Why Can't Character Ed End Your Classroom Management Nightmares?

Character ed is becoming more and more popular in schools all over the U.S. But in our workshops around the country, more and more educators and counselors are complaining that character ed is not the solution for every youngster. They want to know what is wrong with character ed approaches.

First, let's make sure you know what character ed is. Character ed approaches attempt to use character-building to ensure or engender appropriate behavior. A character ed approach to bullying might require that the bully apologize and make amends to the victim of the bullying, for example. Character ed methods essentially use a single force to elicit satisfactory conduct. The logic is that by building character, conscience and moral values, students' behavior can be improved or maintained at a satisfactory level.

Unfortunately, human beings are not "uniform" creatures. Single-mode interventions of any type can be expected to fail with at least a portion of any group. Character ed is subject to this potential flaw just like any other style of student management. The education world does tend to move from trend to trend, and character ed may be the current one. This article will explain the biggest flaws and serious safety issues you may encounter if you use character ed, and will explain how to supplement character ed approaches to make them more effective with different types of youngsters. We'll also look at how to avoid the predictable safety issues that character ed methods can engender.

WHO DOES CHARACTER ED WORK WELL WITH? Ironically, character ed works best with the students who least need it. So, character ed can most impact youngsters who have a conscience, remorse and values. Obviously, youngsters who fit that description are not likely to be your worst bullies and agitators.

WHO DOES CHARACTER ED WORK WORST WITH? The sentence above may not be grammatically correct, but that is the least of your problems. Character ed works worst with students who lack a conscience, remorse and compassion. A whopping 11-15% of young people will fit this description. The mental health term that might be applied by a counselor to some of these youngsters is "conduct disorder," but the rather grim bottom line is that character ed is utterly ineffective with these students. You can can't successfully use conscience-based approaches with students who lack a conscience. These students will be your worst bullies and agitators yet character ed is virtually powerless to control them. These students are likely to be the source of many of your worst classroom and group management nightmares but character ed is utterly ineffective when used with them-- plus, safety concerns may be generated.

HOW CAN CHARACTER ED CAUSE SAFETY PROBLEMS? Safety problems can easily be created or worsened by using character ed methods with conduct disorders (children without a conscience). Here is an example: A conduct disordered child bullies another youngster. The bully is given classic character ed-style consequences such as being asked to apologize and make amends. Lacking relationship capacity, the child is unable to benefit from these relationship-based approaches, but it gets worse. Having been caught and required to make an apology may have angered or annoyed the bully, putting the victimized student at high risk of retribution.

ARE THERE OTHER SAFETY CONCERNS? Character ed approaches often involve helping the misbehaved child understand the harm he has done to his peer. If you help the bully "understand" how his behavior upset or saddened the victim-- which was his goal in the first place-- aren't you marking the victim for more torment? Bullies love a strong negative reaction from their victims, and character ed methods often highlight the victims' negative reaction. The effect is to place a "kick me more" sign on the back of the victim. Expect the bully's problem behavior towards the victim to increase. There are additional, important safety concerns that we cover in our workshops, books and ebooks (http://www.youthchg.com); we have covered just the most common concern here.

HOW CAN I SUPPLEMENT CHARACTER ED TO AVOID SAFETY PROBLEMS? It's easy to supplement character ed methods and eliminate the safety concerns. The most important step is to be sure all your staff are trained to know about conduct disorders. You must use a different set of interventions with conduct disorders. You can continue to use character ed methods with others if you are satisfied with the results that style of intervention delivers with some students.

HOW ELSE CAN I ENHANCE CHARACTER ED TO WORK BETTER? Character ed won't make up for a lack of skills, a bad attitude, or if students lack the motivation to improve their behavior. Add in those items, and watch the improvement. So, be sure to teach all the skills you want students to use, and cover everything from what to say to where do hands belong and not belong. Any behavior that you expect, you must teach. Without skills, students can not perform better no matter how much you build their character. Similarly, character ed usually doesn't make up for a bad attitude or poor motivation, so be sure to teach both of those. If you are thinking that no one knows how to teach students to have better attitudes and motivation, then you haven't been exposed to my terrific motivation-builders and bad attitude-busters. Great methods do exist. For example, check out a completely free sampler of great bad attitude-busters at http://www.youthchg.com/solvat.html so you can see that these tools do exist.

