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Social and emotional learning and academic performance
Relationship between student achievement and character education
Importance of character education
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The basis of good character involves being respectful, honest, hardworking, responsible, caring, and understanding. Parents and teachers alike wish for their students to possess good character; but what does “character” mean in the realm of education; and whose responsibility is it to ensure that students do in fact develop good character? The Character Education Partnership (2003, pg. 1), defines good character as involving “understanding, caring about, and acting upon core ethical values”, and thus takes a holistic approach to the development of character in students by developing the “cognitive, emotional, and behavioral aspects of moral life.” Through character education, students can grow to understand core values, learn to develop caring relationships, and grow in self-motivation; thus students grow in character as their understanding and subsequent commitment deepens through varied opportunities to apply values through everyday interactions (CEP, 2003). In theory, a student who possesses good character is a more productive, responsible, respectful, and caring student; yet the question as to whether a student with good character is a better student academically remains.
Over the past few decades, the need for character education programs in United States’ schools has been widely debated and become increasingly popular particularly at the elementary level. Several states, including California, mandate that schools in some way focus on the social and emotional development of students through character education (USDE, 2011). According to legislation in the state of California, all California teachers are supplied with a character education manual with the expectation that each teacher impress the qualities of good character u...
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...Educational Effectiveness, 3(1), 26-55. doi:10.1080/19345740903353436
Stiff-Williams, H. R. (2010). Widening the Lens to Teach Character Education Alongside Standards Curriculum. Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas, 83(4), 115-120. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
U.S. Department of Education. (2003). Character education crucial to education system, Paige says ‘culture callousness’ must end; announces technical center for character education and civic engagement. Retrieved August 20, 2011 from http://www2.ed.gov.
U.S. Department of Education. (2011). Character education…our shared responsibility. Retrieved August 20, 2011 from http://www2.ed.gov.
Williams, M. M. (2000). Models of Character Education: Perspectives and Developmental Issues. Journal of Humanistic Counseling, Education & Development, 39(1), 32-40. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
Mayes, C. (2010). The 'Standard'. The archetypal hero’s journey: A study in Jungian. pedagogy in teaching and learning. Madison, WI: Atwood, IL.
Weber, G. (2014, January 23). How can we bring respect back into our schools. Retrieved February 25, 2014, from Crisis Prevention website: http://www.crisisprevention.com/Blogs/The-Empathic-Educator/February-2014/How-Can-We-Bring-Respect-Back-Into-Our-Schools
Someone’s character can be defined by their non-cognitive qualities such as optimism, curiosity, self-discipline, perseverance, and conscientiousness. In the book titled, “A Summary of ‘How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character’ ”, writer Paul Tough conveys the idea that when it comes to a child succeeding in the future their cognitive excellence comes second to that of their non-cognitive characteristics. He argues that non-cognitive distinctiveness actually predicts success better than cognitive brilliance. He supports this argument by exploring the science behind these findings, and also tracks several alternative schools, education programs and outreach projects that have tried to implement the lessons, as
Human character is expressed through consistent virtue that is engrained in a person and demonstrates tenacity in the face of testing. In Wright’s, After You Believe, Wright describes human character as a pattern of thinking and acting which runs right through a person. If a person fails to demonstrate consistency of virtue in the presence of pressure, the person’s true nature becomes apparent and his or her character is jeopardized. A person may be outwardly humble, yet in the face of demotion or false accusation, he may harbor offense and pride.
Lickona, T. (1991). Educating for character: How our schools can teach respect and responsibility. New York, NY: Bantam Books.
Kaufman, Daniel. "Notes from Hell: The Public Schools Need Discipline and Respect for Learning. That's All." National Review 30 Sept. 1996: 46. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 3 Mar. 2014.
