Character Counts!

There are a lot of classroom management techniques that teachers use every day.  Some are protocols of responses - these series of consequences would be clearly laid out for the students at the beginning of the year or before beginning a new protocol.  Others are more like teacher attitudes towards infractions or hurtful behaviors.  The schools in my district use two overarching philosophies.  One comes from in Sean Covey's Leader In Me system (learn more here) and the other from Michael Josephson's Character Counts! initiative, which is based on six pillars of character (learn more here). 

My current school uses Character Counts!, and you can see it in action every day.  The students are reminded of behavioral choices they are making, which is tied into the pillar of character the student is not demonstrating when appropriate.  There is also the student planner or agenda, which is filled with Character Counts! tips, reminders, vignettes, and images.  Every morning, after the pledge of allegiance and announcements, my class stands in a large, room-sized circle, looks each other in the eye and recites their "Character Counts Pledge," see image above. It goes:

Character Counts Pledge

I pledge to be a kid of character.  

I will be worthy of trust.  

I will be respectful and responsible, 

doing what I must.  

I will always act with fairness. 

I will show that I care.  

I will be a good citizen, 

and always do my share.

The last school I student taught in used the Leader In Me system.  This was also a school-wide initiative and was incorporated into many levels of the school day.  This relatively new philosophy of student leadership-building was fun for me to learn (which happened two years before student teaching at a workshop at my university)!  I found myself incorporating the language of the system into my everyday life.  I still do.

Seven Habits of Happy Kids: 

1. Be Proactive 
2. Begin with The End in Mind 
3. Put First Things First
4. Think Win-Win
5. Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood
6. Synergize
7. Sharpen the Saw

So far, the first week in 3rd grade has been super.  I am excited to begin the second week, begin to take on more curricular responsibilities, such as spelling and writing.  I think one of the things that makes this placement so well-suited for me is that my cooperating teacher and I have very similar philosophies on classroom management.  Though I have years of experience teaching, I still love watching my CT work with her class and learning from her actions.  I believe in being a life-long learner, and I am thoroughly enjoying learning new teaching and management techniques!