Fall 1997 Vol. 8 No. 1

THE UTAH STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 250 EAST 500 SOUTH SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH 84111

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Student FOCUS
...ON CHARACTER EDUCATION

At a statewide character conference in August 1997, federal project coordinators CeCie Scharman of Salt Lake City District, Susan Schumacher of Alpine, Sharlene Linford of Granite, and Ron Tree, Vickie Todd, and John Moss of Wasatch make real the character education "umbrella" under which all school programs should operate. The event, attended by more than 350 educators, had to turn away many more, evidence of the growing strength of character education in Utah.

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THE BIG PICTURE

Schools have always taught citizenship along with academic knowledge. The U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights define the roots of our moral heritage and still inspire in us a spirit of patriotism. John Dewey knew America could not endure unless the democratic principles and civic virtues on which it was founded were handed down to the next generation. One hundred years ago, pioneer children in Utah and throughout the nation were pledging allegiance to the flag "with justice for all" and learning heroic fables about hard work, truthfulness, and thrift in their McGuffey Readers as they practiced reading, writing, and arithmetic.

In 1953, Utah law asserted that "honesty, temperance, morality, courtesy, obedience...and other skills, habits, and qualities of character" must be taught in connection with regular schoolwork. Responding to alarming reports of increasing numbers of high school dropouts and of students who, if they did attend school, possessed neither self-discipline nor a desire to learn, the State Board of Education in 1992 approved a Character Education Plan. Basic values, it stated, must not only be taught in a formal manner but also emerge from discussions with parents and teachers as a consistent "umbrella" over all school programs.

In its official position statement, the Board declared that "teaching positive character traits is a clear and necessary responsibility of schools" and that the mission of character education is "to create an educational climate in which all individuals discover within themselves the principles of self-worth, courage of one's convictions, self-motivation, respect for others, moral judgment, and critical thinking" that empower each student to become a caring and responsible citizen. The 1992-1997 Utah State Public Education Strategic Plan cites character education as a vital component of the responsive school system we must create for the 21st century.

Much has been accomplished since then. Utah is now in its third year of implementing four pilot Partnership in Character Education projects funded by the U.S. Department of Education in Alpine, Granite, Salt Lake City, and Wasatch school districts. North Summit District and Washington District will soon join them in placing high priority on character education activities. Utah, along with California, Iowa, and New Mexico, were the first states in the nation so chosen. In 1995-96, 11 character related school district projects were funded by the Utah Legislature. That total has now risen to 24 as more schools and communities become proactive.

Under the tireless leadership of State Character Education Specialist Kristi Fink, teachers from all regional areas are constructing rubrics of core character traits and strategies for each grade level; writing essential questions that shape their lesson plans around values; and looking carefully at State Core Curriculum content through a values filter to connect it with habits and attitudes students need for success. As this work progresses, the conviction among these educators that what they are doing is important and that they can make a genuine difference in the lives of their students is gaining momentum.

Some schools and districts have adopted established programs with a proven track record of success such as Community of Caring, I Care, Tribes, Aegis, Love and Logic, Building Capable People, Positive Action, BEST (Behavior and Education Strategies for Teachers), Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, and the Renaissance program of attendance and achievement incentives. Kearns High School was a trailblazer in the merging of character building strategies with business partnerships and involving its feeder schools, local community leaders, and law enforcement officers in the Kearns Coalition.

Other schools find character lessons to be a natural outcome of existing programs like Service Learning, Substance Abuse Prevention, Life Skills, School-to-Careers, and Comprehensive Counseling and Guidance. Athletic directors teach sportsmanship. Student courts and conflict resolution teams practice fairness. Multicultural festivals spread global awareness. Inclusion of students at risk in regular programs teaches respect for individual differences. Advisory classes and field trips offer opportunities for students and their teachers to examine the issues of humane treatment of animals and conservation of the environment.

A new era has come. Character education is no longer being taught by default but by design. Improvement in academic performance is sure to follow as today's teacher education students receive instruction in character education strategies as a specific part of their training. For every program that is structured and ongoing, there are other supportive and independent ones which deliver the same underlying messages. On the following pages, StudentFOCUS looks at some randomly selected examples that reflect the remarkable diversity and quality of Utah's current character education endeavors.

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SNOWBIRD CONFERENCE SPOTLIGHTS VALUES

Energized by fresh air and ageless words of wisdom adorning the meeting room walls, educators and others from throughout the state met last August at Snowbird in the Wasatch Mountains above the Salt Lake Valley, site of Utah's annual character education conference. The agenda included reports from each of Utah's four federal character education project districts, plus presentations from a wide variety of other character building efforts taking place in rural as well as urban school districts "to be the world we want to see."

