Building Character

Description of Building Character

This book explores the key elements of the character building program at Academy of the Pacific Rim (APR)—clear and consistent systems of rewards, discipline, routines, and communication that yield a culture of high expectations, where teachers can focus on teaching, and students can focus on learning while they cultivate character and their critical thinking skills.

APR was founded in 1997. Since that time, APR students have consistently outperformed their peers in all Boston’s non-exam middle and high schools on Massachusetts’ high-stakes MCAS exam. Teachers at APR attribute much of the school’s dramatic success to its focus on building and sustaining a positive school culture through character education.

Beginning in the fall of 2000, a team of six APR teachers and administrators spent a year working with the Project for School Innovation to explore and document all of the pieces that go into the successful character building program at APR. The lessons that came out of this process are recorded in Building Character, which is the fourth title in PSI’s By Teachers for Teachers series of how-to books and teacher-led workshops.

Major Topics Covered
Character Development, Study Skills, Struggling Students

Table of Contents for Building Character

1. Introduction: The Case for Character Education

2. Celebrating Character: Recognizing the Positive
The ingredients and recipes to create effective student recognition systems, modeled on the practices of Gambatte, Citizen of the Week, and Class Scores Competition at APR.

3. Character in Consequences: Counteracting the Negative
The ingredients and recipes to create effective student discipline systems, modeled on the Discipline Process, use of Breaks and Demerits, and Homeroom Consequences at APR.

4. Communicating Character: One Language, One Voice
The ingredients and recipes to create effective systems for communicating norms of good behavior, modeled on the use of Visible Reminders and Family Meetings at APR.

5. Cultivating Character: Routines and Responsibilities
The ingredients and recipes to regularly promote reflection and responsibility, modeled on Hansei Journals, Current Events, and Cleaning at APR.

6. Appendix

Praise for Building Character Books, Videos and Workshops

This workshop was a sharing of ideas around what works & doesn’t work in character education. The time flew by.
Participant
Building Character workshop

Go! This needs to become a part of our faculty discussions.
Participant
Building Character workshop

The best part about this workshop was hearing from other teachers about what’s working and the issues they struggle with. Especially as a first year teacher, hearing what has worked for others is great.
Participant
Building Character workshop

PSI Can Help You Implement These Strategies:

Customized Workshops
Our staff can come to your school to help you implement these school-tested character-building strategies.

School Visits
We can coordinate a visit to the Academy of the Pacific Rim, so you can see their successful strategies first hand.

Planning Tools
PSI can help you create a personalized step-by-step strategy for implementing successful character-building practices in your school.

Workshop/Presentation Roundup

The Building Character team has led presentations at:

• National Association of Secondary School Principals, Orlando, FL, February 2004

…and customized workshops for:

• Epiphany School, Dorchester, MA
• Mather Elementary School, Dorchester, MA
• Frederick Douglass Charter School, Roslindale, MA
• Neighborhood House Charter School, Dorchester, MA
• Roxbury Preparatory Charter School
• Abby Kelley Foster Charter School, Worcester, MA
• Boston Evening Academy, Boston, MA
• City on a Hill Public Charter High School, Boston MA