Mali spent nine years in the classroom teaching English, history, and math and has performed and lectured for teachers around the world. His one-man show "Teacher! Teacher!" won the jury prize for best solo performance at the 2001 U. S. Comedy Arts Festival.

One of the original spoken-word artists to appear on HBO's "Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry," Mali is considered by many to be the most successful poetry slam strategist of all time, having led six of his seven national poetry slam teams to the finals and winning the
championship himself a record four times.

To inspire returning and new teachers for the year ahead, we asked Mali what students have taught him, about the miracle of education, and why all poets love geometry.

CC!: A student once told you, “You really love doing this, don’t you?” What percentage of teachers do you think love teaching?
MALI: I don’t know, but probably more than I think. The secret is connecting what you do with who you are. You can’t be one kind of person in your private life and someone else when you teach. Students sense that.

CC!: In another poem about teachers, “Miracle Workers,” you wrote: “Education is the miracle; I’m just the worker.” Shouldn’t it be the other way around?
MALI: I don’t think so. Imagine a teacher saying, “I am the miracle and education is my worker.” That’s putting the credit in the wrong place. The divine moment in education is when someone gets it. If you’re in the right place at the right time, you can see it in their eyes. The teacher may assemble all the ingredients and light the fire, but the miracle is the brew and the steam. It would be wrong to take credit for that.

CC!: On your website you refer to “America’s love/hate relationship with the teaching profession.” What did you mean?
MALI: Is it possible to admire a profession and hold it in contempt? Everyone agrees in theory that teachers should be paid more, but no one seems too concerned about doing anything about it. They’re only teachers after all.

CC!: Why don’t you like No Child Left Behind?
MALI: It assumes all children are the same and learn the same way. But they don’t. It shifts the teacher’s focus to the slowest kid in class. Entire schools are being penalized because some students need extra help.

CC!: In the 1950s, academics supplanted character development as the educational priority of our nation’s school system. Was that good or bad?
MALI: I’ll bet they thought it was good at the time. In retrospect, it’s been disastrous.

CC!: Then define educational utopia.
MALI: A system in which every student receives a quality education – with the teachers and resources necessary – and every parent feels his or her tax dollars are being spent wisely and fairly.
(Ed: And we would add character education!)

CC!: You debuted your performance poetry at a strip club called The Flamingo Exotic Dance & Catering Lounge. Would your poetry have turned out any differently if you’d started in a convent?
MALI: I would still be writing the same poetry because I’ve always kept my audience in mind. It’s the job of any poet to have at least a 20-minute set of poetry ready to present to any audience.

CC!: You once said, “I love geometry. All poets do.” What did you mean?
MALI: Poetry is about creating images using specifics that are widely accessible. Geometry is the reverse: universal laws that govern shapes and how they can be applied to specific examples. Poets don’t have heads for numbers. But shapes, yes.

CC!: Poet Ralph Waldo Emerson said genius is believing what is true for you in your heart is true for all men. You said, “I want to be a genius in the eyes of Emerson.” What would he think of your poetry?
MALI: Emerson would love me if he heard me, but probably dismiss me as vulgar if he just read me. He’d tell me to experience nature more directly (which I should), try to open people’s hearts more (which I should), and meditate more (which I should). I’d tell him to have another beer (which he should).

CC!: Who was your most unforgettable student?
MALI: I wrote a poem called “Tony Steinberg: Brave Seventh Grade Viking Warrior” about a kid who died of cancer. The boy that was based on was unforgettable. Two weeks into his first year, he was already escorting prospective new students around. He was a gentleman.

CC!: What was the most valuable thing a student ever taught you?
MALI: That it’s more important for me to love my students than it is for them to like me.

CC!: What was your most satisfying ah-hah moment as a teacher? As a poet?
MALI: I once had a moment teaching math that I’ll never forget. Robert was having trouble understanding the Identity Property of Zero, which says any product will be zero if just one factor is zero. When he finally got it, he said, “This changes everything!” As a poet, I knew I’d struck gold when I wrote the line, “It is not enough these days to simply question authority. You have to speak with it, too.”

CC!: We loved your analogy: “Teaching isn’t about filling a bucket; it’s about lighting a fire.” Could you expound on that?
MALI: Isn’t that a great quote? It’s Yeats. Teaching is not about pouring knowledge into something until it’s full; it’s about starting a process that will continue on its own.

