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/characterstrong

@characterstrong

@careacter

Your School Name

Spotify Link: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6TtlcfKwJXGLG5o5wCuvJh?si=g1AIpfE6RY6mCHiiY7Anjg

Secondary Note taking packet: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tR42xTQIQaq418YB8nseoJc2xBLPpob4xPjOa896psk/copy

Secondary Slides for Participants: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1V8kYulGMMwc4f5kAib5Jw6-CTZUeW46cOJkhqDZ8sPU/copy

Elementary Note taking packet: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rIAWERyqbpVRWc4ONhdZvh3jN07FAQRJ5JoBK-1R9UI/copy

Elementary Slides for Participants:

(2-3 minutes)

Welcome

Gratitude for their commitment to this work
Goal for helping them with implementation and building out these slides for their use
Answer any questions and address any concerns

Introduce yourself & share your educational experience

Speak to the implementation process at SHS

Slides are meant to be reproduced for their school

Show them how to go to file, make a copy

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It’s all about�RELATIONSHIPS

Say, “A core belief in CS is that we need to be reminded more than we need to be taught.”
Explain that the first key point and reminder we want to make today is that ultimately all of this work is about relationships.
Ask, “As a table/group (or in the chat) discuss the question, ‘Why is this statement true?’”
Mention how we all have students in our classrooms and schools who are dealing with Adverse Childhood Experiences or (ACES) and that what we know about ACES is that it crosses all socioeconomic backgrounds and that, the more ACES a student has in their life, the more at-risk they are.
Ask, “What is the number one thing a student needs to be successful in your school who is dealing with ACES in their life? A: A consistent, positive relationship.”
Ask, “What do we all need in our life to be successful? A: Consistent, positive relationships.”

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COMMUNITY BUILDING

Because it is all about relationships, we are going to start with Community Building to spend some time getting to know you, and we are going to do so by working straight out of the CharacterStrong curriculum site.
Each of our new sessions begins with Connections. Each of the relationship building activities were designed to work in either a traditional in person school setting or a virtual setting.
*Presenter, you will need to be logged into the curriculum site to access this session; it lives under Advisory in the 2021 SSEL section. If you are presenting prior to May 1, it will call this a Sample Session at the top of the screen. (If you click on the Computer Screen, it is linked to take you to the site): http://curriculum.characterstrong.com/

Username: presenter
Password: character2020

*Click on HS: To Be Lists, go to slide 2 and click on any of the Community Building activities you want to showcase. 2 new activities will drop in November and an additional 2 new activities will drop in February to help keep them fresh for students.
Model the strategy by going first and asking participants to choose options for you.
Then call on 2-3 people with an ! in front of their name to also play the same activity.

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.Well-Being.

.Engagement.

.Belonging.

½

Why

The

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.Well-Being.

.Engagement.

.Belonging.

½

Why

The

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The WHY

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“We are built to be relational but we are more isolated than ever.”

The WHY

(2-3 minutes)

We need to continue to build the case that this work is so important.
We need to show our staff data and resources that support the importance of this work.
In the notes of these slides, you will see resources from experts in these fields that you can use to help build a common understanding for why this work is so important.
What we know from the data right now is that empathy has dropped 40% in the college aged student since the year 2000.

Part of implementation is discussing why we think that is.
When you go over this slide, I would encourage you to ask your staff why such a dramatic drop? Let’s try it. Why do you think there is such a dramatic drop in empathy?

Dr. Michelle Borba would say that it is due to fear, anxiety and narcissism.
What circumstances in our world increase fear, anxiety and narcissism?

COVID
RACE
Narcissism is on the rise and has been since the rise of social media. Our culture created this problem by advertising social media to our students.
The lessons we are creating for when students come back include Empathy based on Dr. Michele Borba’s work.
We can’t just cross our fingers and hope for a more empathetic world. Empathy is a skill that can be cultivated when teaching these skills explicitly.

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Who needs character development?

