Overview:
An important part of building your teamwork skills is to be reflective. When you have successes or failures, always make time to reflect on what you did well and what you could do better or differently as a team. Thinking about the skills you need to build as a team will help strengthen your team and give individuals opportunities to grow their own teamwork skills.

Character Education Objectives:

Students will:

• work as a team to complete a task.
• reflect on the performance of their team.
• practice adapting and modifying a plan for success as a team.

Materials: 

• Rope or yarn in a large circle tied together (large enough for all students to be able to stand and hold a piece of it)
• Bandanas or fabric
• Large open space

Lesson:

Large Group

1. Place the rope/yarn in a circle on the ground and have students find a spot around it. Have students place their blindfolds on themselves and then pick up their piece of the yarn.
2. Students will now need to work together to turn this circle into a square. They can do anything to make the square except take off their blindfolds. 
3. Give the students five minutes to complete the task. When five minutes is up, ask students to drop the rope/yarn and step back to see how close they were to making a square.
4. Ask students to reflect on the activity with a “Praise and Polish” conversation. Instruct students to think about this reflection through the lens of teamwork.
5. First, talk about things they did well as a team. Guide the conversation by asking questions about their communication and collaboration. Then, ask students to reflect on what they could better or differently next time. This conversation may need assistance, as they may start talking strategy. Keep them on track by encouraging them to make a plan around how they will work as a team.
6. Put the rope/yarn back in the circle on the ground. Have the students find a space and put their blindfolds on. 
7. Students will have the same instructions as the first time, but this time encourage them to think about their praise and polish as they work together. 
8. Give the students five minutes to complete the task. When five minutes is up, ask students to drop the rope/yarn and step back to see how close they were to making a square.

Journal/Discussion

Encourage students to journal or discuss the following prompts:

1. Was there a difference between the first time and the second time you made the square? What were some of those differences?
2. Think about the things your team chose as things they could do better or differently for the second time. Did those changes help you be successful?
3. Praise and polish your team’s second attempt at the square.

Overview:
Respecting differences means being accepting of others. To practice that skill, you need opportunities to learn about others and how they may be different than you. A great way to practice it and to learn about others is to play ice breaker games throughout the year. You’d be surprised how much you learn about even lifelong friends by doing some get-to-know-you activities.

Character Education Objectives:

Students will:

• learn about the similarities and differences of their classmates.
• practice tolerance and acceptance of differences.
• reflect on how differences positively impact relationships.

Materials:

• A balloon for each student
• A slip of paper for each student

Lesson:

Large Group

1. Give each student a balloon and slip of paper.
2. Ask students to think about one question they would like to know about their classmates. You may need to give them some suggestions to help them start to think. They can ask things like “Do you have any pets?” “What holidays do you celebrate in your house?” or “What’s your favorite game?”.
3. Students will put the piece of paper inside of the balloon.
4. Depending on the age of your students, you may instruct them to blow up the balloons themselves or you may need to plan time for you to blow them all up.
5. Put all the blown-up balloons in the center of your circle of students.
6. Have students grab one balloon, avoiding their own balloon.
7. One at a time, students will pop their balloon. Please note, you may also choose to have a teacher pinch the tie and cut a slit for the balloon to deflate if concerned about students and the loud pop. Have the students retrieve the question. The student will answer the question inside of their balloon. 
8. Go around the circle until every student has had the opportunity to answer a question.

Journal

• What are two new things you learned about your classmates? 
• Did some of your classmates answer as you would? How about different than you?
• Why is having differences from your friends a good thing?
• What can you do to show others that you are respecting differences between you?

Talent matters. Talented athletes are likely to win more games. Talented students are likely to achieve higher test scores. Talented musicians and artists are likely to receive recognition for their work. Talent impacts results. Although our society puts a lot of emphasis on talent, talent is just the minimum that we can achieve. To advance from talent to skill and then to achievement, we rely on our character skills like strong work ethic, leadership, perseverance, integrity, etc.

60-Second Character Reflection

1. What character skill could you improve to better maximize your talent?
2. Think of someone you teach, coach, parent, or lead. What character skill(s) could you help that person develop to help them maximize their talent?

Overview: When you respect yourself and think positively about your body, mind, skills, and situation, you can build happiness in your heart. This lesson will focus on ways to show respect to yourself, others, and your surroundings by being grateful for who you are and what you have.