Gary Carlston, the Governor's Deputy for Education, reminded those present that education has dealt with principles of character throughout its history. He pointed out that Horace Mann knew that teaching common values was a dynamic tool to nourish human potential and that Thomas Jefferson encouraged the development of an inner moral sensibility in the individual that would hopefully embrace our nation as a whole. Declared State Character Education Specialist Kristin Fink, "Our students need civic virtues and moral reasoning skills to succeed."

Daryl Barrett, as co-chair of Governor Michael Leavitt's Commission on Centennial Values, spoke about the need to reach out to those different from ourselves, bring everyone to the table, and seek common ground for agreement on the fundamental beliefs we share. "We must advocate for and insist on the best for every child in Utah," she insisted. Then Barrett challenged each person to seek out someone else in the audience representing a different gender, ethnic background, age, geographical area, or religion and to spend a few minutes getting to know that person.

In 1996, the Commission on Centennial Values encouraged Utah parents, educators, and citizens from all walks of life to examine the values they hold. Agreement was ultimately reached on the following: families, commitment to community and country, integrity, honesty, respect for self and others, learning, caring service, work, personal responsibility, respect for the rule of law, fairness of justice of freedom, and respect for the environment. Utah has grounded its character education thrust in the traditional bonds of home and community.

"Building character is a little like weathering a storm," commented a smiling Sharlene Linford, holding the umbrella as she and her fellow coordinators made their presentations. CeCie Scharman said firmness, praise, and love are as effective as ever in reaching a student who is troubled and wants desperately to do well. "Administrators and support staff must be role models as well as teachers," she stated. "Schools should shape good kids as well as smart kids," echoed Susan Schumacher. And Wasatch High School coach Ron Tree reflected that over time, it's not the victories on the field but relationships that matter."

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PROVO WORKSHOP INTEGRATES CURRICULUM

An intensive week of brainstorming, conceptualizing, and old fashioned hard work was in store for almost 60 teachers and administrators at a workshop on Designing Units for Character Education Integration held at the Provo Park Hotel last July. Participants were rewarded with a clear understanding of integration theory and a rich array of plans that suggest the myriad ways in which character education can blend with day-to-day lessons in healthy lifestyles, science, and social studies and at any grade level K-12. The completed units will soon be available.

Representing Nebo District, which co-sponsored the workshop with the State Office of Education, Debbie May explained how teachers can weave ethics into everyday lessons in science, math, and language by looking at issues from a student perspective. State Curriculum Integration Specialist Julie Baker urged the teachers to provide ways for students with different learning styles to excel and to keep asking themselves what they are doing and can do to help students become better people. Synergy took hold as each small team of educators sat down to piece together their own character education curriculum matrix.

Conference participants utilized the Pamela Bloom/John Samara Curriculum Project materials to construct integrated curriculum units that identify specific ways to teach character traits and apply a values filter to subject matter content ranging from the simple to the complex. Emerging were a refreshing variety of concepts for activities ranging from hands-on, independent research to dioramas, speeches, skits, and journal writing. Reflective and logical reasoning; critical, creative, and abstract thinking; and predicting and memorizing are among the many skills these units were designed to teach.

For example, the team from T.H. Bell Junior High School in Weber District, directed by Principal Robert Stillwell, developed a curriculum map and activity menu to share with their colleagues. They plan to teach effective communication skills through role playing in peer pressures situations; examine the meaning of sacrifice and persistence by studying the courage of early American pioneers; and nurture teamwork, group responsibility, and loyalty through cooperative games and service projects. Day planners will be used to encourage goal setting.

Experience has motivated T.H. Bell Junior High to offer its seventh, eighth, and ninth graders an expanded home room period of 30 minutes per day this year to assure adequate time for meaningful character and confidence building conversations. Sixty percent of the time will be focused on character and the rest on school and community service projects. As caring adults, Stillwell and his faculty have made a long-term commitment to instilling in their students the Search Institute-based developmental assets they will need to succeed.

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Wasatch High School
RESPECT CAN BE MUTUALLY REWARDING

"Mr. Turner treats us as responsible adults who can be trusted to use the answers to our math problems as a learning tool, not to cheat. He doesn't quit trying until everybody fully understands what they're doing and why. When students get respect and trust from teachers, they respect and trust the teachers back. Going to class is not a chore if each person's opinion is valued. Education needs to be up-close and personal."

