Character Education in Cherry Hill

When I sit down once again to write about Character Education, I realize how far along our Initiative has progressed. As you know, that is what we call our "program" for character education in Cherry Hill, the Character Education Initiative (CEI). We did that on purpose, as character education is ongoing, forever, and continual, and is really not a "program" but a way of thinking about and behaving toward one another in our schools and community. It is all about developing or strengthening the traits each of us must have in order to fully participate in a democratic society.

Just to review, our three character traits are respect, responsibility, and American citizenship. These have been developed into standards, and make up the Developing Character Standards in the Life Skills Curriculum. We chose these three because they are basic; they also underlie the many other positive character traits that we can all support - honesty, kindness, truthfulness, etc.

We are a large district, and a diverse community, and we needed to begin with traits that we can all focus on and begin/continue to develop.

We have continued to hold our basic Teacher Workshops, as well as providing training for parents, teacher assistants, coaches, and other school personnel. We have met with the staff of the School Age Child Card program, and will be working with them again next month. It has been very exciting to experience the enthusiasm and level of knowledge in our workshops. Teachers know how to teach character, they have only needed permission and support to do so. That, as well as an agreed upon focus so that we are all concentrating on the same basic traits as a beginning. Students realize that important things are stressed by all teachers and other school personnel, so consistency in expecting certain levels of behaviors is vital. Parents have been enthusiastic in giving support to our district as well as asking for more information and suggestions for ways in which they can reinforce character development as home.

In January 2002 we moved to an important new phase of the CEI. We held an all day workshop during which school teams were trained in the process of how to function as effective teams; these groups will now be in charge of directing the particular school program of Character Development in each of our 19 buildings. The teams are varied, usually consisting of 4-6 teachers and at least 2 parents. Some teams are already larger, and have taken on a variety of activities. We continue to meet with the groups, and will provide resources, training, and consultation to them as needed. Meanwhile, we will also plan and carry out district wide activities and "special groupings" across schools or grade levels.

There are many exciting projects being started or already in progress at all of our schools. In later issues of the CH Connection, we will describe some of them to you. Cherry Hill is clearly concerned about and committed to developing character in all our young people. It is a credit to the kind of community we live in and the people who we are.

Content provided by the Cherry Hill Connection.

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Author: Cherry Hill Connection-Mona Noyes