I define character as a person with moral integrity, who exhibits multiple virtues of good behavior. However, character is not only how you think about yourself, but how other perceive you. That said character is a mixture of perception and action. They can range from empathy to honesty and when I think about character immediately respect, selflessness, and responsibility come to mind among other traits. Among the four pillars of NHS I feel character relates to most to me. I strive to be a person of character a tall order, yet an achievement I want to reach. I always hear about people with great character, and I think what must I do to be like those people. So, I hold many aspects of character close to me, especially respect . I feel that
Everyone’s got bad values and morals which isn’t a good thing for anybody. This essay goes over an article by John Leo and how it talks about what kind of bad morals people, especially students have. What the audience wants to know from this is why are they influenced to do this or where did they get influenced from. This article gives us some examples of bad morals and of solutions so we as students can understand what this article is trying to get at. This article also talks about character, and what importance and effectiveness it has on us as students. The article gives us information on which values we have been adapting ourselves with and which values and morals should be taught. It talks about student education, and how they should have good morals. George W. Bush has information and it expresses his ideas for why having bad morals are bad and how having good morals can be good. For example, in this article it talks about how a Massachusetts teacher could clarify her students have cheated or not. The reason she
By definition the word character means moral or ethical quality. My definition of character is that what defines you as a person, your personality and how you act but to have a good character you have to have honesty, courage and integrity and generally being a role model to others. There are so many people out there that have goals that would not only benefit them but would benefit everyone around them and some of those people are Gandhi, Martin Luther king Jr. and Malala Yousafzai. These are just the few people who help me shape my ideas of character but also as a person. They fight for what they think/thought was right without any violence but they use powerful words and hey speak the truth we all deserve to be equals. They all had the
In Erikson's fifth phase of psychosocial advancement struggle is focused amongst character and part perplexity. Character is first stood up to in youth between the ages 12 – 19 years of age, because of physical and hormonal changes in the body. A prologue to formal operations in subjective improvement and societal desire adds to an individual's personality to be investigated and built up (McAdams, 2009), this likewise prompts the revelation of one's character, however the (interior and outer) strengths that advance character improvement, ordinarily makes a feeling of pressure inside/for the person. The essential errand is, in Erikson's terms, "constancy or honesty and consistency to one's center self or confidence in one's philosophy", more or less: "Who am I and where am I going?" " (Fleming, 2004: 9),
“Building character at school not only helps students with their academic studies, but it also can help prevent bullying” (Gordon, 2015). Character education teaches the students the habits to get along in society. It teaches students about respect, responsible, honesty, and the golden rule. The golden rule states to treat others the way you want to be treated. There are many different resources out the about character education. One great book is the Leader in Me by Stephan Covey. This book lays out a character education model, and has a website for
After study exploration week and consulting with my professor, I was confident I could examine literature through the lens of psychology to meet the 12 credit hour requirement in my concentration in psychology and the LS requirement for literature. In my study plan, I developed 13 well defined learning outcomes for myself and worked through them in a systematic manner. I applied the theories of Charles Darwin, Carl Jung, Sigmund Freud, Karen Horney, Abraham Maslow, Walter Cannon and Phillip Bard, Williams James, and Carl Lange to the study of character development, psychological analysis.
Kaizen and Gambatte are two Japanese terms that are vital to Pacific Rim (Seider, 2012). Kaizen has a uniform meaning to the faculty members at Pacific Rim; they believe that kaizen serves as a “commitment to working for the continuous improvement of the community” (Seider, 2012, p. 164). Gambatte means “to persist or never give up” (Seider, 2012, p. 164). Administrators and faculty members at Pacific Rim brings both educational practices, kaizen and gambatte to life in various ways to their students (Seider, 2012). For example, the students get the opportunity to engage in meaningful debates on topics of importance, hence Philanthropy (Seider, 2012). Character Education class is a requirement of each grade level. They are taught about civic
“There is no greater godliness than to transform yourself with the way, no greater blessing than to escape misfortune” (Tzu 547). Education at a young age reflects upon how the individual learns to behave and work towards a better understanding of the world. Learning is merely an intake of information whereas moral development involved the application of discussion with the process of learning. Moral development is not encouraged in our current education system because some teachers don’t care about the students as much. It is the teacher’s goal to teach and maintain certain morals, however, it is still up to who the person hangs around with.
Character is the concrete foundation which builds a person’s personality and which defines his being.