"Wasatch High has changed a lot since we began to focus on character education. Students don't fight in the halls anymore. In the past, when there was a scuffle, kids would congregate around to watch, but not anymore. We used to treat freshmen as if they were stupid, but not anymore. Now it's not important what grade a person is in. We make friends across all levels for all sorts of reasons. We are all kind of knitted together. It's a good feeling."

If comments like these from seniors at Wasatch High School in Heber City sound refreshing, the district's emphasis on character education and the high school's Character Enhancement Program are the reason. A federal project district, Wasatch is implementing one of the state's most fully developed character education models. Like other high schools in small towns, Wasatch has struggled to break down rigid social attitudes as it absorbs a significant rise in population and enrollment.

Coach and driver education teacher Ron Tree deplores the negative public image projected these days by some professional athletes who earn million dollar paychecks. He works hard to get across to his players that what really matters is how they behave both on and off the basketball court and football field, and that real success in life comes from being a person of integrity and behaving in a civilized way. That can at times be a frustrating task.

Wasatch's program grew out of eight different committees dealing with everything from the physical environment to a unique student forum. Seniors act as mentors for six to eight freshmen throughout the year and present an in-depth orientation session for them. Sophomores are trained in respectful relationships. An adventure-based ropes course is being planned to challenge 11th graders to take risks. Seniors will travel to the Utah State Capitol to study ethics in government.

Many other kinds of activities strengthen this multifaceted effort. An improvisation troupe directed by Kathy Day dramatizes everyday problems and solutions. According to Principal Harvey Horner, students have written and produced TV and radio public service announcements through a partnership with Nuskin International. High school athletes are planning to make character development presentations at district elementary schools and the junior high.

When he administered the driver education exam recently, coach Tree announced he was testing both the integrity and the knowledge of the students and put them on the honor system. Despite how eager they were to get their license, like most teens, several reported scores that missed the cutoff by only a point or two. The personal pride of such students and others who would have done that is bound to send a message that rubs off on the tightly knit school community.

Like Tree, John Moss, who teaches English, television production, and journalism, suspects that teachers burn out not from working hard but from feeling somehow isolated from the dream so many of them share and that motivated them to become teachers to begin with. That dream is not simply to deliver information to the minds of their students but to touch their hearts as well, to make a real difference in the human beings they turn out to be.

The secret of Wasatch High's success is that the entire faculty and student body are buying into good character as a part of everything they do, even if nobody else happens to be watching. Teachers and students alike are comfortable being visible role models of good character. That takes tremendous commitment and courage, but the reward is worth it of a school that welcomes and empowers all who come there to teach and to learn.

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Pahvant Elementary School
IT'S WHAT'S INSIDE THAT COUNTS

September is friendship; October of courage to say NO; November of gratitude; December of kindness; January of self-improvement; February of love; March of respect; April of responsibility; and May of dependability. For each of these monthly themes, Pahvant Elementary School in Richfield has identified four subthemes. For example, in October the school focused on saying NO to profanity, to cheating, to vandalism, and to drugs and violence. The start of each new month and new theme is a major event. By the time Halloween came, every nine and ten-year old had grasped how important it is to say NO in all those situations.

Pahvant students love wearing their T-shirts inside out which is where the logo is printed. Sevier District's character education program, coordinated by Craig Sorensen, is called Inside-Out. The city of Richfield bought brackets for the colorful banners purchased with state character education funds that proclaim each monthly theme at the corners of Main Street. Radio stations introduce each new character trait with an hour-long talk show. The public library does a display of each theme with suggested books. The Richfield Reaper publishes a monthly Inside-Out column with tips for parents and tributes to heroes who embody that character trait.

Pahvant Elementary Principal Ray Hunt enjoys freeing his teachers to work on in-depth character related curriculum projects they create as collaborative teams. Faculty teamwork is doing what comes naturally at Pahvant. The school serves only fourth and fifth graders who come from K-3 Ashman Elementary. With only one grade level separating them, the teachers can afford to focus more deeply on the common bonds of content and how character traits tie in than they might in a traditional K-5 elementary school. There is more time to nurture students at their particular developmental level at an age when lifelong character traits are still being formed.

The talented Jim Garman is usually on hand to compose a poem for each theme, and Jana Ames is sure students are paying attention. Theme bulletin boards feature a contribution from every child including one named Natalie. Though she uses a wheelchair and cannot raise her head up very far, Natalie has been warmly accepted as a fellow student who just happens to be interesting in a special way. Her parents have allowed some of her friends to see how she eats, for example, so they understand her better. "The other children don't think of Natalie as inferior, just different," said Ames. "We all have differences. This is one kind."

