Creating a Culture of Character - Virtues Project · Creating a Culture of Character IN OUR CLASS...

Copyright 2000 by WellSpring International May be copied.

Creating aCulture ofCharacter

IN OUR CLASS

WE PRACTICE

FRIENDLINESS!

* What goes on in the classroom is a complex combination of factors, each one a part of a dynamic system.

* One element of the system is the Teacher with all her/his training and experience.

* A second element of the system is the students, themselves. Each one with her/his own needs, potentials and challenges.

* The third element is the classroom itself, its layout and organization.

* The last element entering into the effectiveness of the educational system that is classroomare the resources available. This is materials, of course, but it is also a wide range of resources from time to the curriculum being presented.

Copyright 2001 by WellSpring International Educational Foundation -- May be copied

Key Points


EducationalDynamics

StudentsTeacher

Classroom

Resources


EducationalDynamics

StudentsTeacher

Classroom

Resources

* Change any element in this dynamic system and the system as a whole changes ~ as potentially does its effectiveness.

* From the Educators point of view you manage three things.

* You manage the students, monitoring their performance, teaching the curriculum, solving problems, adapting the lessons to fit each of them, maintain quality, build competence, keep commitment up, promote self-esteem, challenge each student, communicate effectively, build unity and spirit.

* You also have to get the most from your resources and manage your classroom to get the most from the space and materials available.


Key Points


From theEducator’s

Point of View

Students Resources

Classroom


From theEducator’s

Point of View

Students Resources

Classroom


Virtues arethe Keys to

Success

* The Virtues are the keys to success in any enterprise to include being an educator.

* A number of particular virtues will help you to be as effective and efficient as possible while managing the students, the resources and the classroom.

* When you use each of these virtues you will be doing two things: First you will be enhancing your effectiveness in classroom management, and Second, you will be modeling the virtues and demonstrating there importance and effectiveness.

* This will provide your students with the keys that each of them will need to be effective at whatever they undertake.


Key Points


Virtues arethe Keys to

Success

* To be effective as an educator you must first and foremost educate. You must bring forth the best in each and everyone of your students.

* It is easy to be caught up in administration or classroom management and forget the reasons why you are there in the first place.

* You task is to educate and to help you remember that you must cultivate purposefulness and focus on and/or return to that task at every opportunity.

* Purpose will give you access to the best in every child.

* Purpose will enable you to offer the best to every child in a focussed, respectful, efficient and effective way.


Key Points


To EducateYou must be …

Purposeful


To EducateYou must be …

Purposeful

* To bring forth the best in every student you must be aware of what is going on with each of them.

* You must appreciate their potential and how they are reacting to the lessons as you present them and then you must monitor progress as it occurs and plan for the next step.

* All this calls for discernment! Discernment is more than awareness and observation ~ it is judgement as well.

* Discernment will help you recognize what matters and what is unimportant.

* Discernment will help you know what is going on and give you a handle on what to do next.


Key Points


To Know What’sGoing On

You must be …

Discerning


To Know What’sGoing On

You must be …

Discerning

* Sometimes (if not always) things do not go as planned or even as desired.

* Then a change is called for to adjust to changing needs or to address an unanticipated need or occurrence.

* To be able to change when change is needed you must cultivate the virtue of flexibility.

* Flexibility will help you bend when changes are called for rather than breaking down when you best laid plans go down the tubes.

* Flexibility, coupled with discernment and purposefulness will help you to adjust and get the most from the situa- tion.


Key Points


To Make ChangesWhen NeededYou must be …

Flexible


To Make ChangesWhen NeededYou must be …

Flexible

* Are you an educator as a job or as a calling ~ something you had to do because of a love for children and/or their development?

* If it is a calling for you, than you want to do your best and see to it that every child has what (s)he needs to succeed at everything they undertake.

* To maintain this focus on providing a quality education to every student you must cultivate the virtue of excellence.

* Excellence will help you to be pleased with student’s performance as a step along the way and will help you to challenge each student to take the next step on the path to excellence.


Key Points


ToAssure Quality

You must seek …

Excellence


ToAssure Quality

You must seek …

Excellence

* Try as you might problems occur and occasionally keep coming back in spite of your best efforts to solve them.

* Indeed, if the root causes of the problems are not addressed by the proposed solution the problem may recur over and over.

* A band aid might be enough for many but not those who have cultivated excellence!

