By Teachnet.com Contributor, Michelle Billingsly
I do a lesson on Character Education that the children create from start to finish. I teach fifth grade students and to begin our unit the children have to write what they think the definitions of the words “value” or “character” are, then they must look each one up in the dictionary.
We discuss the words and then the children take what they have learned and write skits, plays, puppet shows, word searches, quizzes, and activities that would get other children involved. They proceed to write lessons for students in Pre-K through 5th grade.
They must make sure that they can answer questions, are prepared to control the other students, and we write a plan of action for what each group will use to teach the lesson. It could be cookies or candy for sharing and fairness to a skit with a disruptive student to teach respect. The children learn about Character Education by preparing to teach others and then they teach the others what they have learned. It is a great experience for all involved (which happens to be a whole school, 800 students in all).
The best lesson is when the students come back and tell me that one class wouldn’t stop talking. Now they know how I feel when they talk!