CC!: Another of our favorites is: “I know the difference between questions to answer and questions to ask.” What’s the difference?
MALI: I once had a teacher in graduate school, Dr. Jerome S. Dees, who never asked a question he knew the answer to. That meant he spent a lot of time thinking of questions to bring to class. I found that very honorable. Often the best answer to a student’s question is, “What do you think?” Questions indicate places in the brain that are smoking. My job as teacher is to coax that smoke into a flame – and then get out of the way.

To learn more about Taylor Mali and how you can book a workshop at your school or in your community, visit his site: www.taylormali.com

Because the present helter-skelter method of measuring dropout rates has led to the erroneous conventional wisdom that national rates are a mere 15 percent, many school districts can’t get funding to deal with the issue.

U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings recently urged that a uniform measurement system be instituted to confirm what educators believe are much higher numbers. Only then, it is hoped, will “the silent epidemic” be truly heard.

Why Are So Many Kids Quitting School?
Although there is a strong connection between place and performance, little research has been done to verify it. Qualitative evidence suggests the following issues may contribute to higher dropout rates:

• Declining economic conditions in urban cities inspire a sense of hopelessness among its inhabitants, particularly those at the lower end of the economic spectrum.

• Increased financial pressure on families of all backgrounds leads to working adults spending longer hours away from the home and family, resulting in greater self-reliance among adolescents than before.

• Increasingly intense media and advertising campaigns pressure young adults to buy into high-end lifestyles, placing greater economic demands on them and their families.

• Flunking grades in early years
• Lack of parental support for academic achievement
• Pressure from peers to engage in activities that take time out of studying (including pressure to join gangs)
• Loss of a family member through death or separation
• Addition of a family member through pregnancy or remarriage
• Necessity to earn money to help the family

Larger class sizes and lack of expectations for many high school students combine to create an environment where there is little time for student-teacher personal interaction to help them figure out what it is they want to do with their life and scant opportunity to explore their strengths or apply them. As a result, the more tantalizing and pressing short-term life demands are more appealing and important than their school priorities and promise instant gratification.

How Can Schools Diffuse the Situation?
Many have implemented character education into their curricula to involve kids more with their community, teachers, parents, and fellow students.

More than just teaching values and telling students they should be respectful, the most successful programs bring students into the dialogue. Harnessing their leadership skills, tapping into their knowledge of contemporary challenges, and giving them access to the world beyond the school gates can validate both them and the relevance of their school work.

Studies show that struggling students respond well when academics are linked to practical applications and when they’re given opportunities to learn life skills. Too often, high schools overemphasize college preparation and dismiss career preparation.

Here are strategies to embed high academic and vocational standards into your curricula:

• Identify key standards. Highlight those that will most likely predict career success. Courses that are littered with standards offer scant learning opportunities if teachers and students are struggling to meet them all.
• Involve students in the decision-making process. Work with them to identify project-based learning programs where they can apply their knowledge, work closely with peers and teachers to build on what they know, and develop new strategies to expand their knowledge. Encourage students to take responsibility for their learning and emphasize the need to respect different learning styles and objectives.
  
• Encourage the business community to participate in the curriculum. Training the future workforce is what schools are all about. Contact your Chamber of Commerce and work with representatives from businesses that actively invest in youth. Develop Work Readiness programs that certify youth for employment in entry-level positions. Emphasize to businesses the importance of a more ethical workforce. (Who wants to hire young people who have poor character?) Read the Teacher’s Lounge article in this edition for more tips on involving the community.
  
• Maintain a set of values for staff and students. Set high standards and don’t compromise. Reward successes and respond to failures with a comprehensive support system to prevent students from falling between the cracks. Stress that everyone is responsible for each member of the community – in school and beyond.

Philosopher Quintillion enjoined that “the job of the teacher is to identify the [students’] strengths.” We encourage you to take his words one step further. Direct those strengths into your community where the contribution of every student is valued and where character counts.

Secretary Spelling’s proposed measures are accessible in the Federal Register and open for public comment. Title 1 – Improving the Academic Achievement of the Disadvantaged

Many schools are implementing character-education frameworks into their curriculum to meet "essential life skills" standards. To analyze their program's effectiveness and to receive funding for it, they need data. Too little info can hurt, but bad data can be worse.

