A program in Otterville schools teaches students about kindness, respect and other values.
Twenty-eight traits were chosen by districts participating in CHARACTERplus as key traits children in their schools should be learning:
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A cat named George and some multicolored plastic foam fish stickers are helping Otterville students learn about character.
This week, teachers from the district are in Columbia to make sure ideas such as kindness, respect and perseverance are being taught in their classrooms. The school district, comprising 279 students and located near Sedalia, has taken an unusual approach to addressing good character.
One tactic commonly used in CHARACTERplus, a program designed to teach students 28 values, is having a classroom pet, which helps students understand kindness, self-control and caring.
“The kids love him,” school principal Jeanne Carton said of George, the school’s cat, who stays in the superintendant’s office during the school day. “If kids have an issue, they can come into the office and see him. He is our therapy cat.”
Small plastic foam fish stickers are given to each teacher in the district as part of the “Fish Philosophy,” which teaches students four principles of good behavior.
Teachers are instructed to give fish to students who display commendable character. Students then head to the principal’s office to tell Carton what they did to earn the fish and to go “fishing” in an aquarium filled with prizes.
Five representatives from the district, including Carton, two teachers, a parent representative and a counselor are taking part in the CHARACTERplus Implementation Study training at Lenoir Community Center.
CHARACTERplus was started in 1988 by a business leader and a team of seven school superintendents in St. Louis who wanted to re-evaluate the way students learn respect, kindness and belonging, among other values.
The Cooperating School Districts of Greater St. Louis, the organization that oversees the program for the state, received a Department of Education grant four years ago to examine the program’s effectiveness. The study involves 64 randomly selected schools of various sizes and locations. Since 2002, 16 schools have been trained each year.
The program begins when teachers, students and community members agree on what character traits their school wants to promote that year. Teachers then decide how to incorporate the traits into their classes. For example, high school students are given writing assignments asking them to describe what honesty means to them and how it can be applied to daily life.
Each school in the study is assigned a coach from the Cooperating School Districts who meets with the school’s leadership team involved in the CHARACTERplus training and who tries to make sure the program is used effectively.
After the success of the CHARACTERplus program in Otterville’s elementary school, the district’s teachers are now undergoing training to use the program at the high school level.
English and social studies teacher Kristi Arends plans to incorporate character lessons into existing curriculum.
“There are so many books that deal with people being courageous and standing up for what they believe in,” she said. “I think that is how I’m going to approach it.”
Carton said she thinks implementing character education at the high school level will be easier because younger students will already have the foundation necessary to continue personal growth.
There is, however, one problem.
“I’m going to need to get a bigger aquarium,” Carton said.