The “I Care” Three-in-One Curriculum Model Overview
The System and Process
- Designed to bring parents, school, and community together for the purpose of raising children with character
- Provides materials that enable everyone to focus on the same character pillar every month
- Defines parental involvement as the number of times parents are actively engaged with their children at home and in the community, not just parental participation at school
- Supports the importance of parents as the primary educators of their children and provides them with tools to carry out that role
The Curriculum
- Pre-K through 12th Grade spiraled curriculum built around the 12 Pillars of Character. For instance, elementary students would be practicing respect in the form of courtesy, politeness, fairness, patience, honor, and open-mindedness. Over time, they gain a deep understanding of respect.
- Enables all grades to be studying the same pillar each month, though each grade is practicing a different trait related to the pillar. That encourages school-wide activities related to character development.
- Based on sound principles of learning:
- New field of positive psychology
- Conditions of learning: reception, availability, and activation
- Open-ended questions; multiple learning styles
- Connectedness to real life
- One trait a month, instead of one per week
- Enables coverage of the 12 Pillars annually
- Provides variety to keep parents, teachers, and students interested and motivated
- Includes:
- Five monthly Parenting Activities
- Five monthly lessons for the teacher to choose from
- Monthly Bulletin Board Messages and posters
- Visual reminders to teachers to incorporate trait in class discussion
- Memory jogger for students
- Assessment tools
- Feedback Forms
- On-Line Data Management System
- Book pack containing recommended book of the month related to trait of the month
- Optional Workbooks (only item available through retail book stores)
Parents
- We believe that parents are the missing link in character development programs.
- Research is clear about the positive impact of parental involvement, and this impact contributes to the development of character
- Components:
- Annual training (only takes 15 minutes)
- Five activities to do with their children each month
- At the end of the month, parents return a Feedback Form to the school indicating how many of the activities they did and others they initiated on their own.
- Encourages accountability
- Provides teachers with feedback they can use in making monthly positive comments to parents
- Benefits:
- Provides parents with new ideas and strategies
- Increases communication with school
School
- Includes not only families with children in school, but also citizens who are interested in and affected by the quality of education
- Trains teachers, parents, and the community
- Sends monthly activities and Feedback Forms to parents
- Teachers teach at least one lesson related to the character trait; post and refer to the bulletin board messages and posters throughout the month
- Teachers communicate a positive (with no negatives) comment about their children to each parent monthly
- Staff inputs monthly data into On-Line Data Management System to document parental involvement
- Benefits:
- Meets and exceeds No Child Left Behind (NCLB) parental involvement requirements
- Feedback Forms help teachers better understand families’ lifestyles and cultural background
Community
- Includes not only families with children in school, but also citizens who are interested in and affected by the quality of education
- Chamber of Commerce
- Local businesses
- Local government
- Faith-based organizations
- Benefits:
- Provides common ground for a discussion of integrity, character, and ethics
- Reinforces ethics in the workplace
- Improves communication between school and community
- Components:
- Partnerships with schools
- DVD-based training for the workplace
- Monthly character posters illustrating the pillar being practiced in the schools and at home
