The presentation by SHIVANI at EDU-CARNIVAL 2014 - the 6th International conference for school leaders, IIT DELHI.

1. CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
WORKSHOP:
Copyright Intellitots Learning Pvt Ltd 2014

2. WHAT DO WE ALREADY
KNOW ?
What is Character Education ? Why do we need it
?
- Character education - a historical perspective
- 7 Key focus areas of character education
How do we teach it ? How do we track it?
- Macro Structures
- Micro Moments
- Character Growth Card

3. CHARACTER EDUCATION – A
HISTORIC PERSPECTIVE
 Down through history, education has had 2 great
goals
 to help people gain knowledge
 help them become good
 Character education has been around for 1000s of
years.
 In India – through gurukuls
 In the Christian world – through the bible

4. DECLINE OF CHARACTER
EDUCATION
17th to 18th Century - Scientific
revolution – people started to
distinguish between facts (that could
be scientifically proven) and values
(seen as a more personal domain,
not a subject to be transmitted
through schools).
Character education saw a decline from the 17th to early 20th century
19th Century - Darwin and evolution – led people
to see all things including morality as being in
flux.
18th to 19th Century - Industrial
revolution – changed what was
required from people coming out of
the education system.

5. WHY TEACH CHARACTER?
In the 20th century we started to see signs of
societies in moral trouble
- Breakdown of the family
- Deterioration of civility in everyday life
- Behavior of the youth
- Rampant greed
- Violence…
“To educate a person in mind and not in morals is to
educate a menace to society” – Theodore Roosevelt

6. AND IF THAT WASN’T REASON
ENOUGH…
Ask yourself or anyone you know “To what do
you credit your success?”
S
U
C
C
E
S
SGETTING INTO
THAT COLLEGE
?
Or the PERSEVERANCE
that got you there and kept
you there ?
DOING
CALCULUS
WELL ?
Or the TEAM WORK /
SOCIAL INTELLIGENCE
you displayed on the job ?

7. THE RETURN OF CHARACTER
EDUCATION
Now we are seeing a new character education
movement. A scientific approach to character
education. Now supported by 50 years of
empirical research.

8. How do we teach character ?
“Children have never been very good at listening
to their elders but they have never failed to
imitate them”
Important for us to self evaluate, self reflect and
learn as much as we can about character
education

9. Identify your Character
Strengths

10. EXERCISE
REFLECT !
YOUR TOP 5
CHARACTER
STRENGTHS
WHAT YOU THINK
YOUR STUDENTS
TOP 5 SHOULD BE
WHAT RESEACH
PROVES AS MOST
PREDICTIVE OF
FUTURE SUCCESS

11. Perseverance / Grit
 Finished whatever s/he began
 Stuck with a project or activity for more than a few
weeks
 Tried very hard even after experiencing failure
 Stayed committed to goals
 Kept working hard even when s/he felt like quitting
How do we know it’s important? – There are NO counter
examples of someone succeeding without Grit!
1. Educate students on the AMOUNT of practice required to
master a skill
2. Help them understand the role of failure in mastering a skill
3. Reward and praise them for the struggle

12. Zest
 Actively participated
 Showed enthusiasm
 Approached new situations with excitement
and energy

13. Self Control (Hot Vs Cool systems)
School Work
 Came to class prepared
 Remembered and followed directions
 Got to work right away instead of waiting until the
last minute
 Paid attention and resisted distractions
Interpersonal
 Remained calm even when criticized or otherwise
provoked
 Allowed others to speak without interrupting
 Was polite to adults and peers
 Kept temper in check

14. Optimism
 Believed that effort would improve his/her
future
 When bad things happened, s/he thought
about things they could do to make it better
next time
 Stayed motivated, even when things didn’t go
well
 Believed that s/he could improve on things
they weren’t good at – GROWTH MINDSET

15. Gratitude
 Recognized what other people did for them
 Showed appreciation for opportunities
 Expressed appreciation by saying thank you
 Did something nice for someone else as a way
of saying thank you

16. Social Intelligence
 Was able to find solutions during conflicts with
others
 Showed that s/he cared about the feelings of
others
 Adapted to different social situation

17. Curiosity
 Was eager to explore new things
 Asked questions to help s/he learn better
 Took an active interest in learning

18. Teaching through
Macrostructures
Any intentionally created structure, system or
routine that, explicitly or implicitly, is designed to
teach character.
Characteristics
1. Recurring – Daily / Weekly
2. Proactively Planned – Before problems happen
3. Active – Student involvement
4. Aligned – Have a good fit with what is happening
during the rest of the day
Many ways to achieve this ! Eg: Co-curricular,
Separate period, Dual purpose lesson

19. Dual Purpose Lesson Plans
-Write a letter expressing gratitude to someone
who cares for you
-Work in a team on a science project on
transport
- Lesson on life of Mahatma Gandhi to bring
out the value of perseverance

20. Teaching through Micro
Moments
Character
Behavior
Language
Constructive
Responding
Growth Mindset
The moment to moment interactions with
students. Aim should be to have as many such
positive moments in a day as possible.
Micro
Moment
s
Triangle

21. PASSIVE ACTIVE
CONSTRUCTIV
E
DESTRUCTIVE
TEACHER RESPONSES

22. TEACHER AS A COACH
 Engage students in Positive Emotional
Attractor state
 Help them develop a vision for themselves
 Get them motivated about achieving that vision

23. Measure Character Growth
Card
 A macro structure
 Based on the premise that feedback is useful.
 Used to facilitate a conversation. Should encourage growth mindset.
 Caveat : Ratings are subjective based on each persons own personal
standards
Process
[1] self
[2] teacher
[3] collate
Effective Strategies
[1] Use an asset or strength based approach
[2] Choose one to two areas of growth upon which to focus
[3] Create effective goals and plans for after the conference

24. Character Growth Card -
SAMPLE

25. TRAFFIC LIGHT
A multi purpose tool for improving
children’s social and learning skills.

26. FINDING THE RIGHT
BALANCE
FOLLOW THE GOLDILOCKS PRINCIPLE

27. SHARING OF IDEAS
Please share what thoughts this
discussion has triggered and what
you would be trying out in your own
organization.

28. THANK YOU