Values/Character Education

Resource Clearinghouses

• Background and Discussion National Organizations and Programs State Programs Resource Clearinghouses Research References

  Center for the 4th & 5th R's (Respect and Responsibility)
  Serves as a regional, state, and national resource in character education. "Helping schools, teachers, and parents develop good character in youth."
  
  
• The Character Education Network
  The network "is a place for students, teachers, schools and communities to facilitate character education. This site is dedicated to providing quality online, ready-to-use curriculum, activities and resources that integrate with and enhance the classroom experience. It allows schools and students to network together by sharing ideas and experiences with others in their community and nationwide."
  
  
• GoodCharacter.com 
  Free resources, materials, and lesson plans.
  
  
• Indiana University Character Education Resources
  Materials to provide an introduction to character education, including links and bibliographic information.
  
  
• The National Character Education Center
  Center initiated by The Values in Action network, representing stakeholders from over 1000 schools nationwide who "feel Ethics Education and Value Centered environments make the most impact in a child's success in school." The Center provides resources for teachers, students and administrators for pre-school through high school levels.

Cultivating Values in Middle School Kids
Gene Bedley, CEO Character Education Center, February 2003
Eight Principles for Transmitting Values to Adolescents

1. Describe what you need from kids rather than what they don't do!
   
   
2. Cultivate respect in your class or home by demonstrating high regard and consideration for others.
   
   
3. Involve fathers in more decision-making opportunities.
   
   
4. Promote responsibility management. Adolescents often don’t see the advantage of have a positive relationship with teachers or parents, especially since adolescence tends to be a self-focused stage. Help kids understand that when they demonstrate personal responsibility, you will reciprocate by allocating more freedoms. They’ll then see the important connection between responsibility and freedom.
   
   
5. Recognize that adolescents need independence, yet they also need realistic, necessary moral and physical boundaries.
   
   
6. Adolescents are going through one of the biggest physical changes in the human life cycle. Not since they were two years old has there been such a dramatic change. Through all the changes, adolescents need assurance and affirmations that they are a unique, unrepeatable miracle, and that they have a special place in school, in class, and in their home.
   
   
7. Self-disclosure can be your most powerful tool in building healthy relationshipswith adolescents.
   
   
8. The most dynamic force available to teens is adults who can express genuine love and appreciation for their existence. Express genuine compassion to teens by valuing their ideas, looking in their eyes (to show genuine regard), and letting them know that they belong.