When the school formed its 1,000 Minutes Club last year, Natalie's friends took turns reading aloud to her so she would qualify along with them as having completed 1,000 minutes of reading. The teamwork lessons Arlene Andersen teaches must be taking effect. Andersen recently explained how a migrating goose will fall out of formation if its partner becomes injured or tired and stops to rest. If one Pahvant student needed someone's assistance, a whole flock of others would soon be there, quicker than you can blink an eye and without the slightest hesitation, offering to help in any way they can.

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Syracuse Junior High School
LIFELINES ARE VITAL FOR ADOLESCENTS

Syracuse Junior High Principal James Schmidt is an experienced, down-to-earth sort of administrator who does not hesitate to make bold changes if they will make teaching and learning better at his school. Back in 1991, he and his dedicated faculty were already asking themselves two persistent questions: what can we do to make sure our students acquire the solid study skills they will desperately need for high school, and how can we help them navigate the twisting, rocky road of adolescence as social beings with a solid core of beliefs and the willpower to resist the dangers they will face?

In addition, the teachers decided they wanted their students to develop trust in themselves and others, the traits of responsible citizenship, and a strong work ethic. The idea of a daily 20-minute advisory period, set aside on purpose to explore personal and social values, seemed like a good idea and was adopted. For the next two years, every Syracuse Junior High teacher presided over an advisory class of approximately 26 students. Using the text Life Lessons for Young Adolescents of An Advisory Guide for Teachers, the Syracuse teachers and their students faithfully followed the directions in each chapter.

This guide offered plenty of discussion topics and suggestions for group activities about teamwork, communication, conflict resolution, relationships, and the world of the community. Teachers who saw themselves first and foremost as nurturers felt comfortable in this advisory role. However, others who viewed themselves primarily as knowledge facilitators were less at ease. Highly skilled in generating the excitement and curiosity of students in academic subjects, they felt equally confident of their ability to offer social and emotional support when a naturally occurring incident arose during the instructional process.

By 1993, a better method was found, one that every member of the staff could actively endorse. Character education at Syracuse Junior High would be taught as a companion piece to the Utah Studies course that is part of the required curriculum for Grade 7. "That is not to say we don't all function as daily role models for the traits of character we want students to possess," said Schmidt. "We do. We send out those signals all the time in the way we treat students and the way we treat each other. But we also feel the character education curriculum works best when it is taught deliberately as a subject for its own sake."

For her seventh grade character education unit, teacher Jackie Holbrook uses Changes and Challenges of Becoming the Best You Can Be, a Lions Club/Quest International publication. The student workbook features realistic scenarios of junior high school life that describe how tough it can really be to resist peer pressure, feel awkward, say or do something foolish, and risk telling parents the truth, even if it means missing out on some fun. Also included are hard facts about alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs, and the value of having a relationship of trust with one's family to toss you a lifeline if you need it.

Parent Lori Hess has high praise for the way Holbrook reaches out to challenge students like her son to stand on their own. Holbrook tells them about the ordeals of civil rights activists such as Malcolm X who were caught in the crossfire of violent confrontation but held true to their vision of equality. They identify with the real lives of real heroes. In the process, this school's 11 and 12-year-olds are becoming thoughtful and outspoken advocates of a drug free lifestyle and the habit of listening to one's conscience before making decisions. Those are behaviors all parents and teachers can feel good about.

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Kanab Elementary School
VALUES WEAVE BOND BETWEEN YOUNG AND OLD

In Kane District, character education is a multifaceted program involving every school. Since 1995-96, Kane's grant has funded a summer theater camp for elementary students at risk; middle school student painting of Kanab's municipal swimming pool, planting of trees on the town golf course, and building of an archery range; Valley Elementary classes in Spanish; Kanab High School leadership training; and a three-day hike and river trip for teens from Big Water.

One project will not be soon forgotten by Kanab Elementary Principal Doug Jacobs or some Kanab Middle School students. Last spring, while they were still attending Kanab Elementary, these boys and girls and their teachers, Melissa Byers, Joyce McAllister, and Julie Nannenga, applied to the district ACT (Achieving Community Together) Committee for money to implement a service project. They were successful.

Last April, each five-member Tribe group in Kanab Elementary's three fifth grade classes adopted an elderly person or couple who lived in or near Kanab. Each Tribe then brainstormed questions, invited the senior citizens to school, and interviewed them about the historical events they had witnessed first hand that matched the subject matter of the fifth grade social studies Core. The students then wrote an oral history based on their interviews.

