Overview
The ITC program for positive classroom management is based upon Life Skills and Lifelong Guidelines. It is our goal through this program to help to develop responsible citizens for the future. By focusing on the students who have proven to be responsible citizens, the rest of the students are encouraged to follow their example. In the classroom, students start with a "clean slate" every two weeks. At the end of that cycle they are given the opportunity to apply for a special badge, providing that they have received no notations during that two-week cycle. This badge entitles them to special privileges both in and out of the classroom, thus becoming a symbol of honor among our students. Notations can only be received by students who have made the choice to not follow the life skill guidelines established in the classroom. Students who have earned the right to wear the badges must first complete the application process. When they have completed the two-week cycle, they are given an application that they must have signed by key faculty at the school. All special area teachers, teacher assistants, administration, media specialists, and bus drivers that the student comes in contact with must sign this application signifying that the applicant has proven to be a responsible citizen in their presence as well. Once the application is completed, within a one-week time frame, the applicant receives the badge and with it all of the privileges that accompany it. In addition to earning the badge, each additional two-week cycle that they complete without negative marks earns them a star on their badge, therefore creating various levels of badges. The only way that a student can loose their badge is to receive three negative marks in one week, two negative marks in one day, or if they are disciplined by an administrator at any time for any reason. This program has proven to be extremely successful in classroom'a across America. Innovative Teaching Concepts, and teachers who have implemented this approach to classroom management, believe that by focusing on good choices and responsible citizenship, those students who need extra "encouragement" will benefit. Nearly all students respond to positive reinforcement and this is one way to not only reward good choices, but to model good citizenship for those who need the extra boost. |
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Powerful curriculum all planned and ready to go - meaningful, useful, relevant, with opportunities to be creative and emotional |
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Prerequisites are in place - teacher and students are in relationship with each other, as are students with students |
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Parameters are clear at all times - general and specific ground rules, procedures, and directions |
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Participation is expected and nurtured - students are actively engaged and on task; direct instruction provides for student involvement |
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Positive attitude - teacher models a positive mental attitude towards students and classroom activities |
Guidelines
for Creating Absence of Threat
In the Classroom
- Insist that students leave the language and attitudes of television at the door; create an atmosphere in the classroom where thoughtful people work together
- Make the students feel honored as important and worthwhile people to know and to be in relationship with
- Do group building activities regularly – not just during the first week of school
- Don’t assume students come with social skills and lifeskills; teach them
- Through consistent offering of meaningful curriculum to the students, develop the expectation that, if your offering it, it is do-able and, best of all, worthy of their time and careful consideration
Lifelong Guidelines
~see our classroom poster~ Active Listening: Teach your students to listen and to be able not only to understand, but also to ask thoughtful questions in return. Listening involves much more that just hearing.
No Put-downs: Create a place where students can sort out what is true about themselves, without negative or hurtful language, where they can learn how to handle put-downs and prevent them from controlling their lives.
Personal Best: Students should be given guidelines to evaluate their own performance, to strive from within themselves to excel.
Be Trustworthy: Teachers must develop a sense of trust within the class by consistent modeling and expecting and insisting upon trustworthiness in others.
Be Truthful: Telling the truth is a fundamental cornerstone of the classroom. Truthfulness leads to an absence of threat when we know that the people around us are truthful.
| Character Education Links |
| Active Citizenship: Empowering America's Youth |
| A curriculum unit developed by California teacher John Minkler, Ph. D., which teaches the rights, responsibilities and civic values of U.S. citizenship, and includes a group project in which students research and develop a solution for a real problem in their community. This site has information on civic values, an excellent presentation on service learning activities for middle and high school students, a free service learning guide and many links to other sites related to service learning. |
| American Promise |
| This web site is based on common themes that make us Americans as presented in a series of related episodes on Public Television dealing with freedom, responsibility and participation. The series, along with activities and lessons, has been used in more than 20,000 classrooms nationwide to provide lessons in government, civics, and history. Sponsored by Farmers Insurance, it includes sample lesson plans for government, U.S. History, Social Studies, Civics, Economics, Law, World History, and Service Learning. |
| Center for the 4th and 5th Rs (Respect and Responsibility) | |||||||||||||
Directed by Thomas Lickona, this site
disseminates complimentary articles on character education; sponsors an annual summer
institute in character education; published a Fourth and Fifth Rs newsletter; and offers a
browsing library of character education materials.
