ND Curriculum Initiative

Subject & Standards

Needs Assessment/Rational

In completing an analysis of need for this instructional unit, I turned to the Character Education web page on the Grand Forks Public Schools website. As a teacher in the Grand Forks Public Schools and as an active member of the district-wide Character Education committee, I am committed to upholding and carrying out the district’s mission related to Character Education. We believe:

“Character education is lifelong process, not a single event or series of events within a time frame. We need to spend time on the promotion of character virtues that we do want our children to understand, desire, and achieve. Character education must be consciously fostered by demand and example at home, in the school, and in our community. A unified approach between home, school, and community will promote positive cultural changes. The Grand Forks Public Schools is striving for excellence in academic experiences, hands-on experiences, and character development.”

In addition, the North Dakota Century Code, article 15-38-10 states:

“Each teacher in the public school must provide moral instruction tending to impress upon the minds of pupils the importance of truthfulness, temperance, purity, public spirit, patriotism, international peace, respect for honest labor, obedience to parents and deference to old age.”

Further, stated in Article VIII, Section 149 of the Constitution of North Dakota:

“In all schools instruction shall be given as far as practicable in those branches of knowledge that tend to impress upon the mind the vital importance of truthfulness, temperance, purity, public spirit and respect for the honest labor of any kind.”

An analysis of need for this instructional unit would not be complete if I did not investigate the connection with content standards. I found three specific standards to which my character education unit directly ties: 1. (National Business Education Association Standard) Workplace Expectations Achievement Standard: Relate the importance of workplace expectations to career development. 2. (National Business Education Association Standard) Organizational Communication Achievement Standard: Incorporate appropriate leadership and supervision techniques, customer service strategies, and personal ethics standard to communicate effectively with various business constituencies. 3. (Grand Forks Public Schools Business Education Standard) Standard 4: The student establishes a foundation for successful entry into the ever-changing world of business. I wanted to create a unit of instruction that would be a culminating-type project for my computer applications class that would require critical thinking related to the six pillars of Character Education used throughout our school district. I wanted the unit to incorporate activities using all of the software applications taught in the course: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Access. Most importantly, I wanted it to be relevant and meaningful for all of my students. Several recent events have helped me to see that there is a definite need for this particular instructional unit to focus on Character Education: 1. Our district Character Education Committee met shortly after I had registered for the TWT course. I found myself reflecting upon my role as a district member of the committee. I am to encourage my fellow colleagues to incorporate character education in their classes, but I knew that I had not yet created anything new for my computer applications class related to character education this school year. I need to “practice what I preach.”
2. The recent school shooting in Red Lake, Minnesota, hit close to home for me. Living in Grand Forks located just a few hours away from Red Lake, I again realized that we need to directly approach the topic of fostering positive relationships and how they relate to the six pillars of character education. 3. While correcting papers recently, I noticed how three of the sets of papers were identical: same spacing mistakes, same spelling errors, and same formula mistakes. I was disappointed to investigate further and find that the three owners of the papers had “shared work.” More simply, they had cheated. There is a definite need to create a unit of instruction related to our six pillars of character: trustworthiness, respect, caring, citizenship, responsibility, and fairness!

Understandings & Goals

Enduring Understanding: I would like my students to identify examples and understand the importance of good character and be able to apply the principles of good character to their own lives at home, in the community, and in the workplace. I would like my students to apply the technology skills they learn in my classroom to their lives outside of the classroom. Goal(s): Students will identify and research the six pillars of character. Students will use their technology skills to create an organized, effective Character Education Portfolio. Students will reflect upon their work through journal entries.

Questions Answered

Essential questions: What are the six pillars of character and how do they apply to my life? Who are the role models in my life who exhibit good character traits and what can I learn from them?What do I need to do to be an effective group member and how can I apply what I learn and practice to my life outside of school? What do I need to know to research and organize information in creating a Character Education Portfolio? What parts of the Microsoft application programs (Word, Excel, Access, and PowerPoint) do I need to know/review to create a Character Education Portfolio?What other media, if any, will I need to use to create a Character Education Portfolio? Objectives: Using the Internet and other resources, students will collaboratively develop an effective survey related to one of the six pillars of character. Students will collaboratively chart the results of their surveys using Excel. Students will collaboratively design a questionnaire to be used to individually interview two people related to one of the six pillars of character. Students will collaboratively create an effective PowerPoint presentation that includes information collected related to one of the six pillars of character. Students will collaboratively create a table in Access to store name and address information of the people they interviewed. Students will individually write “thank you” letters using Word to the people they interviewed and will use mailing labels generated from their name and address table stored in Access. Students will periodically journal their ideas related to character using Word.

Assessment

What quiz and test items (e.g. simple content-focused questions that require a single, best answer) will provide evidence of understanding? Short quizzes and unit tests will be used during the grading period to measure students’ understanding of the Microsoft application programs (Word, Access, PowerPoint, and Excel). What academic prompts (e.g. open-ended questions or problems that require students to think critically and then to prepare a response / product / performance) will provide evidence of understanding? Short answer and essay questions will be used during the grading period to help in monitoring students’ progress in understanding the Microsoft application programs (Word, Access, PowerPoint, and Excel). Students will respond to reflection questions concerning their own feelings, group discussions, and progress made related to their Character Education Portfolio. What performance tasks and projects (e.g. complex challenges that are authentic, mirror the real world and require a performance or product) will you include that will provide evidence of student understanding? Students will collaboratively create character education portfolios using the technology skills they acquire in Computer Applications class. The portfolios will serve as a culminating activity that integrates all of the software applications. In addition, the portfolio projects will provide for a way for students to investigate one pillar of character in depth and share their ideas not only in collaborative groups, but with other class members as well. What other evidence (e.g. observations, work samples, dialogues, student self-assessment) of understanding will you collect? Students will complete journal entries and will evaluate each other’s PowerPoint presentations. I will collect copies of their presentations printed as notes pages as part of their portfolios. Rubrics will be used to evaluate other parts of the portfolios including the surveys, the interview forms, the database tables, and the “thank you” letters. Students will also complete a self-evaluation related to how they did individually as an effective group member.

Instructional Strategies

Students will utilize the project-based strategy to accomplish their objectives. This strategy will provide them an opportunity to create something tangible to share with others. The end product (the character education portfolio entitled “My Character Counts”) will reflect a collaborative effort requiring students to demonstrate their technology and research skills. Additionally, the end product will show that the students worked together to follow the guidelines to create the documents/files needed in their portfolio. By allowing students some individual choice in identifying a person of character to interview, stude