KIND AND CARING CLASSROOM Presented by Emmanuel Mann Rentoy in Colombo, Sri Lanka on November 19, 2022 Educational and Social Initiatives www.characterconferences.com mannrentoy@gmail.com

2. While we may be producing a
smart, self-assured generation of
young people, today’s kids are
also the most self-centered and
stressed-out on record.

3. Culture of Hate

5. Thrill of Viral Bashing

6. Glorification of the
Vulgar

7. Self-Absorption
Epidemic

8. REALITY CHECK: Teens are now
40 percent lower in empathy levels
than three decades ago, and in the
same period, narcissism has
increased 58 percent.

9. Rise in Cases of Suicide

11. Rise in Cases of
Depression

12. If we really want our children
become caring people we must show
them ways to respond to another’s
concerns, distress, frustrations or
sorrow. It’s our best tactic to keep
their empathy capacities open, and
avoid the infamous Empathy Gap.

13. A great man shows his
greatness by the way he
treats little men.
Thomas Carlyle

14. Research: student achievement
increases when students feel
comfortable in their learning
environment.

15. Gentleness and kindness
will make our homes a
paradise upon earth.
C. A. Bartol

17. A caring classroom is not only
comfortable,
it allows the teacher to spend
more time teaching and less time
handling student conflicts.

18. 18
Strategies to Win
the War

20. 20
THE DAILY FOUR
1. Share good news (with a partner; 1 min
each).
2. Tell about someone or something you’re
grateful for (new partner; 1 min. each).
3. Affirm someone in the class.
4. Make us laugh. (Joke must be clean.)
—Hal Urban, Lessons from the Classroom: 20
Things Good Teachers Do
(www.halurban.com)

21. Comprehensive Character Education
BIG IDEA #1:
A high-quality, comprehensive
approach to character education is
the most effective way to develop
caring classrooms and schools—
and thereby reduce bullying.

23. The 12-point comprehensive approach to
character education. . .
. . . is intentional, deliberately seeking
to positively impact character
development through every phase of
school and classroom life.

24. School Climate Matters
Bullying is strongly related to overall school climate.
Bullying decreases when:
 school climate improves
 students have greater voice and responsibility for
solving problems and making decisions that improve
their school.
—Dr. Maurice Elias, Rutgers University (based on a study of more than 100
schools)

25. What Commercially Available
Bullying Prevention Programs
Work?
Educational Leadership (9/2011):
 A meta-analysis of 44 bullying prevention
programs found that fewer than half (19) were
effective.
 Vreeman & Carrroll analysis (2007):
Classroom curricula alone did not reduce bullying.

26. Programs found to be effective . . .
1. Work to create a school
climate where bullying is
socially unacceptable
2. Enlist the support of the
community
3. Increase supervision of
playground and other areas

27. Programs found to be effective . . .
4. Institute firm sanctions for
bullying
5. Use ongoing messages to
help students recognize
aggression and support and
stick up for victims.

28. 28

29. Olweus Bullying Prevention
Study of 18,000 students, elementary-H.S.
After 2 years of implementation, there was:
 22% reduction in student reports of being
verbally bullied
 23% reduction in reports of being
physically bullied.

30. The challenge:
 How to reduce the nearly 80% of the bullying
that remains even after implementing a state-
of-the-art bullying prevention program such as
Olweus?

31. Answer:
A comprehensive character education
program that not only seeks to suppress the
negative behavior of bullying but also to
promote its psychological opposites:
virtues of respect, cooperation,
and kindness.

32. 32

33. 33
BIG IDEA #2:
Any virtue, and character as a
whole, has 3 parts:
 Knowing (habits of the mind)
 Feeling (habits of the heart)
 Behavior (habits of behavior)

34. 34
Good Character:
You have to . . .
 know it in your head
 feel it in your heart
 show it with your hands.

36. All my life I have been teased.
I love you very much, but I
just couldn’t stand it any more.
—An 8th-grade girl’s suicide note to her
parents

37. Kindness is showing
someone they
matter.
Unknown

38. 3 Secrets of Success
1.Staff involvement
2.Student involvement
3.Parent involvement

39. “How to Make Your School a
School of Character”
 Ch. 11, Character Matters, p. 219
How to get staff involved

40. Create a Touchstone
pp. 220-221

41. Develop a school touchstone or
“way.”
Written by staff and students
together, the touchstone
expresses the school’s core
moral and performance values.