* For them nothing less than a resolution of the problem that eliminates its cause will suffice.

* For them they must add determination to their list of virtues for determination will keep them pursuing the source of the problem until it is found and addressed.


Key Points


ToSolve Problems

You must be …Determined


ToSolve Problems

You must be …Determined

* Education is not about curriculum, facts and concepts. First and foremost it is about people.

* The educator is there to bring forth the best in every child and in doing so to increase the child’s competence and ability to function as an independent human being playing her/his part in the creative plan of the universe.

* To increase competence you must cultivate the virtue of of consideration!

* An increase in competence is not a general or abstract phenomena ~ it is intensely individual.

* You must know and respect those you work with and understand their potential, capabilities, limitations and fears ~ for this, consideration is needed.


Key Points


To PromoteCompetence

You must be …

Considerate


To PromoteCompetence

You must be …

Considerate

* Competence is just the beginning. People need self- confidence and self-esteem to make full use of what they know and know how to do.

* To enhance self-esteem and confidence you need a commitment to two virtues, honesty and tactfulness.

* Honesty will enable you to build trust and convey an accurate assessment of what is the case and what needs to happen to improve matters.

* Tactfulness will make it easy to receive the honest appraisal because it is presented in a way that is easy to accept.

* Once accepted you can use it to improve and learn from experience ~ one of the shortest ways to confidence.


Key Points


To PromoteConfidenceYou must be …

Honest & Tactful


To PromoteConfidenceYou must be …

Honest & Tactful

* You want students that are committed to a life long process of learning.

* You want them to understand that there are those pre- pared to assist them to play their own, unique part in the creative plan of the universe ~ the educators.

* To develop that commitment to education and the educator the virtues of love and respect for the student to be cultivated.

* The younger the student the more the relationship must be based on love ~ even the oldest student must feel respect by those there to help them along the way.


Key Points


To Be EffectiveYou must be …

Loving/Respectful

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ


To Be EffectiveYou must be …

Loving/Respectful

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

* Each person must be challenged to reach her/his fullest potential.

* The challenge must be tailored just to her/him. To great a challenge and the student is overwhelmed.

* Too little challenge and no (or little) progress is made.

* To challenge each student you must cultivate the virtue of Idealism!

* Idealism will help you to see what is possible for an individual student and get a handle on ways for each student to go beyond her/his current limitations.

* Idealism will also keep you going when the going gets tough because you clearly see what could be and given your sense of excellence and determination ~ will be!


Key Points


To ChallengeYou must be …

Idealistic


To ChallengeYou must be …

Idealistic

* Every educator must be an effective communicator. You must get the lesson across and you must clearly understand what is presented to you.

* The key to becoming an effective communicator is to cultivate the virtue of Trustworthiness.

* Trustworthiness tells those you communicate with that each and everything you say can be counted on.

* Trustworthiness also tells them that each and everything they share will not be misused so that it is possible to speak the truth as they know it.

* These are the very requisites to effective communications.


Key Points


To CommunicateYou must be …

Trustworthy


To CommunicateYou must be …

Trustworthy

* Classroom management calls for the balancing of many relationships.

* There are the relationships with each of the students, the faculty and administration.

* Then there are the groupings to be considered as well as your personal likes and dislikes.

* To balance them all, especially when loyalties conflict you need to cultivate the virtue of Justice/Fairness.

* This virtue will enable you to deal directly with each relationship in a straightforward way and to build the unity between the various groups on a firm foundation.


Key Points


To MaintainRelationships

You must be …

Just/Fair


To MaintainRelationships

You must be …

Just/Fair

* Finally, you face your greatest challenge ~ to use every resource you have at hand to educate and be sure that you are getting every bit of use out of them in the process.

* To do this you must cultivate two often competing virtues simultaneously ~ orderliness and creativity.

* Orderliness will assure that nothing is wasted ~ that all the potential in the available resources (including the people) is being used to full advantage.

* Creativity will allow you to make use of them in a way that you know is truely educating ~ bringing forth the best in each student.

* Cultivate each of these virtues and you will create a culture of character ~ by your example and the results of your efforts.


Key Points


To Get the Mostfrom Resources

You must be …

Orderly & CreativeOrderly & Creative


To Get the Mostfrom Resources

You must be …

Orderly & CreativeOrderly & Creative

Creating a Culture of Character - Virtues Project · Creating a Culture of Character IN OUR CLASS...

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