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Check out Mindful (Mon)days on Teacher's Guild.  not totally original, but if we could get all schools to work towards this...what a transformation. A US Congressman even wrote a book to this end, "Mindful Nation" (maybe?)

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So many community members are dying to get into our schools. In my experience, if you just ask them, you'll be surprised how many people say yes. - Erin

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Have fun events that bring the school community members together around character education

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A4: Intense listening skill builders.  Going out in the wild and just listening.  I recall a native American saying:   We were given two ears and one mouth for a reason.  Stop talking, start listening

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A4:  Invite Parents to join in some activities, have Ss present what they are doing, share info, successes, have open forums for discussions. An ice cream night once we had, was fun

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Have a rally about a different character trait every month. Invite everyone(community) to help out and contribute to it.

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A4: Tyler from Transcend What if we discuss (with our stakeholders) the connections between strong character and the goals we have for our children?  

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A4: Tyler from Transcend What if we discuss (with our stakeholders) the connections between strong character and the goals we have for our children?  

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A community book club. Our faculty and parents are currently reading Madeline Levine's Teach Your Children Well together.

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A4: We have to initiate the discussions. I believe all change begins with open and honest discussions about why important, how it impacts all stakeholders and input from everyone on how to go about addressing the issue.

Jigsaw groups with someone from each stakeholder group.

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cognitive neuroscience on the impact of character on academic achievement, emotional health, stress levels, post-graduation outcomes, and possible correlations with future income

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We have a student led Community Forum which has taken many forms but empowers student voice

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A3:  Student EdCamp!   Yes...check out Science Leadership Academy in Philly or Northfield Community School in New Jersey (Kevin Jarett and Glenn Robbins).  

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A3:  Student EdCamp!   Yes...check out Science Leadership Academy in Philly or Northfield Community School in New Jersey (Kevin Jarett and Glenn Robbins).  

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I am currently participating in a faculty summer camp teaching deep listening and inclusivity. Our final day of this week will be designing how we hope to teach the students the same skills from our camp experience.

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A3: Tyler from Transcend: What if we regularly and publicly celebrate demonstrations of good character?

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A3: Tyler from Transcend: What if we regularly and publicly celebrate demonstrations of good character?

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Making local change for a global reach is a pretty great way to build a school-wide community. http://www.me.org/

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A3: Student EdCamp?

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A3: My school has smaller HRm groups for mentoring, we do activities with our small grps, then as a school. Have speakers, diverse topics and bkgds come in and talk

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Advisory + community / townhall meetings

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I actually think design thinking itself builds character. I use http://dschool.stanford.edu/use-our-methods/ and https://dschool.stanford.edu/groups/k12/wiki/332ff/Curriculum_Home_Page.html the most.
- Erin

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A2: What if we teach reflective listening? Tyler from Transcend

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A2: What if we teach reflective listening? Tyler from Transcend

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A2: I teach 7 - 12, have them work together, teach each other, projects, mentoring, tutoring.  Having discussions in class, showing value of diff opinions

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I taught a weeklong emotional intelligence bootcamp w/ 10 Palo Alto Unified students (Ages 13-18); the lessons included conflict mgmt, deep listening, open-ended questions for connection, giving/receiving feedback

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I work with elementary students. Lots of group games outside. Building on empathy, curiosity, and persistence.

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Group designed labs. Teaches collaboration and listening, persistence, etc.

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A2. Collaborating - helping each other. All ages

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A2: Having the older students work with the students in the elementary grades. I do this all the time. They love it and it really helps to shape them because they are role models and they take that seriously.

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Doing the right thing and following through is one my kids need to work on. - Erin

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A2: Tyler from Transcend: 







What if we regularly measure the frequency and extent to which students, in groups, are demonstrating empathy for the ideas, opinions, values, and feelings of other group members?

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A2: Tyler from Transcend: 







What if we regularly measure the frequency and extent to which students, in groups, are demonstrating empathy for the ideas, opinions, values, and feelings of other group members?

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Concern for other....
need to work on persistence

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students working together, sharing stories/backgrounds,  learning more about each other helps build empathy, support, respect for other perspectives. Value differences

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A1. purpose, commitment and persistence

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A1: This possess curiosity. I would love for them to have more empathy.

