| Character Education
Many schools promote character education by featuring monthly schoolwide
themes such as Respect, Responsibility, and Citizenship. To help
schools develop their character education programs, WiseSkills
is similarly organized around monthly Character Themes. Each theme
contains a variety of practical resources for educators, including:
Each
WiseSkills
resource also includes stimulating biographies of positive role
models. Elementary and Middle School Character Themes
High School Character Themes
For a list of materials for different grade levels, click here.
Curriculum Integration Because
character education is not a separate subject but rather connects
to all of life, all WiseSkills
materials include a variety of interdisciplinary projects to integrate
into academic subject areas. WiseSkills
provides educators with dozens of suggested projects in these
subject areas:
To view sample pages, click here.
Career Awareness The WiseSkills curriculum highlights the words and lives of a variety of positive role models, expositing students to people in different careers, from writers, to scientists, to actors, and other public figures In addition, WiseSkills can also include featuring ongoing career speakers who share with students about their careers and how they have applied character skills to find success in life. Speakers reinforce and give real-life examples of the character qualities being learned in the classroom. The WiseSkills Community Connections Kit provides ready-to-use materials to help parent/community volunteers find local career speakers. Materials include ready-to-go letters, forms and memos to make it as easy as possible for volunteers to find regular career speakers. To view sample pages from the curriculum, click here.
Conflict Resolution Few character education curricula directly address specific skills to help young people resolve conflicts peacefully. WiseSkills includes elementary and middle school activities to teach students the 4 WISE Steps of Conflict Resolution: Use Words & Ideas to Settle it or Explain It Students learn this simple system for resolving conflicts as they develop positive character. There are even materials to train students to be peer mediators and use the 4 WISE Steps to resolve conflicts on the playground or in other situations. Resources include practical worksheets and engaging role-plays. To view sample pages, click here.
Media Issues With
the influence of the mass media growing, it is critical that young
people learn how to analyze and evaluate the messages they regularly
receive from the popular media. WiseSkills
includes activities and discussion ideas to help students discern
the positive and negative values messages communicated through
the popular media.
The
Wisdom for Life high school curriculum
also features practical reproducibles to guide students in evaluating
media messages.
Parent & Community Involvement Because character-building should be a community-wide focus, WiseSkills offers opportunities to involve parents and communities in character education. Parent volunteers can be trained to become community liaisons to help reach out and involve the community in fostering and developing good character.
The WiseSkills Community Connections Kit provides ready-to-go letters, forms and memos to help volunteers arrange service projects and find local career speakers. Materials include ready-to-go letters, forms and memos to make it as easy as possible for volunteers to find regular career speakers. To view sample pages from the Community Connections Kit, click here.
Community Service-Learning WiseSkills includes ideas for engaging students in exciting and meaningful service-learning projects. Each Character Theme features a variety of project ideas that connect to the monthly theme. Projects are easy for educators to implement and provide students with tangible ways to apply the character skills they are learning.
The WiseSkills Community Connections Kit provides ready-to-use materials to help parent/community volunteers arrange service projects with local organizations.
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