Transcript Character Education Module 7: Curriculum

Module 7
A K-12
Developmentally
Appropriate Core
Curriculum for
Character Education
The information in this PowerPoint module should be read very carefully
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of the module to bypass the narration and animation and to bring up all of
the readable copy. The additional reading of one or more of several books
is strongly recommended as a follow-up. You may want to investigate the
books by the following authors: Kevin Ryan, William Damon, Tom Lickona,
Peter L. Benson, Ruth Charney, Marvin Berkowitz, Lawrence Kohlberg,
Philip Vincent, Chip Wood, John Dewey, and Gordon Vessels.
In review, we have
covered using all
avenues to learning
and all that we
know about child
development.
Now we need to
look at what to
teach and when to
teach it!
CHARACTER
Character implies moral character and
a personality characterized by empathy,
internalized moral standards and values,
a conscience, the ability to reason
autonomously, sensitively, and fairly
about moral issues, and habitual
action that is consistent with moral
thoughts and feelings (virtue).
Moral Character can be viewed as a
combination of personal and social
integrity with each defined in terms of
virtues (behavioral predispositions
embedded in personality and identity) and
various types of feeling, thinking, and
knowing (moral reasoning, conscience,
empathy), that change naturally and
qualitatively as children mature if the
necessary supports are in place.
Developed by Gordon Vessels ©
Human Nature Good
FOCUS on INDIVIDUAL & BELIEFS
FOCUS ON AUTONOMY
Prudential Education
Social Education
Personal
Integrity
Social
Integrity
Ability
Effort
Friendship
Teamwork
Curricular Emphasis
in Terms of Virtues
Cultural Education
Civic Education
Personal
Integrity
Social
Integrity
Kindness
Courage
Citizenship
FOCUS ON HETERONOMY
Human Nature Bad
Developed by Gordon Vessels ©
Character Operationally Defined
In terms of Personal Virtues or Personal Integrity,
people with moral character:
1. Show KINDNESS and compassion with
empathetic understanding;
2. Show the COURAGE to be honest and principled
irrespective of circumstances;
3. Have the ABILITY to independently resolve
problems, analyze situations where moral values
or principles may be in conflict, and adapt to
change in a personally and socially constructive
manner; and
4. Display a high level of EFFORT in their work and a
high level of commitment to individual and group
goals and standards.
With respect to Social Virtues or Social Integrity,
people with moral character:
5. Show an interest in and concern for others in the
spirit of FRIENDSHIP and brotherhood and act on
these concerns routinely;
6. Show responsible and other-directed TEAMWORK
within families, groups, and communities; and
7. View the preservation of social institutions and the
improvement of both self and community as civic
duties or obligations of CITIZENSHIP.
Developed by Gordon Vessels ©
Primary-Virtue Definitions for Kids
Kindness: making others feel better by
knowing how they feel and causing good
feelings.
Courage: being strong enough to do what is
right when you are afraid to do so.
Ability: having the skills to figure out what
is right and good and to make yourself and
your world better.
Effort: doing your best and not giving up
even when things are very hard.
Friendship: treating others the way you
want to be treated.
Teamwork: helping to achieve group goals
by doing your part and working well with
others.
Citizenship: following rules and laws and
trying to make yourself and your community
better.