The WHY

(2-3 minutes)

We need to continue to build the case that this work is so important.
We need to show our staff data and resources that support the importance of this work.
In the notes of these slides, you will see resources from experts in these fields that you can use to help build a common understanding for why this work is so important.
What we know from the data right now is that empathy has dropped 40% in the college aged student since the year 2000.

Part of implementation is discussing why we think that is.
When you go over this slide, I would encourage you to ask your staff why such a dramatic drop? Let’s try it. Why do you think there is such a dramatic drop in empathy?

Dr. Michelle Borba would say that it is due to fear, anxiety and narcissism.
What circumstances in our world increase fear, anxiety and narcissism?

COVID
RACE
Narcissism is on the rise and has been since the rise of social media. Our culture created this problem by advertising social media to our students.
The lessons we are creating for when students come back include Empathy based on Dr. Michele Borba’s work.
We can’t just cross our fingers and hope for a more empathetic world. Empathy is a skill that can be cultivated when teaching these skills explicitly.

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“As anxiety goes up, empathy goes down.”

-Dr. Michele Borba

The WHY

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“Soft skills are the new  Hard Skills.

The WHY

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“Let’s call them  real skills, not soft.”

-Seth Godin

The WHY

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“Students need a deeper why.”

-Angela Duckworth

The WHY

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Your WHY

The WHY

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Your WHY

The WHY

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ACTIVITY: Number Crunchers

This activity will help us talk about which of the points discussed in the previous section most resonated with you.

The WHY

(3-4 minutes)

Have participants stand and tell them that they are going to share the point from the list on the “Why Slide” that stood out to them as significant or important but that they are going to do it by challenging each other to a number crunchers competition.

Find your 12 o’clock partner (if you don’t know them introduce yourself) and then challenge them to a number crunchers dual! Participants hold both hands behind their back and then on the count of 1-2-3 they both hold out a number of fingers on each hand 1-5. Whoever can add up all the numbers the fastest wins!

Whoever loses share something that stood out to them as significant or important from the WHY list and why they chose that point.

Repeat the process by introducing yourself to someone else and battling best two out of three and once again whoever loses share something that stood out to them as significant or important from the WHY list and why.

Let go for 2-3 minutes before inviting participants back to their seats and ask for a few responses from the full group.

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Built to be relational…

The Empathy Gap.

Who needs Character Development?

Highest indicator of success isn’t GPA or SAT.

Soft skills are the new Hard Skills.

Students need a Deeper WHY.

The WHY

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The simplest definition of climate is how people on your campus FEEL on a daily basis.

The WHY

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How do you want our students to FEEL?

The WHY

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How do you want our �staff to FEEL?

The WHY

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How do you want our �school to FEEL?

The WHY

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The HOW

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Simon Sinek

“Passion alone can't cut it. For passion to survive it needs structure. A why without how has little probability of success.”

Author of Start with Why

½

How

The

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.3 things. to know about the curriculum

½

How

The

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1

How

The

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Community

Content

Character

Welcome

Closure

1

How

The

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½

How

The

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1

4

2

1

Read

Act

Discuss

Share

Write

2

1

4

3

1

4

How

The

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1

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.Turn & Talk:.

What is one thing you noticed about Coley’s delivery?

.If there’s time:.

Why does delivery of content matter?

2

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Grade 6, �Session 7

The HOW

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Grade 6, �Session 7

The HOW

30 Minutes

Walk participants through the lesson we started with MS: The CharacterDare: https://curriculum.characterstrong.com/ssel/grade-6-session-7/ - The goal is for participants to be the learners and participate as the students.
When you get to the new content, which is the picture of the face, you will see a computer screen in the corner, that is what you would click if you needed the virtual version of the activity; we aren’t virtual, so we will do the in-person version...no icon clicking necessary.
A few notes about our CharacterStrong Advisory Curricula

We have brand new sessions that were designed to meet the needs of our students right now. There are 35 sessions at each grade level in MS & 25 sessions at each grade level in HS and each grade has a different theme:

6th & 9th - Belonging
7th & 10th - Well-being
8th & 11th - Engagement
12th - Leadership

Within each grade, we focus on values and purpose, goals and habits, leadership and teamwork, emotion understanding and regulation, and empathy and compassion.

