You have probably heard of character education; it's all over the education blogs and news and you can find countless websites about it. Character education includes a broad range of concepts, such as positive school culture, moral education, just communities, caring school communities, social-emotional learning, positive youth development, civic education, and service learning. It has become an important part of education throughout, not just the US, but the world. Places like Singapore and England, for instance, have put it in their national curriculum. After all, it makes sense to teach these values in a school setting, especially when they empower students to be themselves and work better. No student can learn in an environment that doesn't allow him or her to feel safe, loved and self-fulfilled, and this is why having core values, common to all, is so critical.
For us at FISW, character education is more than just an educational buzzword. While we didn't want to reinvent the wheel, we wanted to design a program that would fit the needs of our students and our community. Instead of simply taking an existing curriculum, we chose the longer path, one that is two years in the making and counting. We even revisited the definition of character education, to make sure it focused on what we thought was important for all the stakeholders at FISW. This blog will lead you through this journey. You will learn how it all started and what LOVE means to our students. You will become more familiar with our House of Respect. You will understand how this is so tightly linked to our mission. So stay tuned.
- Yvan Tabellion, Fifth Grade Teacher