www.characterconferences.com

1. BETTER TEACHERS, BETTER SCHOOLS

3. 3

7. CRISIS IN CHARACTER

8. While we may be producing a
smart, self-assured generation of
young people, today’s kids are
also the most self-centered and
stressed-out on record.

9. Culture of Hate

10. Glorification of the
Vulgar

11. Thrill of Viral Bashing

12. Self-Absorption
Epidemic

13. REALITY CHECK: Teens are now
40 percent lower in empathy levels
than three decades ago, and in the
same period, narcissism has
increased 58 percent.

14. Rise in Cases of Suicide

15. Rise in Cases of
Depression

16. RESPONSE

17. CCTV

18. METAL
DETECTORS

19. HOME
SCHOOLING

21. –Johnny Appleseed
“Type a quote here.”

22. Research: student achievement
increases when students feel
comfortable in their learning
environment.

23. Gentleness and kindness
will make our homes a
paradise upon earth.
C. A. Bartol

25. A caring classroom is not only comfortable,
it allows the teacher to spend more time teaching
and less time handling student conflicts.

26. Effects of Crisis in Empathy:
hurts students’ academic performance
leads to bullying behaviors
more cheating
less resilience
inability to collaborate
inability to innovate
inability to problem-solve

27. 27
Strategies to Win
the War

29. HAL URBAN STRATEGIES

30. The most important thing he did
as a teacher.

31. Never let the demands of your
job cause you to forget that
each one of your students is a
feeling- thinking human being.
For education to be effective, it
must be personal.
- George Isaac Brown

32. The deepest urge in human
nature is the desire to be
important.
- John Dewey

33. - Eye contact
- Shaking hands
- Smiling

34. KID WELCOMING STUDENTS

35. Second Most Important Thing
He Did as a Teacher:
Teach Manners and the
Golden Rule

36. If manners were an animal, it
would be an endangered
species.
- Henry Rogers

37. 37
THE DAILY FOUR
1. Share good news (with a partner; 1 min
each).
2. Tell about someone or something you’re
grateful for (new partner; 1 min. each).
3. Affirm someone in the class.
4. Make us laugh. (Joke must be clean.)
—Hal Urban, Lessons from the Classroom: 20
Things Good Teachers Do
(www.halurban.com)

38. Choosing an Atmosphere
Rude Courteous
Inconsiderate Considerate
Disrespectful Respectful
Offensive Polite

39. Comprehensive Character Education
BIG IDEA #1:
A high-quality, comprehensive
approach to character education is
the most effective way to develop
caring classrooms and schools—
and thereby reduce bullying.

41. The 12-point comprehensive approach to
character education. . .
. . . is intentional, deliberately seeking
to positively impact character
development through every phase of
school and classroom life.

42. School Climate Matters
Bullying is strongly related to overall school climate.
Bullying decreases when:
 school climate improves
 students have greater voice and responsibility for
solving problems and making decisions that improve
their school.
—Dr. Maurice Elias, Rutgers University (based on a study of more than 100
schools)

43. IT’S IN OUR
HAND TO
CREATE THAT
ATMOSPHERE
43

44. 44

45. Kindness makes a fellow
feel good whether it’s
being done to him or by
him.
Frank A. Clark

46. 46

47. A Growing Character Problem:
 School bullying
 Cyberbullying

48. Children remind me of chickens, seeking out the
weak and wounded and pecking them to death.
They have discovered that my 9-year-old son,
who is autistic, is bothered by loud noises, and
they scream and whistle in his ear until he cries.
—A mother

49. When students are victims of peer cruelty, it:
 Interferes with their learning.
 Disrupts their social and moral
development.
 Makes school a miserable experience.
 Causes some to seek revenge.
 Causes others to become depressed and
even suicidal.

50. All my life I have been teased.
I love you very much, but I
just couldn’t stand it any more.
—An 8th-grade girl’s suicide note to her
parents

56. U.S. Secret Service Study:
Two-thirds of the student shooters had
been bullied by fellow students.

57. The Educational Costs of Bullying
 Peer exclusion in kindergarten is
associated with lower academic
achievement in later grades.
 Even observing someone else being
bullied can lower a student’s
academic performance.

