At Flower Mound Elementary School character education is a part of us. There was not a single moment, experience, or dilemma that caused a reactive approach to place a character education program in our school. Rather, teachers and parents are authentically motivated to nurture character in children. There are countless ideas about how character can be taught but unfortunately, no one hundred percent, foolproof way of teaching character. Our staff has invested an average of 15.4 years of teaching experience and 11.7 years in Lewisville Independent School District. Our goal is to academically prepare our young students and help them internalize moral values as well as build their character. To make this successful takes very different pedagogical strategies and more than just an academic focus. We believe in order to foster intrinsic motivation for academics and good character it is necessary to involve our school, the district, home, and community of our students.
It’s Personal
At Flower Mound Elementary we believe it is our responsibility to educate the whole child. We want to give every child the tools they need to succeed in life. This includes giving our students a quality character education along with an innovative academic education to provide our students every opportunity for success. We have over 435 students at Flower Mound Elementary in grades pre-K through fifth. We are a public school in the Lewisville Independent School District, where “all means all.” We serve special education and general education students as well as gifted students. Our school is 34% Asian, African American, Hispanic, Island-Pacific, or two or more, and 66% White. Of those 7% are Gifted, 5% are English Language Learners, 19% are free and reduced lunch, 21% are at risk, 25% are served by special education, and 8% have a 504 plan. We have 4 students in early childhood education, 15 in pre-K, 91 in kindergarten, 89 in first grade, 73 in second grade, 67 in third grade and 96 in fourth grade.
Our character education program focuses on self-improvement and always becoming a better version of ourselves with lessons, self-reflections, and parent education to connect home and school. Our character education programs have evolved over many years following a campuswide book study on The Essential 55 and The Excellent 11 by Ron Clark (2003/2019, 2004). Our goal was to have a proactive approach and to understand the pillars of Character Counts! We then utilized shared ideas in the classrooms to continue to build character in our students using a small group approach. Strategically planned throughout the school year, these small groups included a student or two from each grade level, where open discussions, books, and outlined lessons were used followed by a focus trait per month, while fluidly connecting all character traits. For example, we would use a trade picture book like Have You Filled a Bucket Today by Carol McCloud (2006/2016). We would begin with small group mentor discussions and move into a full campus positive attitude and leadership assembly. The assemblies are schoolwide meetings where we discussed a specific character trait for that month as well as celebrated students over the past week that were caught by other students showing that character trait. We also recognized teachers who were role models for others. At Flower Mound Elementary we embrace that we can always do things better. We celebrate our progress, but we keep a growth mindset to continuously improve.
Character Education in Practice
As a staff, we found that we used positive words when praising students, but the vocabulary was not consistent. One way we saw that we could improve was to create a common terminology regarding the character traits we prioritize. Rather than saying “that was a very nice thing to do,” we actively think about the pillar of character shown and state it. One example is: “thank you for showing respect in our classroom by cleaning that up” or “the way you helped your friend shows great citizenship.” This helps students hear the character traits throughout each classroom and our school. We use our morning announcements to educate students by describing behaviors connected to each trait. This also gives the students opportunities to acknowledge one another for demonstrating good character. As part of our focus, when students witness someone showing outstanding character, we encourage them to place the name and what they did on a strip of paper into a basket by the counselor’s office. The faculty collects the strips and makes them into a chain that is used at an end of the year assembly as a visual representation celebrating the use of good character in our school. This is a recommended activity derived from Rachel’s Challenge (https://rachelschallenge.org), a national program to promote positive climates in K-12 schools.
We wanted to take this a step further and see how the students felt we were doing as a whole. Staff developed reflection forms for students to assess how they show each character trait discussed that month. The whole school emphasized trustworthiness in January. For example, students in Mrs. Roberts’ kindergarten class reflected on how they had shown the trait of trustworthiness. Given the sentence stem, “I tell the truth,” they decide if they always do so, always try to do so, but sometimes don’t, or if they only tell the truth sometimes. Then, they drew a picture and wrote about a time when they showed trustworthiness. Mrs. Roberts did not stop at a self-reflection, however. She sent home the assignment with a reflection form attached for parents, where parents could talk with their children about what their parents felt and how the children showed this character trait at home. Parents loved knowing what character target the students were working on, so they could support the same trait at home. Of course, Mrs. Roberts prepared this activity for her kindergarten students, knowing the wording and target were appropriate for her lower elementary students. Character targets for other grade levels are amended accordingly. Understanding the nuances of everything that makes someone trustworthy, caring, respectful, fair or show citizenship, we believe will help students develop their intrinsic motivation to obtain that pillar of character. While this is a piloted activity in our school, we have developed several other forms of reflection to support and evaluate other pillars of character. The goal is to obtain feedback from teachers, students, and parents, to improve our character development program at Flower Mound Elementary.
