Teaching in Your PRIME

Marvin W. Berkowitz, Ph.D.S. N. McDonnell Professor of Character

EducationCenter for Character and Citizenship

University of Missouri-St. Louis

9 July 2009Character Education Conference – St. Louis

Contact InformationAddress: Marillac Hall 402

College of EducationUniversity of Missouri-St. LouisOne University Blvd.St. Louis MO 63121-4499

Phone: 314-516-7521FAX: 314-516-7356Email: berkowitz@umsl.eduWebpage:www.characterandcitizenship.org

What is character?

Head Heart & Hands

“Good character consists of understanding, caring about, and acting upon

core ethical values”Character Education

Partnership(www.character.org)

The complex constellation of psychological

characteristics that motivate and enable

individuals to function as competent moral agents

Marvin W. Berkowitz

What is character education?

Dispelling Myths:This is not your mother’s

character education!

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

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

• Sputnik, the separation of church and state, and NCLB

• Even the founding fathers emphasized the need for schools to produce virtuous citizens

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

Character education is…

A way of being, and most notably a way of

being with others.

For most educators…

It is a NEW way of being.

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

PRIME Character Education

•PPrioritizing character education

•RRelationships

•IIntrinsic motivation

•MModeling

•EEmpowerment

PPrioritizing 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

“To educate a person in mind

and not in morals is to educate a menace to society”

President Theodore Roosevelt

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

Examples of PPrioritizing

• Central to school mission statement

• Character related “touchstone”• School leader is the champion of

the initiative• Integrated across all school

elements

Resources for PPrioritizing• 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.

RRelationships• 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

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!

Examples of

RRelationships• Cross-age initiatives• Cooperative learning• Service that builds sustained

relationships• Professional Learning Communities• Authentic partnerships• Looping

Resources for RRelationships• 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.

IIntrinsic 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

Examples of IIntrinsic Motivation

• Developmental discipline• Community service• Studying role models• Guided reflection on character

Resources for IIntrinsic 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.

MModeling

• 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.”

Examples of MModeling

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

behavior

Resources for MModeling

• 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.

EEmpowerment• 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

“The first service that one owes to

others in community consists in listening

to them. “Dietrich Bonhoeffer Life

Together

Examples of EEmpowerment

• 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

Resources for

EEmpowerment• 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.