Developed by Gordon Vessels ©
Primary & Elaborative Personal & Social Virtues
Personal Virtues / Personal Integrity
Kindness
Courage
Ability
Effort
nice
loving
gentle
cheerful
thankful
friendly
comforting
courteous
sensitive
interested
compassionate
empathetic
honest
exploring
brave
sorry
independent
risk-taking
decisive
assertive
self-disclosing
self-evaluating
persevering
principled
attentive
creative
prepared
skillful
organized
knowledgeable
realistic
flexible
objective
deliberate
prudent
resourceful
hard-working
energetic
determined
competitive
studious
self-disciplined
ambitious
dedicated
optimistic
idealistic
persistent
conscientious
Social Virtues / Social Integrity
Friendship
Teamwork
Citizenship
helping
sharing/giving
fair/just
forgiving
patient
considerate
supportive
understanding
trustworthy
devoted/loyal
charitable
altruistic
on-task
respectful
cooperative
productive
responsible
positive
mediating
punctual/prompt
humble/modest
genuine/sincere
compromising
temperate
peace-loving
rule-following
drug-free
law-abiding
health conscious
rights-respecting
volunteering
educated/employed
socially responsible
culturally literate
historically literate
family valuing
Developed by Gordon Vessels ©
VESSELS’ CORE CURRICULUM
DEVELOPMENTAL
LEVEL
(GRADES)
PRE-K
&
K
FIRST
SECOND
THIRD
FOURTH
FIFTH
SIXTH
SEVENTH
EIGHTH
NINTH
TENTH
ELEVENTH
TWELFTH
MAIN PRIMARYVIRTUE FOCUS
FOR LEVEL
KINDNESS
OTHER TARGETED
PRIMARY AND
ELABORATIVE VIRTUES
Kindness: Nice, Loving, Gentle,
Cheerful, Thankful, Friendly
Courage: Honest, Exploring
Ability: Attentive, Creative
Effort: Hard-Working
Friendship: Helpful, Sharing
Teamwork: On-Task
Citizenship: Peace-Loving
TARGETED
PSYCHOLOGICAL
PROCESSES
• Affective Empathy
• Initiative / Do Things
• Conformity to Rules
• Nonselectively Sociable
Friendship: Fair, Forgiving,
Patient, Considerate
Kindness: Comforting, Courteous
Courage: Brave, Sorry
Ability: Prepared, Skillful
Effort: Energetic, Determined,
Competitive
Teamwork: Respectful
Citizenship: Rule-Following
• Authoritarian
TEAMWORK
Teamwork: Cooperative, Positive,
Productive, Responsible,
Mediating, Punctual/Prompt
Kindness: Sensitive, Interested
Courage: Remorseful
Ability: Knowledgeable,
Organized, Realistic
Effort: Self-Disciplined, Studious
Friendship: Supportive
Citizenship: Drug-Free, HealthConscious, Law-Abiding
• A Beginning Rational
Conscience
• Fairness as Equity
• Context-Dependent
Justice
• Perspective Taking / The
Cognitive Part of
Empathy
• Even-Handed Reciprocity
in Friendships
• Full Rational Conscience
COURAGE
Courage: Independent, Decisive,
Risk-Taking, Assertive, SelfDisclosing, Self-Evaluating
Kindness: Compassionate
Ability: Flexible, Objective
Effort: Ambitious, Dedicated
Friendship: Understanding,
Trust-worthy, Devoted/Loyal
Teamwork: Humble/Modest,
Genuine/Sincere
Citizenship: Volunteering
Citizenship: Rights Respecting,
Educated/Employed, Patriotic/
Voting, Historically Literate, Culturally Literate, Family Valuing
Kindness: Empathetic
Courage: Persevering, Principled
Ability: Deliberate, Prudent,
Resourceful
Effort: Optimistic, Idealistic,
Persistent, Conscientious
Friendship: Charitable, Altruistic
Teamwork: Compromising,
Temperate
• Self-Directed, Principled,
and Self-Governing
Autonomy
• Autonomous Critical
Thinking About Moral
Issues, Laws, and Social
Conventions
• Integration of Roles,
Values, Behaviors, and
Attributes into Prosocial
and Ethical Identity
FRIENDSHIP
CITIZENSHIP
Conscience
• Fairness as Equality
Competence / Want To
Do Things Well
• Unevenhanded Reciprocity in Friendships
• Early Autonomous Moral
Reasoning
• Social Consciousness or
Sense of Duty to Others
Besides Peers & Friends
• Mutual Trust
In Personal Friendships
Developed by Gordon Vessels ©
Operational Definition of
Moral Character
“Content” Extraction:
“Process” Extraction:
Virtues & Meta-Moral Characteristics
Affective & Cognitive Processes
Types of habitual good behavior that
suggest the possibility of related moral
feeling and thinking
