Resources

In this section, you'll find current information about grants, lesson ideas, workshops, events, and Web sites that promote responsible, thoughtful, and respectful behavior in young people. 

Grants 

» Pay It Forward Mini-Grants - The goal of these grants is to encourage youth to help others. They are designed to fund one-time-only service-oriented projects identified by youth. Deadline: January 15, April 15, and October 15 of every year.

» Grants Reward Young Stars of Social Change - Dosomething.org's BR!CK Award celebrates and spotlights young stars of social change, honoring them for what they do. The maximum award is $25,000. Deadline is April 12, 2008.

» Barron Prize for Young Heroes - Young leaders making a difference for people and our planet. Deadline is April 30, 2008.

» Grants for Teaching Tolerance - The Southern Poverty Law Center offers grants of $500 to $2500 to preK-12 classroom teachers for projects designed to reduce prejudice among youth, improve intergroup relations in schools, and/or support educator professional development in these areas. Deadline: Proposals accepted year-round. 

Lesson Ideas

» The Art of Me - Students create a work of art that expresses the most important things they want others to know about them.

» Portrait of a Hero - K-2 lesson from Edsitement.

» Race: The Power of an Illusion - Explore race and ethnic diversity through a variety of interactive tools. Web site from PBS.

» Build A Classroom Community and Bully-Free Zone - Teaching ideas for grades 3-7. From the "It's My Life" Web site from PBS.

» Weekly Writing Prompts - K-12 character-building materials. Foundations for Life and Character Counts.

» Honor Your School and Community Heroes - Students create an event or award to honor a local hero. Education World.

» Goal Setting - Encourage students to set goals they can work toward throughout the year. Legacy Project.

» Connecting Kids and Soldiers - Invite students to write to our troops abroad.

» Teamwork and Respect - Games for first week of school to teach how to function as a group. CJ Breland.

» Katrina Curriculum Package - Free materials to help high school students understand social impact of the hurricane.

Workshops

» Native American Students  - Free teacher workshops.

Articles & Books & Calendar

» Lolita in the Classroom - Rather than ignoring them, be prepared to respond to specific situations as they arise—a child dressing inappropriately or talking about sexual behavior. NEA Today 2008.

» Getting Students To Complete Their Work  - High school teacher encourages students to "want" to do their work.

» Connecting Character to Conduct - Book from ASCD 2000.

»  Good Can Be As Communicable As Evil - "There is a chance for contagions of the right stuff." NPR.

» What Does Ready Mean? - Employers complain about kids' work ethic or "soft" skills. (Education Week)

» Creating Safe Schools Is Everyone’s Business - Three-quarters of all school shootings have resulted from repeated bullying & harassment. (PTA)

» Life Skills Taught by Teacher-Poet  - Character & caring.

» A Lost Art: Instilling Respect - Kids are not afraid of parents, let alone teachers.

» Open-Ended Questions: Stretching Children's Academic and Social Learning - Adapted excerpt from The Power of Our Words: Teacher Language That Helps Children Learn. Northeast Foundation for Children, Inc. (2007).

» How To: Approach Moral Issues in the Classroom - An article from Edutopia (2007).

» The Nitty-Gritty: Classroom and Behavior Management Resource - A book from NEA Professional Library (2007).

» Reduce Racial Tensions - Steps your school can take. "Six Lessons from Jena." Article from the Southern Poverty Law Center.

» Help Your Teens Stop Swearing - An article on three ways to encourage your teens to clean up their acts. By Judy Gruen.

» Raising Kids Who Won't Swear - An article on raising "G-rated kids in an R-rated society." By Judy Gruen.

» 2008 Hidden Curriculum - Unstated social rules & idiomatic expressions.

Book Online (Free)

» Connecting Character to Conduct - Read this middle school's blueprint for helping students do the right things. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (2000)

Research, Reports, & Fact Sheets

» Fighting the Bully Battle - Fact sheets about bullying and being  bullied. From National School Safety Center (2006).

» Character Education, ELL, & Math: What Works Clearinghouse Reports - Seven new intervention reports highlight available research on Character Education, English Language Learning, and Elementary School Math. From What Works Clearinghouse (WWC).» Control Yourself - You'll do better in school.

» Focus on Self- Regulation - Self-regulation has a stronger association with academic achievement than IQ or entry-level reading or math skills. (Metro State College)

» Creative Play Makes for Kids in Control - Creative play develop executive function. Poor executive function is associated with high dropout rates
School uses Tools of the Mind. (NPR)

» Young People in Community Change ( PDF, 32 pp.) - Core principles for engaging young people, helping them contribute where they live, work, and play, and make a difference. The Forum for Youth Investment (July 2007).

» Can a Person Be Ethical and Successful? - The results of the latest survey on ethics of American youth (2006).

» Cooperative Learning  - Cooperative learning creates a supportive atmosphere of achievement.

» Race and Schools: The Need for Action - A brief report by researcher Gary Orfield (Civil Rights Project at UCLA), in which he links his research on race to recommendations for closing achievement gaps.

» Aggravating Circumstances: A Status Report on Rudeness in America - Most Americans say rudeness and disrespect are a serious problem in society and that the situation is getting worse. Read selected findings from a national survey on rudeness in America. From Public Agenda (2002).