Then nine values were chosen by all the participants. The nine were goodness, peace, love, patience, caring, respect, honesty, kindness, and integrity. A design was chosen that symbolized each value, such as a heart for love, a clock for patience, the sun and the American flag for goodness, and a student helping someone cross the street for caring. Then each Tribe painted their design for each value on a square of cloth.

Next, homemaking students at Kanab High School stitched the nine individual quilt squares of each Tribe together on a sewing machine. Then the fifth graders stitched the top, bottom, and batting inside their lap quilts together. Finally, the students invited their new friends back to school, gave them the quilts as a gift, and shared refreshments. A powerful firsthand experience in cooperative decision making, leadership training, civic pride, and history appreciation was the result.

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Pleasant Grove High School
WHAT GOES AROUND COMES BACK AROUND

"Good character takes form as an outcome of the ongoing process of living. It is a way of life, an attitude that expresses how we feel about ourselves. It is nourished first and foremost by parents and families and then spreads from there into a desire to help others as fellow travelers on life's journey. It hopefully motivates us to contribute in ways that make our community a more pleasant place to live. It permeates everything we do." That is how Alpine District federal project coordinator Susan Schumacher feels about character education.

Schumacher finds lessons in core values nearly every day in the Family and Consumer Science classes she teaches at Pleasant Grove High. If one cooking group cooks and eats double its share of spaghetti , the group who uses that cubicle and stove next is shortchanged. As a consequence, the first group is deprived of credit for the next assignment. Most employers, she reminds them, will allow for an honest mistake if the person responsible is open and up-front about it, but not if the employee tries to ignore it or cover it up. We all must take responsibility for our actions.

The month-by-month character traits Pleasant Grove schools have chosen this year are conflict resolution, courtesy, dependability, friendship, cooperation, trust, accountability, self-control, and worth/potential. Acting as mentors and significant older friends to children at nearby Central Elementary, ten high school sophomores love going over there to work on a quilt destined for a soon-to-open Columbia HCA hospital in Orem. Together, the high school and elementary students are also building window screens to keep out Central's aggressive bees.

Character education in Alpine District is moving in many directions. Businesses enjoy advertising the monthly themes. Students at Valley View Elementary thought seriously about life's opportunities following live visits by former astronaut Jake Garn and explorer John Goddard. Parents are encouraged to read value linked tales to their children such as Pinocchio, The Emperor's New Clothes, and The Boy Who Cried Wolf . Surely The Wizard of Oz is another possibility. During hero weeks, students dress up as their favorite heroes in American history or their own lives.

Pleasant Grove High student body officers Bobbie Maxwell and Emily Box insist that character education is something no high school can afford to ignore or take for granted. They feel the priority Pleasant Grove High places on values is healthy. Would they cheat on a test if they knew they could get away with it? Of course not. They said it would be a foolish thing to do because what goes around comes around. Dishonesty will eventually catch up to you. Maxwell hopes to pursue politics or music education, and Box wants to be a physician specializing in anorexia.

Central Elementary teachers Joanna Meacham and Debbie Wallis are impressed by the small miracles they have witnessed since their students began to participate in service activities. Several of Meacham's fifth graders recently announced they wanted to "write letters to lonely people." Students in Wallis' resource class are doing a study of Hopi Indians that is opening their minds to other cultures and how different the people on earth can be. "You can't hate what you love and understand," declared Wallis. "We are discovering that all societies have value."

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Alice C. Harris Intermediate School
EVERYONE NEEDS TO FEEL IMPORTANT

Running a school for Grades 6-7 that smoothes the path from childhood to early adolescence must be a special pleasure for the principal of Alice C. Harris Intermediate School, Mary Kay Kirkland, and her energized faculty. To them, shaping the values and stretching the minds of students at the brink of social, emotional, and physical changes as well as an expanding capacity to absorb and utilize information is a uniquely rewarding task as well as a complicated one.

Being a builder makes sense to the 720 boys and girls at Harris. Through this year's advisory activities, they are building positive attitudes, the self-esteem of others, their own strengths, peace, pride, respect, and skills for the community, the environment, and physical fitness. Last fall, soon after school began, one advisory class of sixth grade students learned a lot about each other by bringing from home, in a bag they could carry, 10 things that had personal meaning for them.

Each child had a chance to be the center of attention and feel important. Avid athlete Janell Cox showed her classmates her baseball awards. Dallas Fonnesbeck brought a stuffed rabbit. He raises real rabbits at home. The students listened carefully to match the names of their classmates with their likes and dislikes on paper in a sort of people-based bingo game. Who is a twin? Who loves ice cream? Soon they were no longer feeling so self-conscious.

