Obedience

As parents and teachers know, obedience in our children and students means quickly and cheerfully carrying out the wise direction we give them.  With Honorable Character, these directions are clearly and consistently defined and reinforced, providing our children and students with boundaries they know and understand well. When they choose…

“A Person’s a Person No Matter How Small”

How do we respect each other?  With the value we acknowledge in each person, unrelated to accomplishments, family background, abilities, beauty, or even size.  Respect is for all members of the human family.  By example we teach. Because Honorable Character is integrated into every part of the campus culture, opportunities…

“To thine own self be true…”

“To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man,” (William Shakespeare, Hamlet).  Shakespeare’s verse is a direction from a father to his son, to be true to one’s own conscience, and as sure as the…

At this time of harvest, take stock of the fruit of your labors.  Has Honorable Character been growing in your classroom?  We have Master Teachers whose wisdom and experience can assist you with working through implementation challenges – or just share stories of how Honorable Character can be hidden in…

We all know that bad habits stick like glue. But so do good habits. Honorable Character is an investment in your students that will take root and grow with them. Putting things neatly away in a specific place and keeping desks orderly will become a life-long habit. Good character marks…

The starter pistol has been fired and our students are on a race with many laps before the checkered flag will be waved.  Initiative races in students and teachers as we strive to demonstrate skill and speed throughout the year. The first lap closes with the Honorable Character Conduct Card…

Potato Story

To illustrate the weight of carrying a grudge, a teacher is said to have told her students to bring a clear plastic bag and a sack of potatoes to school. For every person or offense they had refused to forgive in their life’s experience, they were to choose a potato,…

Forgiveness

The word forgiveness conjures images of wrongdoing, weakness and victimhood. If anyone is talking about forgiveness, something bad has happened, and all too often it is bullying. A great deal of attention has been paid to bullying lately, and rightly so. Some states have even mandated reporting standards to track…

What Forgiveness Taught Me

The year was 1969. Cammy, a young middle school student, was waiting outside her school’s gymnasium for basketball practice. She was shooting hoops, marveling that she had made the team. While she envisioned one of those glory moments of a last-minute, game-saving shot, Cammy didn’t notice a group of girls…

On a scorching day last August, I trekked to a crowded WalMart. I sought refuge at a self-checkout, only to discover that each scan of my merchandise was being carefully observed by a quiet girl of about 11 years and very modest means. While I found this behavior rather odd,…