Character education is the effort to
help students understand, care about, and act upon core ethical values (Elkind
& Sweet, 2004). Everyone in the school community is a character educator,
whether they are teachers, administrators, or custodians. Each member is
helping to shape the character of the children they come into contact with
through the way they talk, the behaviours they model, the conduct they tolerate,
and the expectations they have (Elkind & Sweet, 2004). With this being
said, I would argue that character education is very much part of the hidden
curriculum. It is interwoven into many aspects of school life, from how
students and staff greet each other, to how discussions occur in the classroom,
and the expectations of students during sports activities (Drake, Reid, &
Kolohon, 2014). In my work as a Tutor in the Classroom, I observe character education all the time. Particularly when the teacher is faced with a "teachable moment," they use the opportunity to address the class and teach them about the values they should hold in order to be kind and caring individuals. For example, when a child was exhibiting behaviours that did not represent respect, the teacher I was working with talked about respect and what it means so that his students were more likely to understand and be respectful within the classroom.
Since the objective and value-free
education of the mid-1990s, education took a significant shift in order to
educate effectively for students of the 21st century. The four
pillars of education for the 21st century are learning to know,
learning to do, learning to be, and learning to live together (Drake et al., 2014). Most educators today recognize the importance of the “Be”
aspect of the curriculum. Character education has become an important part of
Ontario’s K-12 program (Drake et al., 2014). I noticed when
looking at the front matter of the Ontario and British Colombia Social Studies curricula that they focused heavily on creating active citizens by educating
them holistically.
It is important that children are engaged in activities that make them critically think about moral and ethical questions and give them opportunities to practice moral and ethical behaviour (Elkind & Sweets, 2004). Throughout my experiences as a student, I don't remember doing specific activities that related to character education within the classroom. As a result, in this blog, I will discuss some of the activities that
can be used within an elementary school classroom in order to integrate character
education into students’ learning.
This website provides educators with
great ways to teach various aspects of character education in the classroom,
such as trustworthiness, responsibility, and caring for others (Elkind &
Sweet, n.d.). Teachers can purchase the videos in order to demonstrate the
character trait they are teaching about to provide the class with examples of
how to demonstrate the trait appropriately. They can also do the activities
with their students. One of the activities I thought would be effective in
order to teach respect was by brainstorming a list of “Do’s and Don’ts” for
treating people with respect (Elkind & Sweet, n.d.). You could use this
list to create a “Respect Contract” in which the students could lay out a set
of rules for having a respectful classroom. I believe that this would be
effective as it allows students to have a voice within the classroom. They are
able to come up with a list of rules collaboratively with the teacher and their
peers which would help them to understand the rules and why they are in place.
In addition, students learn in an engaging manner what respect means and how to
demonstrate it. This could be an extremely beneficial activity for the
beginning of the school year so that students know what behaviour and character
traits are expected of them in the classroom.
Another activity that can be
incorporated into the classroom is “Bucket Filling.” The concept is based on
the book Have You Filled a Bucket Today? by
Carol McCloud. In addition to being loved, children need to learn how to love
others so that they can lead happier lives (Sherman Elementary, 2015).
It is important to teach students that when they love and care about others and
show that love through what they say and do, they will be able to fill their
own buckets as well as others' buckets.
How full is your bucket? For kids [Video]. (2012). Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5R6-2m_qHk
This
story is a shortened version of the original story, written by Rath and Reckmeyer (2009).
This picture book conveys a powerful message about how little acts of love and
appreciation can affect the well-being of others (Rath & Reckmeyer, 2009).
Filling
buckets is an interesting way to teach character education. They learn how they
can be bucket fillers and bucket dippers.
