Second Step E-Newsletter
November 2010
Character Building Day by Day
by Anne D. Mather and Louise B. Weldon
Reading Level: Adult
Quick, lively, efficient: Busy elementary school teachers hoping to include character education in their daily classroom activities will appreciate the well-planned model of Character Building Day by Day. Designed specifically for the classroom (but appropriate for youth groups and the home as well), the book focuses on 36 themes, such as compassion, being a good sport, perseverance, problem solving, responsibility, trustworthiness, respect for others. Each theme includes five short fictional vignettes to be used as a jump-start to discussion. Thirty-six times five equals...180, which happens, not coincidentally, to be the average number of school days, at least in the United States. Most teachers can easily insert a five-minute discussion about one of these themes into every day of the school year.
Each theme is briefly defined and followed by the vignettes. Each vignette includes a “Talk About It” section with two or three questions about the story. For example, after listening to “The Squishy Banana” in the Cooperation section, about two brothers fighting over one banana, students are asked: “Is it easier or harder to cooperate with a good friend or sibling than it is with someone you don’t know as well? Why?” The class can keep the discussion to just a few minutes or stretch it out as long as needed.
Authors Anne Mather and Louise Weldon are experienced teachers, workshop presenters, and teacher trainers. They know that flexibility is important to teachers, and the book is organized accordingly. The themes are arranged alphabetically, so it’s easy to find a particular one that seems to be relevant on a given day. If members of the class are struggling with an issue—gossip, for example, or poor attitudes—the teacher might want to pick up the Kindness or Cheerfulness stories. Alternatively, teachers can plan the short story discussions into their curricula ahead of time: During a social studies unit on civil rights, for example, the class can start each day with read-alouds in the Fairness, Courage, Acceptance and Tolerance, or Integrity sections. During election week, students can discuss the stories in Citizenship.
Notes in the introduction provide suggestions to teachers, leaders, and parents on how best to use the book. The authors mention that many of the stories are resolved with the protagonist doing what looks like “the right thing” in order to clearly demonstrate the character traits. However, they point out that real life isn’t always so clear or easy, and that there are often multiple “right” answers to problems, which students should be encouraged to brainstorm. There are also more confusing issues, such as when it doesn’t seem possible to be both fair and kind, or when being trustworthy with one person means being dishonest with another. Teachers can take these discussions wherever they need to go, based on the students' maturity.
Additional Ways to Use Character Building Day by Day
Educators using the SECOND STEP or STEPS TO RESPECT programs will recognize many similar themes in Character Building Day by Day. Placing the list of topics side-by-side with the SECOND STEP and STEPS TO RESPECT Scope and Sequences will reveal myriad parallels and intertwining themes to strengthen students’ skill-building muscles. A simple way to reinforce SECOND STEP lessons about apologizing would be to open the class with a story from the Forgiveness section of Character Building. Lessons on dealing with an accusation can be paired with the stories in the Peacefulness theme. Teachers can get more creative, encouraging students to use free-writing or role plays, or even to come up with their own vignettes based on the issues most important to them. Ultimately, this book provides a starting point for hundreds of thoughtful, meaningful conversations throughout the year.
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