Post on 27-Dec-2015
It’s All About CharacterBrief Lessons on Character
Presented by:Betty White, MEd., LPC
kidtools@academicplanet.comwww.kidtools.net
Things to Remember
Ten minute lessons are a part of a total guidance program-NOT the whole program
Ten minute lessons are a “snack”-you will need to add more to make a whole meal
You can use Science, Math, Social Studies, or Language Arts (among others) to reinforce your concepts-be creative!
PRACTICE-PRACTICE-PRACTICE- You will not have time to fumble!!
Secrets of the Science of Character
Cover one topic only Prepare thoroughly in advance. Know
exactly what you will do, what you will say, and have all materials ready
Expand the lessons by giving “homework” that either the teacher grades or that you return to discuss or give rewards for
Provide materials to teachers to reinforce topics if possible
Secrets of the Science of Character
Follow up on lessons with brief classroom visits or hallway “drive-bys” when you reinforce the lesson
Try for a “hook” of some sort-have kids write, move, act, etc. to reinforce your concepts
Consider using these lessons during group sessions or even with individuals rather than in the classroom
Character Traits
Conflict Resolution (Chill Out) Anger Management (Hot-Hot-Hot) Self Control (Angry Explosion) Perseverance (Churn, Churn, Churn) Resilience (Bounce Back Putty) Courage (Stretching Out) Friendship (Attracting Friends) Optimism (Rising to the Occasion) General Character (Reflecting Character)
Character Traits
Kindness (Kindness Counts) Independence (Breaking Under Pressure) Problem Solving (Feed Me) Planning (Rolling, Rolling, Rolling) Loyalty (Don’t Put Me down) Integrity (Lingering Lies) Wellness (Balancing Act) Teamwork ( Toss it to Me!)
Character Traits
Honesty- (Cheater, Cheater, Pumpkin Eater) Forgiveness- (Let Me Help You) Fairness-(Shoe Me the Way) Encouragement- (Spotlight!) Integrity- (The Narrow Way) Responsibility ( Don’t Let it Snowball!)
Chill Out
Advice: Use plenty of salt Don’t skimp on bags-go ahead and buy the
good ones You can use snack sized bags for the cream Have students twist a towel or several sheets
of newspaper around the ice pack for shaking it
Consider going outside for the shaking
Anger Management: Hot-Hot-Hot
Do not worry about about a little black smoke-it is just the wax burning off the cup
Keep the flame away from the lip around the bottom of the cup-it will catch on fire
Remember-keep the flame on the part of the cup where the water is
DO NOT USE a styrofoam cup Keep wet paper towels to put out the fire
Self Control: Angry Explosion
Practice, practice, practice!! Try to find a bottle with a shoulder before the
neck-that will concentrate the force. Be sure to have a pan under the bottle to
capture spillage Be careful in how you aim the cork! Finally, be aware of the shape of the bottle
with older kids
Perseverance: Churn, Churn, Churn
Practice ahead of time so you will be able to time your presentation to coincide with the actual solidification of the butter
If possible, do not use ultra-pasteurized cream-it seems to work a little better.
Resilience: Bounce Back Putty
This is a VERY MESSY experiment-BE PREPARED!!
Small snack bags can be used to let students take putty home
Parents appreciate getting a recipe for this so they can do it at home
For some reason, the laundry starch in the blue bottle works better
Courage: Stretching Out
Measurements are not exact-the Borax solution needs to be saturated. Use warm water and add Borax until it stands on the bottom (like southern sweet tea!)
This is a little messy-have paper towels handy
Attracting Friends
This works best in winter This WILL NOT WORK on a humid day Practice ahead of time to make sure that it
will work on the day you need it-if not, substitute another lesson
Rising to the Occasion
Be sure that the egg is fresh-older eggs tend to float
This may take awhile-it works best if the water is a little warm so the salt dissolves better
Stir to help the salt dissolve so the egg will rise
General Character: Reflecting Character
This is a really easy lesson. For an expansion, you might talk about how the light separates into a rainbow of colors-who we are is a combination of many different character traits.
Another sub-lesson is that you cannot repair the disc once it is damaged-a metaphor for how difficult it is to repair your character once it is damaged
Kindness Counts
You can use a variety of methods to recognize kindness-beads, bands, links, handprints
Have teachers follow up with the activity within the classroom
Color-code by grade level and you can see what kind of “cross-pollination” is going on
Stress Management: Breaking Under Pressure
This is messy-if you have a low mess tolerance, do the experiment in a plastic bag
Even though kids may end up with cornstarch on their hands and clothing, it is easily washed off
Also makes a great demonstration for parents of authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive parenting
Problem Solving: Force Field
Be careful with the sticks, as it is tempting to “whack” each other with them
This is very effective if students can actually feed one another-however, it works well if there is a cup on the side of the table that represents the “mouth” being fed
Planning: Rolling, Rolling, Rolling
You must use a ramp rather than rolling the bottles across the floor by hand to eliminate the factor of “push”
Bottles must be identical Bottles with straight sides work better than
those with curves
Loyalty: Don’t Put Me Down
This can be a little slow-it takes a bit of time for the carbon dioxide to pour over the flame and put it out
Timing is critical-you need to allow enough time for sufficient carbon dioxide to generate but not enough for it to dissipate
You can also use a piece of dry ice to generate the carbon dioxide and talk about “Cold Comments” or the “Cold Shoulder”
Integrity: Lingering Lies
You can use the soap over by wetting it and rubbing the holes out
Most small hotel soaps are very brittle and will break-but that in itself makes a good point
Wellness: Balancing Act
For this, a good smooth meter stick from your science department works best
This does not always work-allowing for a great discussion about what can happen when things get unbalanced, as well as talking about the fact that even when we try very hard to keep our lives balanced, sometimes we cannot
Teamwork: Toss it To Me!
You can use a variety of things for this-plastic bracelets, jar rings, even large rubber bands or power bands to make it harder
Make it easier or harder by grade level by varying the distance between individuals
Pencils make the best “catchers” as the erasers are blunt, but an upraised finger can work, also
Honesty: Cheater, Cheater
Large, cheap cookies are available most groceries
You can make the icing using plaster, spackle, shaving cream mixed with white glue, or laundry soap mixed with water
Be sure to allow drying time- and be sure to keep the cookies out of reach-some kids will still try to eat them!
Forgiveness-Let Me Help You!
This is best done after the kids get to know you and you have a relationship with them
You can also have a student, prepared in advance, be the “spoiler”
Fairness- Shoe Me the Way
In 10 minutes, there will not be time to allow the whole class to do this demonstration- choose about 5 students for each team
If time permits, you can re-do the exercise and deliberately make the teams more fairly balanced
Choose carefully so as not to embarrass kids
Encouragement- Spotlight!
Taping cellophane over the end of the light will allow the team to distinguish one light fro the other
After the activity, talk about how discouraging it was to have to go back. You can liken the light to discouraging comments that “set us back”
Integrity- The Narrow Way
This activity can be done on the floor with ping pong balls, or on the table with marbles or other small balls
It works best to have an independent “judge” with each group to call “out” and restart each team
Parting Words
Have Fun!!Don’t be afraid to
experiment!Practice makes perfect (or
at least reduces errors).
Responsibility- Snowball
Encourage students to write down a responsibility that is important
For younger kids, you may have to write down responsibilities that might be a part of their lives- then have them crumple them and throw them