Character Development in Primary Schools

[haoran]

Has anyone heard of "character development" courses taught at elementary schools? Does anyone have a recommendation for a good curriculum for such a course?  I've found some leads from the University of Illinois, but nothing too informational. 

 

The charter school where I'll soon be working wants to start a "character development" class, but they don't seem to have specific plans yet. They said I would be a great fit for teaching it (because of my plans to pursue a degree in school psyc) so I thought I would develop some plans of my own. Any tips?

[schoolpsy15]

There is a book I used during my internship that was helpful in learning more about age appropriate character ed activities. It is called Character Education: Ideas and Activities for the Classroom by Carson-Dellosa Publishing Company.  I was able to use many of the activities as a foundation for ideas, and then tailored the activities to meet each classroom's needs. I also did some activities in small group and individual settings.  I recommend choosing a topic and defining it in a way that elementary students can understand, through concrete examples and then doing related activities. It may also be helpful to find children's books related to the topic that you can read to the class as an example of the behavior they will be learning about. Hope this helps!

[haoran]

Looks great! Thanks a bunch. The book look greats, and in fact, simply changing my search to "character education" was also very helpful! 

 

Tailoring to the class is most definitely expected. I guess I'm just trying to familiarize myself with what's out there in the school psychology field, what's the standard. I don't have much exposure to the field. Maybe this is more guidance counseling than school psychology anyways. 

[schpsy92]

This type of "character education" is not regularly done by school psychologists, but it is somewhat common. The school social worker or guidance counselor may do this alongside, or instead of, the school psych. I would also recommend to use fairly interactive means for a group like this in order to keep the young (and often fidgety) students engaged