Harris Intermediate draws its growing student population from three disparate sources: isolated rural areas, small town Tremonton, and Wasatch Front escapees. The mix makes for some interesting contrasts that Kirkland hopes will teach them to develop a healthy tolerance and sensitivity for others. Bonding some of them together can be a zest for learning that has managed to endure from the days when school was still a magical place to be, an exciting world of discovery.

Harris bases its efforts on Peter Benson's 20 developmental assets. It plans to implement them through its instructional program as well as its monthly themes, awards, service projects, parent involvement in the daily schoolwide program, and teacher inservice. A school-within-a-school for students at risk will soon be staffed with a teacher who has expertise in asset building, conflict resolution, and anger management. As many students as possible are honored for their accomplishments.

No student at Harris is labeled a failure. If necessary, an incomplete grade is assigned and the student is encouraged to complete the work that is lacking. In almost all cases, that is what happens. As Kirkland points out, half of being successful is feeling you are successful. This school works day after day to build in students a positive view of their future. "The bottom line for everything we do here is to motivate students to do their best," Kirkland insisted. "Failure does not motivate them."

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Thomas W. Bacchus Elementary School
SINGING SPARKS A SPIRIT OF BELONGING

Remember the Mickey Mouse March? Hum the melody in your mind and pretend you are singing the following: "Who's the one who's always there, no matter what you need? F-A-M-I-L-Y, family indeed!" It works, doesn't it? Instead of When You're Smiling, try When You're Caring, starting halfway through: "When you stop caring, you bring on the rain, so keep on caring, be happy again! When you're caring, when you're caring, the whole world cares with you!" Just imagine the fun elementary-age children would have joining together to sing these familiar melodies and cheerful words!

They were enjoying each and every moment of it during a spirited schoolwide Community of Caring assembly last September at Thomas W. Bacchus Elementary School in Kearns. As Ann McLean played the piano and Julie Larsen pointed to the words projected on a giant screen, the voices of everyone from the youngest kindergarten child to grown up sixth graders could be heard singing in unison the lyrics of Judy Giles about the five Community of Caring core values of family, caring, trust, respect, and responsibility of with as much enthusiasm as high school students cheering for the victory of their football team.

To Giles, whose talent adds so much to the school's character education assemblies, the response of the students and fellow teachers is no mystery. Not very long ago, returning in a school bus from a field trip, they spontaneously broke into song. Children of all ages love to sing together, she says, because it simply makes them feel good and that they belong. The same is true of staff members who bond together as they sing and use the common language of caring. At the assembly, every classroom in turn received the spotlight as its teacher and several students presented their banner. Each banner held the name of every child in that class.

School psychologist Randy Hanks enjoys the festivities as much as the children do. Delighting in the way they respond to make-believe as do all who are young at heart, he often puts on dark glasses and a costume and appears by surprise to chat with the boys and girls about all sorts of things, helping them in the process to develop a framework for reasoning about appropriate behavior. He wants them to remember that what they do and say affects others. Do you think Goldilocks was acting responsibly when she tasted Father Bear's porridge and laid down in Mother Bear's bed without permission? The children remember the idea.

Principal Linda Manwill cannot help noticing and appreciating the side benefits from her school's Community of Caring activities. Students are instinctively correcting themselves before tempers flare on the playground. Instead of yelling or hitting, they are getting quite good at stopping to remember that Bacchus students show respect, not anger. Manwill believes that incorporating the affective and academic facets of education is important. Parents think so too. On a popular, large bulletin board in the main hallway of the school hang over a hundred candid photos of its many "Caring Bacchus Families."

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Mound Fort Middle School
SEEK ADVICE FROM WISE PEOPLE

During the past school year, SAT reading scores of 90 percent of all the sixth grade students at Mound Fort Middle School in Ogden improved by at least one whole grade level. By accident? Counselor and lead character education teacher Eileen Nicholas doesn't think so. At Mound Fort, Community of Caring is providing that certain "missing something", the sense of direction that gives adolescents the tools to cope with the pressures they face, interpret the mixed message they receive from our society, and take charge of their destiny in a confusing and violent world. Mound Fort is proof that academics and values can work hand-in-hand.

For example, the value of responsibility is being taught in all subjects of the school curriculum. A boy is told how disappointed the teacher is that he forgot his homework or how proud that he acted responsibly by turning it in on time. Last fall, for the school's kickoff advisory activity, the newly formed leadership class performed skits demonstrating the dress code, honesty, and both good and bad classroom behavior. The entire student body has pledged to give up put-downs in both words and actions, to right wrongs, to seek advice from wise people of all ages, and to praise people every day for good things they do.

