The Character of Education – Promises to Keep
Chip Wood, co-creator of the Responsive Class-room gave the June 25,
1996 keynote at the Center’s Second Annual Summer Institute in Character
Education at SUNY Cortland. In his concluding remarks, he outlined seven
promises he believes we must make to our children schools, and each
other if we are to move our beliefs about character education into sound
daily practice.
1.Let us promise not to ignore the behavior of boys when it is
deliberately mean and
cruel and physically or verbally abusive to girls. In order to stem the
tide of abusive treatment of women in our society, we must promise not
to look the other way in the halls of our elementary, middle and high
schools. We must teach young boys to express empathy and make it
normative to be respectful and caring in our schools.
This is the promise of respect — to the boy on the bicycle and the girl
in the schoolyard. (Wood had recounted a disturbing newspaper report of
a 10-year-old boy’s assault on an 8-year-old girl with broken glass in a
schoolyard after school.)
2.Let us promise to ask parents what they want their children to
learn in school this
year. At the very least, send a letter home before school starts that
asks this question. If possible, move the first parent conference to the
beginning of the school
year and make it a goal-setting conference. This is the promise of
parental involvement for all moms and dads.
3.Promise your students real responsibility in the classroom and
school by generating classroom rules that begin with their hopes and
dreams, aspirations and goals. Then give them real jobs to do. This is
the promise of responsibility in action.
4.Promise yourself, your administration, parents and students, a
clear set of
school-wide rules and procedures that let everyone know that the vast
majority of
students the ones who follow the rules will, from this point forward,
be the ones
who get most of the teacher’s attention, rather than the other way
around. Make sure
the school board approves this policy. This is the promise to
recognize responsibility.
5.Promise yourselves that you will work together to create
classroom and school
ceremonies, rituals, structures and routines that provide for teaching
and practicing
the internalization of rules and for the building of greater trust
among all members of
the school community. To accomplish this, find as many ways as possible
to
increase meaningful, prosocial contact between younger and older
students in the
school, such as cross-age tutoring and “buddies” programs. This is the
promise
of apprenticeship.
6.Promise to teach recess and lunch with the same intentionality as
reading and math. Share the lunchroom and playground with your students
as often as possible. This is the promise of safety and civility.
7.Promise to use every available avenue to strengthen and support
your adult
community in its work together and with children, especially through
the provision
of time to meet, dialogue and create stronger bonds among adults. I
recommend the
notion that every teacher needs a “buddy teacher.” In order to model
good character
for children, they must see us interact with each other, not just with
them. We must
be in each other’s rooms, on the playground together modeling for
children. This
is the promise to “raise the village”the community of adults.
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– The Responsive Classroom Newsletter