An Integrative Approach
Aside from a focus pillar each month, our campus added unique programs to help our students become better learners, leaders, and friends which complement raising students with well-rounded character. Restorative practice initiative, them science, technology, engineering, and mathematics team, fourth- and fifth-grade girls science, technology, engineering, and mathematics leadership, Rachel’s Challenge, Circle of Friends, School of Character, Ready Bodies Learning Minds, Cultural Education/Night, LLI Reading Intervention, Fuel Up to Play 60, as well as technology development with cyber safety awareness are some examples. We also have many opportunities for students to get involved with peers by participating in clubs aimed at building well-rounded students.
Our goal is to have other leaders, mentors, teachers, and community members invest in many types of activities so that our students are given an intentional approach to strengthening all aspects of their development. These clubs are options for students to engage in learning of their choice beyond the classroom. Some of our clubs include Student Council, Art Club, Falcon Singers Choir, Chess Club, Falcon Nation, Destination Imagination, Percussion, Green Team, Maker Monday, and Running Club. As with the monthly pillars, we consistently evaluate improvement and progress with parent and community surveys as well as student reflections to ensure successful programs that meet student interests and needs. Mr. Mayfield, fifth-grade teacher, shared, “I appreciate the programs which foster relationships across grade levels like Book Buddies, Adopt an Athlete, and Rachel’s Challenge that allow older students to mentor younger students.”
Each year, as a means to elevate our character development, we arrange campus events, fundraisers, and donation drives. Students and staff, together with parents and other leaders, are given multiple opportunities to participate in these events, helping students gain internal motivation and the willingness to help others. Some ongoing opportunities are student athletes from our feeder schools, visiting local assisted living centers, Kyle’s House, Facing the Challenge, and donations to Pedi Place, The North Texas Food Bank, Boxes for Soldiers, Christian Community Action, Denton Children’s Advocacy Center, and Flower Mound Elementary Little Library.
Throughout the year, we build partnerships with families and the community in our district to engage our students with real-world experiences and adventures. For example, at our annual Veteran’s Day Recognition, First Lieutenant Vehrs stated, “it is always very heartfelt and moving. It makes all the veterans feel appreciated and recognized.” Our students take pride in seeing their parents, grandparents, and neighbors being honored in front of their peers. Some of our partnerships include career-centered visits, Flower Mound Rotary, Flower Mound Summit Club, Presbyterian Hospital Health Night, and Medical City Children’s Hospital.
It’s all Connected
By definition, character education is a way of educating individuals in a way that incorporates values, ethics, emotional maturity, and a sense of civics. At Flower Mound Elementary we believe that by approaching education in this manner we build on what we know. We know we want to educate the whole child. With the array of external influences within the society and the world students are exposed to each day, it takes much more than academic education or physical sports to reach every child. It takes approaching education in a way that builds intrinsic motivation and a core value system with encouragement to be the best students, adults, and leaders. By continuously reflecting and improving on our methods, we intentionally provide opportunities including, but not limited to our classrooms.
Our character leadership cohort meets bimonthly and reviews the reflection data, classroom implementations, and to discuss the next steps or improvements. While piloting character reflections with parents, one parent listed how her child displayed trustworthiness at home and said, “I am so glad you are doing this. I think it is important to teach this.” Such responses to our work encourage us to continue to engage parents in character reflection.
We believe using these methods will give our students not only the best academic possibilities but also will help develop lifelong practices leading toward healthy and well-balanced civic-minded adults and will positively address the social and emotional issues of children.
We help them grow and build skills to cope with challenges in their lives. We teach critical socioemotional skills for resolving conflicts, managing emotions, behavior and learning empathy. At Flower Mound Elementary we teach the whole child.
