The Art of Reading People: Character, Expression, Interpretation

Rationale

Through this unit and using various types of texts, I am hoping to bridge the gap between content curriculum and character education. One of my passions in education has been creating safe, positive school environments for students with an emphasis on spirit and involvement. I believe the school can be a place where students excel not just academically, but socially, physically, and emotionally if given the proper opportunities and resources. With the support of the administrators and staff, a fellow teacher and I built a strong, student-led Leadership program that allows students to get involved and feel like they are in some way a part of the school culture. I was, however, naïve in thinking that the program would solve all the problems on our campus. Through reflection, I learned that Leadership could not fix the lack of respect students and teachers had for one another, the blatant disregard for common courtesy, unwillingness to accept responsibility for unwanted actions, and the overall unconcerned feelings students had about what it meant to have "good" character. These were things we couldn't, as a program, provide for the students. We needed to supplement our program with something that would address and help resolve these issues.

Character Education and the PeaceBuilders Program

Character education programs are evident in almost every school, at every level across the nation. Programs such as these serve as a catalyst to help move schools towards fostering ethical, responsible, and caring individuals by modeling and teaching core universal values. ¹ A school with a successful character education program is able to help students develop emotionally, ethically, and academically by instilling character development into all aspects of the school's curriculum and culture. ² The Character Education Partnership conducted a study to determine what works in character education programs, and it was concluded that there are six guidelines for effective practice. Character education programs should be designed and implemented effectively, and it comes in varied forms that should be matched according to the need of the school. Next, programs affect different aspects of understanding (head), caring (heart), and acting upon core ethical values (hand). Effective programs are successful because they are implemented with the intent to last, with complete devotion. Lastly, successful programs employ effective strategies to help assist in its growth. Some strategies include: professional development, peer interaction, direct teaching, skill training, explicit agenda, family/community involvement, providing models and mentors, and integration of academic curriculum. ³ Our district saw a need to adopt a character education program because there was an increase in bullying and disrespectful behavior. They looked for a federally funded program that would help turn violent environments into peaceful ones.

In 2009, the PeaceBuilders Program was brought to the staff of August Boeger Middle School. PeaceBuilders is a research-validated violence prevention youth program. It strives to create a safe and positive environment for every child through six basic principles: praise people, give up put downs, seek wise people, notice hurts, right wrongs, and help others. ⁴ Each day our students start the day by reciting the PeaceBuilders Pledge; this serves as a reminder to our staff and students the basic principles of the program. Praise Notes are also used to encourage desirable behavior and can be given to anyone from anyone on our campus. Every teacher is required to display a Praise Note bulletin board in his/her classroom, and is encouraged to post all Praise Notes given throughout the year. Our school also holds a rally at the beginning of the year to kick off a week dedicated to PeaceBuilders. During this week, teachers emphasize the six principles through lessons in their homeroom class, and the Leadership class organizes lunchtime activities and competitions to promote the positive behaviors associated with the program. It may be because it is still new, but I feel the absence of buy-in from staff and students has made it difficult for this program to successfully get off the ground.

Character education has always been important on our campus, but it has never been infused into the culture of the school. Most often, teachers at our school teach character-based lessons separate from lessons that are content focused. Integration is difficult because lessons are already prepared for teachers through state adopted curriculum, so bringing character education into lessons is left solely up to each individual teacher.

This unit will allow my students to use both canonical and contemporary literature to recognize the conflict characters face when presented with ethical dilemmas that have harsh moral, physical, emotional or social consequences. Through lessons, discussions, and activities my students will be able to apply what they have learned to decisions they have made in the past, and note the impact that decision had on their own personal character. Students will understand there is a level of judgment that people face when confronted with moral choices. They will analyze where that judgment comes from and discuss why people judge others' decisions when they often don't know the real reasons for why someone made the choice he/she did. Students will also develop skills that will help them make choices that will better strengthen their personal character.