I am working on my opening presentation to the staff that is a state of the district type of address. I will share various data and then explore and encourage ways for us to improve. While our overall strong performance should make us feel good, we do have some students who are not having the academic success that we expect. When looking for reasons for why this is the case, I can identify things such as gender difference- our girls outperform our boys- and also point to poverty as a significant factor for why some of our poor students do not do well. What I keep bumping into in education research however, is that while gender and poverty are good predictors of school performance, the character of a students is just as important. It is found that those students who have learned the character traits to be resilient, conscientious and prudent will overcome other limitations and do well at school.
Researchers find that teachers can improve student character by promoting the listed traits though delayed gratification, rewarding hard work and insisting that students stick to something when the going gets tough. This can be accomplished by helping children practice self-control, providing a reason or goal to stay disciplined, for example, doing homework after practice, and by others in the school modeling these traits. Many of our schools have Character Counts and Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports programs to promote good character. My sense is these programs are working but are not enough to help our students become resilient, conscientious and prudent. These traits must also be taught and modeled by our teachers and administrators in a more personal and less formal way.
Learning Character
I am working on my opening presentation to the staff that is a state of the district type of address. I will share various data and then explore and encourage ways for us to improve. While our overall strong performance should make us feel good, we do have some students who are not having the academic success that we expect. When looking for reasons for why this is the case, I can identify things such as gender difference- our girls outperform our boys- and also point to poverty as a significant factor for why some of our poor students do not do well. What I keep bumping into in education research however, is that while gender and poverty are good predictors of school performance, the character of a students is just as important. It is found that those students who have learned the character traits to be resilient, conscientious and prudent will overcome other limitations and do well at school.
Researchers find that teachers can improve student character by promoting the listed traits though delayed gratification, rewarding hard work and insisting that students stick to something when the going gets tough. This can be accomplished by helping children practice self-control, providing a reason or goal to stay disciplined, for example, doing homework after practice, and by others in the school modeling these traits. Many of our schools have Character Counts and Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports programs to promote good character. My sense is these programs are working but are not enough to help our students become resilient, conscientious and prudent. These traits must also be taught and modeled by our teachers and administrators in a more personal and less formal way.