Category: Character

The Character Issue: Citizenship

It is April and we have a new character trait — Citizenship. Back when I (Sharon) was in elementary school, I remember each month we would have an all-school assembly

Teaching Character Through Literature: Courage

I remembered that the real world was wide, and that a varied field of hopes and fears, of sensations and excitements, awaited those who had courage to go forth

The Character Issue: Courage

Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear. ― Franklin D. Roosevelt Last March when we introduced our character

The Humility of Socratic Discussion (Reprise)

If we have had the practice to ask again and again what the author meant, and the discipline and training to return to the text and say, “How do you

Teaching Character Through Literature: Humility

…A powerful story…quickens that hero’s heartbeat within us. Well-chosen words touch and transform our souls–making us want to be better than we are right now. Nagging lectures from Mom and

The Character Issue: Humility

In reality, there is, perhaps, no one of our natural passions so hard to subdue as pride. Disguise it, struggle with it, beat it down, stifle it, mortify it as

Teaching Character Through Literature: Diligence

When we read a book with a protagonist facing difficulties we can’t help but cheer them on. As they face seemingly insurmountable obstacles, we want to shout, “Don’t give up!”

The Character Issue: Diligence

Did you know that the word diligence also refers to a stagecoach? It is short for the French carosse de diligence. A diligence was a large, four-wheeled, closed French stagecoach

Teaching Gratitude Through Literature

We introduced the SLOCA character trait for the month of December last week. Check out The Character Issue on gratitude for some ideas to encourage this trait in yourself and