When Your Child is the Target of a Bully or Excessive Criticism

My seven-year old daughter is adopted from Kazakhstan. She came to this country when she was five and a half not knowing any English. She lived in an orphanage her entire life and knew none of the comforts most children experience when they are babies and toddlers. She was a scared, abused little girl who suddenly found herself in America with a strange family, attending a real school for the first time in her life. She was the target of some of the cruelest and meanest comments I have ever heard come out of the mouths of five and six year old kids.

She is beautiful but had trouble with her balance and her gait. Her large motor skills were not fully formed yet. Her hair was chopped off and growing back unevenly. She had black and blue marks all over her from the beatings she took and from falling down frequently. She had over twenty warts all over her hands. Obviously, her English was non-existent. She stuck out like a sore thumb on the first day of Kindergarten. She was terrified and hadn?t really bonded to me yet. I knew some Russian, enough to communicate with her, but mostly I just had to stand by and watch her crying uncontrollably. She was terrified. The kids were all staring at her and some were laughing. One little girl came up and put her arm around her. My daughter reacted by hitting her. She wasn?t used to any kind of affection. It was a nightmare. I couldn?t leave her like that, so I decided to go to school with her until she felt comfortable and could at least speak some English. I went back to Kindergarten for eight weeks with her, every day. What an eye-opener!

I would like to report that most kids in this situation were kind; however, that was not the case. They didn?t know how to deal or react to a child from a foreign country with no social skills. As my daughter settled in to her new routine, she tried to catch on to our customs. She sang The Pledge of Allegiance every morning in some mixed up language. The kids would laugh at her, even rolling on the floor buckled over to prove their point. She would wear her pants pulled all the way up over her belly and refused to wear skirts or dresses. The girls would make fun of her and imitate her behavior in a cruel way. She would run on the playground with a slight limp and occasionally fall down. No one would help her up. Some kids literally walked right over her. Her writing was awful because she had never held a pencil before. Her drawings were posted in the room with everyone else?s but the kids would constantly make fun of her creations. As her English began to improve and she tried her best to communicate, the kids began ignoring her. She was hard to understand so she became a loner. She was desperate for a friend. During Kindergarten, it never was to be. Other parents were as cruel as their kids, openly handing out birthday party invitations and leaving my daughter out. Luckily she has a strong spirit and is a survivor, so she hung in there and put on a happy face enjoying her new found freedom. However, inside, she was hurting badly.

As she got older, she realized she had no friends. Now she is in second grade. She doesn?t fall down anymore, she writes beautifully, dances like a professional, is a star soccer player and doesn?t pull her pants up anymore, but she still won?t wear dresses. She is the victim of criticism and cruelty many days. Now the kids just ignore her and won?t include her at all in their activities. Some of the kids bully her and follow her around on purpose to annoy her. One girl tied her up with a jump rope and left her to get undone by herself. No one came to her rescue.

As a parent I wanted to make these kids feel the pain my child was feeling. I wanted to tell them and their parents to come and live in my shoes for a week and see what it is like to live with a child that was literally tossed away at birth and abused in every way one can imagine. Being treated like an outcast by her peers was so painful for her and for me. Luckily she has bonded with me, my husband and my 11 year old daughter, who was adopted from China at birth. She wants to know why kids are so mean to her and why she doesn?t have any friends. These are tough questions to answer. How can I expect her to understand and how do I instill in her a sense of respect for others when she is not treated well? Here is what I do and it works. My daughter, for all that she has been through is one of the most compassionate, kind, funny and caring little souls I know.

1) Listen to your children?s bad experiences with an open mind.
They say perception is reality and that is very true for a child. Let your child tell you what happened in detail. They need to vent and talk about what or who hurt them. Probe for details. Sometimes you will discover that the situation was blown a bit out of proportion. Reassure them and make them feel safe and supported. Don?t make the other child or person out to be the bad guy, but empathize as much as you can. Just having you listen and hug them and ?feel their pain? is extremely comforting for a child.

