UPDATE INCLUDES: 

SPOTLIGHT ON CHARACTER

• Mindful Mondays At Union Academy 

OPPORTUNITIES & AWARDS 

• Character Education Professional Development Opportunities
• National Service Learning Conference 
• Webinar Opportunities
• Character Education: Promising Practice
• Laws of Life Essay Contest 
• Grants

INSTRUCTIONAL TOOLS & RESOURCES  

• Crosswalk of Instructional Practices
• 11 Principles of Character Revised Guidebook 
• Professional Learning Opportunity: How to integrate Character Education in ELA & Social Studies by learning about the Holocaust 
• On-Demand Professional Learning 

• Office of Academic Standards Yearlong Outlook 

Mindful Monday's At Union Academy  Cynthia Mitchell, the Character Coach at Union Academy Charter School, was reintroduced to CBS correspondent Steve Hartman, who does a segment called "On the Road" and "Kindness 101". Wanting to use his short videos intentionally, she shared these small vignettes about character traits and the goodness and kindness of people (and sometimes animals) all over the country with the staff.   Each Monday, all K-12 classrooms at Union Academy Charter School in Monroe show the "Kindness 101" videos as part of a slide show with reflection questions first thing in the morning to start the week off positively. They call these "UA Mindful Mondays". Each Monday morning's short amount of time makes a big difference, positively influencing students while starting the week off on a positive note. This is a way to show students how good character plays out in real-life situations, with real people, all over the country.

Would You Like To Learn More About Character Education?      Are you eager to create a culture of character in your classroom, school, and district using the 11 Principles of Character Education? NCDPI has professional learning opportunities to assist your school or district with your character education journey. If your school or district is interested in hosting a Character Education Professional Learning Opportunity, please take a moment to complete this survey to help our NCDPI team understand your needs.   Please contact Justyn Burgess, the state coordinator for character education, if you have questions.

Webinar: Integrating “Relationship Skills” in Your Classroom

April 17, 2024, 4-5 pm EST 

REGISTER

Join our 2023-2024 webinar series dedicated to integrating Character Education and Social Emotional Learning (SEL) into your social studies curriculum. The fourth webinar in our series will focus on Relationship Skills. In this session, discover effective strategies to help your students cultivate strong interpersonal connections, communication skills, and conflict resolution.

Webinar: Leading With Character

Wednesday, May 8, 2024 @ 3:30 pm - 4:00 pm EDT

REGISTER 

Do you want to change your school's climate and culture? Are you seeking strategies to enhance your character development efforts? Join NCDPI and Person Early College for Innovation and Leadership to learn how to use the 11 Principles of Effective Character Education to evaluate your school, district, and/or community climate.

Character Education: Promising Practice

Alamo Heights School District, located in San Antonio (TX), shares how their 2023 Promising Practice encourages senior citizens in their community to be an important part of their character initiative. Watch The Video Now.  

Does your school have a Promising Practice for Character Education.  You can apply here to submit your Promising Practice. The deadline to submit your Promising Practice is March 22, 2024.

Laws of Life Essay Contest    The Laws of Life essay contest encourages middle school and high school students to reflect and write about a core value that means the most to them – and why.   • The program is available to all students in middle schools and high schools across the world. • All essay writers will be recognized by Character.org. They will also recognize the most compelling essays and feature them on their website and social media channels.   Submissions are due Thursday, March 21, 2024 and can be submitted through this online form.

Grant Opportunities 

Crosswalk of Instructional Practices  The Literacy Instruction Standards and Content Area Practices Resource aims to provide teachers of all content areas and character education with an understanding of how current domains of instructional practice found within the content areas align with the LIS. Since the alignment between the LIS and instructional practices in various content areas exists, all educators, regardless of their discipline, participate in literacy instruction.    Teachers should reference this document when planning content area and literacy instruction to ensure students are fully meeting the demands of the NCSCOS.

11 Principles Guidebook

Character.org has released the newly-revised version of the 11 Principles Framework for Schools: A Guide to Cultivating a Culture of Character. The Guidebook explains each principle and key indicators, along with recent school-based examples. 

Learn More or Purchase.

Professional Learning Opportunity: How to integrate Character Education in English Language Arts & Social Studies by learning about the Holocaust    Looking for ways to implement both Character Education and the Gizella Abramson Holocaust Education Act in ELA and Social Studies classrooms?    Learning about the Holocaust allows students to build character and develop skills like empathy and social awareness. In an effort to foster these skills, NCDPI partnered with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum to create standards-based resources for implementation in secondary grades. These resources are based on using the texts Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank and Night by Elie Wiesel. The goal of the resources is for teachers to be able to embed both character education and Holocaust education seamlessly into the core curriculum.    Contact Thomas.Daugherty@dpi.nc.gov and Kelly.Schultz@dpi.nc.gov to set up a professional learning experience or to learn more about these resources and how they can be used in your classrooms.

Office of Academic Standards Yearlong Outlook 

The Office of Academic Standards is excited to share a yearlong look of upcoming webinars, resources, and leaders’ meetings.  This link will stay live and will be updated periodically.  

2023-2024 On-Demand Professional Learning 

Integrate Character Education & Social-Emotional Learning in Your Classroom

Watch these recorded presentations to help you enhance your classroom experience and empower your students to become more empathetic, responsible, and caring citizens. These webinars will help you discover practical strategies to help your students regulate emotions, set goals, and demonstrate self-discipline.

Self Management: Discover practical strategies to help your students regulate emotions, set goals, and demonstrate self-discipline. 

Password: Selfmanagement1 (Case Sensitive)

Responsible Decision-Making:  Discover strategies to empower your students to think critically, make ethical choices, and contribute positively to society.

Password: Responsible1  (Case Sensitive)

Self and Social Awareness:  Discover strategies to help your students develop a deep understanding of themselves and others, fostering empathy, emotional intelligence, and positive social interactions 

Password: Character1  (Case Sensitive)

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