Character Education Objectives:

Students will:

• journal about three things they are grateful for each day.
• discuss and practice respect for their brain and body by journaling and meditating.

Materials:

• Composition notebooks or online word document set up for journaling 

Lesson Plan:

Journal (5 mins) 

• List three things you are grateful for.
  • What is the thing you are grateful for?
  • Why are you grateful for it?
  • How does it make you feel?

Whole Group (5 mins) 

• Utilize the Calm, Headspace, or Insight Timer app to do 10 minutes of meditation. 
  • Use guided meditation or videos with soft music (YouTube) .
• Practice deep breathing techniques.
• Stretch or do yoga for five minutes to clear their heads and body of tension and stress.

Think, Pair, Share (5 mins) 

• Share something you are grateful for. 

Whole Group Discussion (5 mins) 

• How does thinking positively show respect for your body and brain?

Individual (20 mins) 

• Have students choose a relaxing activity.
  • Lego building
  • Play-doh 
  • Arts and crafts
  • Coloring pages 
    • Free Coloring pages: https://topcoloringpages.net/
  • Reading a book 

We fill our lives by putting energy and effort into what matters. There’s a popular demonstration called “Jar of Life” in which a jar is filled with big rocks (important things like family, health, work), little rocks (less important things like sports or hobbies), and sand (unimportant things like watching television or social media). When you fill the jar with the big rocks first, then the little rocks, and finally the sand, everything fits in the jar. If you reverse the process and start with sand, then little rocks, then big rocks, not everything fits in the jar.

The point of the demonstration is that when we fill our time with the most important things first, the little rocks and sand can be worked in, but when our time is consumed by unimportant things, we run out of space for what really matters.

When I perform the demonstration, however, I exchange the big rocks for balloons and pose the question – instead of trying to cram more unimportant things into our jar, what if we decided to put more air into our balloons? In other words, what if we put more time, energy, and effort into the big things that really matter, instead of jamming more unimportant sand into our life? What will be more fulfilling – putting more into the important aspects of your life or spending more time on social media?

There’s nothing wrong with having some little rocks and sand in your jar. We need variety in our lives. We need opportunities to rest and rejuvenate so that when the time comes we can be fully engaged with our balloons. But, when you feel like you’re falling short, when there’s just not enough time in the day, don’t cram in more sand. Put air in your balloons.

60-Second Character Challenge

• What are the critically important “big rocks” or “balloons” in your life?
• What could you do to invest more time and energy into your “balloons?”
• What unimportant sand could you remove from your life in order to invest more energy into your “balloons?

Overview: Students will practice caring by recognizing and showing compassion for the emotions of others.

Character Education Objectives:

Students will:

• sort and label the different emotions on the Faces of Emotion Handouts.
• discuss how having compassion for another person’s emotions shows you care.
• illustrate emotion and share it with a friend.

Materials:

• Faces of Emotion Handout (1-4) 
  1. Students will write in the emotion 
  2. Students will trace the emotion 
  3. Students will cut and paste an emotion 
  4. Students will draw the emotion 
• I Feel Handout 
  • The teacher can also take pictures of familiar faces around the school posing with different faces of emotion to make the lesson more personal to the students in the building 
• Discussion prompts (below)
• Family Connection Handout

Lesson Plan:

• Students work in a group or individually to sort and label the Faces of Emotion Handouts (5 min)
  • Depending on skill levels students can write, trace, or use a drawing or emoticon to label.
• Discussion Prompts (5-7 mins)
  • What emotion do you feel today?
    • Teacher: I feel happy because I get to teach you today.
  • What is hard about knowing how other people feel?
  • Why do some people cry, and some people yell when they are angry?
  • How can you show you care for someone when they are feeling (insert emotion)?

• Complete the I Feel Handout (5-7 mins)
  • Choose an emotion you feel. 
  • Draw a picture of yourself when you feel that emotion. 
  • Write (depending on skill level) what emotion you are feeling and why.

• Share your picture with a friend (1-2 mins)

References
Images are from: https://www.pexels.com/ are free and attribution is not required. 

Overview:  
A critical component of citizenship is doing what you can to engage with your community. Everyone has the power to use their interests and passions to make a positive impact on their community, the country, and the world. In this lesson, participants will reflect on how their interests and passions can be used to make their community a better place to live, work, and go to school.

