10 Things I Learned About Promoting High Standards in Both Academics and Character and Having Fun in the Process

Hal Urban

I was a teacher in a multi-ethnic public school for 35 years. And I loved it! The longer I taught, the more I learned about effective teaching, and the more enjoyable and rewarding it became. I’m not saying that it wasn’t hard work and that I didn’t have my share of frustrations, but overall, it was a wonderful ride. Here are ten of the most valuable things I learned.

The first goal is to provide kids with the knowledge they need to function well in society. In other words, run a strong academic program. The second, and equally important, goal is to help young people develop good character. In other words, help them become good citizens.

Intelligence is not enough. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education. Martin Luther King, Jr.

These were always the two main goals of education. I can still remember that my elementary school report card was divided into two sections. One was “Academics” and the other was “Citizenship.” I was given letter grades on virtues such as respect, work ethic, attitude, fair play, the ability to get along with others, honesty, etc. We were held accountable for our behavior. Unfortunately, our society went through some dramatic changes beginning in the 1960s, and most schools seemed to drop the character aspect of education. It wasn’t until the 1990s that concerned educators like Tom Lickona, Michael Josephson, Kevin Ryan and others led a movement to restore character development as a primary goal of education. During the past 17 years we’ve seen enormous strides in this movement. The best news of all is that we now have solid research to prove that schools with an effective character education program promote higher academic standards. Yes, this even means higher scores on standardized tests. The reason is simple: an environment of mutual respect results in a better place for teachers to teach and a better place for students to learn. Even if you don’t teach in a school with a character education program, there are several things you can do to promote good behavior and high academic standards. The principal at my school wouldn’t touch character education with the proverbial 10-foot pole. An influential member of her inner circle convinced her that it was a hidden agenda of the “religious right,” and she refused to listen to my evidence to the contrary. So my classroom became an island of character education, and I discovered that it could still be successful even under those circumstances. My students liked it, their parents liked it, I liked it – because it worked! The overwhelming majority of my students behaved respectfully and earned good grades.

The quality is enthusiasm. There are other names for it: passion, excitement, eagerness, gusto, fervor, zeal, zest, and a few others, including love. In other words, great teachers love what they’re doing. Think back on all your favorite teachers from elementary school through graduate school. They may have taught different subjects and had different personalities, but they were effective because they had a passion for what they did. Enthusiasm is contagious. To be a little more specific, let’s take each letter in the word enthusiasm and make it the beginning of another word that describes good teachers:

Energetic – Let’s face it, teaching is a high-energy job. The lifeless need not apply. The kids we teach have energy to spare. We need to be able to keep up with them.

Not boring – These are kids’ three most common complaints about teachers: 1 - "He has no control over the class," 2 – “I'm not learning anything,” and 3 – “He’s so boring.” It’s impossible to be boring when you’re excited about what you’re doing.

Tough – Teachers need to be tough in a couple of ways. Teaching is not a job for sissies. You have to be tough physically and mentally because it’s a demanding profession. There are also times when you have to be tough on kids. Not mean, but tough. We need to hold them accountable, and they need to know we will.

High standards – Good teachers maintain high standards in both behavior and academics. It’s important to put those standards in writing, to let kids and their parents know what’s expected, and to be consistent in following through.

Understanding – By this I mean understanding what’s going on in kids’ lives – having empathy for them. It’s important for teachers to remember their own days as students. What was it like on a bad day? When were you distracted? What got you fired up?

Sense of humor – You’ll die without one. People of all ages love to laugh, and kids laugh about ten times more than the average adult. Someone once said that laughter is the shortest distance between two people. Never miss an opportunity to laugh with kids and at yourself. Imagination – Even Einstein said imagination was more important than intellect. This is especially true of teachers because teaching is an art. It requires a certain degree of creativity. Always look for new ways of presenting things in the classroom.

Always prepared – If someone asked me what the most time-consuming aspect of teaching was I would answer with one word: preparation. It would have terrified me to walk into a classroom with being completely prepared. At the same time, be flexible. We need to be able to capitalize on those serendipitous moments when they occur, no matter how solid our lesson plan is.

Story-teller – In my first year of teaching one of the best teachers in my school gave me some invaluable advice: “If you want to make a point with the kids, put it into a story. They’ll listen to a good story. They’ll tune out a lecture.” There’s nothing like a good story to get your point across.

Motivated – “Real motivation comes from within.” That’s the title of Chapter 11 in my book, Life’s Greatest Lessons. Good teachers understand this. They keep a fire burning inside rather than wait for someone else to light one for them.

