engage in icebreakers, such as showing each other something you care about on your phone.
As in this video, print out school rosters and have the entire staff write down how much they know about each student in the school.
Create a “house” system to build relationships amongst students.
Have every classroom or homeroom adopt an adult in the building.
5. Involve ALL of your stakeholders. Without the involvement of staff, faculty (or “staffulty,” as one presenter called them), parents, and students, several presenters pointed out that it is hard to fully implement character education in schools. One administrator emphasized, “if you haven’t made relationships with your bus drivers, you need to do that!” Marvin Berkowitz noted that administrators should approach their role as one of servant leadership towards their staff and faculty, adopting an attitude of humility, forgiveness, gratitude, empowerment, foresight, stewardship, bravery, and noble purpose. He joked, “If you are a servant leader and help every teacher in your school become the best teacher they can be, then you [administrators] can sit in your office and play Angry Birds all day.”
Ideas suggested for involving stakeholders included:
Conduct individual check-ins with staff.
Visit local stakeholders (e.g. with parents at the local playground).
Involve parents and community members in defining a school’s core values.
Establish a parent advisory for the principal, allow everyone to add agenda items, and, in particular, make sure that at least one of the agenda items is about character education.
Add staff members to the school leadership team.
Create student ambassadors.
Offer character oriented professional development for stakeholders.
Empower your stakeholders and honor their voice.
Allow character education at your school to become a collaborative project.
Of course, these are not the only ways to ensure children grow in their character, but they certainly offer some ways to get started when thinking about adopting a whole school character model.
For more information about adopting a whole-school model of character education based on The Good Project’s core ideas and concepts, visit the link here. Let us know what your school is doing to implement character education efforts in the comments below!