Character Based Literacy Program

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Character Based Literacy Program
Presented by Bob Michels School Program
Manager/CBL Trainer
Markkula Center for Applied Ethics Santa Clara
University 500 El Camino Real Santa Clara, CA
95053-0633 408.551.7049
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The Character Based Literacy (CBL) Program is
both a

• Character Education Project
• Character Literacy Project
• The object is to
• Promote school practices that positively
  influence the processes by which school pupils
  become good people, good citizens.

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This can be accomplished by

• Making use of effective and efficient methods to
  influence the values, thought processes and
  coping skills of students such that habits and
  choices result in pro-social rather than
  anti-social behavior.

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• This development of character
• is a method rather than a subject
• accomplished through definite and specific parts
  of the school curriculum.
• Utilizes English/Language Arts curriculum since
  literacy is fundamental to all success in school
  and in life for all students.

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• English/Language Arts is a
• natural place to pursue questions of
• Value and character in literature
• Language expression
• Writing and creative processes
• Can continue into any content area--
• history-social science and science curriculum

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CBL is a project that intends to serve students
who

• Have had marginal success in school
• Are at serious risk for school failure and
  antisocial behavior

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What are the outcomes of schooling?

• Knowledge what I know
• Skills what I am able to do
• Character the kind of person I become

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What do we mean by character?

• Sum of my virtues and vices
• Who I am today as a result of all that I have
  become and overcome in my life as well as who I
  will be in the future as a result of what I do
  today

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How is moral life properly influenced in a public
school?

• Formed by two universal moral values forming the
  core of a public, teachable morality (Thomas
  Likona)
• Respect -- worth of someone or something
• Responsibility -- active side of morality

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What is Character Education as we use the term?

• Everything we do in school that influences the
  kind of person that I (or anyone else) becomes
• Not a subject, or an activity, it is the
  curriculum done with people in mind
• It is based on

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What prompted the Character Based Literacy
Program?

• First conceptualized 10-15 years ago by Steve
  Johnson, Santa Clara University, for students in
  the juvenile justice system.
• Changed as a result of the new California
  Reading/Language Arts Standards with
  accountability through evidence.

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Organized in five value themed units
Integrity Requires Wholeness Quarter 5 Summer
Change Requires Effort Quarter 2
Responsibility Requires Action Quarter 1
Courage Requires Moderation Quarter 4
Justice Requires Restraint Quarter 3
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The theme units move students away from

• Anti-social thoughts, values and behaviors and
  into pro-social thoughts, values and behaviors

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Accomplished by

• Engaging students in literature that is
  acceptable for grade level credit
• Engages their imaginations
• Connects them to characters they care about
• Provides opportunities to discuss the value
  context of the literature

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Daily writing in integrated language arts lessons

• Accomplished with the use of the six language
  arts
• Reading
• Writing
• Listening
• Speaking
• Viewing
• Visually representing

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Lessons are rooted in a particular text where
students

• Prepare to read
• Read
• Respond to and react to
• Explore more deeply and then
• Extend to their lives and the world

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Phases of the lessons consist of

• Short activities based on a collection of nearly
  a hundred literacy strategies which have been
  validated by research in the teaching of English
  language arts and found usable by teachers of our
  special populations

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In addition, there are

• Daily lessons that pay attention to particular
  values in the readings
• Teach rational ways of thinking about problems
  and conflicts in the story
• Teach skills for coping with situations such as
  those faced by characters in the days readings

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The program is coordinated and coherent

• Classrooms using program are reading literature
  from a limited list
• Those in the program are teaching the same unit,
  same book and doing the same lessons in a given
  week
• Students lose little if any ground when they move
  from one CBL site to another

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Teacher support is provided through

• Initial training in program methods
• Regular updated session at sites called CBL Next
• Consultations with CBL staff
• Wealth of program materials including daily
  lesson plans in English/language arts and social
  studies available on the program web site

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Web site access

• www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/cblp

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Major funding for the development of the CBL
Program

• Walter S. Johnson Foundation
• Markkula Family Foundation
• Southern California expansion provided by the
  Daniels Fund and the Von Der Ahe Foundation
• Funding for CBL New Solutions provided by Verity
  Corportion, Adeptec Corporation, Affymetrix
  Corporation, Symantec Corporation, Thane Kreiner
  and Cheryl Breetmor

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For further information on the Character Based
Literacy Program
Contact Bob Michels School Program Manager Santa
Clara University Markkula Center for Applied
Ethics 500 El Camino Real Santa Clara, CA
95053-0633 408.554.7874 Rmichels_at_scu.edu