Our curriculum was built by teachers for teachers and besides having higher ed support on making sure that researched back strategies and content was included in the lessons, we also made sure that we had many teachers including a couple 20-30 year veterans looking at the content to say things like, “I would never do that in my classroom”.

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Every time we end a session, we will �go through the Character in Action process:

First, we’ll talk about the PAST challenge�(The 1 we were given last session).

Then, we’ll be given a NEW challenge to complete �before we meet next.

The HOW

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The Character in Action Process

(In MS, they are called Character Dares. In HS, they are called To Be challenges)

Challenges are NOT required!

The power is in the discussion

Provide time for students to reflect and partner before the large group share

Make time for the group share

The more WE share, they share

Trust the process!

The HOW

(5 Minutes)

In doing research with a large district implementing CharacterStrong we asked students what the most meaningful aspect of the Advisory curriculum was. Over 90% of the students said the CharacterDares were the most meaningful.
Interestingly, teachers reported that the CharacterDares were the least meaningful aspect of the curriculum.
The full process is essential to help students navigate their way through these dares, so here are our best tips:

Dares aren’t required - Completing 30 CharacterDares does not translate to better or stronger character. Sometimes the student who chose to do 4 dares will have made the most growth, why? Because those were the 4 that they needed to do.
The Power is in the Discussion - Utilize multiple methods to help students respond. Help the students make their learning and thinking visible.
Provide students with time for reflection before sharing out. This can be individual or partner reflection.
Provide time for students to share with the larger group - This is where the learning happens. Students need to hear about their peers experiences.
The more we share, they share - model how you are interacting with these dares as well. Be honest. If you didn’t complete the dare, speak your truth. If you did, reflect about your experience.
Ultimately, we have to the trust the process and make time for this meaningful process.

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.Discussion Strategies.

Strategies for Discussion

Think, pair, share
Think, pair, partner share
Think, pair, teacher share
Rock, paper, scissors
Silent discussions (sticky note, chalk talk, online polls)
Encourage-MINT
Shareouts

The Whip Around
Constraints
Fist to Five
Thumbs up, thumbs down
Preassign/preview questions
Sentence Stems (Well-Being / Thinking)

What else works for you?

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.Grouping Strategies.

What to do when students won’t get in

partnerships or groups.

Make sure the WHY is clear
Use primary partners and core four
Group as they’re coming by labeling desks with a topic
Use clock partners
Team names
Shoulder, back, front partners
Use a card deck to match partners

What else works for you?

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.Timing Strategies.

What to do when sessions are taking too long.

Skip the Start and/or Exit section
Don’t get stuck in the Community section (only do 1 activity)
Have students choose a Community activity as they enter class
In the Content section, if there is an activity with 5 scenarios, only do 3
Preview the lesson the week before to get brains moving

What else works for you?

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.Engagement Strategies.

What to do when struggling with student engagement.

Adapt to meet your students’ needs
Check out our Engagement Resources
Revisit the WHY
Provide practical incentives and schedules
Have students or student leaders lead the sessions
Recognize students for leadership or courage each week
Relate topics to students’ or your own experiences
In quieter classes, swap share outs with written reflection
Pair up with a colleague to co-teach a session
Consistency (and patience) is key
Remember the Law of the Lid

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.Character in Action Strategies.

Ways to make Character Challenges more impactful.

Write them down immediately (or print them off)
Print posters for staff each week
Set up a reminder routine
Use Character discussion time to make a plan
Make it part of announcements
Get student leadership involved
Provide incentives for sharing (not for doing)
Model, model, model
Catch/notice students doing the challenge
Give students time to do the challenge
Use discussion strategies

Go to Closure

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/characterstrong

@characterstrong

@careacter

Your School Name