Types of moral thinking and feeling
processes that may or may not bring
about moral behavior
Personal
Integrity
Social
Integrity
Primary Virtues:
Primary Virtues:
KINDNESS
COURAGE
ABILITY
EFFORT
Targeted at all 5
developmental levels
in four objectives
FRIENDSHIP
TEAMWORK
CITIZENSHIP
Targeted at all 5
developmental
levels in 3 objectives
Elaborative
Virtues:
Elaborative
Twelve for each of
Twelve for each of
the three Primary
Virtues listed above
with 5 to 10
targeted at each
of the 5
developmental
levels in 3
objectives
the four Primary
Virtues listed above
with 8 to 10
targeted at each of
the 5 developmental
levels in 4 objectives
Virtues:
Conscience
Reasoning
Age-appropriate forms
or precursors targeted
at each of the 5
developmental levels
in 1 objective
Age-appropriate forms
or precursors targeted
at each of the 5
developmental levels
in 1 objective
Motivated by (1) a sense
of obligation to others
that reflects internalized
social-role expectations
and moral principles,
(2) a genuine concern
for others that includes
affective empathy and
role taking, and (3) selfregulative and selfreinforcing feelings
that accompany
reflexive
self-judgment, that is, a
social-empathetic,
emotionally selfregulating conscience
Have the independent
ability and will (1) to
think critically about
Moral issues, (2) to
reason autonomously
and objectively when
values and ethical
principles are in
conflict, (3) to
engage in critical and
objective selfevaluation that
amends selfexonerative reality
distortion, and (4) to
effectively take the
perspective of others
about self and others
Developed by Gordon Vessels ©
Instructional Focus for Early Elementary
(Middle Childhood)
Targeted Virtues for Early Elementary (Middle Childhood)
The primary focus for first and second grade students is . . .
●
Friendship and the elaborative virtues of fair, forgiving,
patient, and considerate.
Other targeted virtues include:
●
Kindness and the elaborative virtues of comforting and
courteous;
●
Courage and the elaborative virtues of brave and sorry;
●
Ability and the elaborative virtues of prepared and
skillful;
●
Effort and the elaborative virtues of energetic,
determined, and competitive;
●
Teamwork and the elaborative virtue of respectful; and
●
Citizenship and the elaborative virtue of rule-following.
Developed by Gordon Vessels ©
Psychological Processes
The targeted processes for
first and second grade children are . . .
●
Expanding their natural affective empathy to
include a beginning cognitive or perspectivetaking component,
●
Promoting the process of internalizing adult
rules and standards through inductions,
which connect transgressions with their
affects, elicit empathetic distress and guilt,
and yield an early authoritarian conscience,
●
Promoting the development of a beginning
notion of fairness that appreciates equality
but not equity,
●
Promoting the transition from wanting to do
things (initiative) to wanting to do them well
(competence), and
●
Encouraging early forms of cooperation and
friendship that will be limited by a one-way
social perspective that is self-serving,
unevenly reciprocal, and instrumental.
Developed by Gordon Vessels ©
Sample Standards or
Instructional Objectives
1. Students will begin to take the perspective of
others, will internalize adult rules and
standards, and will begin to show a desire to
do things well. They will demonstrate this
growth through their responses to teacher
questions and their expressed feelings and
attitudes, and by behaving in accordance
with adult rules and expectations when
adults are not present.
2. Students will expand their understanding of
kindness to include being polite, comforting,
and courteous, and will demonstrate this
understanding by using gentle talk and
touch and offering to play with upset peers,
and by adding to their social skills the
courtesies of saying "good morning" and
"excuse me," and by not interrupting the
teacher when she is talking to someone else.