Not surprisingly, their conclusion caused a national furor: Black, Hispanic, and special-education students demonstrate less "sound moral character and ethical judgment" than white and Asian-American students.

Fairfax Board member Tina Hone walked off the dais when the report came out. She told the Post: "There is a fundamental difference between looking at race vis-à-vis the achievement gap in academics where you have hard data" and gaps in such criteria as integrity, respect, and responsibility.

Fisher wrote that Fairfax's overreaching was a classic example of educators "disaggregating data": looking at children not as individuals but as members of a group. "The move to quantify grows from a religious devotion to test scores. And the resort to race stems from the balkanization of society, the self-destructive notion that we are a collection of groups rather than a nation of individuals.

"[Data] keeps the central office workers employed. It makes politicians look like they are doing something. And private industry loves it because they can create whole new classes of consultants out of each initiative. But mainly, it's a lot easier than teaching a child one on one."

Teacher Bias
What the story uncovered was the ugly reality behind it: We're always – consciously or unconsciously – judging students' character and behavior based on their demographic group. Whether it occurs in a research study, a classroom, or society, painting an ethnic group's values with a broad brush is dicey. Are your conclusions based on common cultural traits or on prejudice, misinformation, and/or unawareness?

For educators to tout evidence proclaiming that certain cultures have a "morality gap" is particularly onerous because it ignores the existence of possible preconceptions and/or lack of knowledge about students' cultures, learning styles, and family backgrounds. "This is on the teachers," Hone said. "It's not a problem of one group of kids."

Numerous studies bear this out. According to Clotfelter et al (2005), black students are commonly treated differently than white students. They're more likely to be placed in special-education classes and less likely to be placed in classes for the gifted and talented. Stigmas about one's group identity create chronic stress that can undermine performance.

Other studies have revealed that expectations for black students are, on average, lower than for white students (Baron, Tom & Cooper, 1985; Ferguson, 1998; Figlio, 2005), and their perceptions of Asian-American students as being the "model minority" persist despite the fact that Asia contains nearly 4 billion people from more than 50 countries and widely diverse cultures.

The harm in perpetuating either positive or negative stereotypes is that if we believe in either, we believe in both. If we conclude that certain races are academically and socially successful because of their unique cultural or racial strengths, then we'll most likely infer that groups who fall short are culturally and racially weaker. (Are you culturally competent to teach character education? Test yourself.)

How to Properly Teach Character
What's even flimsier than trying to determine whose values are better is deciding which ones are. Ethicists have debated for centuries what the ultimate character credo is, but in the long run, each doctrine has come up short.

In 1992, Josephson Institute gathered a diverse group of educators and ethicists in Aspen, Colorado to see if they could come up with a set of enduring, universal ethical values that everyone could agree on. A credo that would transcend differences in race, religion, politics, gender, class, and culture. A set of moral ground rules that could apply to anyone, anywhere, anytime.

The result was the Six Pillars of Character: trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship. Across the nation, this simple framework has proven to be not only critical to the success of students but educators as well. Do you instill character lessons based on your personal values or on universal ethics that apply to everyone?

How to Properly Assess Character
Do you deal with misbehaving and low achieving kids in your classroom as individuals or as a demographic group? Do you judge youngsters based on your biases and background or on your cultural competence of their values and beliefs?

In Ethics in a Multicultural Context, authors Sherlon P. Pack-Brown and Carmen Braun Williams write that teachers and professionals need to develop multicultural and diversity "lenses" and "hearing aids" to accurately see differences and similarities reflective of race, ethnicity, culture, and gender.

Although conceding that it's unrealistic to expect or require educators to know everything about all populations, the authors added, "practicing within a cultural context mandates at the very least that such professionals build a helping foundation that is grounded in the cultural worldviews and life experiences of those they serve…and the impact of the dominant culture on these populations."

The Fairfax study demonstrated that during any data assessment of a character-education program, teachers, counselors, and administrators must, before the task is even contemplated, let alone begun, and then at every stage thereafter:

• Determine and deal with their own biases, misinformation, and lack of knowledge about race, gender, and other cultural issues.
• Determine and deal with their shortcomings in teaching ethical issues in a multicultural context.
• Ensure that their tools and methods of data gathering and analysis are sound, appropriate, specific to the context, and free of cultural bias or misinformation.

