Character Project: Responsible

After a slow acceptance rate the first week, I am finding that there are more students willing to participate (or at least promise to) when I personally speak to them.  Another piece I have noticed is that people are keeping me on my toes by asking me what I am doing (in regards to the challenge) each day.  That works well for me as a segue into what they are doing.  A nice side effect is the extra trust gained by being open and honest with everyone.  The fact that I am consciously doing this with them gives students a little bigger push to participate.  I am sure this is the product of acting with them rather than on them.

Take a moment to stop and think about how often we talk at people rather than roll up our sleeves and lead by example.  When has there been more success?  When has the culture been better?

Individuals usually want to be part of a collective whole rather than in something alone.  Join in and powerful changes can happen.

Why Character?

Aristotle said it best: “Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.”

Here is the announcement read to the school for the second week of the challenge:

Good morning, happy Monday.

I am here to talk about the next trait we are going to work on in Seekonk High School’s Character Challenge, but first I wanted to tell you some highlights from last week’s topic of respect.

 

·         Every day of the week, I got up early to do extra chores around the house out of respect for my wife’s busy schedule.

·         A certain teacher made an effort to greet everyone with a smile each morning…no matter what mood they were in.

·         I had a student thank me for helping them with a situation they had.

·         Multiple students walked around rather than through conversations and waited politely before interrupting.

 

I know it doesn’t always seem cool to be respectful, but look around…a lot of people are doing it…are you?  Why not?  How do you want to be treated? Think about it. 

Now we want to build on the momentum by practicing the next trait.  This week we are highlighting the idea of being Responsible.

Being Responsible means:

 

·         Doing what you say you will do

·         Taking care of things that belong to you

·         Working hard and doing your best at things like…that’s right…school

·         Being where you are supposed to be when you are supposed to be there

 

Think about this…How does being responsible make you feel about yourself? 

Everyone likes it when they finish that project on time, get a good grade, or when everything goes well because of their hard work and planning.

Take a minute and think…what are your responsibilities?  Are you fulfilling them?

Set some goals for yourself, be responsible, and achieve them.  You can’t beat the feeling of success!

Ok.  Remember that these traits are cumulative.  You can’t just forget about last week.  That is why this is a challenge…unless of course you still aren’t doing this because you don’t want to improve your surroundings.

So, while being respectful…take some responsibility for something this week.  Don’t go easy…pick something that you really need to be responsible for and make a difference.  It will feel good when you finish because you will have made a difference…I promise.

Continue to tell me what you are doing, what you are seeing, and how it is going.

Good luck and see you in the halls…