Teaching Good Character
An important part of being a great teacher is raising kind humans. This means that you have to reinforce positive character traits in your students such as honesty, integrity, and teamwork, at an early age. This can cause a lot of pressure, but teaching good character doesn’t have to be stressful! Here are three ways you can teach good character in your classroom.
Lead by example
Your students are paying closer attention to your actions than you think! That’s why it’s important to make a conscious effort to model kind ways to talk and interact with other students and teaching staff.
Some simple ways to do this are by smiling at everyone in the hallways, congratulating students when they do something well, and offering others a helping hand. If students see you demonstrating good character, they will be more likely to exercise good character traits as well!
Develop classroom character activities
One activity that you can do to teach good character and build positive morale is having your class create thoughtful word bubbles. Tape a blank piece of paper to each student’s desk and have everyone rotate around the classroom and write one nice thing about each of their classmates.
After everyone has fully rotated, collect the sheets of paper and put each student’s compliments into a word bubble generator. Print out a copy for each student, giving them their own fun, unique assortment of compliments.
Remember, for someone to build good character, they need to be secure in themselves!
Reward good behavior
Another way to teach good behavior is by using positive reinforcement. Positive reinforcement is a psychological term that means introducing a reward for a certain behavior. One way to utilize positive reinforcement in the classroom is by giving students stickers when they are behaving well in class. This is something you can get creative with. Challenge yourself to make a reward system that’s unique to yourself and your classroom!
Teaching students how to become strong, independent people with good character is every teacher’s goal. Start by leading by example as well as implementing fun, creative activities such as rewarding good behavior and compliment word bubbles to create a more positive classroom learning environment.
Need ideas for teaching great character this year? Check out our character lesson plans and our CHARACTER COUNTS! Datebooks for elementary and middle/high school.
