This article was originally published in the February 2023 edition of Story Monsters.®

For over 30 years, CHARACTER COUNTS! has worked with parents, educators, and coaches around the world to help them instill the Six Pillars of Character— trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship—in their students. These values serve as the foundation for our work, whether in kindergarten classrooms, middle schools, high school sports, or in the home.

CHARACTER COUNTS! is a values-based program because values guide our decisions, and at its core, character education is about helping kids make good decisions. Without intentional values, human beings tend to make decisions based on what is easiest or most emotionally satisfying. In fact, one could argue that we make decisions that way because we value what is convenient and feels good. However, this isn’t a good decision-making framework. If we don’t want to default to impulsive values, then we must have intentional values to guide our decisions. In CHARACTER COUNTS!, we want our decisions to be trustworthy, respectful, responsible, fair, caring, and demonstrate good citizenship.

The Six Pillars of Character are not exclusive. It’s OK to have other values. Nor are the Six Pillars inherently better than other values. The Six Pillars are useful because they are universal, an important factor when working with diverse stakeholders. Regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, socioeconomic status, or any other demographic factor, there are few if any people who hope their child is irresponsible.

There aren’t many teachers or parents who wish they trusted their kids less. When we can align diverse stakeholders around a set of core values, then we can align our decision-making as individuals and as a collective. In other words, we can analyze whether our individual decisions and our group or organizational decisions reflect the Six Pillars.

Once the Six Pillars of Character have been identified as your values, the next step is to turn values into behaviors. Values can be vague. What is perfectly respectful to me, you might find abhorrent. We have to define what the Six Pillars actually look like for us in our specific circumstances. In some schools, responsibility might look like wearing your school uniform each day, while other schools don’t have a school uniform at all. Sometimes definitions change based on age. In little league sports, fair could mean everyone plays the same amount of time. In middle school, fairness could mean everyone gets to play, but not necessarily the same amount. In high school, fairness could mean those who deserve to play the most get to play the most. The point is, values must be defined so that we can turn stated values into operational values—what we do each day.

Many of the books featured in Story Monsters Ink provide exceptional opportunities to teach students how to use the Six Pillars to make decisions, but also define what each pillar looks like in action. For example, if a character in a book is asked to help a friend cheat on a test, how could the Six Pillars help the character determine what decision to make? Or, if a character in a story stands up for their friends, you can ask students which pillar the character is demonstrating. The same type of exercise can be done with any value you privilege in your family, school, or team.

CHARACTER COUNTS! is proud to partner with Story Monsters Ink to bring you more information about character development and using resources to teach students critical character competencies. Story Monsters, home to the award-winning Story Monsters Ink® magazine, is the literary resource for teachers and librarians and the marketing and production solution for authors and publishers of children’s books.

Story Monsters Ink is offering all CHARACTER COUNTS! supporters a free 12-month digital subscription. Subscribe here StoryMonstersInk.com and use code: CC12

Learn more about Story Monsters.

This article was originally published in the January 2023 edition of Story Monsters.®

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. may have stated it best when he wrote, “Intelligence plus character—that is the goal of true education.” That’s what we’re chasing as educators, as parents, and as a society—intelligence plus character. We want our kids to be smart and good. We want our students to maximize their intelligence and academic competencies, and we want them to be good people. Though schools and governments are always focused on intelligence and academic proficiencies, the focus on character education rises and wanes. And yet, we continue to return to this simple truth—to do our best work and be our best self requires good character.

Character isn’t simply what one does when no one is looking, as the oft-repeated saying goes. It’s also what one does when everyone is looking. In fact, our character is revealed in every action and decision. It’s what powers our performance, any performance, from practicing a sport or musical instrument to completing a group assignment or learning a new language. After all, one is far more likely to succeed at any of those tasks if they demonstrate work ethic, discipline, a growth mindset, and other character traits.

Character also powers our relationships. Our relationships are far stronger when we are trustworthy, respectful, caring, empathetic, generous, and so on. At CHARACTER COUNTS! we work with teachers, staff, administrators, coaches, and other educators to help them teach, enforce, advocate, and model key character competencies so that their students can maximize their potential. Built on the Six Pillars of Character—trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship—CHARACTER COUNTS! helps schools and organizations create, sustain, and enhance a Six Pillar culture that shapes the character of the individuals in that culture.

Thankfully, character skills aren’t fixed. No one is eternally blessed or condemned with good or bad character skills. Like dribbling a basketball, writing an essay, or solving math problems, character skills can be taught, practiced, and improved, and CHARACTER COUNTS! provides resources and professional development to aid teachers in their work to develop students’ intelligence and character.

