How Teachers Teach Character

• In Event: 31.091 - Roundtable Session 10
  In Roundtable Session: 31.091-18 - Moral Development and Education SIG Roundtable on Teachers and Teacher Education

Abstract

Character has attracted renewed attention from practitioners and researchers. However, despite growing interest, academics know little about how teachers approach teaching character in their classrooms. In this study, we investigate character instruction by analyzing the lesson plans of 156 urban, K-12 teachers. Analyses revealed that teachers were most likely to focus their character instruction on achievement strengths, that they discussed the value-added of character instruction in terms of individual, as opposed to group, benefits, and finally, that they taught character as part of discrete lessons focused on building student understanding. This descriptive study acts as a first step towards understanding how individual teachers select and define the purpose of character strengths as well as plan instruction.

Authors

• Claire Robertson-Kraft, University of Pennsylvania

• Kimberly Austin, Relay Graduate School of Education