Children of Character

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Tyson Tigers....Children of Character

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Click here to read how Tyson Tigers...Children of Character began

Click here to see a list of the Tyson Elementary Character Words and Definitions

Click here for suggestions on how to implement Character Education in your school

Educating children in today's society is a greater challenge than ever before. As educators we are constantly facing issues such as: our mobile society, peer pressure, the media and the change in the make-up of our families. It is imperative that we form a partnership with our parents to help our young people develop positive social behaviors, such as: self-discipline, responsibility, good judgment, and the ability to get along with others. In order to ensure our children's success, we must do more than just fill their minds with knowledge. Everyday we have opportunities to encourage and influence the lives of children, their parents, those we work with and the members of our families. If the citizens of our nation would believe in and practice good character, it would counteract the ills of our nation.

It is our goal at John Tyson Elementary to instill in our students the importance of being children of good character. Our staff has developed a program that involves the entire school and enlists the support of our parents. We call our program, "Tyson Tigers...Children of Character." Each month a character trait is presented and incorporated into the curriculum, daily activities and discipline. A parent made large, beautiful banners for each character trait that the students have learned. These hang from the ceiling in our lunchroom/auditorium. She also creates a front hall bulletin board that portrays the character trait of the month. The banners and bulletin board serve as constant reminders to the staff, children and parents to practice the character traits. A list of character traits and their definitions are sent home with the children. We encourage the parents to reinforce and teach them by example.

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The questions arise..."Should the public schools be teaching 'values' to our children? Doesn't this responsibility rest in the home? What if our values are different?" We believe we need to take on this challenge as educators because we are living in a different society today. What children see and hear on TV, at the movies and on videos is very different than what was allowed even 15 or 20 years ago. Some parents fear that the values taught at school may differ from what they believe. Therefore, they do not want someone else teaching their children "values". Let me explain the difference between "values" and "character". Values are what I believe and would like you to believe too, because I think I'm right. Character is who I am!!! We teach character, not values.

Each year we learn more ways to integrate teaching character throughout the curriculum and discipline of our school. We decided to do one word a month because with young children we needed to emphasize and teach the definition so the children would truly understand and internalize its meaning. We settled on 30 words and definitions. We teach one word a month and rotate them every three years. Our character program is now our "school culture" and supports everything we do.

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We believe that the character trait program our staff has developed at John Tyson Elementary is without a doubt the best thing that we have ever done. It has had a major impact on student behavior, student work habits and achievement. It has become the icing on the cake of the good things that we were already doing. It has become the glue that gives stability and lays the foundation for everything we do. If we focus only on the academics, we will fall short of our goal of producing good, productive citizens.

Good character is that quality which makes one dependable whether being watched or not, which makes one truthful when it is to one's advantage to be a little less than truthful, which makes one courageous when faced with great obstacles, which endows one with the firmness of wise self-discipline.
-- Arthur S. Adams