» K-12 School-Based Service-Learning - Phi Delta Kappan (May 2000)

»  Social Awareness - Learning to stand in someone else's shoes. Text and video.(Harvard Graduate School of Education)

» Where We Learn - How students feel about their experience at school is just as important as the academic dimension of the school day. (For specific information on trust and academic achievement, see Findings: Trust, Respect, and Ethos of Caring.) NSBA, 2006

Videos & Movies

» I Am an Educator - See Mary, school nurse, Clyde, English teacher, and Steve, special ed teacher, talk about caring and students. (NEA)

» Resolving Conflict  - Providing services on campus. Edutopia.

» Lessons from the Heart - Kids learning to treat each other well. From Edutopia.

Web Sites

» Art of Negotiating with Kids - Strategies, in English & Spanish, from PBS.

» Teaching Young Children to Resist Bias - Building self-identity & skills for social interaction in early childhood.

» Bullies: What Is Bullying? - An overview of the topic of bullying. From the "It's My Life" Web site from PBS.

» School Crisis Guide - Ideas for help and healing. From NEA's Health Information Network.

» Meet the Greens - Making informed choices about green living.

» Native American Students Workshops - Free Digital Teacher Workshops for teachers of Native American students, produced by the Teacher-to-Teacher Initiative in collaboration with Office of Indian Education.

» ZoomGreen - Helping kids find practical, green ways to make a difference. For grades 3-5 and 6-8. From PBS.

» Don't Laugh at Me - Free materials (with registration) for materials that inspire students & educators to transform their classrooms & schools into "Ridicule Free Zones." From Operation Respect.

» NetSmartz - Web safety information for children. From the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

» NS Teens - Web site with comics and videos on teens' social networking on the Web. 

» "O" Ambassadors - Education program unites young people across the globe.

» Positive Coaching Alliance - Organization promoting positive, character-building experiences for young athletes. (Non-profit based at Stanford University)

» Speak Up! - Resources for responding to everyday bigotry. A project from the Southern Poverty Law Center.

» The Responsive Classroom - Building respectful learning communities. From the Northeast Foundation for Children.

» School Counseling Programs - Positive changes in behavior and learning.

» Race: The Power of an Illusion - Facts and perceptions about race.

» Character Rocks for Kids – Character education songs for teachers to use with/teach their elementary school students. Materials are for sale, but you and your students can listen to these upbeat character-building songs online.

» Life's Top 100 People - The Life magazine list of the 100 people who made the Millenium, ranked in order of importance.

» Pacer Center's Kids Against Bullying - Organization whose mission is to enhance the quality of life of children and young adults with disabilities and their families.

» Random Acts of Kindness Foundation – This Web site devoted to helping educators encourage kindness in the learning environment.

» Northeast Foundation for Children: The Responsive Classroom - This nonprofit educational organization, dedicated to the improvement of K-8 teaching, focuses on schools as respectful learning communities.

» Remember, Honor, & Teach  - Students lay wreaths in Arlington Cemetery.

» Service Learning Resources - Links to onlline resources.

» Learn Quebec - Learning materials, educational technology, and e-learning resources.

• Who Am I? 
   Moral education unit.
• Chacun apporte sa couleur au monde
   (Each one brings its color to the world) Student-made diversity animation.

Events

» No Name-Calling Week  - January 21-25, 2008 - No Name-Calling Week is an annual week of educational activities aimed at ending name-calling of all kinds and providing schools with the tools and inspiration to launch an ongoing dialogue about ways to eliminate bullying in their communities.

» National Nutrition Month - Month of March - The American Dietetic Association provides timely and objective food and nutrition information. Some materials are available in Spanish.

» Asian Pacific American Month Resources - Resources to help celebrate Asian Pacific American Month during the month of May:   
     Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (Past, Present, Future)    
     Lesson Ideas for K-12 Students 
     API Book Lists for K-12 Students

» National Good Neighbor Day - Fourth Sunday in September - Learn ways to help your community.

» Character Counts Week - Third full week in October - The biggest nationwide celebration of character. Sign up and connect with others across the nation. Registration required.

Quotes

Character is doing the right thing when nobody's looking. There are too many people who think that the only thing that's right is to get by, and the only thing that's wrong is to get caught. 
~ J.C. Watts

I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.
~ Maya Angelou

We make a living based on what we get, and we make a life based on what we give.
~ Winston Churchill 

Jobs Require Interpersonal Skills
While most of today's jobs do not require great intelligence, they do require greater frustration tolerance, personal discipline, organization, management, and interpersonal skills than were required two decades and more ago. These are precisely the skills that many of the young people who are staying in school today, as opposed to two decades ago, lack.
~ James P. Comer, psychiatrist (School Power, 1980)  

Dress and Manners
Raw talent will get you only so far. Cultivated talent polished with appropriate attire and nice manners will take you anywhere in the world you want to go. Package yourself appropriately and "the sky's the limit," as they say.   
~ Diana Pemberton-Sikes, an author and personal image consultant
      (From NEA's Tomorrow's Teachers article Dress to Impress)

I am a good role model for my students. This includes modeling the ability to laugh about my mistakes.
~ Diana Loomans & Karen Kohlberg, The Laughing Classroom  (1993)