Agenda (tentative)

Sunday, June 24

2:15-2:45pm     Registration

3:00-5:00pm      What’s Holding Up Your School: The Pillars of Character Education

Tim Leet is the Coordinator for Ethics and Character at his home school of Columbus Academy in Columbus, Ohio.  He is also the Executive Director of Heart of Character and the author of Ethics and Identity, a textbook for high-school age students.  In his work over the last decade as a character educator, Tim stresses that our character is deeply tied to our identity and inseparable from our self concept.  In schools that do character education well, prosocial values like honesty, fairness, and compassion are taken in by students and integrated into their newly emerging identities.  The key question for every character educator, therefore, becomes, What are the best social and psychological conditions that nurture this process?  In this session participants will:
  • discover a powerful body of research that describes those optimum conditions.
  • learn the language of autonomy, belonging, and competence (ABC) - the pillars of character education.
  • clearly distinguish between character and compliance.
  • learn why “getting the culture right” is vital for schools and classrooms that want to educate for character.
  • be provided with clear, actionable steps teachers can take to optimize their classrooms for character development.

5:15-6:15pm      Dinner (included)

6:30-7:45pm      Building a Conference Community

7:45-8:00pm      The Road to the Heart of Character

Monday, June 25

7:30-8:30am      Breakfast (included)

8:30-10:15am    The Unadvertised Ingredients in SEL Success

David Streight has worked in education for 35 years.  As a classroom teacher, an administrator, a school psychologist, and executive director of the Center for Spiritual and Ethical Education, David’s work has always been driven by high-quality scientific research that seeks to identify the very best educational practices for fostering learning and kindness in kids.  He has shared his findings in presentations and on the web, in journals and in books, most notably in Breaking Into the Heart of Character (2013) and Structure and Guts of Character Education (2015).  During this session, David will address fundamental questions around social-emotional learning and show how a school’s commitment to developing the whole child can be enhanced through a thoughtfully designed SEL program.  In this session participants will:
  • discover the powerful research that shows how SEL programs work.
  • clear up frequent misunderstandings about what SEL is and what it is not.
  • learn why SEL programs work.
  • explore the similarities and differences between character education and SEL.
  • identify the essential - and often overlooked - ingredients in successful SEL programs.

10:15-10:30am      Break

10:30am-12:00pm  One School’s Story: Transforming Culture Through Student Autonomy and Relationships

Michelle Scandurro and Mary Bond each have over 20 years of experience as educators in schools.  Together, they led an independent school in New Orleans as Head and Assistant Head through a remarkable transformation of culture.  Stepping into a culture they describe as negative, disruptive, and occasionally hostile, Michelle and Mary began their four-year transformation project not by clamping down on students but by opening themselves up to them.  Through carefully crafting changes that granted students greater voice and investing heavily in supportive, collaborative relationships, Michelle and Mary guided their community through a truly inspiring turnaround. In this session participants will:
  • discover the transformative power of student voice and high-quality relationships.
  • gather road-tested recommendations to take back to their home schools.
  • hear a first-hand account of the need for patience and determination when doing culture work.
  • learn how lessons from SMES can be scaled down and deployed in every classroom.
  • imagine highly effective schools of the future, in which every element is built upon autonomy and belonging.

12:00-1:00pm    Lunch (included)

1:00-1:50pm      Special Interest Breakout Sessions (select one)

  • Continued Discussion from One School's Story
  • Restorative Practice
  • Conscious Discipline
  • Service Learning

1:50-2:20pm     Break

2:20-2:30pm     Energizer

2:30-4:00pm     Educating and Empowering Classroom Teachers

Scott Zimmerman has worked in independent schools for 20 years and currently serves as the Director of Social and Emotional Learning at Saint Andrews School in Austin, Texas.  For the last three years, Scott has helped teachers harness the power of social-emotional learning to improve their classroom cultures and deepen the character development of their students.  His passion for the work is unmistakable, and his wealth of practical experience makes him a great resource for guidance in this all-important work. In this session participants will:
  • learn to define SEL in a way that empowers teachers.
  • discover the variety of effective approaches to SEL.
  • hear how one school has harnessed advisory time to promote SEL.
  • learn strategies for working with colleagues who are resistant to SEL.
  • discuss how classroom culture can either supercharge or stifle any SEL curriculum.