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A2:I use the Touchstones Discussion Program for character  building.  A modified form of socratic seminar that has programs from 3--12 also do work in prisons and with Palestine and Haiti...many places

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A2:I use the Touchstones Discussion Program for character  building.  A modified form of socratic seminar that has programs from 3--12 also do work in prisons and with Palestine and Haiti...many places

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The Touchstones Discussion Project

A Revolution in Modern Education

Touchstones has been called the democratization of education because our discussion-based programs develop thinking and collaboration at the highest levels for all students, regardless of their economic or educational background. For 30 years, Touchstones' primary focus has been to address gaps in education in K-12 schools by teaching educators and students to use structured dialogue to activate and enliven their thinking and build cooperation and leadership.

The Touchstones® Discussion Project: Proven Socio-Emotional and Cognitive Development. To read more, click here.

Breaking News in Touchstones

Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) is a process in which learners/children and adults/students learn to apply knowledge and interpersonal skills to manage their own emotions, allowing them to set goals and foster better interpersonal communication and relationships.

During the Spring of 2018, Phil Holcombe, of the PlusUs design firm, offered a course entitled "Design for Understanding". Aron Moloney, Chenxing Zhou, and Sangyup Kim, 3 students in Phil's class, created infographics to exemplify how Touchstones is Social and Emotional Learning.

Whether you are teaching at the elementary, middle, or high school level, at home or in a classroom, social and emotional awareness is vital to creating a positive learning environment, for students of all ages. These graphics display just how closely Touchstones skills align with Social and Emotional Learning goals.
Head to our K-12 page to watch a video and better understand how the Touchstones method works to cultivate SEL skills.
Touchstones® announces it has been awarded a grant for veterans' programs from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Division of Education Programs: Dialogues on the Experience of War. Starting September 2017, Touchstones will initiate three discussion groups as part of its program titled, "Completing the Odyssey, A Journey Home." Groups will be led by and will include military veterans in the greater Annapolis-Washington-Baltimore metropolitan area.

In this nine-session program, veterans will explore parallels between modern service and ancient conflicts. Participants will apply their leadership skills, connect with fellow veterans, and use discussion to reflect upon their service as members of our larger community. They will also complete personal narrative projects about their experiences in service for the Veteran's History Project, a permanent collection housed at the Library of Congress. Public registration will open in early August 2017 for programs beginning in mid-September. Touchstones is proud to include and serve veterans in its outreach. Please note that any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed on this web page do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Developing essential skills For the 21st Century

Since 1984, Touchstones has trained and supported more than 20,000 teachers and placed more than 380,000 instructional volumes into classrooms in every state in the U.S. and in 38 countries. Our instructional volumes are translated into six languages. More than five million people have benefited from Touchstones' innovative approach to education. Nearly three decades ahead of the development of the Common Core State Standards, Touchstones was providing proven curricula that develop and strengthen essential 21st century skills. Touchstones programs effectively address greater than 95% of the Common Core State Standards and other national standards for English Language Arts (ELA) and the new standards for collaborative discussion in Mathematics and Science.

BUILDING COGNITIVE AND SOCIO-BEHAVIORAL SKILLS WITH COLLABORATIVE DISCOURSE

In Touchstones programs, all participants learn to use texts, personal experiences, and the discussion process itself as tools (touchstones) to foster the communication and cognitive skills most needed in our highly fluid and interconnected world. Unlike traditional or Socratic Seminar environments that often remain teacher-mediated or directed, in Touchstones classes students develop leadership skills and assume responsibility for inclusive outcomes in a truly student-centered learning environment. Students gain self-knowledge and the ability to work with others to address complex problems, as well as issues in human dynamics. Because all people need these skills for success in the 21st century, Touchstones reaches well beyond the K-12 classroom. Dozens of colleges and universities now include Touchstones in their course offerings. Executive leaders, too, discover the immediate benefits of learning to explore and solve problems through collaborative discourse. As a social venture non-profit, Touchstones' work also extends to programming with prisoners, senior citizens, and others who wish to build greater connection and community as life-long learners.

Through the Touchstones Discussion Project's innovative and revolutionary approach to teaching, school culture is transformed, teachers and students' thinking and interactions are enlivened, self-confidence and efficacy are strengthened, and incidences of bullying and feelings of isolation are reduced. People become meaningfully connected as they learn to be active agents in their own education, seek and appreciate diverse perspectives, and share power and responsibility.

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The Touchstones Discussion Project A Revolution in Modern Education Touchstones has been called the democratization of education because our discussion-based programs develop thinking and collaboration at the highest levels for all students, regardless of their economic or educational background.

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Dream big: what ideas can you dream up for the world to build character?

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What should schools/campuses do on a larger level to help build character?

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What activities/lessons help build character?

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Character needs to be embedded in everything not an 'add on'.

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You have to build relationships before anything else can happen!