This lesson teaches character education through a math curriculum by focusing on the trait of perseverance. Students will watch video clips from Finding Nemo that demonstrate perseverance and discuss how the character shows this trait. They will then discuss how perseverance can be applied in math class and beyond. As an assessment, students will post responses on a collaborative digital bulletin board about how they can demonstrate perseverance in math. The teacher plans to continue developing character education by working with colleagues to identify important virtues and implement them across the curriculum.

1. This activity is designed to help you develop a lesson that
teaches character through the curriculum and encourages ethical
reflection. Part of your project may be in the form of a
webpage, videography (no longer than 10 minutes), poster,
brochure, song, poem, or any other instructor-approved medium
to teach character education.
Select one of the following content areas you already teach
(CCSS or state standards): >> I teach Math_ Algebra 2 &
Geometry<<
Math
Language Arts
Social Studies
Science
Art
Physical Sciences
Physical Education
Sports
Music
Modern Language

2. Using your selected content area, design a lesson plan
presentation for Character Education through the Curriculum.
This lesson is designed for use in your classroom to help
students develop the cognitive side of character (performance,
civic, and/or moral) by (include all the following):
Raising ethical awareness
Creating an understanding of virtues of your chosen character
type (vocabulary) and how to apply them in concrete situations
What materials are you planning to use to support the concept
Plan for reflection opportunities
Helping students to take the perspective of others
Helping students to reason morally (Why are some things right
and others wrong?)
Helping students make thoughtful decisions (the virtue of
prudence)
Helping students create self-knowledge, including the capacity
for self-criticism (the virtue of humility)
Formative assessment – How will you informally measure the
students’ understanding of the lesson? What activity will they
do to demonstrate their learning?

3. You are still learning and will continually develop. To finalize
your project, look to the future: What’s next? Now that you
know more about character, what skills might remain to still be
refined or added? What might you want to explore further in the
arena of moral leadership?
Support your statements with evidence from the required studies
and your research. Cite and reference your sources in APA
style.
Peer Responses (Due Thursday)
Read your classmates’ responses. Reflect and substantively
comment on at least three of your peers’ submissions.
Share your overall impressions of the lesson/project.
What areas are done well and why?
What is one suggestion can you offer to the author that may
support growth opportunities for future lessons?
Share any expertise you may have to support an area the author
would like to develop.
Support your statements with evidence from the required
studies, other research, and experiences. You are required to
respond to comments or questions about your posts
>> Classmates’ posts<<
post #1

4. Character in the Curriculum: “What if Everybody Did That?”
I created a lesson that focuses on Language Arts while also
helping students to develop his/her own character. With the
recent rise in COVID cases in my area, our schools are moving
into hybrid or completely remote learning. Knowing this, I
created my lesson using Nearpod. That way, whether we are in
school or remote, the students will be able to complete the
lesson. The lesson will be presented in a way that allows for a
lot of interaction and peer discussion. If we are in person, the
lesson would be set as live participation that way I controlled
the slides the students are seeing, that we can have whole group
discussions through each slide. If we are remote, I could have
students complete it two different ways. One way is through
live participation using zoom. Presenting it this way, allows
students to see the slides I was presenting while also being able
to have active discussion. The other way is allowing it to be
student paced. This means that the students could work through
the lesson on his/her own time and we would be able to have a
whole group discussion via zoom at a later date/time.
For the lesson, students will work through the Nearpod,
following the directions on the screen. They will listen to the
story by Ellen Javernick called,
What if Everybody Did That
via YouTube
.
This book focuses on moral, performance, and civic character
because it takes situations where someone does the wrong thing
but brushes it off due to it being just one action and that action
would have little impact. It then asks the question “what if
everybody did that?” which causes the character to reflect on
his actions. It addresses moral character because it looks at and
addresses behavior that makes the character and students focus
on his/her own morals through “qualities-such as integrity,

5. justice, caring, and respect-needed for successful interpersonal
relationships and ethical behavior” (Seider, 2012, p. 32). It
addresses performance character in a way of making sure you do
the right thing. “Performance character must always be
regulated by moral character to ensure that we do not do bad
things in the pursuit of our goals” (Seider, 2012, p. 128). This
book does a fantastic way of demonstrating that.
What if Everybody Did That?
goes above and beyond in terms of teaching the character (in
the book) and students the importance of civic character. Civic
character focuses around an individual’s role within his or her
local, national, and global communities while giving them the
skills needed to be effective contributors to those communities.
(Seider, 2012). The situations in the book, show the character
making a bad choice that affects the people around him and
could ultimately affect his local, national, or even global
communities. It teaches students that every one of us is
responsible for the actions we take, and in turn the effects of
those actions. Sometimes (most times), those effects also affect
others around us.
Throughout the lesson, students will be reflecting on the book
and relating it back to his/her own personal experiences and the
virtues that make our character. Some of the virtues addressed
are empathy, respect, humility, self-control, fortitude, etc.
(Lickona, 2003). These reflections are done in multiple ways
such as discussions, mental reflection, collaboration boards,
draw it slides, graphic organizers, and writing prompts. These
reflections will allow for students to reflect on the perspective
of others, think about why some things are right and other
things are wrong, the importance of thoughtful decisions, self-
knowledge/self-criticism all of which will help raise his/her
ethical awareness. As for the assessment piece, students would
be assessed through multiple means such as discussion, the
Nearpod activities (draw it, collaboration boards, matching
game), and their written responses.

