Building Character in Schools Set

The Building Character In Schools Set includes Building Character in Schools: Practical Ways to Bring Moral Instruction to Life and the Building Character in Schools Resource Guide by Karen Bohlin and Kevin Ryan. The Building Character in Schools Resource Guide offers school administrators and teachers a practical handbook for developing, assessing, improving, and institutionalizing character education in their schools. It is filled with real-life examples— both successful and unsuccessful— of character education efforts; it clearly illustrates the differences among values, virtues, and points of view; and it presents guidelines for designing effective lessons, units, assessment, and classroom activities. Young people in America today face a crisis of character. Traditional role models continue to disappoint the public, falling short of expectations and fostering cynicism rather than idealism. As a result, many young people struggle to distinguish right from wrong and seem indifferent to whether it matters. It clearly becomes the task of parents and schools to re-engage the hearts and minds of our children in forming their own characters. In Building Character in Schools, Ryan and Bohlin provide a blueprint for educators who wish to translate a personal commitment to character education into a schoolwide vision and effort. They outline the principles and strategies of effective character education and explain what schools must do to teach students the habits and dispositions that lead to responsible adulthood -- from developing curriculum that reinforces good character development to strengthening links with parents. A useful resource section includes sample lessons, program guidelines, and a parents' list of ways to promote character in their children. Building Character in Schools clearly defines the responsibilities of adults and students in modeling and nurturing character and sets forth practical guidelines for schools seeking to become communities of virtue where responsibility, hard work, honesty, and kindness are modeled, taught, expected, celebrated, and continually practiced.

Karen E. Bohlin is executive director of the Center for the Advancement of Ethics and Character and assistant professor of education at Boston University. She and Kevin Ryan are coauthors of Building Character in Schools.