2) Give them suggestions on how to handle the situation if it occurs again.
After your child tells you the details of what or who hurt them, help them to figure out how they can deal with the problem in the future. Give them a set of tools to use ? words and actions. Teach them to be assertive, not aggressive. Teach them how to walk away from a situation and get an adult if you are not there. Emphasize that physically hurting another child is unacceptable, even if they were hit or kicked. In a school setting, they should be told to tell their teacher or the playground supervisor if something happens that they do not know how to handle.

3) Focus on the positive and boost their self-esteem as much as possible.
This is especially important if your child has been called ?stupid, fat, ugly, lazy, etc.? Assure them that you know they are a wonderful kid and to you they are very special. Be genuine. Kids can see through insincerity. Tell them that other children can be mean because they don?t know any other way to act. As hard as it is, don?t agree with their assessment of Sally being a jerk, even if she is one. Tell them Sally doesn?t have very good manners and that you know they know better than to call someone a bad name.

4) Role play difficult situations with your child.
If you are having a hard time understanding exactly what happened to upset your child, ask them to act it out with you. Let them play the role of the bully and you are your child. Sometimes children have difficulty communicating a bad situation, but if you ask them to show you or tell you what happened by being the ?bad guy? you can understand better. Do it twice. Once acting like you know your child acted ? angry, upset, confused, etc. and once acting the way you want them to practice acting ? in control, using their words, asserting themselves, etc. Practice this technique often with your child, it helps and it works!

5) If all else fails, go to the school and voice your complaints.
If the problems are occurring at school, make an appointment to talk to the teacher. It is important for them to be in the loop if there is a recurring situation at school that is negatively impacting your child. They are an extra set of eyes and ears and they can monitor your child?s moods and ask your child if they are OK if they seem upset. The more the teacher knows about what is happening, the better. If problems still occur, take it a step further and meet with the principal.

6) Don?t allow your child to play with kids that are not good influences.
This is difficult when you don?t have control of your child during the school week. However, if you can, volunteer or visit the classroom and scope out the kids that seem sensitive to the needs of others. If you work full-time and just can?t make it to school, call the teacher and ask for her help in matching your child up with the good role models. Plan a play date for your child and be involved the entire time so you can supervise and direct your child appropriately, when needed. If your little one is attracted to the bullies or troublemakers, discourage them from playing with them. This phenomenon will happen. As much as these kids hurt or torment your kid, for some reason they represent power and some kids will be attracted to that group because they pay attention to your child in negative ways, which is better than getting no attention at all. Discourage this kind of interaction! It?s unhealthy and does not promote good self-esteem.

There is nothing more difficult than knowing your child is hurting emotionally. Physical pain is easy to fix and take care of; emotional pain is so much harder. Constant reassurance, positive reinforcement for a job well done and lots of hugs and love will help your child deal with criticism from others. Instill a strong sense of self-esteem and confidence by focusing on the wonderful things your child does every day. Play down their weaknesses. Recognize them and actively help your child to improve in productive ways. Keep your expectations realistic, though. If your child isn?t a born athlete, don?t make them play soccer or baseball just to be social, it will only exacerbate their insecurities. Every child has special talents and gifts. Hone in on them and help your child bloom. If they feel good inside, the hurtful situations and people they will encounter throughout their entire lives will not seem so terrible.

Learning Through Heroes

Heroes inspire. Everyone wants to be associated with ordinary people who accomplish extraordinary feats. Recently, educators have recognized the importance of using heroes to teach children and adolescents various subject matters ranging from values to science.

Tony R. Sanchez, Assistant Professor of Social Studies Education at Purdue University recognizes that using role models and heroes can be quite effective when teaching values education. He claims that by examining the spirit of heroism, it serves as an invitation for the students to adopt the heroic spirit for themselves.

Dr. Mae Jemison, the first African-American in space, created the Jemison Group, which aims to bring the technological advancements to people across the globe and hopefully nourish students’ love for science. This explorer hero is very active in her undertakings. Schools on the other hand are actively using her as an example when teaching science. A few years ago, West Clayton Elementary School invited the astronaut to give a talk about space travel. After the visit, a significant number of students became more engaged in the subject matter. Children are inspired to learn of the countless possibilities that await them if they try hard enough to pursue their dreams.

