EXCELLENCE & ETHICS

Updates from June, 2010

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  Moving to day 2

  Kyle Baker posted in Character Blog at 10:11 am on June 30, 2010 | 1 Permalink | Reply
  

  The highlight of Day 1 of the 2010 Summer Institute was the rolling out of Power2Achieve Foundations, IEE’s 20102011 student programming.

  The response was extremely positive from people that worked with Power2Learn in 2009-2010 as well as people who had a limited frame of reference to the previous materials.  Definitely confirmation that we’re moving towards making true 21st century character education programs that are needed by schools and accessible to administrators, teachers, and students!

  Day 1 was all about familiarization with programming.  We’ve got an incredible group of teachers, administrators, trainers, professors, non-prof based educators, and other educational stake holders assembled, so what do we have on tap for Day 2…

  How do we make this a reality in schools now?

  Guaranteed to be another exciting day at the IEE World Headquarters!

  

   

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  Summer Institute Day 1

  Kyle Baker posted in Character Blog at 12:49 pm on June 29, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: character education, Curriculum, Educators (2), institute, Power2Achieve (7), Professional Development (4), Programs, workshop

  What does Power2 do?

  

  Matt Davidson, President & Co-Founder of the Institute for Excellence & Ethics, opening the 2010 Summer Institute:

  “Power2 programming translates the Smart & Good vision into concrete steps for bringing the vision into reality.”

  Stay tuned for more updates throughout the week on the 2010 Summer Institute!

  

   
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  Resources for Teachers

  Kyle Baker posted in Character Blog at 12:40 pm on June 29, 2010 | 2 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: books (2), classrooms, culture, expert, reccomendation, resources, Teachers (2)

  Recently I posed a question on this blog:

  If you could give  just 1 book to a new teacher (or a teacher who really wanted to further develop their skills and expertise), what would it be?

  Here are the answers I received:

  Cathy Fisher (Teaching & Learning Coordinator, Maercker School District 60, Dupage County, IL)

  Enhancing Professional Practice:  A Framework for Teaching (2nd Edition)

  -Charlotte Danielson

  Margaret Seidel (6th Grade Teacher, Avon Public School District, Avon, CT)

  Readicide

  -Kelly Gallagher

  Eric Martin (Director of Outreach, Institute for Character Development, Drake University)

  A Teachable Moment:  A Facilitator’s Guide to Activities for Professing, Debriefing, Reviewing, and Reflection

  -Jim Cain, Michelle Cummings, and Jennifer Stanchfield

  Tom Lickona (Professor of Education, Director of the Center for the 4th & 5th R’s, SUNY Cortland)

  Lessons from the Classrooms:  20 Things Good Teachers Do

  -Hal Urban

  (When you literally wrote the book on a field like Tom did, in this case Character Education…see Matt D’s recommendations…you’re allowed to suggest 2 books)

  An Ethic of Excellence:  Building a Culture of Craftsmanship with Students

  -Ron Berger

  Matt Davidson (President, Director of Education, and Co-Founder of IEE)

  Educating for Character:  How Our Schools Can Teach Respect and Responsibility

  -Tom Lickona

  “I have 3 copies of this, all of which are highlighted and marked up with tons of notes.  It’s practical, has lots of suggestions for many of the most common classroom management, discipline, and character development challenges.”

  (If you’re my boss, you get the quote from your email posted on the blog)

  As for me…I used and continue to use the strategies presented in The Smart & Good School Report (by Tom Lickona & Matt Davidson) in every interaction I have with teachers, students, athletes, and most other people I meet.  It is absolutely one of the most valuable resources I’ve ever come across (and you can download it in its entirety for free!)

  The other book I used every single day after I got it and passed on to many of my colleagues was

  Character Quotations:  Activities that Build Character and Community, also by Tom Lickona and Matt Davidson
  

  This book has a quote and a discussion question for every single day of the school year to use with your students oriented around weekly topics.  There is also an idea for an activity for each week to help pull the theme through from Monday to Friday for increased student learning.  I used this in my elementary classroom every morning to start our day during morning meeting, I used it to develop  a “Pride Code” for a high school football team throughout a season, and I know teachers who have put it into every situation from suburban elementary schools to urban high schools with incredible results.   At IEE, our Power2Achieve Foundations and Toolkits provide intense and intentional ways for schools and teachers to shape the culture and help students  their performance and moral character…but if I could give one teacher one book for them to use immediately, this would be it…In other words…get it and use it!!