Service learning has become a primary means for all students to apply Community of Caring values so that they become meaningful in their lives. In the project called Reading Across the Ages, students are acting as peer tutors for young readers at nearby Gramercy Elementary School. When Mound Fort students like Amanda Huffman and Julene Adams visited their elderly friends at Manor Care Retirement Home in October, they not only read aloud to the residents but were often able to switch places and persuade the residents to read to them and to share some of their memories of Ogden life in the "old days".

"It's basic to human nature that self-esteem rises when we connect with others in a meaningful way, no matter how old we happen to be," explained Mound Fort's Lou Anderson. "We're not sure who benefits most, the kids or their 'adopted grandparents'. Service is the rent we pay for living on this earth. Many of our students come from families who are struggling to establish a stable home environment and become economically self-sufficient of to pay the bills on time. So their children may be finding out for the very first time that giving of themselves in an altruistic way can be immensely satisfying."

The lives of Manor Care residents can be profoundly affected as well. When one remarked that he was not worth coming so far to see, his shocked young visitor replied, "You just don't understand how much I care about you. There is a lot I can learn from you." Nicholas knows her character lessons are working, and not just because test scores are rising or more accelerated classes in geometry, algebra, and history have been added. She leaves candy or loose change on her office desk occasionally and returns to see it still there, undisturbed. That pleases her. It means that at Mound Fort, trust and honesty are real.

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Hillside Middle School
SERVICE PROJECTS NURTURE CARING COMMUNITIES

For years, the steep hillside behind Hillside Middle School in Salt Lake City was full of weeds. When winter snow melted, mud seeped and slid down to the pavement behind the building, making an unsightly mess and interfering with parking. That will not happen next spring, however. On a Saturday morning last July, students, parents, teachers, and residents of all ages turned out at 7 a.m. to eat a pancake breakfast, clear debris from the hill, and plant tree seedlings, shrubs, flowers, and groundcover.

Loving every minute was character education coordinator CeCie Scharman. Scharman, who teaches student government and healthy lifestyles at Hillside, sent a flyer to families last March explaining that digging trenches and planting plants would halt soil erosion as well as beautify the area. The project appealed to people throughout the neighborhood, even citizens who had no students attending the school. Several hundred people showed up and by 11 o'clock, the job was done. Students learned to take satisfaction in hard work and responsibility for the environment.

The bold leadership of Superintendent Darline Robles is making another kind of impact on character education in Salt Lake City schools as well. Training is now mandatory for all district high school coaches and assistants who work with student athletes. In August, a sports psychologist taught them methods to fuel pride and self-esteem in young players and lessen the "win at any cost" mentality. "Hitting, screaming, swearing, intimidation, and other forms of abuse will no longer be tolerated," said Scharman. "Coaches can reach kids in ways other teachers can't."

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Central High School
EVERYONE'S OPINION COUNTS AT TEEN FORUMS

Teen forums are a unique kind of character education activity that allows high school students to be at ease, share their doubts and fears, and learn more about themselves. Growing up has never been easy, but today the temptations teens face can make it tougher than ever. Character education experts believe that if we respect them, they will be more interested in what we have to say. How can our youth become adults, they ask, unless they are given opportunities to develop trusting relationships with adults who are willing to show them how?

That was the goal when students of Marilyn Bailey from Central High School, an alternative high school in Granite School District, met last May at the Hilda B. Jones Center. Through a series of questions about preferences and behavior patterns, State Office of Education coordinator Linda Alder helped them discover that some were action-centered, others knowledge-centered, and still others vision-centered or people-centered. That got the students thinking about different ways to solve a given problem and that there is not a right or wrong answer for everything.

Then Kristin Fink told the students to form a line in the exact sequence of their birthdays from January to December without any talking. They were able to do it in record time with a perfect score. Miss Teen Utah Katie Ballinger described how volunteering at Primary Children's Hospital changed her life. "Being a leader doesn't just happen to people who are famous," she said. A video supporting the Covey Leadership principles offered a related message: Even one person can change the world. We all have choices and hope. Learn to love and to forgive.

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ALL OF US DESERVE DIGNITY AND RESPECT

For the past eight years, a unique Utahn has been spending the majority of his time as an ambassador to students, special education teachers, and other interested citizens for the Golden Rule of treat others, regardless of their differences, the way you want to be treated, with dignity, kindness, and understanding. That is the straightforward message of 46-year-old Kim Peek, the primary role model of Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man, the 1989 Oscar winning motion picture.

