Twenty-Five Activities for Building Student Character, School "Community"

In an already packed school day, finding time for character education can be a challenge. Most of these 25 activity ideas can be worked seamlessly into the school day to build student character and to develop a sense of community in your school. Included: 25 ways to build school "community" with character education!

With all of the things that your school does for its students, how does it address one of its primary objectives -- not just teaching students, but helping them to become good people? Every school can set a tone of honesty, respect, and kindness toward others. To help you get started, here are 25 simple ways to promote good character among your students -- today!

1.PILLARS OF CHARACTER

The first and most important advice for those who want to build character in students -- and a sense of community in their school -- is to focus on the Six Pillars of Character. These "pillars" -- identified by the Josephson Institute of Ethics -- are trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship. Other resources sometimes also include three additional topics: courage, diligence, and integrity.

In the article Good Ideas for Promoting Good Character by Enhancing School Climate, the Cleveland County Schools of North Carolina recommend emphasizing one trait of good character each month, with bulletin boards, writing assignments, and morning announcements. Students may pen slogans about the trait of the month, and a special section of the library might be designed to offer students easy access to the biographies and other stories of people who exemplify the best of each trait.

The following ideas are organized by the trait they most closely address. Because the traits are interrelated, the activities often support more than one aspect of good character.

TRUSTWORTHINESS

In Character Count's Values Jar activity, students are rewarded with a marble placed in a jar when one (or more) of them is spotted "practicing a pillar." Emphasis is on the quality of the act, not on quantity. The group is rewarded with a special treat when the jar is filled. Trustworthiness plays an especially important role in this project because the acts that are recognized must be authentic and well meaning, not exclusively the means to an end.

Helping Heroes,
Enhancing Character

Promoting good character is even more necessary in unsettled times. Who are your students' heroes? Expand their understanding by introducing them to programs that seek to help true heroes, those who put themselves at risk to save others. Finding ways to support heroic efforts builds character.

Because the military can often only offer transportation to specific bases in the United States, Operation Hero Miles takes donations of frequent flyer miles to supply soldiers and their families with free airline tickets in times of need.
Any Soldier shares information about volunteer contacts in the military who can take delivery of care packages and will place them in the hands of soldiers who do not receive much mail.


Have the students illustrate the Josephson Institute's aspects of trustworthiness through art. These aspects are honesty (in what you say and do), integrity, reliability, and loyalty. Post their reflections on these concepts with the artwork around the school.

Establish a "board game bank" to which students donate board games, especially those that reinforce strategy skills and educational concepts. Students can borrow games overnight or for weekends. Students may operate the bank and track its progress.

The Center for Character Development shares a lesson called Building Trustworthiness that uses a wall built of empty shoeboxes to represent the aspects of character and illustrate the value of each pillar. This can be used to introduce the concepts, and then the school might establish a "wall of character" -- with shoeboxes or in paper form on a bulletin board -- that contains specific acts of character that groups of students have performed.

RESPECT

Every teacher at one time or another has cringed at the personalities children choose to admire. The K-12 Giraffe Heroes Program provides a free lesson that opens students eyes to the true heroes of our world -- people who pursue just causes, often at great personal cost and risk. Use the lesson to encourage students to identify appropriate heroes. Then invite them to design posters about the individuals. They may include facts, quotes, and illustrations. Create a display of the posters in a "hall of achievement."

Organize a corps of peer helpers for new students. These helpers may serve as friends or even tutors. They might generate "guides" to the school for newcomers, with rules, a map, insider "tips," important dates to remember, and more.

Invite guests to speak about positive character traits. Students may ask informed, thoughtful questions. The experience will reinforce the importance of good manners and respectful tone when dealing with guests and authority figures.

Bullying shows a complete disregard for the respect of others, and often their property. Give students the help they need to avoid conflict and handle it when it does occur. Sharing advice in the form of a message board in a common area, a newsletter, or in announcements can be effective. For some suggestions about what kids need to know, see Tips for Keeping the Peace and Bully Advice for Kids. The PBS resource It's My Life also offers information about bullies in a kid-friendly form. These resources even help those who bully to identify themselves and alter their behavior.

RESPONSIBILITY

Ask students to write pledges for the character traits that describe how they will fulfill their promise to follow each pillar. Then have them sign the pledges. Keep the signed pledges on file and refer to them when behavior doesn't reflect the pillars of character.