4:00 – 4:30      Day One Wrap Up

5:00pm           Dinner on your own

**Evening Group Activity (Optional)

Tuesday, June 26

 7:30 – 8:30      Breakfast (included)

 8:30 – 12:00    Building Positive Relationships: The True Heart of Character Education

Dr. Tom Lickona is a developmental psychologist specializing in the character development of children and adolescents.  His work with teachers, schools, parents, and communities has spanned a half-century. As comfortable with scholarly research (see Moral Development and Behavior, edited by Tom and published in 1976) as he is delivering practical advice to parents (see Raising Good Children, published in 1983), Tom helped launch the modern character education movement in schools with Educating for Character, which was published in 1991.  This landmark book in character education layed out a 12-point “comprehensive approach” that showed how every phase of classroom and school life could be used as deliberate opportunities for character development.  Tom has continued his tireless advocacy for kids through his Center for the 4th and 5th Rs and in several subsequent books: Character Matters (2004), Smart & Good High Schools: Integrating Excellence and Ethics (2005), and most recently, How to Raise Kind Kids: And Get Respect, Gratitude, and a Happier Family in the Bargain (2018).  For the past four years, Tom’s Center for the 4th and 5th Rs has been collaborating with England’s University of Leeds on the Narnian Virtues project, using C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia as vehicle for fostering core virtues in middle school students and devising new ways to engage parents as full partners in the character education of their children.  Through Tom’s day with us, participants will:

  • examine what makes for truly transformative relationships.
  • learn what the latest research reveals about children’s moral development.
  • take away 6 evidence-based character-development practices that work in the family and the school.
  • consider why whole-child character education and quality relationships involve the pursuit of excellence as well as the pursuit of ethical behaviors.
  • learn how exemplary teachers and schools simultaneously develop moral and performance character.
  • consider the Smart & Good view of social-emotional skills as critically important but only one of 8 “strengths of character” needed for a flourishing life.
  • examine best practices for developing the Professional Ethical Learning Community.
  • take away new strategies for partnering with parents.

12:00-1:00pm     Lunch (included)

 1:00-3:00pm      Building Positive Relationships: The True Heart of Character Education with Dr. Tom Lickona (part 2)

 3:00-3:30pm      Informal Discussion & Book Signing

 3:30-3:50pm      Break

 3:50-5:00pm      Discussion and Takeaways

Dinner on your own

Wednesday, June 27

 7:30-8:30am       Breakfast (included)

 8:30-10:30am     Next Steps for Self and School

Anne Cass recently retired after more than four decades as a teacher and administrator in both public and independent schools. She credits her consistent focus on building meaningful relationships with colleagues, supervisors, students,and parents for the positive impact she had on eight school cultures over her long career.  Michelle Bostian has over 25 years experience as a school counselor and professional coach. She leads the Character and Ethics team at Greensboro Day School where she works as Head of Counseling and Middle School Dean of Students. Michelle believes social emotional skills are the bedrock to successful goal achievement for children and adults and a healthy school culture overall.  In this closing session, Anne and Michelle will work with participants to:
  • reflect on their own school culture’s strengths and challenges.
  • explore their own school’s needs in light of the ABC’s of character education.
  • isolate a specific goal that results from their work and over the last four days.
  • create a specific first step for their return to school using new knowledge, a clear goal, and the help of colleagues at the institute.
  • understand some helpful “keys to success” as they transfer that step into action.

10:30-11:00am  Institute Closing

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