By EARL DESCANT

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

COLUMBUS – Columbus students learn life lessons from projects

Shaping students can include more than just the core curriculum of courses, through instruction on character traits like kindness, responsibility or diversity, educators are realizing.

“Well, one week we covered honesty, and the students put together a video with music and interviews to explore this,” said Mary Swoope, a gifted-education teacher at Caledonia Middle School, where “character education” programs have been launched to instill such concepts as truth into instruction and projects.

At CMS, video equipment, along with a new Macintosh iMac computer complete with software such as iTunes and iMovie, allow the students to create short documentary-style films, dubbed over with music.

In the films, the students interview each other, exploring any number of issues, including patriotism, current events and diversity – all with a youthful, MTV edginess.

In addition to the knowledge gleaned from the film projects, the students pick up other social skills such as teamwork and compromise.

“Getting people to work together and get along, this can be kind of difficult,” said eighth-grader Sunnie Rushing.

With the films, the budding filmmakers also get acquainted with another real-life requisite – deadlines.

“These always take three times longer than you think,” said eighth-grader Jessee Mims.

Beyond amateur filmmaking, the school has found other avenues for reinforcing character-training.

“We have the ‘Do Right Box,”‘ said CMS Principal Rusty Greene, as he held out a green slip of paper the size of a credit card. When a student is involved in noteworthy behavior, the teacher fills out the slip, drops it in the box, making the student eligible for prizes.

“It forces the teachers to recognize the students’ good efforts, and it also forces you to be more aware of yourself,” Greene added.

And, teachers say, the instruction on good deeds is paying off.

“I had a student the other day at a basketball game at the concession stand, who came up to me to admit that he had left and not paid, and he wanted to make sure he paid for his snacks,” said school counselor Vikki Bruce.

“So it doesn’t have to be big things here,” said Bruce, speaking of the Do Right Box and the recognition it brings the students.

“Sometimes it’s just holding the door open for someone,” added Bruce. “These things matter and we can easily work this into our overall instruction.”

– Earl Descant