What's Under Your Cape? Chapter 2

I am so excited to be joining the What's Under Your Cape? book study! 

Since I started teaching I have learned that a lot of what I want kids to leave my classroom with will not come from the text books they will read, or the homework they will do. Sure I want them to become better readers, writers, and mathematicians, but most of all I want them to become great people! I've tried to teach each of the students I've had that having good character is more valuable then the grades you get on the test!

When I found Barbara's book I was so excited to finally find a resource that would guide my character building instruction and give it a focus! My students will be able to identify with the superhero theme, and realize that having the character traits I've been trying to teach them is what makes a hero!

I am so excited to share my thought on Chapter Two - Unconditional Love with you today!

Barbara brings up a great point about Super Heroes that I had never even thought about.! You know they are tough, and they like to help, but she says that they have a lot of love for people. Think about it - they put their selves in danger to help others, rushing right in to help with no conditions on who, when, where, or how they help! They put unconditional love into action! Amazing!

First as a teacher this chapter made me think about how I show my students that I love them. Do I send a clear message that I care about them, and set an example for them to care for others? I want to be more intentional with showing my students love just because and not for some outstanding thing they've done, no strings attached, love without conditions.

We need to teach our students to put love into action. Barbara says love and kindness go hand and hand, and I agree with her! Our students need to know how to be kind to others because it feels good to be kind. We can plan acts of kindness for them to do together. Look for ways to pay it forward when someone else shows them kindness. This can be as simple as writing thank you cards  to parents, or making phone calls to them on their birthdays. There are so many random act of kindness ideas out there, it could be really fun to get your whole class involved!

Barbara Talks about the most valuable A's you can earn. A = Affirmation, Appreciation, Apology. Wow, I look at those three words and I think - exactly what I've been saying my students are missing. Why? Why don't our students know how to affirm, appreciate, and apologize? Barbara says these three A's are "as effectively "caught as taught"." Yes! We need to be examples for them. So many of my students haven't seen those three words in action enough to catch on and put them into action themselves. I had to examine myself! Am I being a good example for them? Do I affirm others? Do I encourage them to affirm one another? Do I show my appreciation for them and their parents? Do I teach them how to show their appreciation for guests? Have I taught them to take responsibility for their own actions and ask for forgiveness when they hurt one another? Have I taught them to accept the apologies of their friends? It won't come automatically they will have to be shown these skills just like they are shown how to read, write, and calculate.

Love is so important in our world! I see so many selfish people and I sometimes wonder if anyone cares about the person next to them anymore. Here's the thing, we can change that! I totally agree with Barbara when she says "We are richly blessed to be in a position to dynamically shape the hearts of our superheroes and teach them to love and be loved so they can continue to use their super powers for good."

We can teach love! And if we do - it will have a ripple affect, touching many more than the children in our classroom! I've decided that teaching character education is going to be a priority in my classroom this year. I hope it will find a place in many classrooms! I know there's so much to do and little time to do it, tests kids have to pass, and evaluations we have to go through, but this, character education, it's life changing and way to important not to teach! It will last far past the test, past the school years, and change our world if we once again make it a priority for our students to learn how to be people of character!

I've created these life skill (that's what we've called character education in my school) posters I would love to share with all of you! Use them to start discussions in your classroom surrounding each trait, remind students what it means to have these traits, create ways to show students what character is!

More traits will be added soon! I've had many requests and I'm working on updating them as quickly as I can! I hope you enjoy using these with your students!

What are your thoughts on Chapter 2 - Unconditional Love? Link up and share! I would love to see what others are thinking!


If you missed chapter one  about Service you can catch up with Transitional Kinder and Curls and a Smile! Would you like a signed copy of Barbara's book? Just click here to enter the giveaway, see how to purchase a copy of the book, and see the schedule for the book study!