Note: To protect the privacy of our members, e-mail addresses have been removed from the archived messages. As a result, some links may be broken.

Lesson Plans


character education

From: wendy sauls (wsauls)
Date: Sun Feb 20 2000 - 14:24:47 PST

  • Next message: Artgotch: "Response to those unarteducated ones"

    hi all,

    i would love to have your opinions on my quandry. i've been asked to work with a county level committee as an illustrator for a character education unit administrators are putting together to distribute to schools. i have mixed feelings about the concept of character education as it's being presented. presently, as a sixth grade homeroom teacher, i have to plan and teach a one hour long "lesson" a month on a selected moral topic like comittment, respect, compassion... all teachers have to do this, btw. the resources we have been given to use are very limited, and, in my opinion, very lame. i have spent a lot of time finding and preparing better resources which i hope are more interesting and appropriate for my students. the end result, though, is hard for me to appreciate. i don't get the feeling that my students are really moved by the lessons. one of them got into a fight the day after we did our lesson on conflict resolution! the whole arrangement seems very staged and artificial to me, teaching a certain value one day a month. also, it takes planning time which i would much rather spend on my art lessons. additionally, none of us have had any training on character education. we also were not asked if we wanted to do this, it was forced on us. in general, i and many of my colleagues seem to have negative feelings about the whole program. please know that i am not against teaching values in school. i am often amazed at the things kids say and do to each other and sometimes even to me that are wrong and hurtful. i definitely feel these issues should be addressed. the approach i feel most comfortable with personally, though, is similar to what woody and larry and others have said on the list - modeling positive behaviors as a teacher, sharing personal ideals with students, incorporating values into the art curriculum by choosing to present students with artwork and artworks that lead them to consider important ideas...

    i'd like to hear any thoughts you all have on this topic. it'd be great, too, to hear from teachers who've participated in character ed. programs at your schools - how you did it, what you thought about it...your opinions are extremely valuable to me!

    thanks so much,

    wendy 

    ---

    This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sun Feb 20 2000 - 14:28:55 PST