Character building with Learning for Life

Teaching Pre K-8, Nov/Dec 2003

THE FLORIDA REPORT

Learning for Life Works

Beginning in 1999, the state of Florida provided the Learning for Life program to nine school districts. In 2003, it had grown to 18 school districts.

Learning for Life is an educational program designed to meet the needs of youth and schools. It helps youth meet the challenge of growing up by teaching character and good decision-making skills and then linking those skills to the real world.

Developed by professional educators and child development experts, the age-appropriate and grade-specific lesson plans of Learning for Life have been praised for their ability to get youth involved through the use of such teaching techniques as role playing, small group discussions, and reflective and dilemma exercises.

Approximately 30,000 students in various grade levels participated in a Learning for Life assessment developed by the Center for the Advancement of Ethics and Character, Boston University School of Education. Students were assessed on eight character traits before participating in the Learning for Life program. A post-program assessment measured increases in knowledge gained and recognition of those traits in daily situations. The largest increases were in caring/fairness, 7.8 percent; citizenship, 7.3 percent; and respect, 6.9 percent. The statewide averages are listed below.

Mission Statement

It is the mission of Learning for Life to serve others by helping to instill core values in young people and in other ways prepare them to make ethical choices throughout their lives so they can achieve their full potential.

Elementary Program; Starting Out Right

Learning for Life's kindergarten through sixth-grade curriculum consists of more than 60 lesson plans per grade designed to reinforce social, ethical, and academic skills in areas such as critical and creative thinking, character-education activities, soft skills, practical living skills, building self-worth, writing and other language arts, and participating citizenship.

A family involvement component extends each lesson plan into the students' home environment.

Seventh- and Eighth-Grade Program: Discovering Careers

The 7th- and 8th-grade program lessons are developed around the students' self and community awareness. The program provides community role models to interact with and motivate youth and share their personal paths to success. The program also includes a series of 50 interactive workshops that help youth develop and assess the personal skills and values needed to make future career choices.

An interactive CD-ROM game is included to help students analyze their own character traits.

Senior High School Program: Real-World Skills

The senior high program features 26 character-education activities and 35 interactive workshops. The character-education activities are proposed dilemmas that the students discuss and develop solutions. The 35 workshops teach the practical skills necessary for youth to acquire a job and stay employed. An interactive CD-ROM career game is included.

The workshops are followed by a series of career seminars presented by community representatives who offer students in-depth understanding and firsthand knowledge of the career fields they've chosen.