  Please continue to send me your recommendations or post them as a reply to this post!  Let’s continue to develop our list of essential resources every teacher should have!

  

   
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  Central NY Community Foundation Grant Awarded

  RichParisi posted in Character Blog at 10:09 pm on June 28, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Community, Foundation, Grant

  The Institute for Excellence and Ethics (IEE) worked with the LaFayette School District, Bishop Grimes, and the Cathedral at Pompei to receive a grant of $21,3oo. to work with staff and parents during the 2010-2011 school year. The grant was awarded earlier this month and IEE will be working with all three schools this summer to prepare for next year.

  The IEE Team all contributed to this successful grant. John and Lucia Cataldo played a key leadership role in the pursuit of this grant which was just over a six month process from beginning to end.

  One of the exciting things about this grant is the opportunity we are going to have to work with parents and schools in our own community. We will keep our team informed as to the progress with this project. We are hopeful that the parent component will be someting that all of our team can benefit from in the future.

  

   
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  Summer Institute Meetings

  Kyle Baker posted in Character Blog at 1:06 pm on June 23, 2010 | 1 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Educators (2), Foundations, summer institute (2), Teachers (2), Toolkits

  Meetings here today to discuss and finalize plans for next week’s Summer Institute, which will happen right here at IEE World Headquarters in New York.

  A lot of excitement to roll out demonstrations of Power2Achieve Foundations, Toolkits, and the most recent information regarding the Culture of Excellence and Ethics Assessment for an international group of outstanding educators!

  

   
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  Students of Peace and Promise

  Phil Catania posted in Character Blog at 1:13 pm on June 16, 2010 | 2 Permalink | Reply
  

  

  

  

  
  

  

  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  Last Friday, my 23 year old son and I had the great pleasure of returning to the elementary school where I served as Principal from 1988-2005. The purpose was to walk with the 500 K-6 students, teachers, parents, community members and school system officials in the annual Mount Rainier Elementary Peace Parade. The link to a Washington Post article is :

  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/11/AR2010061106148.html

  Since 1996, an annual end-of-year Peace Parade has been held in the community to celebrate the students’ year-long efforts at being peaceful, responsible and respectful. At Mount Rainier Elementary, each school day with no violence, arguments, put-downs, (in essence, a “Peace Day”), is acknowldedged by adding a number to the total cumulative days of Peace. In an average 180 day school day, Mt. Rainier students have had no less than 165 days of Peace each year. As a matter of fact, in my final year as Principal, our students reached 176 days of Peace out of 180!

  As I walked in the Parade and saw everyone’s pride and enthusiasm, I felt a tremendous sense of pride in the fact that the school community has continued to acknowledge and celebrate the efforts of the mostly minority and high poverty students since my departure.  I mention the words “minority” and “poverty” to point out the fact that many school systems perceive these students as “at-risk”, At Mt. Rainier,  these students are perceived as “at-promise” and that is exactly what they are: “Students of Promise”.

  One really nice touch: As they had for the past 13 parades , the 6th graders and Kindergarten students walked together in front of the parade and behind the Northwestern High School marching band (where, ironically, four of the band members had walked in earlier parades as Mount Rainier students) . These 6th graders held the hands of the Kindergarten students, symbolizing that they were leaving the “mantle” of becoming school leaders to the rising 1st graders. It is a sight to behold and fills me with excitement.

  Words cannot express how proud and happy it makes me to know that the legacy of Peace and Kindness the teachers and I worked so hard to develop in our students back so many years ago is still holding true today. I also wasa so proud that Philip, my son, walked in the Parade as well. He had practically “grown up” around the school and many of the teachers!

