Good morning Virtues Colleagues,

It is early autumn and our school is buzzing with the sounds of various musical themes as classrooms prepare for the School Festival which the local community attends.

My position in this Elementry School is unique by Korean standards because I work across the curriculum, interacting with my coleagues, students and parents on different levels. Our family live a short walk walk from the school in a 13th floor apartment. My walk to school is through the heart of the community linked to the school. Many children and adults now greet me or my husband as we have become part of their familiar routines.

I have had the opportunity to introduce the "Virtues" using a multi-level approach. A personal, classroom, teachers and parents programme.

The classroom is guided by team teaching principles and it was during the summer vacation that I was inspired to write programmes to address all levels. It was the "simplicity" that is the virtues which gave me the confidence to attempt this project. Because of my language barrier "simple is best" and is working a treat, again supporting a virtues slogan. !!

I began with an English teaching team meeting which outlined my intentions and asked that the 2 English speaking teachers chose 1 virtues as a contribution to the Boundaries of the English language teaching lab. We came up with Courtesy, Thankfulness, Respect, and Cooperation.

Our virtue of the week is displayed in the lab. as is the colourful poster of all 4 boundaries. We decided that a Virtues Voucher reward system could be introduced, where students exchange a voucher for a candy at the end of each lesson. I make a point of naming a behaviour on the voucher, that links to the Virtue of the week as another method of reinforcing appropriate English lab behaviour and language acquisition.

I have a short introductory slot with all classes where all participants repeat the virtue of the week and I give short explanations ...e.g. Courtesy is smiling when we talk to our teacher or to our friends. I can use this common understanding to manage students behaviour in new and empowering ways to build a virtues centred learning environment.

May the spirit of the Virtues Project be alive in your day.

Denise Hobo-Tuck

Virtues in Action Stories // <![CDATA[ _spBodyOnLoadFunctionNames.push("setupPageDescriptionCallout"); // ]]>

Title

Body

Expires

Contact details

Attachments

Virtues in Action Stories