Instead of lingering in the Hollywood spotlight, Kim, with the wise and steady guidance of his father, Fran Peek, has been visiting schools and civic groups throughout Utah and across the country as living proof that people with disabilities are like the rest of us and worthy of our friendship. As he answers a rapid stream of math, music, literature, sports, and geography questions, Kim inspires the members of his audiences to be lifelong learners and to broaden their circle of friends.

Kim is a savant, born with the right and left hemispheres of his brain fused together. But beneath his astounding mental prowess is a warm, trusting human being who touches in all of us a deep longing to be accepted for who we are. The book Real Rain Man Kim Peek is available at Deseret Book. Fran was recently honored by Arc, the National Association for Retarded Citizens, for having enabled Kim to reach more than 700,000 people with his profound message.

For more information, contact Fran Peek at 262-4784.

IMPROV THEATRE HELPS TEENS COMMUNICATE

Teenagers benefit in many ways when they are trained in schools and communities to portray real life situations that are meaningful in their lives. Through spontaneous role playing in a detached, non-threatening setting in which they are less vulnerable to embarrassment and ridicule, they can communicate their true feelings. That process helps them to become well adjusted individuals, ready to confront a daunting world which all too often seems to advocate getting what you want at any cost.

Lori Hargraves, Director of Improvisational Teen Theatre Training, can verify that such experiences improve the decision making, peer counseling, leadership, and thinking skills of teenagers, as well as improve their awareness and coping skills in responding to abuse, suicide, pregnancy, drug use, and depression. They feel more in control and better able to analyze crises in a positive way. They discover inner resources they never before realized that they had.

When Hargraves' theatre troupe makes presentations at Salt Lake City District schools, the players present an ethical dilemma through drama and then ask audience members to explore and recommend alternative solutions. A relationship is thus built between the players and student observers that brings good character traits to the surface so they can be identified. Those traits are then accessible in solving real life crises, some of which may be a matter of life and death.

For more information, contact Lori Hargraves at 578-8394.

WE NEED CARETAKERS FOR OUR EARTH

Multimedia technology cannot dampen the appetite of today's youngsters for real life adventure. Exploring the natural world around them can feed their curiosity about history and their desire to protect artifacts that represent a living legacy of the civilization they have inherited. An archaeology education program for fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh graders is being offered by the U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management to provide just this sort of opportunity.

Intrigue of the Past is an innovative, interdisciplinary program that demonstrates how archaeologists discover clues to the past, presents the perspective of Native Americans, and examines the ethics and values related to preservation of sites that belong to the people of Utah. A teaching guide explains how to assist students to develop higher level thinking and teamwork skills as they join in hands-on activities that involve science, math, social studies, and language arts.

Project Archaeology Coordinator Jeanne Moe enjoys encouraging preteens to become detectives of the past. In one lesson, students imagine they are interviewing an American Indian about the looting and vandalizing of ancestral graves in order to sell artifacts, and the destruction of irreplaceable scientific data about past human populations. The students write down and share their thoughts and feelings about who is responsible and why it is important to obey the law.

For more information, contact Jeanne Moe at 539-4060.

 

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CELEBRATE LIFE'S BIG AND LITTLE MILESTONES

Families, schools, and communities can fortify themselves by celebrating people and their accomplishments. By doing so, they connect their past to their future. By honoring an individual, we validate that person's experiences and show that changes are a natural and normal result of the passing of time. At a recent Rituals and Rites of Passage workshop for middle schools in Logan, the participants realized that before their students could feel a sense of belonging, they themselves as teachers needed to establish a school culture and their own set of classroom rituals.

According to Adult Education Specialist Nikki Lovell, who conducts the workshop in Utah, celebrating milestones, even little ones, blends with the benefits of character education, safe and drug free school education, community service, and good health habits to empower our youth to emerge from personal crises with their inner identities intact. "Rites of passage connect us to the values of the larger world, no matter how much we may differ from each other," she indicated. "Rituals at home and in school tell students that they are important, that they do matter."

Lovell believes that students who are recognized for the contributions they make as members of their families, classrooms, and communities develop a reserve of self-esteem that can help them ward off destructive influences later on. "By showing people that we value them, we nourish their physical, social, emotional, and spiritual wellness," she explained. "As adolescent students move along the path to independence, parents and teachers can ease the journey by sustaining appropriate rites that provide stability and balance in their lives."

For more information, contact Nikki Lovell at 538-7580.