Amherst Junior High School is comprised of six academic teams and each individual team is responsible for incorporating character education into their curriculum and also for recognizing individual students who personify particular traits. At the building level, the administration set the tone for each month and coordinated building-level events tied to each trait.
Each month, the character trait was listed on the AJH web site and for each week of that month, a quote regarding that trait was posted under the character trait of the month. So, by the end of each month, four quotes associated with that trait were listed. At the beginning of each month, the trait for that month was introduced over the PA system and two or three times per week, a quote, anecdote, or short story regarding the trait was related to the entire student body. At the end of the month, we recapped the trait and any building-wide activities that had occurred during that month, and we tied in that trait to the next month’s trait. This process continued from September to May. Also, various events were held school-wide and included such things as a canned food drive, toy drive, clothing drive, hurricane relief, etc.
Each academic team, in addition to integrating a particular character trait into the curriculum, participated in various activities tied to the traits throughout the school year. These activities ranged from planting flowers for the school, to making gifts for people in nursing homes, exercises on building respect and trust, etc. Each academic team also recognized exemplary manifestation of a particular character trait in a variety of ways: recognition in front of the team, postings on team bulletin boards and newsletters, token gifts, etc.
In conclusion, character education was introduced and given focus at the building level as well as the individual classroom level and activities to reinforce the traits occurred at both levels.