  These rising 7th graders will enter Middle School in August with the Mt. Rainier Promise still resonating on their lips and in their hearts:

  I Promise to Show Respect

  I Promise to Act Responsibly

  I Promise to Be Peaceful

  These Life Skills will help mold me into a solid citizen

  At their graduation ceremony yesterday, each 6th grader received their own laminated wallet-sized “Promise” to keep on their person every day.

  These wonderful students are our future.  I will sleep well tonight knowing that to be true.

  Peace!

  

   
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  1 book for a new teacher's library...

  Kyle Baker posted in Character Blog at 4:22 pm on June 11, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  

  In the past few weeks I’ve had two experiences that made me think back and consider what the most valuable books in my library as a teacher were.
  Last week I was in San Antonio, Texas meeting with educators about bringing Power2Achieve and the CEEA to their schools.  I love meeting with educators on their own turf, and my eyes always dart to their bookshelf and their desk to see what resources they have on hand.  During one of the meetings, a principal stated that at every year he gave his staff a book that he thought could help them grow as a professional learning community and assist each teacher in their individual development as educators too. (If you’re counting at home, that was experience #1)

  Then this week I received a package from St. Joseph School in Missoula, Montana. I taught at St. Joseph, a great school in a beautiful setting, during the 2006-2007 school year, and the principal Rick Hyland is a great friend and mentor.  Over the summer I gave him a folder of resources for a new teacher I knew was starting there.  This week I got those resources, along with a very nice letter, back in the mail.    (Experience #2)

  Through my teaching contacts, my time in Notre Dame’s ACE program, and our work here at IEE, I often come into contact with new teachers as well as experienced teachers who are hungry to grow and improve as educators.

  So my question is this:

  If you were to put one book* on the shelf of a new teacher, a book they could really use right away, what would it be?  *with the Smart & Good Schools Report already acknowledged as essential for every shelf

  I’d be fascinated to know your answers, so I encourage you to reply to this post and/or email me @ kbaker@excellenceandethics.com

  Next week I’ll post all the books that recommended and who it was recommended by (unless you’d choose to do so anonymously!). Insert plug to recruit subscribers here—> And of course if you forward this on to other educators (and in doing so encourage them to subscribe to the blog), we’ll get a bigger list of excellent resources!

  

   
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  When the lights go dark.

  Kyle Baker posted in Character Blog at 2:34 pm on June 5, 2010 | 1 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: athletics, Character Blog (2), coach, coaches, coaching, education (3), lessons, scoreboard, sports, Wooden

  Yesterday one of history’s finest character educators, John R. Wooden, passed away at age 99.

  From the time I could hold on to a football shaped pillow in the crib to the moment I took off my headset for the last time, came down out of the coaches’ box, and put away my call sheets after coaching in a Texas high school playoff game, I spent much of my life directly involved with competitive athletics.

  In my travels I’ve encountered many coaches who hung The Pyramid of Success on their office wall and sprinkled quotes and anecdotes from Coach Wooden into their speeches to players who had taken a knee around them.  I consider myself extremely fortunate to have played for two head coaches, Mike VanDiest of Carroll College (Helena, MT) and Van Troxel of Lake City High School (Coeur d’Alene, ID) who along with their excellent assistant coaches didn’t just reference something like Wooden’s Pyramid of Success, but who lived the character it described day in and day out (they also happen to win more games than most, something I doubt is much of a coincidence).

  Youth, high school, and college coaches like VanDiest and Troxel teach young student-athletes just like I once was valuable lessons every day.

  The true measure of a coach, however, has less to do with what happens when the scoreboard and lights are on than it does with the days and years that come long after they’ve gone dark.   I’ve been a part of many losses and even a few championships too, and I’ve seen coaches be there for their players during births and deaths, marriages and divorces, great successes and even greater times of adversity.  Coaches have been there for me in the best and the worst moments of my life, and I was blessed with the opportunity to be there for players as a coach myself for several years.