Although methods and theories of teaching character education will continue to evolve, one approach will remain constant, Fisher asserts: "Just as solutions to a child's struggle to learn to read must be molded to each kid's needs, so too must each moral compass be fixed, one at a time."

Ethics in a Multicultural Context, Pack-Brown & Williams, 2003; sciencemag.org, 9/06; rethinkingschools.org, winter 2007/2008; "Understanding Trends in the Black-White Achievement Gap," Page, Murnane & Willett, 3/08; washingtonpost.com, 4/10/08; Potomac Confidential, 4/10/08; edweek.org, 4/16/08

And now, we have a mess on our hands.

Breaking the Ice on Global Warming

Almost exactly one year after global warming became a universally accepted issue, a chunk of ice seven times the size of Manhattan dislodged from an Antarctic shelf and disintegrated into the ocean.

Because global warming and cooling are linked to industrial economics, the issue is often made into a political tug-of-war that causes more contention than consensus. “We're in a giant car heading toward a brick wall and everyone's arguing over where they're going to sit,” muses Canadian geneticist and environmentalist David Suzuki.

Everyone has a role to play in facing what U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has called the “defining challenge of our age.” It’s up to educators to spread the word. Is your school teaching climate change? If not, now is the time to start.

Four Ways to Grow Green

1. Avert political gridlock with character education. Educators are often pressured into staying within a defined curriculum to avoid turmoil. This makes it challenging to introduce politically charged issues such as global warming. For this one, stress that climate change is a human issue (not a political one) that will economically and socially affect people all over the globe.

   Enlist the language of the Six Pillars of Character when persuading administrators or community members. Argue that good citizens of the 21st century respect nature and have a responsibility to one another to maintain a clean, habitable environment. As denizens of a global village, we also have a duty to be fair when distributing and consuming limited natural resources.

   Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair summed it up when he said, “The only society that works today is one founded on mutual respect, on a recognition that we have a responsibility collectively and individually to help each other on the basis of each other's equal worth. A selfish society is a contradiction in terms.”

2. Avoid talk of the apocalypse. “We have just ten years to avert a major catastrophe that could send our entire planet into a tail-spin of epic destruction involving extreme weather, floods, droughts, epidemics, and killer heat waves beyond anything we have ever experienced,” warns the documentary An Inconvenient Truth. How do you break that kind of news to a kid?

   Start by explaining the science behind global warming. Like the saying goes, people fear what they don’t understand. Stick with what we know. Touch on, but don’t dwell on, the hypothetical consequences of climate change. It’s important that kids grasp the gravity of the situation, but scaring them won’t reduce the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere.

3. Change the world. Even though scientists predict dire consequences if we continue along the trajectory of industrial “progress,” many are optimistic about the future. Glenn Albrecht, an Australian researcher and professor who studies the effects of climate change on the human psyche, offers this thought: “I’m not willing to give up on encouraging change towards sustainability even in the face of what looks like overwhelming negative forces.”

   It’s an exciting time to be alive. As teachers, we can get the ball rolling by encouraging youngsters  to play a pivotal role in the fate of climate change. Empower your students to live sustainably, promote eco-awareness, and get involved in the political process.

4. Take advantage of technology. Because the U.S. government is just now accepting that human activity has contributed to climate change, textbook publishers are scrambling to introduce comprehensive coverage of the issue. Look to the Web for teaching resources. As a start, we recommend these pages (listed alphabetically):

   11th Hour Action.com
   An extension of the documentary, The 11th Hour, which explores how we live, how we impact the earth’s ecosystems, and what we can do to change our course. The following pages offer specific ways students of all ages can get involved in the green movement:
   Take Action – Schools and Colleges
   Take Action – Kids

   AIT in the Classroom
   Supplemental materials to An Inconvenient Truth, the award-winning documentary on former Vice-President Al Gore’s campaign to make global warming a worldwide issue.

   The Center for Eco Literacy
   Dedicated to education for sustainable living.

   Children and Urban Agriculture
   Links to programs, projects, and resources for educating children about sustainability.

   The Cloud Institute for Sustainable Education
   Inspires young people to think about their world, their place in it, and their ability to influence it.

   EPA Climate Change Kids Site
   Offers information, games, and resources for teachers and administrators.