Character education objectives:

• Study how Amanda Gorman’s passion for poetry allowed her to positively impact her country.
• Students will explore how their own interests and passions can make a difference in their community.
• Put the citizenship Pillar into action by crafting a plan to use their interests and passions to positively impact their school or community.

Materials:

• Amanda Gorman’s 2021 Presidential Inauguration speech
• Written text of Amanda’s poem
• Goal Map tool

Lesson Plan: 

Discussion Prompt: With a partner, share your interests and passions. Examples could include: music, animals, sports, video games, reading, and so on.

Activity: At the conclusion of the partner discussion, introduce students to Amanda Gorman, the young woman who wrote and delivered the poem “The Hill We Climb” at the 2021 Presidential Inauguration Ceremony.

Watch Amanda Gorman’s speech at the 2021 Presidential Inauguration (5:47)

Optional – have students read the written text of her poem.  

At the conclusion of the video, ask students to discuss the following questions in pairs, small groups, or as a full group.

Discussion Questions:

• Which of the Six Pillars of Character does this poem/speech align with? Explain your answer.
• Why do you think Amanda wrote this poem?
• How did Amanda use her passion for poetry to positively impact her community and country?
• How could you use your passions and interests to make a positive difference in your community?

Ask students to write down how they could use one of their passions or interests to make a positive impact in their community. Then, direct them to use the Goal Map tool to create a plan to put their passion to work.

For example, if a student is passionate about caring for animals, they could use that passion to volunteer at the Animal Rescue League. Action steps to put that plan into action could be:

1. Locate an animal shelter in need of volunteers
2. Fulfill any requirements necessary for being a volunteer at their facility
   • Fill out application
   • Ensure my availability and skill set matches their needs
3. Schedule time to volunteer
   • Make sure I have transportation to and from the facility

Follow-Up: Several weeks after the completion of this lesson, ask students to share whether they have put their plan into action. If so, how much progress have they made on their plan? How are they positively impacting their community? If not, why?

CHARACTER COUNTS! is designed to work in partnership with students, parents, and faculty to make your school a great place to learn. The acronym T.E.A.M (T-Teach, E-Enforce, A- Advocate, M- Model) is a process for you to use in the implementation of CHARACTER COUNTS!

When you think TEAM, my guess is your first thought is drawn to an athletic team or any group of individuals that work collaboratively for a common goal. In some ways CHARACTER COUNTS!, does provide a framework to work in partnership with students, parents, and faculty to make your school a great place to learn.

This lesson will use the acronym T.E.A.M  as a process for you to use in the implementation of CHARACTER COUNTS!

Teach

• The values that we want young people to learn.
• Direct and intentional teaching of values through lecture or large group discussion.
• Utilizing experiential activities that allow for students to self-discover what values mean and how they apply to their life.
• Teach values by engaging students in vicarious experiences employing stories told, stories read or stories watched.

Enforce

• Consistently prohibit gossip and, when appropriate, addressing/discussing its damaging consequences.
• Enforce a zero-tolerance policy on swearing. Prohibit vulgar and obscene language in your classroom, in hallways, and at school-sponsored activities.
• Not allowing unkindness of any manner in your classroom; no “put-downs.”
• Create a code of behavior for your classroom to which students and you agree related to the pillars.
• Make expectations clear and holding students accountable for them.

Advocate

• Hang posters or quotations in your class. Refer to the Six Pillars of Character throughout the day as appropriate.
• Discuss campus “issues of character” on a regular basis (vandalism, good deeds, etc.).
• Remind students – and yourself – that building our character is not an easy or one-time project. Fashioning our character is the work of a lifetime.
• Emphasize the importance of working hard and striving for certain standards of achievement.

Model

• Model the Six Pillars of Character; let students observe that you strive to be a teacher who is trustworthy, respectful, responsible, fair, caring, and a good citizen. 
• Follow through. Do what you say you will do.
• Strive to be consistent in dealings with students; avoid allowing personal feelings to interfere with fairness.

One of the most basic behaviors of trustworthiness is honesty. Honesty is not always easy, but lying affects more than just your character. The cost of lying is much greater than you think when you are in the moment where a lie may be the easiest answer. This lesson allows students to explore the impact of lies on both their relationships and themselves and the decision, to be honest, even when it’s the hard path, is the best long-term decision. 