The use of heroes in the classroom is becoming more and more popular. However, careful thought should be put in the curriculum design if educators want to ensure the effectiveness of the method. Here are a few tips:

The instructor needs to find a suitable hero to use. There is not generic hero that can be used across all subject matter, although heroes by and large have universal attributes. For instance, it may be more appropriate to use Michael Jordan as a role model when teaching sports rather than using Oprah.
It is important that the instructor does not take away the human-element in heroes. They are not super humans, and it is important for children and young adults to understand this. They need to know that they can be their idols; they can be the heroes who always put things into perspective, who makes sound decisions based on careful reasoning and who thinks of the greater good more than self-interest. Students need to be able to see the hero potential in each of them.

Cheating Is Rampant...Everyone Is Cheated.

Look at this list: more than 50 sites that sell ghost-written essays to students, who then sign the purchased work and pass it off as their own.

Did you know it was so bad? An epidemic really. And a devastating indictment of our high schools (which obviously don't teach students how to write papers) and colleges (which obviously don't care that so much cheating is taking place or have no idea how to stop it).

First, how could I compile this list? Because I have an essay site (Improve-Education.org) with Google ads. Google's robots see the word "essay" and stick all this junk on my site. For months I didn't understand that I have to tell Google if I don't want a certain site listed. I was really troubled that my visitors might think I approved of these dishonest activities. Finally I started de-listing the names one by one. The list is now up to about 55. In short, there's a control panel where I can simply copy the list below and paste it into this article. All of these are real sites that advertised on my site!

Second, what are some of the broader implications? Our educators, for many decades, have been dumbing down the schools. Our educators undercut reading by using whole word. (For a shocking report on that scam, see #21 on Improve-Education.org). In short, it's no wonder that kids can't write when many can hardly read. This list is merely a huge screaming testament that our educators have been wildly successful at destroying the values and practices they should have been defending.

007termpapers.com
a-termpapers.info
a-termpapers.org
absolutepapers.com
academicblueprint.com
allstaressays.com
allyouressays.com
anythingwritten.com
codemanagers.com
customessay.com
customessay.org
customessaywriting.com
customizedessay.com
customresearchpapers.us
customwriting.com
customwritinghelp.com
customwritings.com
directessays.com
duenow.com
essay-house.com
essay.ca
essaycapital.com
essayedge.com
essayfinder.com
essayplant.com
essays-custom.com
essays-custom.org
essays.alltheservices.com
essayspace.com
essayuniversity.com
essayuniversity.org
essayuniversity.us
exampleessays.com
ezfinda.com
faster-results.com
improve-education.org
informalessay.com
ivyleaguewriters.com
monsterpapers.com
mythesiswriter.com
perfect-essays.com
privatewriting.com
professays.com
qualityphilosophy.com
qualitytermpapers.net
safe-papers.com
samedayresearch.com
schoolessays.com
term-papers.org
termpapersez.com
thesis.org
vault.com
vault.com/college
wedoyouressay.com
wowessay.com

Above, I said, "Eveyone Is Cheated." There must be a vast number of people now with fraudulent resumes. These people will be hired and promoted based on things they cannot do. At some point they'll have to do that thing, and the office or enterprise will falter. Maybe your office has some of these accidents-waiting-to-happen. All this dishonesty and unreality makes the whole society weaker and less coherent. We have to stop cheating because it cheats us all. That might be the central message of chracter education.

Seriously, folks, if this list is okay with you, then keep the current gang in charge. If you want to see the schools improved--so that students can actually write their own papers--we will have to discard a lot of bad ideas and many incompetent people. Improve-Education.org exists to provide leadership toward a better direction.

If you want ammunition for your own crusade, also see Education Revolution on squidoo.com (enter in search box). This is a collection of sources and comments intended to help you bring about change. (Education Revolution is devoted to rabble-rousing, while Improve-Education.org is more scholarly.)

