“I believe that a values vacuum exists in American society, and that teachers must not be casual or apologetic about confronting it. We must make an explicit commitment to formal character education. We must integrate character education into the fabric of the curriculum and into extracurricular activities. We must train teachers in character education — both pre-service and in-service. And we must consciously set about creating a moral climate within our schools.”

— Bob Chase, President, National Education Association

Each week, we will be focusing on one particular character trait. The morning announcements will include a brief definition and summary of the trait of the week. The quote at the bottom of “Jaguar Days,” the weekly calendar, will be related to the week's character trait.

Listed below are several good Web sites with character education resources and lesson plans. A Google search will yield numerous other resources, as well. There is a book in the office that includes additional material related to each specific character trait.

“We in the business world don't want young people coming into our employment and into our communities who are brilliant, but dishonest; who have great intellectual knowledge, but don't really care about others; who have highly creative minds, but are irresponsible. All of us in business and the entire adult community need to do our part in helping build young people of high character. There isn't a more critical issue in education today.”

— Sanford N. McDonnell, Chairman emeritus of the former McDonnell Douglas Corporation

Character Education Web sites

www.goodcharacter.com

www.character.org

www.atozteacherstuff.com (click on themes)

www.dpi.state.nc.us/nccep/lp/lp99ab.html (This is a detailed lesson plan for creating a Character Education traits literary portfolio.