Textbooks? Not yet—We Must Teach Character First!
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Andrea's problem- everything. From the moment she entered my room, she decided she hated me, my class, anything I was teaching, all the students and life in general. I would greet the students as they entered and she would sarcastically say to me, “Mum hum, hey girl” (among other things). I could put the students in groups for an activity, and she would open a magazine and start reading and talking loudly about whatever it was that interested her. She filed her nails, combed her hair, yelled out, “This **** is boring. Ugh!” and so many other lovely things that run a class climate directly into the ground. Well, I immediately thought, “This girl is over the top. I have to get her out of this room. If not, she is going to ruin everything I have worked so hard to develop with my other students.”
My problem- the school administrators did not agree. They promptly let me know that they already knew `how she was' and there was nothing they could do about it. The other teacher on my team could not handle her, and so I would have to do the best I could with what I had. Well, 'what I had' was a student who yelled obscenities in the middle of my lessons, called me names openly in front of other students, and refused to complete any amount of work assigned to her by me or anyone else in the school.
Initially, I thought I could quit and just try another path to a successful career. Instead, I decided to at least try some TCF (Teach Character First) planning with Andrea.
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About the Book
Looking for a better way? Well here it is! This book is so practical it is scary. Really! Whether you are a first year teacher, seasoned teacher, an administrator or still in college trying to decide if the education route is for you, this book works. The author gives clearly detailed ideas guiding you through the first days and weeks of school. She provides tables and charts to further articulate ideas about how to make the concepts work. She does not leave anything out. The title may seem a bit unorthodox, but there is a reason for that. Textbooks and information alone do not engage our children in the classroom or in life. When we teach them how to develop their individual and collective sense of character first, they become engaged in learning and never look back. This book is a must read for any organization on the cutting edge of education today.