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7th Annual Mechanisms for Change Conference
Connecting With Character
Pictures
from the Conference!
The seventh annual Mechanisms for Change Conference
was held on Wednesday, March 9, 2005 at the Radisson Hotel Sacramento.
The purpose of this year’s conference was to
promote the effective and research proven use of character education
in California's schools. As we raise the expectation for a quality
education for all students, schools and
their community partners must work differently to achieve the desired
academic and citizenship results. This year's conference focused
on connecting character-based approaches with our state's current
equity and reform priorities.
200 K-12 educator leaders, district leadership staff,
school board members, business and community partners, and youth
leaders attended this year's conference. The Center for Youth Citizenship
(CYC) was pleased to host Dr. Kevin Ryan, Director Emeritus of Boston
University's Center for the Advancement of Ethics and Character,
as this year’s keynote speaker. His keynote address Teaching
the Habits: Character Education's Missing Link was both humorous
and insightful.
The conference was emceed by Priscilla Cox, Elk Grove
Unified School District Board Member and CPCE Statewide Advisory
Committee member, and opened with a special presentation of America
the Beautiful, sung by Gus Lease, CTA Liaison and CPCE Statewide
Advisory Committee member. This was followed by a presentation on
Ensuring Equity and Closing the Achievement Gap by Dr.
Alice Furry, Chief Executive Officer, Reading Lions Center. Dr.
Furry's presentation prefaced the Panel Discussion on Major
Trends in Education: The Character-Based Connection. Guest
panelists included:
Lawrence Brown, First Assistant U.S. Attorney, U. S. Attorney’s
Office
David Gordon, Superintendent, Sacramento County Office of
Education
Kathi Cooper, Former Associate Superintendent, Sacramento
City Unified School District
Mary Jane Pearson, Secretary’s Regional Representative
– Region 9,
U.S. Department of Education
David Sanchez, Vice President, California Teachers Association
Panelists provided national, state and regional/local
perspectives on the importance of character and citizenship education
for schools and communities and its relationship to academic success
for all students.
Workshop sessions held through out the day were focused
around the six components of a whole-school approach to character-based
citizenship: Plan & Structure; School Climate & Culture;
Curriculum & Instruction; Assessment & Accountability; Leadership
Development and Outreach & Connections.
Session I workshops included:
The Power of Positive Leaders - Tim Dakin
Reading Takes Character ~ Curriculum Connections - Lynette
Dilley
School-Site Culture: Building Respectful Relationships and Collaboration
Through Effective Communication - Ken Hawkins
Same-Page Dialogues: Strategies for Collaboration - Debbie
Arakel
Brain Research & Character Education - Dr.
Jim Neil, Judge Barry Loncke & Kris Halverson
Evaluating Character-Based Approaches - Bob
Caine, Bob Carlson & Rhonda Sato
Session II Workshops Included:
The Context of our Character: Refocusing the Over-Indulged
Child -
Tim Dakin
Teaching Character: Classroom Instructional Strategies - Lynette
Dilley
Managing Conflict and Change with Character: A Scenarios
& Change Clinic - Ken Hawkins
Leadership: Teaching for Change - Debbie Arakel
Developing Responsible Learners: Sharing Responsibility
with Parents for Character Development, Student Success and
Academic Achievement - Marla Loew
Session III Workshops Included:
Evaluating Character-Based Approaches
- Lynette Dilley, Rhonda Sato & Paul Tuss
Character and Citizenship in High Schools: An Essential
Part of Reform - Joseph Maloney
Schools, Families and Communities: Building Character Bridges
for Student Achievement - Elaine Freedman
Character in Action: Student Leadership Models - Student
Panel
Emcee Priscilla Cox concluded the day with door
prizes from generous donors.
Thoughts from our Conference:
“As a board member I have the honor of visiting many schools
and you can tell when you walk on a campus if it’s connected
with character. It’s encouraging, refreshing, engaging,
uplifting & the students are learning.” ~ EmCee Priscilla
Cox, EGUSD Board Member
The belief that every human being has equal worth – is
why the call for equity is just!
~ Dr. Alice R. Furry, Chief Executive Officer, Reading Lions Center
“A good education must also create good character.”
~ Mary Jane Pearson, Secretary’s Regional Representative
– Region 9, U.S. Department of Education
“Those of us who are sworn to uphold the laws applaud your
collective efforts to promote greater citizenship amongst your
student bodies. For every student you imbue with a respect for
the law, and for being a good citizen, is one less person, whether
now as a juvenile or later as an adult, who will come into the
criminal justice system.” ~ Lawrence Brown, First Assistant
U.S. Attorney, U. S. Attorney’s Office
“A solid learning environment is the result of consistent
character-related behaviors, such as respect, responsibility and
trust.” ~ David Sanchez, Vice President, California Teachers
Association
“Character education is more than doing lesson plans or
tests, it’s about creating a culture: in your school, in
your district, in your community, it’s not the pieces, it’s
the whole.” ~ David W. Gordon, Superintendent, Sacramento
County Office of Education
“Character education that starts with how the adults in
a system can handle disruptive behaviors, how they treat each
other and how they treat students can do much to allow teachers
the time to teach and for students to learn in a healthy environment.”
~ Kathi Cooper, Former Associate Superintendent, Sacramento City
Unified School District
Excerpts from Dr. Kevin Ryan's Keynote Address
Teaching the Habits: Character Education's Missing
Link
“Character education is a very active process…it
isn’t enough to have nice ideas or strong feelings, we have
to make these habits a part of our essence.”
“There’s a wonderful definition of character education…‘It’s
what we do as parents and as teachers to help the young know the
good, love the good, and do the good.’”
“Sow a thought, reap an action;
sow an action, reap a habit;
sow a habit, reap a character;
sow a character, reap a destiny.”
~ Confucious
7 Step Model for Forming a Habit
1. Identify a particular need, lack or problem one has.
2. Understand it.
3. Commit to changing it.
4. Plan how you will accomplish this.
5. Put the plan in action.
6. Self-Monitor yourself as you put the plan in action.
7. Persist throughout the plan until the habit is formed.
2005 Mechanisms for Change
Conference Sponsors
CYC Corporate Citizen
Sacramento County Office of Education
Community Event Underwriter
California Reading Lions Center
Community Event Sponsors
California Teacher’s Association
e.Republic
Community Event Supporter
U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District
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