Set up a peer-tutoring program. Tutoring may occur during, before, or after school and may feature students working with partners in the same grade or another.

Increase the number of jobs students may perform at school. Some ideas include making morning and afternoon announcements; helping the school nurse; assisting in the library, office, or other locations; turning in attendance forms and carrying out other daily tasks between classrooms and the office or cafeteria; and serving as safety patrols.

Offer training to youth leaders -- such as class officers, student council members, and committees -- and explain what is expected of them in those roles. Highlight the leaders' responsibilities to their fellow students as examples of good character.

FAIRNESS

How many times have students told you that school or classroom rules are not fair? Be ready to counter their complaints by basing rules on the traits of character. When appropriate, students can help to design the rules and choose the consequences of violations.

Focus on and reward academic integrity. Encourage students to complete all of their assignments and do their own work, and show them how to properly cite the ideas of others. Consider an "Honest Abe" or "Worker Bee" award for those who do their individual best.

How do your school's sports teams and other groups reflect on your school? Have coaches and supervisors refer to Character and Sports for some suggestions about discussions they can hold with team members. Students should be mindful of their reputation as a group and how this impacts the school and community.

Instruct students who generate the school paper to seek journalistic integrity -- attention to detail, fairness, accuracy, and balance -- in what they report. Editorials and articles should be clear in what is fact and what is opinion. The writers should proudly put their names on every article they publish.

Food for Thought

Have you heard of Craig Kielburger, founder of Free the Children? Kielburger began speaking out for children's rights at the age of twelve.

Or maybe you've heard of 11-year-old Annie Wignall, who created the Care Bags Foundation, an organization that distributes games, toothbrushes, books, and more to kids during difficult times?

Or Jason Crowe? At the age of ten, he was so moved by the story of Vedran Smailovic, a cellist who played his instrument in a war zone for days to honor 22 people who died in an attack on a bakery, that he raised money to construct a statue of the musician in Sarajevo.
Could one of your students be the next to make a profound difference in the world?

CARING

The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation provides a Teachers' Corner with more than 30 ideas from educators to encourage students to engage in unsolicited helpful behaviors for the benefit of others. One activity, RAK Sightings!, describes how one school gives students and staff the opportunity to secretly submit students' random acts of kindness and then rewards the doers with special certificates. This Web resources includes a wealth of ideas for rewards for those to "commit" acts of kindness, like Lifesaver candies marked "You saved the day with your kindness!"

Have students identify a need in the school or community and develop a plan to help. This might take the form of a book and magazine drive for a retirement home, crocheting hats and blankets for newborns, or another project that displays care for others.

Structure volunteer programs within the school, such as opportunities for students to help out in life skills classes, read or tutor young children, assist in the computer lab, aid students in the library, provide support to students who are recovering from an injury or dealing with a medical condition, or gather work for students who miss school.

Collect donations for a worthy organization, preferably one that serves children. One such group is The Smile Train, which arranges for free surgeries for poor children who have cleft lip and palate. The students might conduct a recycling project, hold a penny drive, do work for donations, or take pledges for biking or walking or dancing. For a list of charitable organizations started by kids, see Idealist.org.

CITIZENSHIP

Follow the news. Share stories from your own community and the national news headlines about people who possess the character traits. Ask local leaders to address the students. The Giraffe Heroes Web site has a wonderful collection of Giraffe Profiles that is rich in stories of real people who personify good character and would be an ideal library from which to select tales to share with students.

Plan, or have your students organize, patriotic events. The Cleveland County Schools suggest a "Red, White, and Blue Day" and other events could be held around patriotic holidays. You might schedule a concert that features patriotic musical selections by a band or chorus. Readings of quotes or stories about the presidents can also be shared as part of the school day, particularly near the time of President's Day.

Involve students in beautification and/or environmental projects around the school and in the community. Local environmental organizations might invite students to join in water testing or ask for their assistance in constructing bat houses or bird nesting boxes, cleaning community parks, and more.

Help community members who are in need with clothing and/or food drives. Some children's clothing may be reserved for students within the school who may need it.