58. 3 Secrets of Success
1.Staff involvement
2.Student involvement
3.Parent involvement

60. When I was young, I used to
admire intelligent people;
as I grow older, I admire
kind people.
Abraham Joshua Heschel

61. “How to Make Your School a
School of Character”
 Ch. 11, Character Matters, p. 219
How to get staff involved

62. Create a Touchstone
pp. 220-221

63. Develop a school touchstone or
“way.”
Written by staff and students
together, the touchstone
expresses the school’s core
moral and performance values.

64. THE NORTHRIDGE WAY
At Northridge School, we pursue
excellence in scholarship and character.
We celebrate and honor each other by
being respectful, honest,
kind, and fair.
We give our best inside and
outside the classroom.
This is who we are, even when
no one is watching.

65. Be kind whenever
possible. It is always
possible.
Dalai Lama

66. THE ROOSEVELT WAY
“There’s a way that students here
are expected to act, and a way
that they expected not to act.”
—High School Counselor

67. Self-Study: Touchstone Implementation
Visibility
The touchstone is displayed in all
classrooms and included in all school
documents.
Academics
Teachers make connections with the
touchstone when teaching their subject
area.

68. Self-Study: Touchstone Implementation
Discipline
Staff refer to the touchstone when
disciplining.
New students
There is a plan for teaching the touchstone
to students who enroll during the school
year.

69. Ongoing Professional Development
 Regular staff sharing of best practices (through
buddy system, faculty and dept. meetings, etc.)
 Staff training in cooperative learning, class
meetings, and other key strategies

83. Kindness does
wonderful things to
a face.
Dixie Doyle

84. 3 Secrets of Success
1.Staff involvement
2.Student involvement
3.Parent involvement

85. “Involve Students in Creating a
School of Character”
 Ch. 12, Character Matters, p. 247
How to get students involved

86. 86

87. 20 Kinds of Class Meetings
 How to Get Kids To Talk in Class Meetings
Educating for Character, T. Lickona,
Ch. 8
87

88. 20 Kinds of Class Meetings
1. Good news meeting
2. Circle whip
3. Appreciation time
4. Compliment time
5. Goal-setting meeting
88

90. 20 Kinds of Class Meetings
6. Rule-setting meeting
7. Rule-evaluating meeting
8. Stage-setting meeting
9. Feedback and evaluation
10. Reflections on learning

91. 20 Kinds of Class Meetings
11. Student presentation
12. Problem-solving meeting
13. Academic issues
14. Classroom improvement meeting
15. Follow-up meeting

92. 92

93. 20 Kinds of Class Meetings
16. Planning meeting
17. Concept meeting
18. Sticky situations
19. Suggestion box/class business box
20. Meeting on meetings

94. Student Voice and Cyberbullying
 Challenge student gov’t: “What can
students, parents, and the school,
working together, do to prevent
cyberbullying?”
 Have schoolwide discussion, with delegates
from each classroom.
 Ask students to take responsibility for a
schoolwide campaign.
 Resource: www.stopcyberbullying.org

95. Get students to take responsibility:
 Counselors create anti-bullying
“intervention teams” at each grade level.
(Team members step in when they see
someone being picked on.)
 Students provide emotional support to
victims.

96. WELCOMING FRESHMEN
 Seniors plan and lead a half-day
welcome for the new freshmen.

97. The smallest act of kindness
is worth more than the
greatest intention.
Kahlil Gibran

98. FRESHMAN TRANSITION PROGRAM
 Older students are assigned as mentors to all
freshmen.
 The school trains the mentors.
 Mentors and their freshmen meet weekly.

99. BUDDY CLASSES
An older class is paired with a younger
class.
The buddy classes get together weekly or
bi-weekly.
The older kids read to their little buddies,
help them with their schoolwork, do a
special project together, and so on.

100. Celebrate
Kindness
Challenge
100

101. 101

102. 102

103. 103

104. 104

105. 105

106. 3 Secrets of Success
1.Staff involvement
2.Student involvement
3.Parent involvement

107. “Build a Strong Home-School
Partnership”
 Ch. 3, Character Matters, p. 60
How to get parents involved

108. Communicate to Parents
1. “Parents are the first and most
important character educators.”
2. “The school’s job is to reinforce
the character virtues being
taught at home.”

109. Expect Parents to Participate

110. Get the Program to the Parents
Let parents know what the
school is doing in character
education—and how they can
help.