   Global Challenge
   Challenges students to get involved in solving the world’s most intractable problems, including climate change, poverty, and disease.

   NOW Classroom
   A television program and accompanying Web database provided by PBS dedicated to exploring current events. Use the search function to find information on global warming.

   Roots & Shoots
   Jane Goodall Institute’s program is a powerful, youth-driven, global network of more than 8,000 groups in almost 100 countries that encourages service-learning projects that promote care and concern for animals, the environment, and the human community. A special segment of the site is dedicated to educators.

   The Urban and Environmental Policy Institute
   An umbrella group for community-based sustainability initiatives, education, and other programs.

Revolve or Evolve
Fewer than 300 years after the Industrial Revolution, modern civilization has arrived at the brink of its adolescence. Technology won’t disappear, but we have an opportunity to transcend our self-absorbed, industrial youth. Will we mature into a respectful, globally conscious, sustainable citizenry? Or will we continue to rebel against nature? Educators have the power to shape the future. You decide.

CHARACTER COUNTS! works best when it is ubiquitous. Kids learn about the Six Pillars of Character in the classroom, but it’s important that the message is reinforced in sports and after-school programs, in the home, and in the job market. Birmingham is determined to succeed.

Dr. Robert Holmes, Alabama Power senior vice president of ethics and corporate concerns and vice president of the Josephson Institute Board of Governors, spoke to the participants about his passion for character education and its necessity in the youth environment. Holmes was joined in his enthusiasm by fellow JI Board Member Peggy Sparks, founder of Sparks Consulting, Inc.

Schools involved in the training included Birmingham City Schools, Hill Elementary School, Madison City Schools, and Madison County Schools. Each school sent multiple participants, which allowed them to take advantage of the “Creating a Vision and a Plan” activity when brainstorming implementation goals and ideas.

Other groups included the A. G. Gaston Boys & Girls Club and Miles College, where professors plan to teach future educators the importance of character education and how to incorporate the CC! framework in the classroom.

Participants had a great time interacting with others from the Birmingham community.  They were excited to go out into the city and make it a place for character education and CC!

Art Teacher Suzette Morrow of Potterville High School knows how to make character education fun. Students in two of her classes recently completed a series of large murals depicting the Six Pillars of Character in creative ways.

Morrow’s 1st period students created a scene that incorporates their school mascot, the panther, with the Six Pillars. Students in her 7th period class used the CC! Sticks Mosaic Posters as inspiration for their murals. Before proceeding, the class demonstrated responsibility by obtaining permission to use the Mosaic concept from both the artist and the CC! National Office.

Morrow’s role in the mural project was as facilitator rather than director. This hands-off approach allowed her students to visually express their understanding of the Six Pillars of Character. They were participants in an educational experience, not just recipients of information.

Morrow has actively engaged in CHARACTER COUNTS! for several years, but was recently offered the opportunity to attend a Character Development Seminar. "Like most cases with new knowledge, it opens the mind to even more questions and that is where I am now," she said.

Morrow’s thirst for knowledge guarantees that character education in her classroom will be proactive, intentional, and purposeful. And she knows that unlocking her students’ creativity is the secret to making it fun. Congratulations to all on a job well done!

"The event was special for many reasons," noted Bridgeview Elementary Principal Tony Hiatt. "However, the integration of literacy, health promotion, community involvement and CHARACTER COUNTS! awareness was perhaps the most powerful piece."

She and her husband are thinking about adopting a child and have been looking into their education options. Not very promising choices. But what if she saw things in a different light?

A school is a microcosm of its community and is in a unique position to promote students’ cultural diversity as an asset rather than as an obstacle to success. If 80 percent aren’t making the grade on standardized tests, we need to ask if that is the correct measure of them as capable individuals.

Schools are responsible for fostering students’ academic abilities, and an important aspect of that obligation is to develop a healthy sense of identity. If English Language Learners are categorized as “the 80 percent of students who fail,” how will that affect their development, and by extension, their identities as lifelong learners?

A Community of Understanding
One way to tackle the challenge of growing numbers of ELLs is to develop links with their home cultures through their native language. According to Joshua Fishman (1991), language is connected with culture in three ways:

When these three dimensions are considered, the importance of maintaining the linguistic variety and developing a community understanding of these cultures becomes more apparent.