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| A bucket filling classroom [Image]. (2014). Retrieved from http://crafting-connections.blogspot.ca/2014/09/anchors-away-monday-9114-bucket-filling.html |
 |
| Bucket filler anchor chart [Image]. (2011). Retrieved from http://imbloghoppin.blogspot.ca/2011/08/bucket-fillers.html
A
bucket filling moment is when a student helps someone out, shows appreciation,
or uses kind words with others. These acts of kindness fill the invisible
buckets of others and the buckets of the students participating in these acts
(Ready Teacher, n.d.). In contrast, a bucket dipper is someone who says unkind
words or who misbehaves. They dip into the buckets of others and keep their own
buckets empty as well (Ready Teacher, n.d.).
|
 |
| A drop for your bucket [Image]. (2015). Retrieved from https://www.pinterest.com/pin/502362533413464977/ |
 |
| Bucket fillers [Photograph]. (2011). Retrieved from http://imbloghoppin.blogspot.ca/2011/08/bucket-fillers.html
As demonstrated through this
picture, bucket filling can also be used in the classroom through reward
systems. Teachers can give out drops for students’ buckets when they catch them
participating in acts of kindness. This can help promote appropriate behaviour
in the classroom as well as teaching students to be kind to one another. The
bucket filling concept is certainly one that I would consider using in my
future classroom in order to teach character education.
Character education at Julian Elementary [Video]. (2010). Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaaZTprxg8Y
Finally, this video provides some
amazing ways to incorporate character education into schools and create a
welcoming community fit for successful learning. I loved how the school had character
traits painted around the school showing what they expected students to
demonstrate. From friendship groups to teach children
social skills, to the peaceful playground that has colourful game markers and
one set of rules per game in order to keep children engaged and playing fairly
at recess, it seems like Julian Elementary school has thought of it all when it
comes to teaching about character. It was amazing to see the vast amounts of
activities that the school has running that help to teach students how to Be.
Although character education is being emphasized in today’s
curriculum and in classrooms, a downside to character education is that it is
value-laden. Particularly in Canada, a country that is both multicultural and
diverse, this is a significant issue (Drake et al., 2014). With that being
said, how can we decide whose values are considered the “right” values and
which values are worthy of cultivating? How can we address cultural differences
when teaching career education?
References
A bucket filling classroom [Image]. (2014). Retrieved from http://crafting-connections.blogspot.ca/2014/09/anchors- away-monday-9114-bucket-filling.html
A drop for your bucket [Image]. (2015). Retrieved from https://www.pinterest.com/pin/502362533413464977/
Bucket fillers [Photograph]. (2011). Retrieved from http://imbloghoppin.blogspot.ca/2011/08/bucket-fillers.html
Bucket filler anchor chart [Image]. (2011). Retrieved from http://imbloghoppin.blogspot.ca/2011/08/bucket-fillers.html
Drake, S. M., Reid, J. L., & Kolohon, W.
(2014). Interweaving
Curriculum and Classroom Assessment:
Engaging the 21st Century
Learner. Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press.
Elkind, D. H. & Sweet, F. (2004). How to do character education. Retrieved from http://www.goodcharacter.com/Article_4.html
Elkind, D. H. & Sweet, F. (n.d.). Teaching guides (for elementary school). Retrieved from http://www.goodcharacter.com/EStopics.html
Julian Character Education [JulianElementaryEd]. (2010,
November 1). Character education at Julian Elementary [Video file]. Retrieved
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaaZTprxg8Y
Rath, T. & Reckmeyer, M. (2009). How full is your bucket? For kids. Gallup Press.