111. Parents and Cyber-Bullying
Send home guidelines to help
parents monitor kids’ online
activity.

112. Character Education Homework
 Parent and child, independently,
each make a list:
“Who are 5 of your heroes? Why?”
 Then compare and discuss lists.

113. 113
The Difference a Teacher Makes
“I was a bully before I came to this
school. I used to make little kids cry.
“When I met Mrs. Brown, I changed.
I’m not a bully anymore, because
Mrs. Brown taught me about
character.”
—a 6th-grade boy

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115. 115
Teacher as Model: Self-Inventory
1. Do I warmly greet each student?
2. Do I seek other opportunities to connect with
each student?
3. Am I well-prepared for class? On time?
4. Do I model patience and courtesy, even
under stress?
5. Do I treat my all students impartially?
6. Do I challenge all of them to do their best
work?

116. 116
Anonymous Compliments
1. Each student draws the name of a classmate.
2. By the week’s end, the student writes an
anonymous compliment about that person on a
strip of paper, shows it to the teacher, and puts
it in the Compliment Box.
3. On Friday, the teacher posts all the
compliments on the bulletin board.

117. PEERS AFFIRMING PEERS
At the end of the day:
 “Who saw kindness today?”
 “Who saw respect?”
 “Who saw determination?”
 “Who saw sharing?”
—Jenna Smith, 3rd-grade teacher

118. Practice Kindness
At the start of the day, all students take out
their Good Deeds Journal and write:
1. A good deed I did yesterday . . .
2. A good deed I will do today . . .
In all subjects, teachers make a connection to
the good deeds theme.

119. Teaching Courtesy
 I teach my kids to greet and thank the cafeteria
workers.
 The cafeteria staff say they always know when my
kids are coming through.
 My students have a very high level of self-respect—
because of the respect they show to other people.
—Molly Angelini, 5th-grade teacher

121. 8 CONCRETE STRATEGIES THAT
HELP RAISE CARING CHILDREN

122. 1. Look Face-to-Face

123. A simple way to increase face
to face connection is to enforce
one habit: “Always look at the
color of the talker’s eyes.”

124. Beginning today, treat everyone you
meet as if they were going to be
dead by midnight. Extend to them all
the care, kindness and understanding
you can muster, and do it with no
thought of any reward. Your life will
never be the same again.
Og Mandino

125. 2. Use More Emotion
Words

127. 3. Praise Caring
Actions

128. A study found that praising children’s
character traits rather than their behavior
helped them internalize caring as part of their
identities. The character-praised kids were
also more likely to be more generous than
those children who were told that they had
donated because they were expected to do.

129. 4. Use Moral
Discipline to Redo
Uncaring Behavior

130. 5. Capture Caring
Moments

131. Make sure to display prominently
photos of your kids engaged in
kind and thoughtful endeavors so
they recognize that “caring
matters.”

132. 6. Use Real Events,
Books, and News

133. Help stretch your child’s
perspective-taking skills (the
cognitive part of empathy)
using spontaneous everyday
moments.

134. In books: “Take the bears’ side. How would
you feel if Goldilocks used your beds and
chairs without asking?”

135. In the news: “The cyclone destroyed most of
those children’s homes. What do you think
those kids are feeling and thinking? What do
you think we can do to help?”

136. In your family: “How does Dad feel hearing
that his mom is so sick?” Don’t overlook
asking: “I wonder if there’s a way we can
help?”

137. 7. Be a Caring Role
Model

138. One of the greatest questions to ask yourself
each day is: “If I were the only example my
child had to learn kindness and empathy, what
did she learn today?”

139. 8.Reflect On
Kindness

140. So instead of always asking, “What did you
learn today?” or “What grade did you get?”
include:

141. “What’s something you did
that was kind?”
“What kind thing did you see
someone do?”

142. “… children are hard-wired
to care, but their capacity
for empathy must be
nurtured …”

143. Three things in human life
are important. The first is to
be kind. The second is to be
kind. And the third is to be
kind.
Henry James

144. BETTER TEACHERS, BETTER SCHOOLS

145. EMMANUEL M. RENTOY

146. NAME & TITLE OF THE SEMINAR
IWANTMYCERTIFICATE@GMAIL.COM

147. FOR HANDOUTS,
please join us in
FaceBook
GROUP:
Better Teachers,
Better Schools

148. https://www.facebook.com/groups/betterteachers/

150. www.characterconferences.com

151. BETTER TEACHERS, BETTER SCHOOLS