Character Education Objectives:
Students will:

• describe the negative impacts of a lie.
• reflect on their own honesty.
• explore opportunities to grow in their own Pillar of trustworthiness.

Materials:

• YouTube video: The Effects of Lying https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbftlDzIALA

Lesson:

Large Group

1. Watch the TEDx Talk from Georgia Haukom. The Effects of Lying https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbftlDzIALA
2. Break students up into pairs or in small groups.

Partners/Small Group

1. Have students answer the following questions in their pair/group. Encourage students to brainstorm as many ideas as possible.
   • Georgia shared about a study where the adults telling lies had negative things happen to their health. What other things do you think happen to you when you tell a lie?
   • Thinking about how someone else will feel is always good to consider when making a decision. Think about how a lie might make someone else feel?
2. Bring students back to the large group to have a discussion. Be sure to share your own life examples of how you may have been negatively impacted by a lie you have told or been told. Ask students to share their own experiences if they are comfortable.

Personal Reflection/Journal

1. After the large group discussion, encourage students to do a self-reflection of their own honesty.
2. Ask students to privately rate themselves 1-3 on their own honesty. 1 is that “I always tell a lie”, 3 is that “I always tell the truth), and 2 is that “Sometimes I have lied.”
3. We often say we don’t have to be sick to get better, so this self-reflection is designed to allow all students, no matter where they scored themselves, to think about how they can grow. Ask students to think about the following prompts:
   • When was one time I told the truth when it was hard?
   • Why did I choose the truth, even though a lie would have been easier?
   • Where is one place I could work on being more honest? Encourage students to think about their honesty at home, school, with friends, in their community, etc. Remind them that sometimes not giving all the details is also dishonest, so it helps them think of a specific example.

Overview:
 Students need opportunities to see success and triumph in the midst of struggle. This lesson provides a video that discusses resilience from a young man who faced a lot of trials in his life. The discussion will provide an opportunity for the classroom to share ideas about trust, growth, and overcoming obstacles. 

Character Education Objectives:
Students will:

• watch a video about why adversity can build resilience.
• discuss resilience and trust through the lens of overcoming obstacles.
• hare ideas for building resilience. 

Materials

• Markers 
• Post-it pads (large stick posters or paper) 
• Access to stream YouTube video 

Lesson Plan Day 1

Journal: (5 mins)

• What is something that has been challenging in your life to overcome?
• Who have you trusted in your life to help you overcome challenges?

Whole Group (35 mins)

• Watch the video: (15 mins)
  • What Trauma Taught Me About Resilience: https://youtu.be/3qELiw_1Ddg
• Discussion (20 mins)
  • What does this quote mean to you? “The worst of life could not take out the best of me.”
  • Why do people still succeed and flourish despite pain and trauma?
  • What is resilience?
  • Why does change cause adversity?
  • How do your belief systems impact whether you succumb or surmount challenges? 
  • How is your mind the most crucial resource to building resilience?
  • What does trauma teach us about resilience?
    • Tell your mind what to think- how do we do this?
    • Life is easier when you are prepared – how do you prepare for the unknown?
    • Perspective requires partnership
      • Why do we need others to help us overcome adversity?
• Exit Ticket: (5 mins) 
  • Who can you trust to help you overcome adversity when you need it?

Lesson Plan Day 2

Journal (5 mins) 

• What is important about learning to trust yourself in tough situations?

Whole Group Discussion (5 mins)

• What did you learn about building trust and resilience yesterday?

Small Group Discussion (10 mins)

• Everything happens for a reason- How can you use your trauma/struggle for a purpose?
• Who can you trust to support you amid trauma or challenges?
• What does it mean to trust resiliency to help you overcome adversity? 

 Productive Group Work (10 mins)

• On poster paper: What are some ways you can build resilience?
  • Have students use a Post It Poster page to record ideas.

Gallery Walk: (10 mins) 

• What are some ways you can build resilience?
  • Put a star next to an idea you want to remember.
  • Put a tally mark next to an idea you have used in the past to help you overcome an obstacle. 

Exit Ticket (5 mins)

• What is the most important thing you learned in this lesson?

References
Hunt, C. (2020). What Trauma Taught Me About Resilience | Charles Hunt | TEDxCharlotte. Retrieved 1 April 2020, from https://youtu.be/3qELiw_1Ddg