42. THE NORTHRIDGE WAY
At Northridge School, we pursue
excellence in scholarship and character.
We celebrate and honor each other by
being respectful, honest,
kind, and fair.
We give our best inside and
outside the classroom.
This is who we are, even when
no one is watching.

43. THE ROOSEVELT WAY
“There’s a way that students here
are expected to act, and a way
that they expected not to act.”
—High School Counselor

44. Self-Study: Touchstone Implementation
Visibility
The touchstone is displayed in all
classrooms and included in all school
documents.
Academics
Teachers make connections with the
touchstone when teaching their subject
area.

45. Self-Study: Touchstone Implementation
Discipline
Staff refer to the touchstone when
disciplining.
New students
There is a plan for teaching the touchstone
to students who enroll during the school
year.

46. Ongoing Professional Development
 Regular staff sharing of best practices (through
buddy system, faculty and dept. meetings, etc.)
 Staff training in cooperative learning, class
meetings, and other key strategies

60. “Involve Students in Creating a
School of Character”
 Ch. 12, Character Matters, p. 247
How to get students involved

61. 20 Kinds of Class Meetings
 How to Get Kids To Talk in Class Meetings
Educating for Character, T. Lickona,
Ch. 8
61

62. 20 Kinds of Class Meetings
1. Good news meeting
2. Circle whip
3. Appreciation time
4. Compliment time
5. Goal-setting meeting
62

64. 20 Kinds of Class Meetings
6. Rule-setting meeting
7. Rule-evaluating meeting
8. Stage-setting meeting
9. Feedback and evaluation
10. Reflections on learning

65. 20 Kinds of Class Meetings
11. Student presentation
12. Problem-solving meeting
13. Academic issues
14. Classroom improvement meeting
15. Follow-up meeting

66. 66

67. 20 Kinds of Class Meetings
16. Planning meeting
17. Concept meeting
18. Sticky situations
19. Suggestion box/class business box
20. Meeting on meetings

68. Student Voice and Cyberbullying
 Challenge student gov’t: “What can
students, parents, and the school,
working together, do to prevent
cyberbullying?”
 Have schoolwide discussion, with delegates
from each classroom.
 Ask students to take responsibility for a
schoolwide campaign.
 Resource: www.stopcyberbullying.org

69. Get students to take responsibility:
 Counselors create anti-bullying
“intervention teams” at each grade level.
(Team members step in when they see
someone being picked on.)
 Students provide emotional support to
victims.

70. WELCOMING FRESHMEN
 Seniors plan and lead a half-day
welcome for the new freshmen.

71. The smallest act of kindness
is worth more than the
greatest intention.
Kahlil Gibran

72. FRESHMAN TRANSITION PROGRAM
 Older students are assigned as mentors to all
freshmen.
 The school trains the mentors.
 Mentors and their freshmen meet weekly.

73. BUDDY CLASSES
An older class is paired with a younger
class.
The buddy classes get together weekly or
bi-weekly.
The older kids read to their little buddies,
help them with their schoolwork, do a
special project together, and so on.

74. Celebrate
Kindness
Challenge
74

75. 75

76. 76

77. 77

78. 78

79. 79

80. “Build a Strong Home-School
Partnership”
 Ch. 3, Character Matters, p. 60
How to get parents involved

81. Communicate to Parents
1. “Parents are the first and most
important character educators.”
2. “The school’s job is to reinforce
the character virtues being
taught at home.”

82. Expect Parents to Participate

83. Get the Program to the Parents
Let parents know what the
school is doing in character
education—and how they can
help.

84. Parents and Cyber-Bullying
Send home guidelines to help
parents monitor kids’ online
activity.

85. Character Education Homework
 Parent and child, independently,
each make a list:
“Who are 5 of your heroes? Why?”
 Then compare and discuss lists.

88. Component #1 (inner wheel)
The teacher as:
1. caregiver (building bonds)
2. model
3. mentor (moral and spiritual
guide/coach)

89. 89
The Difference a Teacher Makes
“I was a bully before I came to this
school. I used to make little kids cry.
“When I met Mrs. Brown, I changed.
I’m not a bully anymore, because
Mrs. Brown taught me about
character.”
—a 6th-grade boy

90. 90
Handshake at the Door
 “In the second it takes me to shake a
hand, I renew my relationship with
that student.”
 “I can tell in a heartbeat what kind of
a day a kid is having. You can nip
problems in the bud at the door.”