When I began my teaching career many years ago I had strong feelings regarding the relationship between teachers and parents. My attitude was, “Parents do their job at home with their kids, teachers do their job at school with kids, and there’s no need for them to work together unless there are serious behavior issues.” I was 100% wrong! The longer I taught, the more I realized that parents and teachers should be working together as often as possible. Parents will always be the first, and in most cases the most important, teachers their kids will ever have. When they send their kids to a school, whether private or public, they’re essentially saying to us, “Please help us continue the process of educating our child.” It didn’t take long for me to figure this out. And once I realized that I was in a partnership with the parents of my students, I came to view them as valuable assets. Although not all parents take the same amount of interest in their children’s education, most appreciate being in the loop. I kept them in the loop by doing a few simple things at the beginning of the school year, and following up from time to time. The first thing I did was send a letter home with my students. In it I identified myself, briefly explained my educational qualifications and experience, my educational philosophy (knowledge plus character), and listed the courses I was teaching. It included a brief description of the content of each course. On a separate sheet I had all of my policies spelled out, particularly in reference to absences, tardies, late work, missed assignments, grading, makeup work, and extra credit. This sheet also contained contact information: my school phone number and my e-mail address. I also assured them that I would respond within less than 24 hours. Parents were required to sign a sheet verifying that they had received the letter and other materials, and space was provided for them to make comments and/or ask questions. Many of the parents expressed their appreciation for being included, and thanked me for making myself accessible to them. It always helped get the school year off to a good start. Another thing that helped: I made a strong plug in my letter for them to mark their calendar for Back-to-School Night. Closer to that date I sent home a reminder entitled, “The Top Ten Reasons You’ll Want to Attend Back-to-School Night.” Not enough space here to list all ten, but they were all positive and/or funny, and I had great turnouts. Meeting the parents was always one of the highlights of the early days of school.

If you can reach ‘em, you can teach ‘em. Kids don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.

The two sayings above are so old no one remembers who first said them, but each is packed with wisdom. Because education is a personal process. The better the connection between the teacher and the student, the better chance of learning taking place. I was taught this early in my teacher training, and had it reinforced every year of my teaching career. I put a lot of time and energy, especially at the beginning of the school year, into making the right connection with my students. The most important thing I did every day was also the simplest, easiest, most uplifting, and most enjoyable. I individually greeted and welcomed each student at the door as if he or she was a friend entering my home. In the presentations I make to teachers all over the world I call this “transferring energy at the door.” What I liked most about teaching was the energy of the kids. While I occasionally heard some of my colleagues complain that kids have too much energy and that it can often be “draining,” I looked upon it in an opposite manner. Kids full of energy never drained me; they transferred some of their energy into me. I told them I was like a rechargeable battery standing at the door each day. If I got 25-30 positive charges before every class, I would be a far more enthusiastic teacher that day. One warning: most kids are not very good at making eye contact, shaking hands, or even exchanging greetings at the beginning. For some reason, they’re not being taught these simple social graces at home. So many of them look at the floor, keep their hands in their pockets, and mumble on the first day. But that can be easily overcome with some gentle coaching. It doesn’t take kids long to figure out that their teacher is literally reaching out to them every day. I always told my students there were three minimums in a good greeting:

1 – eye contact,
2 – a smile,
3 – a firm handshake.

But they had options beyond the handshake. We talked about the way they greeted each other. Some of the methods discussed were high fives, low fives, hugs, playful jabs, knuckle bumps, and a host of other greetings. I told my students that as long as they made eye contact and smiled at me, they could greet me in any way they wanted to. Two important caveats: the form of greeting must be their choice, and they shouldn’t do anything that made them feel uncomfortable. Because I genuinely liked kids and their energy levels, and because I greeted them individually every day, I got a lot of hugs. How many people can say, “One of the things I most like about my job is that I get about 100 hugs a day.”? Probably not very many. I’m aware that many school districts strictly forbid hugging kids. You need to stay within the rules. But there will never be a rule against teachers reaching out to kids, greeting them, teaching them how to do the same, and letting them know that you care.

