1. Teaching in Your PRIME Marvin W. Berkowitz, Ph.D.
S. N. McDonnell Professor of Character Education
Center for Character and Citizenship
University of Missouri-St. Louis
9 July 2009
Character Education Conference – St. Louis

2. Contact Information
Address: Marillac Hall 402
College of Education
University of Missouri-St. Louis
One University Blvd.
St. Louis MO
Phone:
FAX:
Webpage:

3. What is character?

4. Character Education Partnership (www.character.org)
Head Heart & Hands “Good character consists of understanding, caring about, and acting upon core ethical values”
Character Education Partnership (

5. The complex constellation of psychological characteristics that motivate and enable individuals to function as competent moral agents
Explain:
Use example of supermarket check-out line.
Marvin W. Berkowitz

6. What is character education?
Show CEP intro video.

7. Dispelling Myths: This is not your mother’s character education!

8. Myth #1: Not the role of schools
It is everyone’s role and is unavoidable:
“All adults involved with children either help or thwart children’s growth and development, whether we like it, intend it or not.”
Aristotle

9. Myth #2: Competes with the “true purpose: of schools
It is only in the past half century that America’s schools have become monomaniacal about purpose

10. Sputnik, the separation of church and state, and NCLB
Even the founding fathers emphasized the need for schools to produce virtuous citizens

11. Myth #3: Can’t afford to do academics and character ed
It is not a zero sum game
Many educators find that the best path to academic achievement is creating caring classrooms and schools
Research suggests that high quality character education results in higher academic achievement

12. Character education is…
A way of being, and most notably a way of being with others.

13. For most educators…
It is a NEW way of being.

14. What is character education?
Systematic initiatives to foster student character development
At its best, it is comprehensive school reform
Grounded in relationships
Grounded in school culture
Informed by research and theory

15. PRIME Character Education
Prioritizing character education
Relationships
Intrinsic motivation
Modeling
Empowerment

16. Prioritizing Character Education
There are two primary purposes of education: academic and character
Schools often overlook character and focus primarily or exclusively on character
Character has to be an explicit centerpoint of the school’s mission and of the school leader’s philosophy

17. “To educate a person in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society” President Theodore Roosevelt
Tell Independent Schools of St. Louis story.

18. Dear Teacher: I am a survivor of a concentration camp
Dear Teacher: I am a survivor of a concentration camp. My eyes saw what no person should witness: Gas chambers built by learned engineers. Children poisoned by educated physicians. Infants killed by trained nurses. Women and babies shot and burned by high school and college graduates. So, I am suspicious of education. My request is: Help your students become human. Your efforts must never produce learned monsters, skilled psychopaths, educated Eichmans. Reading, writing, arithmetic are important only if they serve to make our children more humane.
Sadker & Sadker, 1977

19. Examples of Prioritizing
Central to school mission statement
Character related “touchstone”
School leader is the champion of the initiative
Integrated across all school elements

20. Resources for Prioritizing
Elbot, C.F., & Fulton, D. (2008). Building an intentional school culture: Excellence in academics and character. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Lickona, T., & Davidson, M. (2005). Smart and good high schools: Integrating excellence and ethics for success in school, work and beyond. Washington D.C.: Character Education Partnership.
Characterplus (2005). The Characterplus Way: Plan Implement Refine. St. Louis: Characterplus.

21. Relationships
The 3 R’s of character education are Relationships, Relationships, Relationships
Need to consider ways to doing the same work that also build positive relationships
Relationships should be targeted within and between all stakeholder groups

22. Adult culture of the school
Adults in the school must function as
a caring professional learning
community
The must treat each other as they
want students to behave…with
character!

23. Examples of Relationships
Cross-age initiatives
Cooperative learning
Service that builds sustained relationships
Professional Learning Communities
Authentic partnerships
Looping

24. Resources for Relationships
Urban, H. (2009). Lessons from the classroom: 20 thing good teachers do. Redwood City, CA: Great Lessons Press.
Watson, M. (2003). Learning to trust: Transforming Difficult Elementary Classrooms Through Developmental Discipline. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Denton, P., & Kriete, R. (2000). The first six weeks fo school. Greenfield, MA: Northeast Foundation for Children.

25. Intrinsic Motivation
Educators often rush to using extrinsic motivation to promote character
The true goal of character education is for students to internalize moral values
Different pedagogical strategies are needed to foster intrinsic motivation

26. Examples of Intrinsic Motivation
Developmental discipline
Community service
Studying role models
Guided reflection on character

27. Resources for Intrinsic Motivation
Kohn, A. (1993). Punished by rewards: The trouble with gold stars, incentive plans, A’s, praise and other bribes. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Dalton, J., & Watson, M. (1997). Among friends: Classrooms where caring and learning prevail. Oakland CA: Developmental Studies Center.

28. Modeling Cannot demand from students what you will not do yourself
Lickona: The single most powerful tool you have for influencing a child’s character is your character
Students learn more from what you do than from what you say
Ghandi: “You must be the change you want to see in the world.”

29. Examples of Modeling Peer tutoring Multi-stakeholder working groups
Teacher (and other staff) behavior
School leader behavior (re: staff)
Open staff discussion of staff behavior

30. Resources for Modeling
Lickona, T., & Davidson, M. (2005). Smart and good high schools: Integrating excellence and ethics for success in school, work and beyond. Washington D.C.: Character Education Partnership.

31. Empowerment
Character develops in part through as sense of one’s autonomy
Character education should focus on the empowerment of all stakeholders: teachers, administrators, support staff, students, parents, community members, etc.
A philosophy of empowerment should be at the heart of the school

32. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Life Together
“The first service that one owes to others in community consists in listening to them. “
Dietrich Bonhoeffer Life Together

33. Examples of Empowerment
Democratic student government
Class meetings
Peer mediation
Student guided curricula (e.g., project based learning)
Student run honor system
Student advisory committee
Culture of staff collaborative decision-making

34. Resources for Empowerment
Power, F.C., Higgins, A., & Kohlberg, L. (1989). Lawrence Kohlberg's approach to moral education. New York: Columbia University Press.
Developmental Studies Center. Ways we want our class to be: Class meetings that build commitment to kindness and learning. Oakland CA: Developmental Studies Center.