Madora Soutter

The popular volume on the power of character development in the classroom now features new chapters on intellectual risk-taking and open-mindedness, plus student, teacher, and school leader reflections on the value of the practice Character Compass, Second Edition returns to three, high-performing urban schools in Boston to reassess their distinct commitments to character education. Classical Academy prizes moral character, College Bound Middle School emphasizes performance character, and Civitas Prep prioritizes civic character. To this group, Scott Seider, Shelby Clark, and Madora Soutter add Bright Ideas Middle School, which champions intellectual character. They describe the ways in which these four school's distinctive character goals lead them to emphasize different programming and practices and to nurture different dimensions of their students' characters. Seider, Clark, and Soutter reconnect with the students that were interviewed more than a decade ago to ask how character education influenced their trajectories, and they invite the volume's original school leaders to share how their thinking has and has not changed. Their research reaffirms the foundational strength of character education in building a powerful school culture where students can thrive, and a new case-study on a school emphasizing intellectual character broadens the framework's reach. With its rare longitudinal and retrospective perspective, Character Compass, Second Edition provides K-2 educators and school leaders with powerful guidance for making character development central to their mission of supporting student success. Updates also help practitioners hone their chosen approach to best complement their own unique institutional commitments, community, and context.

Learn how to cultivate a commitment to justice with young children in developmentally appropriate ways (pre-K–grade ). Transformative social and emotional learning (TSEL) is an asset-based, culturally responsive way of teaching that sees social and emotional learning and social justice as inextricably linked. This practical guide will support teachers in centering TSEL in their work and in cultivating a commitment to justice with young children in developmentally appropriate ways. The authors provide stories, perspectives, and concrete tools, including planning resources for teachers, tips on integrating TSEL into different content areas, research on how to foster positive racial identity development, support for integrating transformative play into the classroom, and a roadmap for teacher educators. The text provides specific examples that demonstrate how to implement complex concepts in accessible ways. Chapters are designed to be practical (though not overly prescriptive) so teachers can readily adapt takeaways to their own practice. Book Features: Advice on how to navigate barriers to integrating TSEL: An entire chapter is dedicated to situating TSEL in the realities of the current climate—providing teachers with tools and resources to address challenges that are inherent to social justice work.Concrete tools for a complex concept: TSEL as a concept can be difficult to access for classroom teachers who are already creating so much content. This book provides concrete tools and specific examples of how to implement TSEL without oversimplifying this work.A foundation of social justice for young children: Social justice work has traditionally focused more on adolescents. This book provides tools for building a developmentally appropriate foundation for doing this work with young changemakers (pre-K–grade ).

Learn how to cultivate a commitment to justice with young children in developmentally appropriate ways (pre-K–grade ). Transformative social and emotional learning (TSEL) is an asset-based, culturally responsive way of teaching that sees social and emotional learning and social justice as inextricably linked. This practical guide will support teachers in centering TSEL in their work and in cultivating a commitment to justice with young children in developmentally appropriate ways. The authors provide stories, perspectives, and concrete tools, including planning resources for teachers, tips on integrating TSEL into different content areas, research on how to foster positive racial identity development, support for integrating transformative play into the classroom, and a roadmap for teacher educators. The text provides specific examples that demonstrate how to implement complex concepts in accessible ways. Chapters are designed to be practical (though not overly prescriptive) so teachers can readily adapt takeaways to their own practice. Book Features: Advice on how to navigate barriers to integrating TSEL: An entire chapter is dedicated to situating TSEL in the realities of the current climate—providing teachers with tools and resources to address challenges that are inherent to social justice work.Concrete tools for a complex concept: TSEL as a concept can be difficult to access for classroom teachers who are already creating so much content. This book provides concrete tools and specific examples of how to implement TSEL without oversimplifying this work.A foundation of social justice for young children: Social justice work has traditionally focused more on adolescents. This book provides tools for building a developmentally appropriate foundation for doing this work with young changemakers (pre-K–grade ).