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We hope you've had a great time throughout this course.

We tried to answer three basic questions.

Why teach character, how to teach character,

and how to talk about character growth.

At a high level, we know the role

that character strengths and skills play in our lives.

There are traditions thousands of years old along with more than 50

years of empirical evidence and observations

that speak to the power of character.

Let's return

back to where we started, with Dominic Randolph from Riverdale Country School

on how school leaders can get started on the teaching of character.

Talk to us a little bit about the ways in which Riverdale has a approached the

character growth card and, and what you see as the, the future of the growth card.

>> Right.

So we've used the, the same character growth card that Kip has used, the same

behavior, the same strengths pretty much since its inception.

In different ways here.

Over the years we've done a few different things.

I do think there's been a real strength in having kids self evaluate.

Those behav, you know, rate themselves on those behaviors.

And then get, we've had teachers rate the kids on those behaviors.

And then what we've not done is we've not, lets say, amassed those

scores or shared those scores.

What we've tended to do is look at disjuncts between teacher

evaluation and student evaluation and had

conversations regarding that with individual students.

So it sort of remained at the

classroom level, rather than at the institutional level.

>> There are so many instances where kids have

these strengths you know, in, in abundance where we struggle.

>> Right.

>> And, and vice versa.

>> Yeah.

>> And I think that, the power of that is.

It starts to, it starts to get us to, to view kids and other adults.

>> Yeah.

>> Less as problems to be solved. >> Right.

>> And more as puzzles. >> Yeah.

>> Like why there's a sense of wonder. Like what was

>> Yeah. >> behind that child's action?

What was, you know, you know, why were they frustrated?

Why didn't they get over their frustration?

Why, you know, what would it take for them to work independently?

>> Right. >> With focus?

To me, that's the, the, the, the real

beauty of this work lies in that direction.

>> What are your concerns, worries about the work?

>> One of my worries would be that

people lose the forest from the, for the trees.

>> Mm-hm.

>> And that if the words become buzzwords or

are used to, to, to, to sort of penalize kids.

>> Mm.

I think that, you know, it just runs counter to this

sort of authentic strength-based approach that, that, that we're looking to have.

>> Right.

>> Recognizing that these behaviors and these strengths you know, aren't static.

>> Right. >> Aren't fixed.

If you, if, if,

>> Yeah. >> If there's a shared journey

this is going to be, there, there's remarkable power.

In this, if the adult attitude is we're better at this

>> Yeah. >> than you as kids.

I think that, you know, that will lead to a resentment.

>> Right.

>> Around the work and I think that would be unfortunate.

That's so, I mean, it like so resonates, I mean, I, I, you

know, so if you hear things about

discussions regarding formative verses summative assessment and

those are sort of buzzwords, but I do think the

formative model of sort of, we're all in an apprenticeship, right?

We're all in apprenticeship in life and if we view it that

way and, and, and frame it that way, this could have a really

interesting, disruptive effect on the way that I think, unfortunately, schools and

universities have become about, like, sort of, this is the grade you are.

And so you become, you get told you're

the C student. You become the C student.

>> Mm-hm.

>> And I think that sort of dis-, that determination,

that sort of deterministic part of that is really, really troubling.

And I'm hoping that this can, yeah I agree exactly

like if this could be, play a role to shift all

of that, and the way that we think about human

nature and human development that would be such a cool thing.

>> If you had your way here,

>> Right. >> what would you

want to change?

So I'd loved to have like, this sort of portfolio

that is a rich compilation that you are as an architect yourself as a student.

That you could construct as a student.

Actually I'd like to see teachers do the same type of

thing, and what I'd want them to show over a period of

years is that delta in a variety of different ways so it's

not just their delta in a standardized test score, but it's their,

the how they've managed to change their

approach to math, but also how they've managed

to develop some counter, character strength and

have shown a delta in the character strength.

That would be something that has a

richer notion of transformation in the, the trajectory

of transformation for a kid over a

number of years and could show that transformation.

That would be something that I would want.

And I then want the actual colleges to actually

say, hey, you know?

We're really fascinated by the voyage or the,

the journey that someone's made and shown that growth.

So I think there are these transformative >> Yeah.

>> moments that you can look back and say,

at that moment I could have gone in this direction.

>> Right.

>> Or this direction.

And I went hear and, it's like the whole Robert Frost, way leads on to way.

>> Right. >> Yeah

>> And all these good things happened. >> Yeah.

Yeah. And I think it's easy.

I, I actually think if,

if lots of people think about a

transformational moment in your life, right, something

that you sort of transformed who you are or made you into someone different.

I think a lot of it's tied to some of these strengths.

>> Yeah.

>> Playing out in that moment. >> Yeah.

>> Like I sometimes think of transformational moments in my life.

And you start thinking about these big things, right?

You know, you sort of marriage, or you

know, some moment that you graduate from a college.

And I actually think the, the sort of

micro transformational moments, the sort of day-to-day thing, but that

actually has a really significant way in that you shifted something.

By being able to identify that.

Because sometimes those things just happen and it's like a really minor thing.

But it actually has a pretty significant effect on the way that you do things.

And I, you know, I'm not big on sports analogies.

But I do think there is a lot to be learned from, you know, when you take in

kids of lots of different sort of, ability levels, and you work on a team with them.

And you're just trying to find that right lever

to get that kid to just develop a bit.

You know, try and improve a bit.

There, there individual sort of, performance.

And I think that's a really, we've got to become more like

that in the way that we work in schools, in the way

that we work with each other as adults.

I think we've gotta become more like those sort of coaches a bit.

So.

>> The more that great educators like Dominic and the

others we met throughout this course, start teaching character and

working in collaboration with researchers, the more we'll learn about

what works with real kids in all types of classrooms.

That wraps up the videos for this course.

We hope it's just a start of a conversation about

the teaching of character and the building of positive institutions.

Thank you so much for joining us.

And let me take an additional moment to thank my

partners, teachers and friends who made all of this possible.

[MUSIC].

But seriously, this was like a growth mind study.

This was like that.

This is how we came up with the idea for that, we.

Are we still going to do that for this mook?

>> That's why I'm filming this, Dave. >> Wow.

Cool.

Ready to Teach Character

Teaching Character and Creating Positive Classrooms

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