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| Character Counts! Coalition |
| Character Counts! is a nationwide initiative to support nonpartisan character education. The coalition has established six pillars of good character: trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship. This web site includes a description of the CHARACTER COUNTS! Coalition, training opportunities, a youth character awards program, upcoming events, and curriculum suggestions. |
| Character Education Institute |
| Based in San Antonio, Texas, this site is designed to help children develop into responsible citizens by serving as the lead foundation devoted to the development, distribution, and implementation of the Character Education Curriculum in elementary, middle, and high schools. |
| Character Education Partnership |
| "The Character Education Partnership (CEP) is a nonpartisan coalition of organizations and individuals dedicated to developing moral character and civic virtue in our nation's youth as one means of creating a more compassionate and responsible society." The CEP has grown to be an umbrella organization for national character education efforts. It provides a National Resource Center that distributes information, provides school support for school boards, teachers and administrators, publishes publications and announces annual meetings. |
| Character Education Resources |
| Character Education Resources is a non-profit organization that promotes Character and Citizenship Education in New Hampshire and beyond. The simple but useful site links the computer to a variety of character education sites. This site provides information about upcoming conferences for educators, school administrators, and others interested in Character Education. It also provides a venue for the sale of character education books |
| Character Education Web Pages |
| This site is edited by Dr. Edward A. Wynne of the University of Illinois at Chicago, a prominent leader in the field of character education. It provides current readings, comments from the editor, a for-character archive, and links to related sources. |
| Children of the World |
| Children of the World contains eight units, each with four lessons promoting a Judeo-Christian approach to character education in the public schools. This is a project of the Campus Crusade for Christ. The curriculum is designed to help kindergarten and elementary teachers and parents bring character development to children at the earliest ages. The units focus on the following character traits: compassion, forgiveness, integrity, respect, responsibility, initiative, cooperation, and perseverance. Teachers can choose from three tracks: literature, history, and science. Sample lessons are available. |
| CIVNET |
| CIVNET is an international gateway to information on civic education providing a vast library of civics teaching resources, discourse on civil society, information on organizations and programs, and links to other web sites. This web site Includes book-length documents, articles, and lesson plans contributed by educators, authors, organizations, and a discussion group. It also includes specific links to: |
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| Communitarian Network |
| The Communitarian Network is a coalition of individuals and organizations who have "come together to shore up the moral, social, and political environment." It is nonsectarian, nonpartisan and nationwide. Communitarians believe "that individual liberties depend upon the bolstering of the foundations of civil society: our families, schools, and neighborhoods." The web site includes information about the Network, and includes the group's newsletter, publication catalogue, various statements and an elaborate set of links to other Communitarian groups. |
| Constitutional Rights Foundation |
| The Constitutional Rights Foundation is a non-profit, community organization dedicated "to educating America's young people about the importance of participation in a democratic society." The Constitutional Rights Foundation publishes a wide variety of information for teachers including civic participation materials such as active citizenship programs; elementary education programs on the Bill of Rights, Law, and Citizenship in US History and California History; and many school lessons and curricula related to government, mock trials, US History and World History. Much of the material is appropriate for grades kindergarten to 12, with some specially designed for children with special needs. |
| Freedom Forum |
| The Freedom Forum is devoted to describing and preserving First Amendment rights. It offers detailed information on the First Amendment, and on a range of related topics including the free press, free speech, religion, technology, journalism, and education. |
| Giraffe Project |
| This is a literature project devoted to spreading the word about people who "stick their necks out for the common good." Its Standing Tall Curriculum teaches children how to stick their own necks out through a three-part plan instruction: "Hear the Story" in which children read and are told stories about more than 800 real-life heroes; "Tell the Story" in which children find out about and speak or write about the real-life heroes in their local communities, and "Be the Story" in which children put into practice their own plans for being helpful. |
| Institute for Global Ethics |
| Based in Camden, Maine, this organization has curriculum materials available for middle schools, high schools, and much more. |
| Project Wisdom |
| This for-profit organization provides schools with one-minute messages containing "universal wisdom from around the globe and across the ages". The messages are read over the school public address system or in-house television system during daily announcements. |
| Studies in Moral Development and Education |
| This site at the University of Illinois, at Chicago is edited by Dr. Larry Nucci. Its goal is to connect educators who are interested in the "developmental/constructivist" conception of moral development and education. The site contains excellent articles and other resources. |
| Utah Department of Education: Character Education Partnership |
| Utah was one of the first states funded under the U.S. Department of Education's Character Education Partnership Grants. This web site describes the history of the project, its progress over two years, curriculum plans, evaluation of progress thus far, lesson plans, the theory and history of character education, and links to other related sites. |
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