Recent studies suggest that children who are able to explain procedures to their mothers are more likely to be learning them. The juxtaposition of English becomes crucial to those families. It needs to be taught in a way that draws on the cultural experiences of students to engage them in learning while at the same time keeping them connected with their home life experiences.

To successfully achieve this, educators should seek to make connections between what students already know and what they have yet to learn.

Scaffolding Knowledge
Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky called this process scaffolding. It involves helping students develop a comfort zone and then encouraging them to go beyond it. It’s the same way babies learn to walk, using furniture and other objects to support themselves until they get the hang of standing unaided.

In the school community, these support systems come in many forms, but they need to be meaningful and coherent. Schools should develop a common vocabulary for learning that provides students with recognizable and consistent touchstones of knowledge in every area of their development. The standardized test score, then, is just one gauge of scaffolded knowledge. Unfortunately, it doesn't measure how the knowledge is applied.

My Impressions
When I visited the school where “80 percent of the students fail basic literacy tests,” this is what I found:

• A thriving international community of students who view themselves as learners, not failures.
• A dedicated and innovative staff who actively encourage parental involvement regardless of their linguistic abilities.
• Regular cultural celebrations reflecting the diversity of the student body.
• Weekly family literacy nights to encourage mutual communication and understanding.
• Partnerships with community businesses and local concerns leading to a thriving support network.

Although 80 percent of the students may not be passing the English Literacy Assessment, accomplishments are being made in other areas. These have more to do with valuing the students for their uniqueness and the part they can play in the community that nurtures them. Their identities as learners are being created in their environment, and their potential is becoming evident in many more ways than can be measured in standardized tests.

The CHARACTER COUNTS! pillar for January was Responsibility, which means being dependable. Students were encouraged to share their talents and time with others, and to make a difference in their community. Students who met their goal of 10 acts of service received MLK Dream Team stickers. Those who demonstrated outstanding servitude received Dream Team wrist-bands.

The Dream Team 2008 rally embraced Dr. King’s belief that "Everyone can be great, because everyone can serve." During the program, Mayor Kris Ockomon read a proclamation of "Dream Team Day 2008" and teachers shared service stories from their schools. ACS Superintendant Miki Lowe said, “The MLK celebration each year is a wonderful event for our students. It reminds them of the sacrifices Dr. King and others have made.”

Congratulations to all who participated in, planned, or sponsored such a successful event! A special TRRFCC shoutout goes to the 1,500+ Anderson students, the "Dream Team" Planning Committee, the Anderson Area Youth Leadership Academy, The Center for Character Development, Head Start of Madison County, Bethesda Missionary Baptist Youth, New Hope United Methodist Church, the Salvation Army, the Historic Paramount Theatre, the city of Anderson, Anderson University, and CHARACTER COUNTS! Of Madison County.

We’re talking about MySpace.com accounts.

Last August, the number of account holders tipped the 100 million mark, and its chief rival, Facebook.com, has more than 58 million active users. Unfortunately, the massive popularity and proliferation of such social networking sites, which are open to all, have created a deluge of problems from bad (one third of teens in America have been targeted by cyber bullies according to a survey by the Pew Internet American Life Project) to worse (sexual predators use the sites to approach and kidnap youngsters) to unthinkable (disturbing comments on a members’ sites have led some kids to
commit suicide).

The National School Boards Association encourages educators to find ways to take advantage of online social networks because students use them so much.

During a Senate hearing on online safety in July 2007, Finkelhor told the Senate Commerce Committee that only 5 percent of offenders conceal the fact that they're adults from their victims, 80 percent are explicit about their sexual intentions, just 5 percent of online sex crimes against children involve violence, and only 3 percent entail an abduction. The predominant victims are not young children, but teenagers.

The media’s skewed representation of what’s really happening is stymieing policymakers and other organizations from preventing predatory crimes. The predominant scenarios do not involve adult molesters posing as other children to set up abductions or assaults.

In one case, a teen ran away from home to meet an older man she had encountered online, shared intimate information with, and met on several occasions. Her refusal to cooperate with police allowed the offender to go free. In 73 percent of such crimes, meetings between youngster and offender are numerous. Teens are lured by flattery and by being treated as an adult, something that may not be happening in their life.

