Character Education

Rationale for Character. It Shows. Program

Hook the Interest of Students

Have you caught yourself listening to someone’s conversation when you were in a grocery store line? Students also eavesdrop on conversations of others. In the Character. It Shows. program, students hear bits of character-building information through one-minute dialogues. The dialogue scripts read by students hook the interest of student listeners through conversation on topics that students relate to—brothers and sisters, home or school situations, and familiar stories. The scripts contain a touch of fun with names like Herkimer and Matilda, and references to donuts, iguanas, and bubblegum. Students listen in order to hear the fun. They enjoy hearing other students. They listen more attentively to student voices. After hooking their attention, the scripts weave in a brief, clear message on the character trait of the month. The outcome is that the students hear a fresh perspective on character traits. For some students, these one-minute character dialogues present a perspective they’ve never thought of.

Teach Missing Character Traits

Two brothers, a fifth and a sixth grader, illustrate that point. They sat in the counseling office with a local police support person and the school counselor. One brother jovially told how the sixth-grade brother had found one-hundred dollars in a store. The sixth grader secretly took the money home and later spent it, buying things for himself and others. Both brothers seemed convinced he had taken the morally excellent path. The older boy complained that the money didn’t buy much. These brothers missed out on the intrinsic benefits of acting with character. An empty feeling resulted from their actions.

When students, such as these brothers, come to school without a moral compass, daily character scripts on practical everyday life topics catch their attention. These dialogues can begin transforming their belief system.

Students are bombarded with negative messages through television, music, video games, and, sometimes, unhealthy modeling by adults. To counteract this, children need to hear daily messages about character traits. Emphasis once a week or month won’t do the job. Character trait messages build moral strength within students. The character dialogues present a new character trait each month, focusing on ten-character traits in the year. These ten traits comprise the significant building blocks of character.

Enhance Existing Character Traits

All students come to school with some character traits in place. Some are positive. Some are not. The daily dialogue scripts deepen their positive character. Often troubled students get the most attention at school because of their disruptive behaviors. Character. It Shows. reverses that focus. Students of positive character get the recognition they deserve. They are honored when selected to read the message. Character announcers hold a status position on campus.

Set Campus Tone of Character

The purpose of the character dialogues is more than broadcasting the character announcements. The goal is to help students develop positive character. The scripts set the tone on campus for high-quality character. They help foster a culture on campus that says having character is cool. Students love to participate in the announcements. Some beg to be announcers.

Classroom teachers make announcer selections. When a whole school uses Character. It Shows., one person such as the counselor, or assistant principal, head teacher, or character education leader may coordinate the program. When students are selected as announcers, they almost always have wide smiles on their faces. Two third-grade boys were thrilled when they learned they had been chosen as character announcers. They rushed up and hugged the counselor who brought them their script—practically knocking her over.

Another time, two sixth-grade students, after being trained as announcers, took the scripts to their classroom. Soon, their classmates gathered around them, poring over the script to see what it said. They were eager to know what the message was.

Encourage Discouraged, Disruptive Students

To emphasize the value of being a character announcer, teachers first select their students of highest character. (This is not necessarily the best academic students or the most popular.) Next, teachers select other students who make even a small positive choice in character actions. If a teacher identifies the positive action the student used, it may trigger more similar actions. By the end of the school year, virtually all students in the class have been selected as announcers at least once. Some, more than once.

Sometimes a teacher even selects a student who has been a disruptive influence on campus. That student perhaps made a slight, brief, turnaround. Often that vote of confidence from the teacher encourages the student to continue improving his or her character. One sixth grade teacher chose a student as a character announcer. That student had created serious behavior disruptions at school for years. The teacher chose the same student multiple times during the year. The student lived up to his teacher’s belief in him. Being a character announcer was one factor in his positive change.

Spotlight Special Ed Students … Build Community

Being a character announcer builds the self-esteem of students. They feel proud of themselves. Their parents are proud. And their fellow classmates are proud. One teacher selected a monolingual Spanish-speaking fourth grade student of exemplary character. With an aide’s assistance, he learned the words of the script. On his day to do the announcement, he read smoothly and clearly. When he returned to his classroom after reading the announcement, his classmates burst into applause for him.

Another teacher chose two Special Education students who struggled with academics including reading. She told the counselor they would need extra help. After they read the script over the morning announcements, their classmates, also, applauded for them when they returned to class. Being character announcers is a positive experience for the student announcers as well as for supportive classmates and teachers. Experiences like this build a sense of community on campus.

The purpose of choosing students to read the announcements is to honor students who display positive character, not to achieve perfection in the performance of the character scripts. Students with speech difficulties who are selected are as readily accepted as the fluent students. Character. It Shows. allows those who are not top academic students to have equal opportunity to be honored as character announcers. The point is not how excellent the character announcements are given—although it is an important goal to strive for. The point is celebrating and developing character.

Connect with Parents

Character. It Shows. creates positive connections with parents. Parents are encouraged when their children come home with the dialogue script and the news that they have been selected to be a character announcer. Some pleased parents show up at school during morning announcements to listen to their child read the message. They often take photographs of the experience.

Invest One Minute a Day

An investment of one minute a day can transform the character of individual students as well as an entire campus. The program is complete and easy: One minute a day for a character dialogue read over morning announcements and a brief follow-up discussion of three questions completed in individual classrooms. This is a great, relaxing way to start the school day. Not to mention fun!