For example, pick any book for any grade level. As your student engages with the book, ask them to consider:

• What traits are the characters demonstrating, and how do those traits impact the action in the book?
• Whether the decisions the characters make are trustworthy, respectful, responsible, fair, caring, and a demonstration of good citizenship.
• If they would make a different decision than the characters. Why they would make that decision?

No one has perfect character; we’re all works in progress, but the more we examine our character, reflect on our decisions, and practice putting good character traits into action, the more opportunities for success and positive relationships are presented. Intelligence plus character—that is and should always be our goal.

CHARACTER COUNTS! is proud to partner with Story Monsters Ink to bring you more information about character development and using resources to teach students critical character competencies. Story Monsters, home to the award-winning Story Monsters Ink® magazine, is the literary resource for teachers and librarians and the marketing and production solution for authors and publishers of children’s books.

Story Monsters Ink is offering all CHARACTER COUNTS! supporters a free 12-month digital subscription. Subscribe here StoryMonstersInk.com and use code: CC12

Learn more about Story Monsters.

Social-Emotional Learning and Character Education can be funded by ESSER! An intentional focus on social-emotional learning and character skills has never been more important. Fortunately, the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund (I and II) provides funding for COVID-19 relief projects. This can include professional development, curricular resources, assessment, and support services for students’ social-emotional needs.

Professional Development

Our professional development workshops:

• teach strategies on creating a positive school culture,
• provide best practices on how to teach, enforce, advocate, and model social-emotional skills,
• and help educators create a plan to provide sustainable SEL services.

Curicular Resources

We have a variety of curricular resources to help you intentionally and consistently focus on character and SEL skills. Additionally, you can buy many of our digital materials as a perpetual license. Your school can use ESSER money on a one-time purchase that you can utilize long after ESSER funding runs out.

Assessments

Schools use culture and climate assessments to identify parts of their culture that may need attention. When taken annually, these surveys can illustrate how your social-emotional interventions are positively impacting school culture. Importantly, since you can use ESSER funds through September 2023, schools can gather two years of valuable data.

Get Started

We’re dedicated to helping educators intentionally and consistently teach these important skills. For more information on using ESSER funds for CHARACTER COUNTS!, please contact Jason Lamping at Jason.lamping@drake.edu.

More information about ESSER:

• U.S. Department of Education Makes Available $36 Billion in American Rescue Plan Funds to Support Students and Institutions

Support for afterschool and summer programs: 

• Afterschool Alliance: COVID-19

Funding by state: 

• Department of Education Announces American Rescue Plan Funds

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.

Teachers care about the relational aspect of teaching. They take time to establish a trusting and caring connection with students, who in turn become more receptive to what’s being taught. Caring is at the heart of our character and will help in creating a positive school climate. Here are our tips for educators: an introduction to caring:

Questions to ask:

• What are your thoughts on teaching caring, kindness and empathy in the classroom? 
• In what way are our students already upholding the Pillar of caring? 
• Are there examples of where we could improve in words or actions on the part of students toward the Pillar of caring?  How about as a staff? 
• What can we do to teach students to be more caring and kind to others?  

Activities to do:

1. Write 3 classroom key beliefs around the Pillar of caring that you would like to instill in your students.
2. Write 2 key beliefs you would like to instill in students throughout the school, hallways, lunchroom, etc.
3. What instructional strategies or classroom management techniques could you use to be intentional and explicit in instilling these beliefs?
   • Positive Sticky Notes – Leave sticky notes with positive messages
   • Thank You Letter – Write (and send!) an anonymous letter to someone you respect in your school, workplace, or other community space.
   • Caring Bulletin Board – Create a bulletin board in your school and provide plenty of paper in fun shapes or designs where adults and students can write down the acts of kindness they have received or benefitted from.

Project to explore:

One of the effective ways to implement CHARACTER COUNTS! in a school is the creation of a school-wide project. As this lesson is on the Pillar of caring, a school could consider as a project a Campaign of Kindness. As a staff, brainstorm the following:

• Slogan for the campaign
• Agree upon at least four action items that would help to implement the Culture of Kindness campaign
• Assign responsibilities for staff, students and parents
• Establish a timeline with a specific target date for the Kindness project

For additional ideas, a great resource is Random Acts of Kindness – https://www.randomactsofkindness.org

Join our CHARACTER COUNTS! Coalition to have access to more videos like this!

Overview:

Our citizenship does not stop at the physical space we occupy. Citizenship has expanded to the communities we have created online. Digital citizenship is important for students as they complete school work and socialize in the digital space. This lesson is designed to give students tips on being a safe digital citizens. 

