Professional Documents
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Valencia Helping Students Become Smart and Good Revised
Valencia Helping Students Become Smart and Good Revised
Become Smart
and Good
Tom Lickona
Center for the 4th & 5th Rs
State University of New York at Cortland
WORLD CONGRESS IN EDUCATION
Valencia, Spain
April 17-19, 2008
Smart & Good Schools Initiative
Integrating Excellence & Ethics for Success in
School, Work, and Beyond
www.cortland.edu/character
3. Guidance from:
Experts Panel
Student Leaders Panel
The concepts and findings
that emerged from the
Smart & Good study are
now being used by schools
K-12.
2 Foundational
Questions
1. What is character?
2. What is character
education?
8
Character has two major parts:
performance character and moral character.
Performance Character Moral/Ethical Character
•Commitment to • Respect
continuous
improvement • Responsibility to others
Cross-cultural wisdom
1. Timelessness
2. Centrality (involves important themes)
3. Influence
4. Originality (offers new vision)
“Our purpose is to
teach the best that
has been thought and
said in the world.”
Intellectual Character:
What It Is, Why It Matters, and
How to Get It
(2002)
—Ron Ritchhart
Media Literacy:
Deconstructing Pornography
1. How does pornography affect our
respect for the dignity of other people?
2. Who are pornography’s victims?
3. How does it affect our self-respect?
4. What are some of the possible long-term
consequences of viewing pornography on
our sexual attitudes and behavior?
5. How might pornography affect a
marriage?
2. Diligent and capable performer
Strives for excellence; gives
best effort
Demonstrates initiative
Knows standards of quality and
creates high-quality products;
takes pride in work
Sets personal goals and
assesses progress
Perseveres despite difficulty.
4 KEYS
1. A community that supports and
challenges
2. Self-study (self-assessment and
goal-setting)
3. Other-study (learning from positive
and negative examples)
4. Public performance/presentation
An Ethic of
Excellence:
Building a Culture
of Craftsmanship
with Students
—Ron Berger
Berger’s work
illustrates the use
of the 4 KEYS.
Practices That Use
the 4 KEYS
1. Work that inspires. (Community That
Supports & Challenges)
2. Models of excellence. (Other-Study)
3. A culture of critique. (Community
That Supports & Challenges)
4. Multiple revisions. (Self-Study)
5. Opportunities to present/display
one’s work. (Public Performance)
The Culture of Critique
Students regularly present their
work to peers and the teacher for
feedback, in order to heighten their
responsibility for:
Be kind.
Be specific.
Be helpful.
Steps in the Culture of Critique
1. Presenter: “I would especially
like suggestions on . . .”
2. Positive feedback from the
group and teacher.
3. Constructive critique, often
put as questions:
“Would you consider . . . ?”
“Have you thought of . . . ?”
Diligent and Capable Performer
—Science Teacher
3. Socially and emotionally
skilled person
Possesses a healthy self-
confidence and positive attitude
Demonstrates basic courtesy
Develops positive relationships
Communicates effectively
Works well with others
Resolves conflicts fairly
Has emotional intelligence,
including the ability to understand
and manage one’s feelings.
Promising Practice:
Develop and
regularly renew a
positive
relationship with
every student.
Promising
Practice:
Foster Positive
Peer Relations.
THE DAILY FIVE
1.Who has good news?
2.Who would like to affirm/compliment
someone else?
3.What is something in the past 24
hours that you are thankful for?
4.Laughter (rotate bringing in a joke)
5.Change seats; get to know your new
neighbor (2-minute interview).
—Hal Urban
RESPECT SCALE
1. At the end of the day, each student
gives himself a rating of 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5
(high) on the Respect Scale.
2. We have a class conversation: “Why did
you give yourself that rating?” We do not
pass judgment.
3. I ask, “How are you going to try to get
better tomorrow? What strategies will
you use?” Other students may suggest
strategies.
—Usha Balamore
4. Ethical thinker
Possesses moral discernment
Has a well-formed
conscience—including a
feeling of obligation to do
the right thing.
Has a strong moral identity;
moral character is central
to “who I am.”
Has the moral skills to
translate moral discernment,
conscience, and identity into
effective moral behavior.
Moral Discernment:
How can we tell right from wrong?
1. Right actions affirm human dignity.
2. They promote the happiness and well-
being of the individual.
3. They serve the common good.
4. They meet the test of reversibility.
(Would I want this done to me?)
5. They can be universalized. (Would I want
all people to act in this way?)
ETHICAL DISCUSSIONS OF
LITERATURE
“Who was the most respectful
character in the book?”
“Would the story have turned out
differently if any character had
shown more respect?”
ETHICAL MINI-ESSAYS
VIRTUE:WISDOM
1. Define “wisdom” in your own words.
2. Who is someone you know who
possesses this virtue? Give an example of
how that person shows wisdom.
3. What are the advantages of possessing
this virtue?
4. How does this virtue affect others?
REFLECTING ON CHARACTER
Care)
Current events (virtueinaction.org)
2. WORK HARD.
2. Students
3. Parents
Promising Practice:
Challenge parents
to align parenting
practices with
relevant research.
When teens are allowed to drink at
home, they are more likely to use
alcohol and other drugs outside the
home AND are at risk to develop
serious behavioral and health problems
related to substance abuse.
Example: Journal:
What can you do to improve in each of
your academic subjects?
What keeps you from doing better?
One school, at the end of each day,
asks all students to reflect:
—James Stenson
ELC PRINCIPLE 5
“Brother’s Keeper”
Culture of critique
Advisory groups
Concern meetings
“Care-frontation”
ADVISORY GROUPS
2.
3.
2.
3.
Increasing Faculty Voice
For success in
school work
and beyond
Character is
destiny.
—Heraclitus
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