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