If you asked me what the second most important thing I did each year, you would receive this answer: “I taught manners and the Golden Rule on the first day of school.” I didn’t do this for the first 15-20 years of my career, but I started doing it in the 1980s out of necessity. The single biggest change I saw in kids during my 35 years in the classroom was a decline in manners – a steep decline. But a proactive and win-win approach at the beginning of the year can work wonders. After we discussed the art of giving and accepting greetings, I told my students we needed to discuss something else of critical importance: manners and the Golden Rule. I handed out a sheet of paper with this heading: “WHATEVER HAPPENED TO GOOD MANNERS?” The page had a list of student behaviors on it, divided into two sections: what kids did in my early days of teaching, and what they’re doing today. Here’s an example: Early days – when students needed something from the teacher (like a missing handout page) they would raise their hands, wait to be acknowledged, and then ask in a pleasant tone of voice, “May I please have page 14?” Today – when students need something from the teacher they don’t raise their hands, they just blurt out in a demanding and demeaning tone, “Hey, I need page 14.” I discussed this and other types of unacceptable behaviors with students on the first day of school because I want them to know that rudeness wouldn’t be allowed. In my second year of teaching I attended a mandatory workshop on classroom management. It was conducted by a man who had taught more than 30 years in our district, ran a tight ship in the classroom, and had won many teaching awards. He shared something with us that a mentor had taught him way back in the 1930s when he started his career. His mentor told him, “What you accept, you teach.” In other words, if a student in your class says something rude and mean-spirited, and you don’t deal with it, you’ve taught that student and his or her classmates essentially two things:

1 – “What you just did is acceptable behavior in my classroom,” and
2 – “It’s OK for the rest of you to behave the same way.” What you accept, you teach.

A few years ago a young principal in Mount Olive, New Jersey, gave me another saying that means the same thing: “What you permit, you promote.” It’s a little catchier and easier to remember. I still vividly remember how my students responded to the manners page the first time I used it. I was concerned that they might think I was living in the past, maybe even label me as an old fuddy-duddy. I thought I might hear something like, “Hey, Mr. Urban, you’re showing your age,” or “Kids are different now; we don’t do those things anymore.” But I was surprised. The kids actually thanked me for emphasizing manners and teaching them what the Golden Rule was. They said they wished all teachers would do it at the beginning of the year because so many rude things go on in classes with nothing done about it. They said it was good to know what my expectations were, and they agreed that mutual respect created a good classroom atmosphere.

Will Durant was the most prolific historian of all time. He worked for more than 50 years on his classic 11-volume work, The Story of Civilization. For it, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Late in his life he was asked to list the ten top achievements of the human race. You’ll be pleased to know that developing a system of education was one of them. You may be surprised to learn that #1 on his list was the development of the spoken word – our ability to articulately communicate with one another through sounds. He says none of the other great achievements would have been possible without our ability to talk to one another. Words have power, for good or for bad. Unfortunately, we too often take them for granted.

We live in an ocean of words, but like a fish in water we are often not aware of it. Stuart Chase

Early in my teaching career my awareness of the power of words was greatly increased. I had a colleague named Tim Hansel who always had something positive to say. No one ever heard him complain, put others down, swear, express anger, or argue. Instead, he looked for the good, found it, and then talked about it. He was what I call a life-enhancer. He helped bring out the best in his students and in his colleagues. As you can imagine, he was a delight to be around, and he had a powerful and lasting influence on many of the people with whom he came into contact. One of the things I learned from my association with Tim was how words have the power to either poison or nourish the atmosphere of a classroom. So I started doing some exercises with my students regarding the way words are used and the effect they have. One day I wrote two words on the chalkboard in extra large letters. They were:

TOXIC      NOURISHING

I asked the kids if they knew what the two words meant. Some did, some didn’t. So I explained that toxic means poisonous and that nourishing means promoting health and growth. I asked them if there were words that poisoned the atmosphere, especially the one in our classroom. I asked them to tell me the types of words and phrases they didn’t want to hear in class because they were toxic. I wrote their answers on the board. By the time we were done, we had thirty. So we nicknamed them “The Dirty Thirty.” Among them were complaining, put-downs, swearing, arguing, expressions of anger, etc. For the complete list see my second book, Positive Words, Powerful Results. Best of all, we came up with a pledge that everyone signed and honored. We kept about 98% of the poison out of our classroom. To balance things up and remind my students that their words are choices, I asked them for another list – this time one of nourishing words and phrases. They came up with such things as expressions of appreciation, compliments, encouragement, congratulations, and 26 others. Again, we had thirty in need of a name. One student nailed it: “The Thoughtful Thirty.” Try to imagine a class in which the students are always polite and used clean and positive language most of the time. This is what I experienced every day.

