Character Education Starts At Classroom Door

Dr. Hal Urban is a speaker, teacher, and author of several books, including Life’s Greatest Lessons, Choices that Change Lives; Positive Words, Powerful Results; and Lessons from the Classroom, 20 Things Good Teachers Do.

I have heard him speak and I’ve read some of his work. His message is always relevant.

He focuses on the importance of character education and establishing positive relationships with students. He tells specifically about how teachers should do this but deals with the role of parents as well.

His book Life’s Greatest Lessons is one of the best I’ve ever read, and I recommend it to anyone. It brings clarity to the things in life that really matter and has helpful information for young people, and for their teachers, parents, and grandparents. It is quite simply a worthwhile read that features clear thinking and brings inspiration.

Early in his book, Urban wrote, “I discovered long ago that regardless of age, people are eager to learn when it means understanding life more deeply and living it more fully.” And on each page Urban helps the reader do that, as he gently reminds us what life is all about.

He also wrote early on in Life’s Greatest Lessons about what it means to be successful.

“Successful people build good relationships,” he wrote. “They’re sensitive to the needs and feelings of others. They’re considerate and respectful. They have a way of bringing out the best in others.”

A number of items in that quotation establish the foundation of good teaching and good parenting:

• Making a good connection with the child,

• Thinking of the needs crucial to the child’s development, and

• Bringing out the very best in the child.

When Dr. Urban makes a presentation, he explains what good teachers must do, including how they begin teaching at the classroom door, how they start every class with something positive, how they use the power of visible reminders, and how they get better every year.

The heart of his message, however, is about the importance of character education in the classroom, and how the classroom must become a safe place where students are nourished academically, socially, and emotionally. It must be a comfortable place where their minds can be at ease to learn and grow.

It is a message that every teacher and parent should hear. More importantly, it is a message that all of us should practice for the benefit of our communities.

Dr. Urban explains that teachers should approach each day with two important goals in mind: teaching high standards in character and teaching high standards in academics.

“Good teachers,” he has said, “teach manners and the golden rule.”

Some teachers would say, “But we don’t have time to cover the curriculum, let alone something else!”

But character education actually helps students do better in all of their education, including academically.

In fact, Urban explains that by starting the school year right—devoting time to teaching appropriate behavior, respect, and class expectations—he enabled students to get far more accomplished in the long run.

Furthermore, anything that a teacher does to foster exemplary citizenship only serves to improve the culture within the entire school building. That means student learning and student achievement improve as well.

So if anyone says schools can’t afford the time to incorporate character education into each day, the truth is, they really can’t afford not to.

Urban wrote in Life’s Greatest Lessons, “Our schools, for the most part, do a great job…. But there’s something missing in the curriculum. We don’t teach our students about life itself, about how it works or about what’s essential. Never has there been a greater need for that.”

But Urban is not the only person to speak of the importance of school being about more than the academic focus.

James Truslow Adams, American author and historian, said, “There are obviously two educations: One should teach us how to make a living and the other how to live.”

Educator and author Stephanie Pace Marshall said, “The purpose of education is not to have our children do well in school, but to have them do well in the lives they lead outside of school.”

Dr. Urban makes a very compelling case for why students need this. He said many young people are rude in their mannerisms but don’t even realize they’re being rude because they’ve always been allowed to do so. “We have to help them,” he once said. “We have to teach them.”

So true. As a society, we never should have gotten away from teaching good citizenship and good manners in the first place.

David Wilson Learning Every Day