"[Students] need to be educated about...why they should be discouraging, not patronizing, sites and people who are doing offensive things online."

The research suggests that preventing such crimes needs to go beyond simply telling children not to post personal information online. More extensive sexual information and advice is necessary.

“They need to be educated about why hooking up with a 32-year-old has major drawbacks like jail, bad press, and public embarrassment and why they should be discouraging, not patronizing, sites and people who are doing offensive things online, fascinating as they seem,” says Finkelhor.

Losing Your License
Even lesser events related to social-networking sites can have serious repercussions, particularly for teachers.

A young teacher-in-training attending Millersville University, Pennsylvania, was told days before graduating that she would not receive her teacher’s license because her MySpace account was deemed inappropriate. Some photographs she had posted showed her as a student drinking what could be construed as alcohol at a party, setting a bad example to students who might see her page if she became a teacher. Just like that, her career went the way of the dot-com bubble.

For that reason, teachers are often warned to stay away from these sites in the aftermath of such high-profile cases.

Some, however, make good use of them to increase communication and improve relationships with their students. The National School Boards Association encourages educators to take advantage of online social networks because students view them so much and because the sites can benefit student-teacher relationships and increase interest in extracurricular activities.

At a music club in a Missouri school, meeting and event attendance increased by 50 to 60 percent after the club created a Facebook profile. Students preferred going there for notifications rather than checking their school e-mail address, which was seen as uncool.

One teacher who uses Facebook to bridge the communication gap between herself and her students said the relationships with some of her students have expanded in ways that never would have happened had their contact been limited to just the classroom. “The students can see from my interests on my profile that I like Eastern philosophy. One of them listed that as an interest too, so we shared thoughts on a topic that would otherwise never have entered our dialog,” wrote Alyssa Giese in a 2007 Teacher Magazine article.

Students also appreciate the informal setting of online communication. One admitted he never would have contributed to class discussions, but the anonymity of online communication emboldened him to participate. That, in turn, changed his teacher’s perception of his discussion abilities.

Others, however, are not so excited.

To Create or Not to Create?
A recent question posed by Teacher Magazine asked its readers if creating a Facebook profile helps communication between teachers and students. One post answered: “Is this question some kind of April Fools’ joke? The individual who came up with this question (and the supervisor who allowed it) needs to go directly to jail, do not pass go, and do not collect two hundred dollars.”

Not all posts were as ingenious, but there is clearly a lack of guidance when it comes to teachers creating profiles, as another reader wrote: “… [it’s] a boundary violation, and hence, unethical.”

Just as children and teens need guidelines on how to use social networking sites and other Internet communication tools, so do teachers. Rather than imposing on our right to free speech, it’s better to mark boundaries for expression that everyone accepts. Educating teachers and students together on the educational benefits of social-networking sites can create a better understanding between them as they explore online communication in a more safe and responsible manner.

Five Safe Ways To Maintain Your Site:

1. What you post isn’t private or temporary. Unless you restrict access to your profile, the information is public and will remain so until you take it down.
2. Don’t post photos or information you wouldn’t want your current or future employer to see.
3. Familiarize yourself with current netiquette, including how to respond to unwelcome comments on your profile or harassment from instant messenger users.
4. If you decide to meet an online contact, tell someone you trust where you’re going and who you’re seeing. Be sure to meet in a public place. If anything happens, someone has information that can help locate you.
5. Educate yourself about the realities of online communication. It isn’t all doom and gloom. If used correctly and responsibly, these sites can have immense educational benefit.

For more information about how to contract a one-day in-service to help your school become more aware, contact the CC! national office at: 1-800-711-2670

Juniata Valley Elementary plans to feature one Pillar of Character during each of the remaining five months of school. Assemblies will kick-off each new Pillar and are scheduled to include performances by the Juniata Valley High School drama club, Juniata’s own staff members, and additional groups. In January, the school will focus on Respect. Because January is basketball season, blue football helmet awards will be replaced by yellow basketballs.

Students aren’t the only ones who are rewarded for exhibiting good character. Every week, Juniata Valley Elementary School highlights one staff member who models the Six Pillars of Character. That staff member is given a coveted parking space for the week and their picture is posted at the school entrance. The staffer’s colleagues are invited to describe how that person lives out one of the Pillars in their every-day life. The school believes that teaching by example is imperative to creating a culture of character.