Character Education Objectives:

• Students will discuss their own digital citizenship.
• Students will brainstorm ways to be a safe digital citizen.

Materials:

• Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9Htg8V3eik
• Chart paper or space on whiteboard/chalkboard

Lesson:

Discussion Questions

• Where are you a digital citizen? YouTube? SnapChat? TikTok? Google?
• What do you do the most on the Internet?
• How do you know it is to talk to someone on the Internet?

Large Group

1. Explain to students that just like their neighborhood, school and family, the internet is a community as well. As a community member, they a responsibility to be a safe digital citizen. 
2. Watch “5 Internet Safety Tips” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9Htg8V3eik

Small Group

1. Break the students into five groups. Each group will be assigned a different Internet safety tip. The tips are:
   1. Don’t give out personal information.
   2. Never send pictures to strangers.
   3. Keep passwords private.
   4. Don’t download anything without permission.
   5. Tell an adult if you receive a mean or strange message.
2. Have the groups develop a slogan, song, rhyme or short skit for their rule. The goal is to find a way to create something catchy so students are able to retain the rules.
3. Have groups present their ideas to the large group.

Journal
Remind students that there are a lot of restrictions put on internet access at school, but in some settings (home, friend’s houses) there are few restrictions. What are some other things you can do to make safe internet decisions?

Download these PDFs and get started coloring!

Trustworthiness

Respect

Responsibility

Fairness

Caring

Citizenship

Download these PDFs and get started coloring!

Trustworthiness – Camel

Respect – Lion

Responsibility – Elephant

Fairness – Giraffe

Caring – Kangaroo

Citizenship – Bear

Students recognize the central role honesty plays in generating trust and they demonstrate their honesty in their communications in three ways:

1. Truthfulness. Students are truthful; everything they say is true to the best of their knowledge (i.e., they do not lie);
2. Sincerity. Students are sincere. This means they always convey the truth as best they can by avoiding all forms of accidental or intentional deception, distortion or trickery (e.g., it is dishonest to tell only part of the truth in an effort to create a false impression or deliberately omit important facts with the intent to create a false impression); and
3. Candor. Students know that certain relationships (e.g., parent-child, teacher-student, best friends) create a very high expectation of trust. In these relationships, honesty requires them to be candid and forthright by volunteering information to assure that they are conveying the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. (e.g., a student who accidentally spills soda on a school computer must voluntarily tell the teacher without being asked; a student who breaks her mother’s favorite vase must tell her mother voluntarily).

Character Education Objectives:

• Students will reflect on how trust is built and broken in a friendship.

Content Goal

•  Students will define trustworthy behaviors and demonstrate the impact of broken trust.

Language Goal:

• Students will write about things they can do to build their own trustworthy behaviors.

Purpose:

Trust in a relationship is not built overnight. It takes a series of trustworthy actions and behaviors to build it up. Unfortunately, one untrustworthy action can break trust instantly. This lesson is designed to demonstrate how our actions impact trust in a friendship and allow students to explore the concepts of truthfulness, sincerity and candor. 

Lesson:

Discussion (5 min)
Have a large or small group discussion about what does being trustworthy mean? Talk about what it looks like and what is does not look like. Ask students to share examples of trustworthiness they have seen.

Activity (10 min)
Build a trust tower. 

1. Give each child a few blocks. You can use Jenga blocks, building blocks or anything you have in the classroom. You want the students to be able to successfully build the tower, so be sure to plan with the right number of blocks. The best plan is to build the tower with layers of three blocks each, alternating direction on each layer. See the game Jenga for an example.
2. Ask the students one by one to come up and build a tower of trust. Each block represents something they can do to build trust. Ask students to say out loud what they can do to build trust as they place the block. Give all students an opportunity to add one or multiple blocks until you have your tower.
3. Explain to students that you have built this wonderful tower of trust. It’s much like a friendship and it takes work to build by consistently being trustworthy. Sometimes we choose actions that are not trustworthy and that will start to break down that tower.
4. Have prepared statements of untrustworthy actions from your discussion ready. Read a statement and ask one student pull one block for each statement. The student can choose any block. Continue until the tower falls.

Discussion (10 min)
Talk with students about how trust in friendships is built just like they built the tower. One by one your actions show the other person you are trustworthy. When you choose a behavior or action that is untrustworthy it starts to break down that tower. The first untrustworthy action may not knock the tower down, but it may. Could it be the second time? The third? You never know when that tower will fall and that trust will break.

Ask the students to discuss the following questions:

• Is it easier to build trust or to break it down?
• How do you rebuild trust with a friend once it has been broken?
• Are there any times it is ok to be dishonest?