91. 91
Teacher’s Corner
1. In my Teacher’s Corner, I display pictures
of my husband, children, and dog; photos
of classes I taught when I lived in
California; my college diploma; favorite
books; sports I enjoy; and other things
that reflect my interests.

92. 92
Teacher’s Corner
2. During the first few weeks, I meet with
each of my kids in the Teachers Corner
for about 10 minutes. They bring an “All
About Me” book they’ve made. These
conversations have given me a closer
relationship with each child.

93. 93

94. 94
Teacher as Model: Self-Inventory
1. Do I warmly greet each student?
2. Do I seek other opportunities to connect with
each student?
3. Am I well-prepared for class? On time?
4. Do I model patience and courtesy, even
under stress?
5. Do I treat my all students impartially?
6. Do I challenge all of them to do their best
work?

96. 96
Anonymous Compliments
1. Each student draws the name of a classmate.
2. By the week’s end, the student writes an
anonymous compliment about that person on a
strip of paper, shows it to the teacher, and puts
it in the Compliment Box.
3. On Friday, the teacher posts all the
compliments on the bulletin board.

97. PEERS AFFIRMING PEERS
At the end of the day:
 “Who saw kindness today?”
 “Who saw respect?”
 “Who saw determination?”
 “Who saw sharing?”
—Jenna Smith, 3rd-grade teacher

98. Practice Kindness
At the start of the day, all students take out
their Good Deeds Journal and write:
1. A good deed I did yesterday . . .
2. A good deed I will do today . . .
In all subjects, teachers make a connection to
the good deeds theme.

99. Teaching Courtesy
 I teach my kids to greet and thank the cafeteria
workers.
 The cafeteria staff say they always know when my
kids are coming through.
 My students have a very high level of self-respect—
because of the respect they show to other people.
—Molly Angelini, 5th-grade teacher

100. 100

102. 1. Set clear rules.
2. Teach how to recognize bullying.
3. Teach how to report bullying.
4. Teach how to respond to bullying.
5. Teach how to refuse bullying.
6. Replace current beliefs or
behavior.
The Essential 6
Rs

103. “Any failure to treat bullying,
abuse and violence seriously,
because it occurs between
students, within schools, is a
violation of a child’s human
rights.”

106. –Johnny Appleseed
“Type a quote here.”

107. Everything that
happens inside the
Classroom IS
Character Building.

108. “Character and Academics:
What Good Schools Do”
Phi Delta Kappan Magazine, 2006

109. Research Showed:
1. Good schools ensure a clean and secure
physical environment.
2. Good schools promote and model
fairness, equity, caring and respect.
3. In good schools, students contribute in
meaningful ways.
4. Good schools promote a caring
community and positive social relationships.

110. More Strategies

111. Compliments Game

112. Teach Manners and
The Golden Rule
What you accept, you teach.
What you permit, you promo
te.

113. If manners were an animal,
it would be an endangered
species.
- Henry Rogers

114. Choosing an Atmosphere
Rude Courteous
Inconsiderate Considerate
Disrespectful Respectful
Offensive Polite

115. The Good Deeds Bowl

116. The Trophy Technique

117. Effective Classroom Management

118. Be a Buddy, Not a Bully
Shirt

119. Stand Up to Bullying
Week

120. Student Justice Committee

121. Celebration of Service
Week

122. Give Recognition to:
1. Most Creative Outreach
2. Outreach with the
Greatest Impact
3. Best Organized
4. Outreach of the Year

123. Peer Mentoring for
Conflict Resolution

124. Bibliotherapy for the Victim

125. Teaching Empathy Through
Literature

126. Compact for Excellence
(Students Craft the Pledge)

127. Students Pledge

128. Some Samples
of Student
Pledges
Against Bullying

132. James Stenson
Children develop character by
what they see, what they hear,
and what they are repeatedly led
to do.

134. https://www.facebook.com/SriLankaSeminars/

135. TWO FREE BOOKS

136. https://bit.ly/CharacterLanka2

137. mannrentoy@gmail.com
www.characterconferences.com