This topic of character education is one that does not get old. When I think about character and how we can help educate children on morals and good character, there really is not one answer. Earlier this year I took a class about morals issues and education. This class really helped me delve in and figure out what I really think about educating students of character. The bottom line, what I found I really believe is that children learn best from modeling. They learn best when their teachers and parents are behaving in the way that they want their children to behave. This is a BIG responsibility! And one that we, as teachers, need to take seriously. This week we read an excerpt from a book by Russel Kirk. He gave across the idea that virtues are “caught not taught”; this really sums up in three words, my thoughts exactly. Just being told what to do or what is right, is not enough. We need to show children what good character is. Defining this gets a little more complicated, but there are some general norms that people live by. In religious schools there may be more areas that are touched on, but the idea of modeling for students will be the same. In addition to modeling the behavior we can find areas that we study that model behaviors for us in literature and history.
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rebeccaaf 