Many years ago one of my students commented in class that my simple current events homework assignment, which was done with a newspaper, was “too negative.” It surprised me because the assignment was easy, didn’t take but about ten minutes, helped students become better informed, and earned them a lot of grade points. What he meant was that the news seemed to always be bad news. That’s what made it negative. I changed the assignment a little and required them to report on at least one “good news” item. But since they couldn’t use the sports or entertainment pages, it made the assignment more time-consuming. It was “too hard” to find good news. That led to my suggestion that maybe we could find good news among the kids in the class. So I asked, “Who’s got some good news to share today?” They not only had several items of good news, they were anxious to share it. I still remember a few of the things that were said that day: a new home, a new niece, an engagement in the family, a better grade in algebra, and several others. The student who had commented on the homework assignment as being “too negative” said, “It’s nice to hear all this good news after reading the newspapers. This is how I stumbled upon one of the most important discoveries of my teaching career: Always start with something positive. So I started every class by pointing to a sign I had in the front of the room. It had two big words on it:

CELEBRATE

TODAY!

I asked my students, “What are we celebrating today? Who has good news?” It was very effective for a few weeks, and then it began to wane a bit. I asked why, and my students responded by saying that they didn’t all have something good every day and they didn’t want to appear as if they were bragging. We needed a little variety, some options. Over the next few years our “Celebrate Today!” activity at the beginning of each class evolved into four choices:

1 – Share good news. Talk about anything that’s good for you or others.
2 – Express thanks. Say something or someone you’re thankful for, and why.
3 – Affirm someone. Say something positive about another person in the class. Could not be physical – looks, hair, clothing, build, etc.
4 – Say something funny. Could not be dirty or mean-spirited.

We did this every day for more than thirty years. The best part about it was that it always got class off to a good start. Students were welcomed at the door and then had the opportunity to take part in an activity that was always positive. Many of my former students, some from many years ago, still comment on the way I started class every day. Many of them said it was so good to be reminded every day, even if it was just for a few minutes, that there were a lot of good things going on around them all the time.

When I began my teaching career one of the first things I was made aware of was our district’s mission statement. It was actually part of the interview process. After I was assigned to a specific school I met with the principal. One of the first things he pointed out was the school mission statement. It was prominently displayed throughout the campus. This made perfect sense to me. It was a concise statement of purpose that the faculty had worked on together, and it was posted in every room to help teachers and staff members stay focused on their mission. I took the mission statement seriously, even if it was a bit idealistic, and I looked it over each morning when I arrived at school. It was a good reminder. I also had another mission statement that I looked at each time I entered my classroom. During my teacher training one of my professors suggested that we find a quotation or statement about teaching that spoke directly to us, adopt it as our teaching mission statement, and look at it at the beginning of each school day. I found one that described the influence of a teacher perfectly. I had it printed on a sheet of paper in large letters, put plastic over it, and taped it to my desk. Here’s what I read each morning:

THE DIFFERENCE A TEACHER CAN MAKE

I have come to a frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It’s my personal approach that creates the climate. It’s my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. – Haim Ginott

This was a simple, yet powerful, reminder to me each morning about the awesome responsibility I had as a teacher. It reinforced what I had been taught – that good education is personal – and that it was the teacher’s responsibility to create a nourishing environment. In Character Education we call this a “caring community.” The district had a mission, the school had a mission, and the teacher had a mission. What about the kids? If you ask students to give you an honest answer to the question “Why are you here?” you’ll get the following responses: “Because I have to,” “To get a diploma,” “The law says so,” “My parents make me come,” and “Because I want to get a job some day.” Notice that no one answered: “To increase in knowledge” or “To become a more complete human being.” They come to school with a mindset which says, “I have to go to school.” Early in my career I heard a speaker outside of school say, “Every good organization with a purpose has a solid mission statement and makes it visible for all to see.” It dawned on me that I was the leader of five organizations with a purpose – my five classes. How would they respond to writing a mission statement? Did they even know what a mission statement was? The answer was no, but I taught them what it was, and showed them several examples. I then launched into my annual impassioned sales pitch that “School is not an OBLIGATION – it’s an OPPORTUNITY!” This was done mostly with stories and pictures of kids all over the world who have no school to go to and no opportunity to improve the quality of their lives. It seemed to always work. Enthusiasm is contagious. I divided the class into small groups of 5 or 6, and asked them to come up with a student mission statement of two sentences or less that focused either on learning or the environment we were going to create in the class. Each group reported out, then we voted on the one we wanted as our mission statement. The students taking art classes went to the teacher, obtained a large poster board, and painted the mission statement onto it in big colorful letters. It was then posted in the front of the room right above the middle of the chalkboard. They couldn’t help seeing it every day. Some of my favorite student mission statements over the years were these:

• Came to Learn!
• Education is an OPPORTUNITY!
• We come thirsting for knowledge! (funny story behind this one, but no room to tell it)
• This is a Caring Community.
• This is a Golden Rule classroom – We practice what we preach.