Cultural Conflicts and the First Amendment in Schools

Recently there has been an increasing surge in cultural and religious conflicts in public schools throughout the U.S. Some groups are more actively promoting posting of then national motto, “In God We Trust,” in classrooms. Others are pressuring school boards to include Intelligent Design alongside evolution in the classroom, while still others threaten to sue if they do. The current worldwide battle against terrorism has brought new questions about religious points of view and a fresh challenge of how to educate students regarding religious differences.

There are two ways districts usually respond to these kinds of issues. Most choose to ignore them, hoping they won’t emerge in their own district while others take the path of least resistance giving in to the latest group to threaten protests. There is a better way that can help you proactively establish an environment that can address these concerns that can deal with differences without polarizing in conflict.

Helping staff, students and your community understand and appreciate the First Amendment ideals that define our national life and provide a way for us to respect different points of view without forcing people to compromise their deepest convictions. The problem is most people don’t understand those ideals, or don’t appreciate how they can help us in these kinds of conflicts.

• Training staff to know how to handle questions of religious practice and how to cover religious themes when they surface in the classroom is more important than ever. The initial response often determines whether a simple concern turns into a polarizing conflict.
• Teaching students how First Amendment ideals practically apply to how they treat classmates and can be an effective model to address bullying and harassment on campus. The First Amendment Center is developing a curriculum to do just that (www.firstamendmentcenter.org). Some teachers are even using this model with great success as the foundation for their system of classroom discipline that is based on mutual respect among students.
• Helping your community appreciate the values of the First Amendment that can help us fairly live with our differences.

Taking time for this kind of training may not seem important in this time of exacting standards and assessments. But if you’ve ever witnessed the good will and resources that can be wasted in an all-out conflict between different factions of the community, you know how critical it can be.

A Chinese Answer to an American Puzzle

Character education? Look at the obstacles! No matter what you say, you'll be assailed by ACLU crazies or fundamentalists of one stripe or another. But suppose your mind is made up! You are determined to introduce deep thoughts into your classroom. Philosophical and spiritual thoughts, no less. I say, bless you. And here's a way to do it.

The Tao Te Ching is a seminal work in World Philosophy, World Religion, World Literature, World History, Asian Studies, and Chinese History. It may well be THE supreme multicultural document. Who would dare to criticize discussions of such a work?

Written (or compiled) almost 2500 years, the Tao Te Ching continues to fascinate intellectuals of all kinds. It is said to be the most translated book in the world, after the Bible. One site counts more than 125 English translations!

What, quickly, is its appeal? First, it's short. Second, it is not religious in any ordinary sense, being (many would argue) atheistic. Third, it talks about life and how to be happy. Note that Socrates in the Western world and the Tao Te Ching in the Eastern world were discussing the same topics at the same time!

When I first became curious about the spiritual life, I (like many others) used the Tao Te Ching as a point of entry. It is playful, elusive, wise, startling, counterintuitive and (as noted) carries no baggage from organized religion. I studied this little work for several years and wrote a number of articles. One of these I just added to Improve-Education.org (#18). If you need a quick, informal introduction, this essay is a good place to start. Half of it is quotations from my favorite translation, that of Witter Bynner.

You can find endless additional translations on Google. One in particular I'd like to mention, that by Ron Hogan. This is what might be called a loose or even hippie translation. I think it would appeal to more literary or iconoclastic students. I use the word hippie advisedly. These old Chinese monks were, to a degree, their era's misfits and nonconformists. Their message was: whatever you think you're seeking probably isn't worth having and, besides, you fool, you're going about it the wrong way! Taoism is closely allied, by the way, to Zen Buddhism, that other hotbed of paradox and poetical speculation.

And how does all this take us to more character development? Well, first, I'm not thinking of the Marine model where you do lots of things you may not want to do. That route has its place. I'm thinking of the model whereby people thoughtfully discuss life and how we should live it. That's what Philosophy (love of wisdom) was always concerned with. Problem is, as already noted, many forces work against substance in the classroom. But the Tao Te Ching (being arguably the most perfect multicultural and thus Politically Correct thing you can study) trumps all opposition. Asian Studies, anyone?