6. Standards addressed during the lesson:
CC.1.2.3.A:
Determine the main idea of a text; recount the key details and
explain how they support the main idea.
CC.1.2.3.B:
Ask and answer questions about the text and make inferences
from text; refer to text to support responses.
CC.1.2.3.C:
Explain how a series of events, concepts, or steps in a
procedure is connected within a text, using language that
pertains to time, sequence, and cause/effect.
CC.1.2.3.G:
Use information gained from text features to demonstrate
understanding of a text.
9.2.3.F:
Know and apply appropriate vocabulary used between social
studies and the arts and humanities.
By the end of the lesson, students will be able to:
Determine the main idea of the book,
What if Everybody Did That
, and use details to support the main idea
Make inferences about why some things are right and other
things are wrong
Explain cause and effects of our actions

7. Describe and explain a situation that would create a problem if
everyone did it, using self-reflection
Use the vocabulary we have been learning and relate it to the
reading and personal situations.
Materials needed for the lesson:
Chromebooks (Headphones, Wireless Mouse)
Nearpod Website/App
Nearpod Active Lesson Code
Zoom App
Hard Copy of the Book (Optional)
My Nearpod Lesson Link:
https://share.nearpod.com/knjRTiLJwbb
I also attached a copy of the lesson as a PDF.
References:
Lickona, T. (2003). The content of our character. Retrieved
from
http://character-
education.info/Articles/TheContentofOurCharacter.pdf
PA State Standards. (2020). Retrieved November 18, 2020, from
https://www.pdesas.org/Standard

8. Seider, S. (2012).
Character compass: How powerful school culture can point
students towards success.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press
Winter, S. (2018, October 8)
What if Everybody Did That?
[Video File]. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWm2WXZic1k
Attachment:
What if Everybody Did That_.pdf
(3.514 MB)
post #2
Lesson Plan for Character in the Curriculum
Lesson Goals:
The goal for this lesson is to have students identify, discuss,
and explore the meaning of the performance character trait
perseverance and how it can be applied in math class and
beyond! Many math students struggle with completing their
work throughout the year. There are many reasons for this, but
one of the most common is if the student doesn’t understand
how to do something right away, they choose to give up and
disengage. My hope is after completing the activities in this
lesson, students will reflect on how they can use perseverance
in math class and become more confident in pushing themselves
past their comfort zone.

9. Raising Ethical Awareness and creating an understanding of
Performance Character:
Students will be asked to describe the word perseverance in
their own words, prompting an opening discussion on
everyone’s initial opinion of the character trait.
Students will be working in pairs to discuss how they see
perseverance being presented in three different video clips from
the movie,
Finding Nemo
.
A popular Disney, Pixar film that will grab the students
attention
Some students may not have realized, until now, how a main
message from the film was the act of perseverance
Students will also discuss how they could use perseverance both
inside and outside of the classroom.
In the final activity for the class, students will post responses to
the question: How can you show the trait of perseverance in
math class? Students will post these responses on a virtual
collaborative bulletin board where other students can see their
answers and potentially gain ideas from other’s responses.

10. Materials:
Interactive Nearpod lesson (PDF of lesson attached)
Warm-up: Open-ended question
Video clip:
Perseverance – Finding Nemo
Three open-ended question imbedded in video clip, students
must answer before continuing
Partner discussion (
reflection opportunity
)
Detailed reflection on video clip
Applying perseverance in and out of the classroom
Someone who displays perseverance in their life and how
Closure: Collaborative Bulletin Board (
reflection opportunity
)

11. Students share how they can show perseverance in math class
Discussion on student responses – intriguing and thought
provoking
Formative Assessment:
1. Student responses to warm-up question
2. Student-pair discussions on perseverance from the video clip,
using it in and out of the classroom, and someone who shows it
in their life
3. Student responses to closure question
Looking ahead:
I need to commit to implementing some sort of character
education within my classroom. It is too important to ignore and
let pass by for another group of young minds. I believe I need to
reflect on what is truly important to me as a teacher and want I
want to instill in my students. I think the best way to do this is
to work with my Geometry and Consumer Math PLC teams to
come together and discuss which virtues we want our students
to learn and eventually apply in and out of the classroom.
Seider (2012) states, “particular curricula and practices should
be considered only after members of a school community have
come to a decision about the overarching approach to character
education that best suits their particular students and context”
(p. 222). The sooner we come together a group and decide on a

12. common vocabulary of virtues we would like to use, the sooner
we can start implementing those virtues within our classroom
curriculum.
I also want to explore this idea with my entire school. I believe
my school is missing a common language amongst
administration and staff. If we were to come together as a group
and discuss what specific virtues are most important to us, as a
community, the stronger and better our potential character
education could be.
References:
Heinz, S. (2015).
Perseverance – Finding Nemo
[Video File]. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRQytOBTlN8
Seider, S. (2012).
Character compass: How powerful school culture can point
students toward success.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.
Attachment:
Perseverance in Math Class.pdf
(631.541 KB)