This was a remarkably simple activity that taught the students a new concept, got them completely engaged, and gave them additional ownership of the environment of the classroom.

The world does not require so much to be informed as to be reminded. – Hannah More The mission statement wasn’t the only thing posted in my classroom. I had several other brightly colored signs that went up in the first two weeks of the school year. Originally, I posted all the signs before the first day of school. Then each day in the first two weeks I took a few minutes to explain one or a grouping of them. That worked OK, but I thought the signs could be used more effectively for a greater impact. One year I left the entire front wall of my classroom blank for the first day of school. I told my students that the wall would be completely covered with signs within two weeks, but that they would go up a little at a time. Each sign that went up had a story or an activity that went with it. Here’s an example of the activity that went with the first four signs I posted. I held up a bright orange sign that had one word on it: CHOICES. I told the students that this was sign #1 and that we were going to do a simple little activity pertaining to life choices. I gave each of them a small slip of paper, told them I was going to ask them a question, and wanted them to write down their answers before we had any discussion. The question was this: “Other than your faith, what are the four most important choices you’ll ever make in your life?” I taught in a public school, so I wanted to set the faith issue aside for this activity. The most repeated answers I received were:

1 – Education,
2 – Career,
3 – Marriage,
4 – Home (where to live).

I always agreed with my students that those were four very important life choices. But I wanted to help them realize that they make other choices that are even more important, but they probably didn’t even realize that they were choices. I put up four additional signs (each in a different color) under the CHOICES sign. They are:

1 - ATTITUDE
2 - RESPECT
3 - WORK
4 - HONESTY

It would take several pages to explain the great discussions we had related to these four choices, and I still wouldn’t do them justice. But suffice it to say, those four words got kids to think! Not one of them had ever realized that attitude is a choice moment by moment, no matter what the circumstances. The other three choices also generated some lively discussion. And they looked at those signs – known in my room as visible reminders – in the front of the room every day for the rest of the school year.

Here are some of the other visible reminders that were seen in my room. Keep in mind that each one had a story or an activity to go with it.

THE GOLDEN RULE RULES
NO ONE EVER WENT WRONG BY BEING POLITE
NO PUT-DOWNS – COMPLIMENTS SPOKEN HERE
NO DISCOUNTS – EVERYONE COUNTS (a discount is ignoring someone)
CELEBRATE TODAY!
NO PARKING IN THE COMFORT ZONE
OBLIGATION OR OPPORTUNITY?
POSSIBILITIES

There was one group of five signs positioned around the clock. I can assure you, they were looked at often. Each had the universal sign for NO – the red circle with the slash through it. These were the words inside the symbol: COMPLAINING, WHINING, MOANING & GROANING, SWEARING, and GOSSIP. The first and last of these five signs should be posted in every faculty lounge in the country.

In my second year of teaching I had the opportunity to attend a two-day California Social Studies Teachers Conference in San Diego. It was one of the most valuable experiences I had as a teacher. The main presenter was Dr. William Glasser, author of the recently published Schools Without Failure. Dr. Glasser was already my hero because of the book. He became a bigger hero because of the workshop I attended. It was about classroom management, and he made a simple, yet profound statement that impacted my teaching in a positive way for the next 34 years. He said, “If you want the kids to honor the rules, give them some ownership of the rules.” For the rest of my career I gave my students ownership of the rules. There were obviously some district and school regulations by which we were all legally bound, but for the most part the kids determined what was and what was not allowed in my class. In small groups they made up lists of what they didn’t want students to do and what they hoped they would do. I compiled the list into two columns, duplicated it, gave a copy to each student, posted one on the wall, and sent a copy home to all of the parents. I had very few behavior problems during my 35 years in the classroom. On occasion there were some troubled kids who simply couldn’t function in a school setting. They had to be dealt with individually, often with the legally required assistance of a probation officer and/or a member of the school administration. But those cases were few in number and were extreme exceptions. Students want clearly defined guidelines and the assurance that the teacher has control of the class without being mean. When they write those guidelines themselves, they take them more seriously. They played a big part in helping me create a nourishing environment, a caring community. Obviously, I learned a lot more than ten things about effective teaching during my many years in the classroom. I’m working on a book now that includes several more. But the ten here are among the most basic and most important. That’s why I call them “the nuts and bolts.” I hope you find them as user friendly and valuable as I did.