Current Events and Character in the Classroom

When Whitney Ingram joined the pilot cohort of the ACE Teaching Fellows program, her goal was to enhance the moral education that she and her fellow teachers integrated into their regular classroom lessons.

The question of how to teach and promote positive character development while at the same time covering the necessary curriculum is one that has plagued many talented Catholic school teachers.  Ingram has found much success this year using a strategy she dubs "Character Clips," and the recent annual conference of the Georgia Independent Schools Association provided her with an outstanding opportunity to share her work with fellow educators.

This year's conference, which drew over 1200 participants, was hosted in early November at Holy Spirit Preparatory School, where Ingram and a number of other ACE Advocates serve on the faculty.   Ingram was featured as a presenter, offering a workshop entitled "Current Events and Character in the Classroom:  When Textbooks and Students Don't Speak the Same Language."

A central element of Ingram's workshop was a video illustrating the use of Character Clips, their assessment, and student responses.*  Ingram also offered a number of hard-copy resources to teachers attending the presentation, and below she shares with our ACE Advocates readers a few of her favorite clips and her thoughts on the messages they present.  Enjoy!

• Free Hug Campaign (The message:  Spread kindness and love, and stand up for civic justice.)

• Human Experience trailer (The message:  We are all God's people and share feelings and emotions.  We must look for similarities to unite us, avoiding discrimination and hatred at all costs.)

• 99 Balloons (The message:  Each day is a gift from God, and should be celebrated as such.  This can be a difficult clip to watch!)