Journal (5 min)
What can I do to be more trustworthy?

Family Connection:

Ask families to replicate the activity you did in class, but think about how they build trust in their family.

1. Draw a line down a piece of paper. On one side write/draw examples of how they show trustworthiness in the family. On the other side write/draw examples of what untrustworthy behaviors could be in the family.
2. You are going to build a trust tower. You will need blocks. Fifteen blocks are great, as you can lay them in 5 layers with 3 blocks in each layer while alternating directions. The game Jenga is a great reference point for this.
3. Ask each family member to place one block at a time. As they place the block, ask them to share something they can do personally to help build trust in the family. Repeating answers is ok because it is all about what that individual can do. Continue until you have a tower of trustworthy behavior.
4. Now, look at your list you made. Read your untrustworthy behaviors one at a time. As you read them, have someone pull any block from the tower. As you start to pull blocks, talk about how sometimes you choose behaviors that are untrustworthy. One time probably will not knock down the tower, but it might. Could it be two behaviors? Three? You never know when that tower of trust that you worked so hard to build in your family may fall.
5. Have a discussion with your family around the following questions:
   • How do we rebuild trust in our family once it has been broken?
   • Is it easier to build trust or destroy trust? Why?

Learn more about character education.

Character Education Objective: This lesson exposes students to the research illustrating the benefits of gratitude, and suggests activities to help students develop a habit of expressing gratitude.

Core Alignment:

3-5

• Practice leadership skills, and demonstrate integrity, ethical behavior, and social responsibility in all activities.
• Obtain, interpret, understand and use basic health concepts to enhance personal, family, and community health.
• Utilize interactive literacy and social skills to establish personal family, and community health goals.
• Demonstrate behaviors that foster healthy, active lifestyles for individuals and the benefit of society.

K-2

• Learn leadership skills and demonstrate integrity, ethical behavior, and social responsibility.
• Understand and use basic health concepts to enhance personal, family, and community health.
• Understand and use interactive literacy and social skills to enhance personal, family, and community health.
• Identify influences that affect personal health and the health of others.

Lesson:

Expressing gratitude is one of the simplest ways to demonstrate caring to other individuals. Moreover, research shows that expressing gratitude has the added benefit of raising our happiness levels, making us more productive and healthier, especially if we make gratitude a habit.

Start the lesson by showing students the following video.

• Video: shows creative ways to think about being thankful for everyday things. – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yA5Qpt1JRE4

After watching the video, review the benefits of expressing gratitude with students. Remind students that the long-term benefits of expressing gratitude are only felt if we make expressing gratitude a habit.  Invite students to participate in one (or several) gratitude habits.  (You can also assign one or more of these activities).

• Gratitude Journal:  Each day, students journal (art or text) about what they are grateful for over the previous 24 hours, and why they are grateful for that event, person, object, etc. (You can also create a shared Google Document where students write their gratitudes each day for others to see, if desired and developmentally appropriate).
• 3 Gratitudes:  Ask students to share three things they are grateful for each day.  Students can do this in groups, in a journal, as homework with their parents, etc.
• Random Act of Kindness:  Each day students should spend two minutes writing an e-mail, or making a phone call praising or thanking someone for something they have done. Students may choose a friend, family member, teacher – anyone deserving of praise or thanks.
  (You can also do this in-class.  Each day, have students draw the name of another student in the class.  Students then have a week to write down three things they appreciate about the person they drew.  Students should be encouraged to look beyond, “I like your shoes,” or “your notebook is pretty.”  Instead, they should notice when their person has contributed to the class, or helped a classmate, or something more substantive.  At the end of the week, collect the three things and distribute them to the class.  Students should not know who wrote about them.)

Students should complete each activity daily for a minimum of 21 days in order to form a habit.  You can also combine any of these activities with the Thanksgiving Facebook challenge of expressing gratitude for something each day leading up to Thanksgiving.

This is also an excellent opportunity to help students develop a growth mindset. Encourage students to express gratitude for mistakes they have made, and the lessons they have learned from those mistakes.

Parent Connection:

Send parents the video link viewed in class.  Encourage parents to participate in the gratitude challenge (journaling, 3 gratitudes, random act of kindness) you have assigned your students.  Or, ask parents to participate in the gratitude challenge seen in the video – write a letter to someone they are grateful for, and ask them to read the letter.

You may also choose to encourage parents to use Thanksgiving as an opportunity to share 3 gratitudes around the dinner table.  Or, share their gratitude letter at Thanksgiving.

Learn more about character education.