Counting on Character

Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month

This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.

My Students

All teachers want their students to be respectful and responsible to their classmates and adults. Teaching my scholars about character traits and responsibility is key to instilling positive behavior in them and reinforcing that behavior.

I teach second grade to a group of 22 fun loving, active students who are hardworking and eager to succeed and learn.

My students are eager to learn and to demonstrate their good manners, however at times both of these can be a challenge. Due to this fact, I promote and reward learning and positive behavior displayed by the students. We are in a socioeconomic area where about half of the students in the school are on free or reduced lunch. Each child comes from a unique background that often needs support. My class includes students that are gifted and talented, special education, English Language Learners and have social and emotional issues. While they face many unique challenges and issues, all are eager to succeed and are hardworking scholars.

My Project

First, a character trait library would teach students about different character traits necessary for school and life. Next, I would like to reward students when I catch them displaying the character traits we have been learning so I am asking for a treasure box full of goodies. As a teacher, I reward positive character traits verbally and tangibly. Students thrive on this praise and reward system and the more positive reinforcement that is given the more the class exhibits the desired behaviors. Finally, we do Readers and Writers Workshop which is a wonderful program and involves students working either in partners or in small groups. However, because of the small group work, it often gets loud. My students are very visual and need immediate feedback while working. The Yacker Tracker will be used to help provide my students with a quieter learning environment by which they can be able to visually monitor their noise level.

This project will allow students to learn important character traits that are key for them not only in school but in life.

By donating to this project, you are giving this years students the ability to learn more about self-control and responsibility but also students in the future will benefit from the material as well.