  I remember one moment more than most in my years as an athlete, the moment I removed my shoulder pads and jersey for the last time in Savannah, Tennessee in 2005.  There were feelings of relief and fear, sadness and celebration, joy and great uncertainty…and there was also trust…trust that the lessons coaches had taught me for years about hard work, commitment, teamwork, desire, and perseverance were going to matter more than ever now that the lights had gone dark for the last time and my cleats were being put in the back of the closet for good…trust that the same coaches who were there for 6 AM workouts, film sessions, and game days would always be there as mentors, advisors, and friends.

  That was just one of many moments in my life where I was consciously thankful for the role coaches have played in my life…this is a moment where we can all be thankful for the influence of one of the greatest of all time.  Thank you Coach Wooden.

  

  

   
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  Hard-earned wisdom—Some reflections on the 2010-11 Power2Learn field research

  Matt Davidson posted in Character Blog at 12:02 pm on June 2, 2010 | 1 Permalink | Reply
  

  Today I spoke with a Principal from a Power2Learn Field Research site in Kansas. He took the time to reach out to me, to share some experiences and reflections from their Power2Learn experiences this year.  It was a very satisfying conversation—not because he told us that our program is the greatest thing since sliced bread, or that there aren’t any areas for improvement.   But I think his sense of perspective was important:  basically, he felt we’re 85% there; we need to make some changes to allow for more teacher flexibility in the implementation, streamline the feedback process so that educators can give us more real time feedback, and reduce the overall data collected—to name a few.

  Here’s what really stands out to me on the challenge of what we’re trying to do: 

  1. Students feel like they’re in a remedial course because of the intense and intentional focus on things they feel like they already know. When in fact, these character competencies (giving and receiving feedback, time and stress management, collaboration, creativity, acting with integrity) are something that adults work on throughout their lives.  Research shows that students need these to a higher degree in post-secondary education, the workplace, and as parents.  We did a poor job this year of making the sell to students to show them that we’re preparing them to have an advantage, over their peers who won’t have had the knowledge and skills to navigate these challenges.  
  2. Youth are particularly tough customers.  They resist things that are new and different, and they can really rally around each other and a cause—especially if that cause is one where they feel they have been wronged, or are asked to do something that is unreasonable.  In this case they really rallied around the idea that this is stupid; we already know this; it’s not fun; it feels like a class; I don’t want to do this.  Often their body language—and their actual language—conveyed: this sucks!  Andy yet, many students we spoke to, and may stories we have heard anecdotally suggest another story.  I remember the Liz Murray story; I loved the DeLasalle video; the P2L Blueprint-4-Life was awesome; I used the P2L Stress Management process in a parent-teacher conversation, etc. I don’t know why we expected students to love the program (or us).  A colleague has often said, “we shouldn’t evaluate if they liked it, but if they intend to use it.”  We do want to engage them, to understand what matches well to their learning styles, etc. But we need to do a course evaluation at the end of the year, and then again in few more years when they realize that this “stupid course” gave them survival tools for a lifetime.  One quick example: the Principal I spoke to this morning described how his son started to use P2L concepts to help make sense of and handle some struggles with sports injuries he suffered this year, and in conversations with his mother around being responsible and acting with integrity at end of year graduation parties.  
  3. We can’t teach in schools from our office.  We tried to make it teacher-proof, and there’s no such thing.  Some of the biggest complaints we heard about the program from teachers were things like:  I needed more time; I needed less time; I don’t like the voice-over you use;  I thought it was going to be a plug-and-play.  In other words, we often heard competing critiques, which makes sense since no two teachers or classrooms are alike.   Teachers also said things like, “students don’t like it.” Or, “students don’t think they need it.”  On the one hand, we tried to, and will continue to work at making this something students like, and helping them to understand why they need it. On the other hand, do students love math and think they need it?  No usually. That’s teaching, right?  You’re passionate about math and then realize that you teach students who don’t give a darn about math.  Your challenge is how to make them care about, and learn about something they’re not interested in. Well, the same is true for our programming.  We can give you essential knowledge and tools for teaching, but for now at least, teachers must be willing to make it fit their needs and the needs of their students. 

  Our next version has some exciting new changes that should build on the strengths of this first version, while allowing for important changes that will improve next year’s experience.