character education

Courage and Initiative

What is Character Education?

Teaching students how to take responsibility for their actions and to treat others with respect.
Showing students that there are specific payoffs in life for doing those things.
Modeling that behavior for students every second that they are with us during the day, and expecting them to do the same.
Creating an atmosphere at school where students can safely practice those behaviors until such behavior becomes the norm.
2007-08 Character Education Traits

Duval County Public Schools Character Education Objectives include:

To significantly decrease in-school and out-of-school suspensions, and incidents of fighting, battery and intimidation among K - 12 students,
To significantly increase school attendance among students K - 12 and participation in extracurricular activities among students in grades 6 - 12.

Learn More about Character Education

Click here to view our 2007-08 Character Traits of the Month Calendar.
Click here to go to our printable Character Education Library lists.
Click here to see our suggested web links.
Click these links to view our Character Education Newsletter and Parenting Tips archives.

Character Education Traits for 2007-08 School Year

Month	Character Trait
August	Responsibility and Attentiveness - Click here to learn more! Responsibility: The quality of having moral, legal or mental accountability. Reliable. Trustworthy. Attentiveness: Heedful; being mindful of another's speech, needs, etc.
September	Citizenship and Cooperation - Click here to learn more! Citizenship: The status of being a member of a community. Cooperation: The action of working for the common benefit.
October	Fairness - Click here to learn more! Fairness: Marked by impartiality and honesty; free from self-interest, prejudice or favoritism.
November	Patriotism - Click here to learn more! Patriotism: Love for or devotion to one's country.
December	Kindness and Caring - Click here to learn more! Kindness: A kind deed; the quality of state of being kind. Caring: To feel interest or concern
January	Courage and Initiative - Click here to learn more! Courage: Mental or moral strength. Initiative: Taking the first step.
February	Respect and Tolerance - Click here to learn more! Respect: Showing regard for the worth of someone or something. Tolerance: Respecting the individual differences, views and beliefs of others.
March	Honesty and Trustworthiness - Click here to learn more! Honesty: Adherance to the facts; fairness and straightforwardness of conduct. Trustworthiness: Worthy of confidence.
April	Self-control Exercising restraint over one's impulses, emotions, desires.
May	Patience and Perseverance Patience: Capacity, habit or fact of bearing pains or trials calmly or without complaint; not hasty or impetuous. Perseverance: Steady persistence in adhering to a course of action, a belief or purpose; steadfastness. Continued pursuit of any enterprise once begun.

Learn More About Character, Kindness, Ethics and More!

The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation
http://www.actsofkindness.org

Do Something
http://www.dosomething.org

Project Wisdom: Helping student make wiser choices.
http://www.projectwisdom.com/

Tolerance.org: Fight hate and promote tolerance.
http://www.tolerance.org

Southern Poverty Law Center: Teaching Tolerance
http://www.splcenter.org/center/tt/teach.jsp

Laws of Life Essay Contest
http://www.lawsoflife.org

Decision Making and Ethics
http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/decision

Character Counts
http://www.charactercounts.org

Character Education Library Lists
Each list features a brief summary of the book, the book reading level, Lexile score (for most books) and character traits central to the story.
Each list is offered as a .pdf file. You will need Acrobat Reader to open it. If you do not have Reader, click here for FREE download of Acrobat Reader.