Article by Cara Bafile
Education World®
Copyright © 2004 Education World

Good Ideas For Promoting Character Education by Enhancing School Climate

The Giraffe Project: Encouraging Kids to 'Stick Their Necks Out' for Others

Cross-Age Tutoring: A Helping Hand Across the Grades
Like all educators, guidance counselors recognize that some students in their schools could flourish if given just a little bit of extra, one-on-one help. Rather than lamenting the fact that teachers often are spread too thin to give that individual attention, counselors Christi Bello and Susie Borgnini came up with a simple solution -- kids helping kids! Each founded a program that brings the wisdom of older students to the aid of younger ones -- with benefits for all students. Included: Examples of how mentoring benefits students across the grades.

Seven years ago, when guidance counselor Christi Bello was looking for a way to motivate upper and lower grade elementary students and to enhance their academic skills, she turned to the "Spice Girls."

"I established the SPICE (Students Promoting Individual Career Enhancement) Team to meet the needs of both age groups, and I borrowed the name from the musical group that was popular at the time," Bello told Education World. "The primary students who receive assistance through the program have the attention of a mentor who can help them concentrate on classroom activities. The older students who work with those children improve their organizational skills and genuinely care about the children they help."

Starting a Cross-Age Tutoring Program


Guidance counselor Christi Bello shared the following advice for educators who want to implement a program such as her SPICE Team:

Assess the needs of the school population.
Bello spoke to teachers at her school and heard a recurring theme: some students were just not attending to task.

Think outside the box.
What hasn't been tried in your school? Mediation had been introduced, but mentoring was a new technique for Northfield Elementary.

Find a way for kids to help.
Bello's elementary students wanted to serve their community, but they needed avenues to do so. Mentoring provides an outlet for students to strengthen their academic skills, build better organizational skills, and help others.

Bello's cross-age tutoring program at Northfield Elementary School in Ellicott City, Maryland, works in large part because of an elaborate application process, a sound foundation of training, and consistent monitoring -- none of which occurs by accident!

Recruitment of mentors begins with experienced fifth-grade mentors visiting fourth graders. The students perform a skit that describes what the SPICE team is, its role in the school, and how its members impact the academic and social lives of younger students in positive ways.

"In that instance, the kids are really teaching other kids," observed Bello. "Their skit echoes questions posed by John R. O'Rourke, superintendent of the Howard County Public School System. He asks parents in the district: What do we want for our children?, How might we provide it?, and How will we know that we've done it well?"

WE WANT YOU
Joining the SPICE Team is a five-step process. First, students must express an interest in the "position." Next, they must write a persuasive letter (essay) to Bello.

"The persuasive essay is the step that weeds out those who are less committed to this activity," she reported. "There are other equally important groups at the school that students may choose to join, such as band and safety patrols, for example, and some of those conflict with mentoring activities. Students need to give serious consideration to whether they truly have the time to devote to the job and do it well."

Next, would-be tutors complete an application that requests a resume, details about prior experience, and a parent's signature. Applicants go for an interview, in which they must knock on the office door, shake hands, and answer Bello's thoughtfully posed questions. Once work begins, mentors must adhere to the fifth and ongoing step of the application process -- submitting periodic evaluations to show the progress the primary students they are tutoring have made.

"Of the 116 fifth graders at Northfield, about 35 are involved in the mentor program," said Bello. "Everyone who finishes the process is 'hired' as a mentor, but not all are needed immediately. Although not every mentor is a high-achiever academically, each must be organized, prepared, and ready for the school day before he or she fulfills the mentoring responsibilities."

Mentor training,-- which includes "workshops" about important topics -- teaches skills in role-playing, communication, peer mediation, reflective listening, building confidence, and more. Bello emphasizes the "career" aspects of the program, and reminds students of their responsibilities as helpers and role models. When they can't be present, mentors must notify the primary teacher. If they don't meet expectations, mentors might be "suspended" from participation in the program.

"Positions" open up as teachers identify students in need of the type of guidance a mentor can provide. Mentors follow a schedule; they work mornings, afternoons, during recess, and during lunch, but there are guidelines about how much time they can spend out of their own classrooms.

Academic subjects typically are the focus of the tutoring sessions, but social skills may be addressed as well. Mentors are usually found keeping students on task during class, working with small groups of students, role-playing, and showing students how to relate to one another and work together.

MENTORING AS A "CAREER"
From the Ed World Archive
Have you seen these cross-age tutoring resources from the Education World archive?

Shaking Willy's Hand: A Collaborative Project Teaming Teens and 'Tweens
Students in grades 4 and 10 worked together to perform Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Included: Comments from the participants, tips for starting your own cross-grade project.

