CHARACTER EDUCATION AT BIRCHWOOD
Character education has been thriving at Birchwood School for a decade when we first created our motto, “We respect ourselves. We respect others, and we respect our school.” When the district gathered all its stakeholders and chose district-wide core values in 2018, our Birchwood staff and students were immediately on board. The H.E.A.R.T. core values (HONESTY, EMPATHY, ACCEPTANCE, RESPECT, and TRUST) chosen were perfectly in synch with our vision of what qualities we wanted to instill in our students. We always stress we need the performance value of EFFORT to keep our H.E.A.R.T. working!
HOW CHARACTER EDUCATION HELPS US GROW:
Birchwood could be a model of a perfectly diverse school: 44% White, 39% Hispanic, 10% Asian, 4% Black, and 3% other or mixed races. Realizing that acceptance and caring are needed for this diverse school to function effectively and for our children to develop into contributing citizens in our changing world, we have embedded the H.E.A.R.T. core values into our school culture and our way of life. The result: our students have improved academically, our behavioral stats are better, and students, staff, and parents agree we are much happier.
SOME PRACTICES THAT KEEP OUR H.E.A.R.T. TICKING
| Morning Meetings | Mindful Minute |
| Kindness Ninjas | Kind H.E.A.R.T.s |
| Kindness Bandwagon | Bucket Filling |
| Green Team Environmental Efforts | Student Council Service-Learning Drives for Community Needs |
| Mini-Olympics | Safety Patrol Caring Work |
| Literacy Library | St. Jude Hospital math initiative |
| Project Kind Drive | Writing letters to the Troops |
| Art Drawings for Senior Citizens | Disabilities Awareness |
| Municipal Alliance’s “Prevention is Key” | Reflection Sheets on Values |
| Family Nights | Courtyard Clean-up & Rock Lining |
National Awards for Character Education from Character.org:
Kindness Ninjas – 2019 Promising Practice
an all-school initiative that promotes a caring committee by motivating students and parents to perform random acts of kindness.
Kind HEARTs – 2020 Promising Practice
a school-wide initiative that promotes a caring community by intentionally giving students the tools and the time to be reflective, empathetic and giving.