Ready Teacher (n.d.). How
full is your bucket? Retrieved from http://readyteacher.com/have-you-filled-a-bucket-today/
Ready Teacher (n.d.). Videos
of bucket filling moments. Retrieved from http://readyteacher.com/video-of-bucket-filling-moments/
Sherman Elementary (2015). A bucket filling school. Retrieved from http://www.watertowncsd.org/Sherman.cfm?subpage=42124
Willow Canyon Wildcat [WillowCanyonWildcat]. (2012, April
15). How full is your bucket? For
kids [Video
file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5R6-2m_qHk
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Kelsey, your blog was enjoyable to read and I loved the visuals as well as the video, both very interesting, fun, and informative. I strongly agree with all that you have discussed throughout this post regarding character education. In order for students to be able to learn and eventually function in the work place effectively, building on character is a necessity. Like you, I have never experienced character education throughout my schooling but can see how it is becoming more prevalent today. In one of my placements this year, a teacher had come up with a poem entitled “Our Promises to Each Other,” and it included a number of characteristics and values of a good person and how the students can demonstrate these to each other in the classroom. The class would recite this every morning together on the reading carpet while one student got to lead and point out the words. I thought this was an excellent way of incorporating character education as students were not only constantly reminded of what these traits mean, but were given examples of how they can demonstrate and practice being a good character within the classroom. In your post, you mentioned having the class come up with the “Do’s” and “Don’ts” of respecting others and I really loved this idea. I feel like it would give students the opportunity to share their ideas and for teachers to make sure everyone understands what respect is. Furthermore, creating the “respect contract” in the classroom would definitely be an effective way of providing students with a voice and making them active members of the classroom environment and overall learning process. You posed some thought-provoking questions at the end of your post that definitely got me thinking. One question I have is do you think character education should remain as part of the hidden curriculum or should it be explicitly taught and perhaps even become an entire school subject on its own?
ReplyDeleteKelsey, this blog was a great source of information for me to read and learn about character education. I agree that character education is part of the hidden curriculum, but the strategies that you incorporated were great ways that we as teachers can bring it out as more important in our lessons. Similar to you, I can't exactly remember any character education in my experiences at school, however since it is hidden curriculum I am sure there were many aspects of it incorporated into my education. Taking "teachable moments" like you mentioned a teacher you were working with used as a way to bring up character building is a great idea. I think that those types of teachable moments are were the most important learning comes from because students learn from their own actions, just that that class learned what it meant to be respectful out of a situation when they were not. The photos and videos you included to give different ways on how to do character education were great and very useful. Before reading your blog I probably would have had a hard time thinking of useful ways to do character education in the classroom. The idea of Bucket Fillers is such a good idea and I loved how you not only told us about it, but also showed a video and pictures. Little activities like this are great ways to teach students character, but also staying educational with curriculum. Although character education is hidden curriculum most of the time I think it is useful to use these different strategies to bring it up to a higher degree of importance. Sometimes the hidden curriculum is more important than the regular curriculum. If character is not taught students will be missing out on a large amount of growth socially. A question I have for you is do you think sometimes character education can be bias depending on the teachers own values? Can it sometimes be negative when a teacher is placing their own values onto their students? Also, is there a certain grade where character education is more essential like younger grades?
ReplyDeleteThis was a very informative post this week! I loved all of the ideas you presented about ways in which educators can explicitly and implicitly incorporated character education into the classroom. I also thought the bucket filling approach was very cute and could be very effective for younger students! When I reflect on what character education meant for me when I went through elementary school I reflect on the monthly character traits they would announce and the monthly assemblies in which students were awarded prizes if they were chosen by their teacher to have exhibited that particular trait of the month. When I think about this experience I remember that I was distinctly extrinsically motivated by the rewards we would receive at the monthly assembly and when I rarely won I lost that motivation quickly. I think that putting overt character education into the curriculum is beneficial but it needs to be done a certain way. I liked that my school did it as a school-wide initiative. I think this helps to foster community and to teach students to emulate these traits to all of your peers, not just those within your classroom. What I do not like is the lack of collaboration in the process. This is something that I noticed that you emphasized in the activities that you suggested. I think in the case of my own experience that maybe instead of the teacher determining who was worthy of winning the prize at the assembly the students could vote on who they think emulated the trait the most. This would encourage teachers to infuse the monthly trait into their classroom more in order to give their students a comprehensive understanding of the meaning of the trait. Although I think this would be a good idea, I do understand that this approach may be ineffective for students in kindergarten to grade 1. Are there any alternative ideas you could suggest to make that approach to character education more collaborative and/or intrinsically motivating?
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