What a Pair! A Cross-Grade Writing Activity
Older students interview younger students. They use what they learn to write a short storybook that features the youngster as the main character. A special event brings the two groups back together to enjoy the results of their labor.

Cross-Age Tutoring
Helpful Internet links from the Education World database.

Another reason for the program's success is the profound commitment of its members. Students give up free time for tutoring sessions and group meetings. Mentors are "employed" by the program, and they take it seriously, right down to wearing their assigned 'uniforms.'

"T-shirts for mentors are provided by the PTA, which greatly supports the SPICE Team and its activities," Bello explained. "The mentors also wear lanyards and nametags they designed themselves. The uniform effectively stands out, but also fits in well with the apparel of other students."

At the beginning of the school year, mentors write an assessment about the weaknesses they find in the primary students and about where they are struggling; mentors continue to report on the progress of the primary students on a monthly basis. At the end of the year, mentors write a final evaluation noting the changes they have seen. The end of the year also brings fifth-grade graduation. and recognition -- including trophies -- for the mentors. Bello hosts a pizza party for mentors and their tutees, and many of the primary students bring small gifts for their older partners.

MAKING IT WORK

"Personalities matter," said Bello. "Most of the relationships work, but not all do. In their assessments, mentors often share the teachers' sentiments about the students' performance. One said of a primary student that he was not focused, refused to listen, and acted as if he [the mentor] wasn't even there. He added, 'I fear all is lost!' I switched the mentor with another, and the next report about this primary student was positive. He was on track and making progress."

The SPICE Team relies on cooperation from Northfield's teachers, and that has been received in abundance. Fifth-grade and fourth-grade teachers remain flexible as students come and go to their mentoring sessions; they've noted marked growth in the mentors' organizational skills as well. First-grade teachers evaluate the mentors who visit their classroom and keep Bello apprised of the progress being made through the partnerships.

"Teachers understand that they compete with television," Bello stated. "Students learn to expect 'entertainment' rather than education, and the real world doesn't work that way. Tutoring does work. It keeps students focused and entertained."

WESTFIELD'S "MISS MATCH"

"When I set up the tutoring program, my goal was for every student who needed some extra one-on-one attention -- personally and academically -- to be partnered with a capable high school student," said Susie Borgnini, guidance counselor at Westfield Intermediate School in Westfield, Indiana, In Westfield, juniors from Westfield High School visit the intermediate school and work with younger students in the media center.

Borgnini contacted the National Honor Society sponsor at the high school to organize the project. She was aware that the high school students needed community service points and thought their need to contribute and her school's need for extra tutoring might be a perfect match. As the names of volunteers rolled in, Borgnini paired them with intermediate students.

"The high school students reported that it [tutoring] became a part of the day that they looked forward to," Borgnini recalled. "Many tutors had their 'tutees' tell them they were doing much better in school since the tutoring began. Both sets of students reported improved attendance; students didn't want to miss a day with the tutor/tutee. High school teachers reported that students often spoke of their responsibilities to the younger ones."

Borgnini has been surprised that most of the relationships that began with tutoring have continued even after the volunteering ended. One high school senior continued to stop by the intermediate school to visit her former partner, just to see how he was doing.

"Cross-age tutoring fills a need for both groups," explained Borgnini. "Sometimes, as children get into high school, they forget how hard it is to struggle with basics. This tutoring sets high school students in the role of modeling for the younger ones, and often prevents some poor decisions -- because the high school students know they will have to answer to the younger students."

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Peer and Cross-Age Tutoring Learn more about the types of student-to-student tutoring and why it works in this ERIC Digest article by Joan Gaustad.
Tutoring and Academic Enrichment Guide
A free guide for families looking for tutoring for their children is available from Partnership for Learning. The Tutoring and Academic Enrichment Guide lists ten signs that can indicate to parents that their child needs a tutor, discusses the different kinds of tutoring available, and provides four steps for finding an excellent tutor. The guide also includes comparison charts, self-tests, cost estimates and hands-on advice for saving money, suggestions for identifying learning disabilities, tips on monitoring student progress, and a pull-out guide to finding a tutor. Schools can obtain copies of the guide to distribute to parents by visiting the Web site or calling 1-800-832-2464.

Article by Cara Bafile
Education World®
Copyright © 2003 Education World

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