ASSESSMENT: MORAL CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
Am I Supporting Children's Moral Character Development?
Dear parents and teachers,
Of all the people in a child's life, parents and teachers have the greatest influence on the development of moral character. Because they spend the most time with children during their formative years, their actions and guidance shape children's core values more than anyone else. This responsibility calls for intentionality. Use the assessment below to reflect on how purposefully you support children's moral growth. Don’t be concerned about your score, most adults haven’t had many opportunities to actively choose and practice character values themselves. While we’re taught basic rules like not lying, cheating, or stealing, and to be honest and fair, real life shows that these lessons aren’t always consistently applied. By intentionally guiding children to choose and embody strong character values, parents and teachers can make a lasting difference in how young people act now and who they become as adults.
Take this assessment with an open mind. This assessment is designed to help adults support the children they care for in choosing and using character values to guide decisions and behaviors. Remember, most adults have never been taught these skills, so celebrate this opportunity to discover how meaningful it is to work with young people as they build character values and use them in everyday situations.
Questions
Instructions: below are 8 statements. Read each statement and respond with either:
1 = True or 2 = False
- I verbally and in a written format identified my values, beliefs, and virtues. These are posted where I review them weekly. I share with young people in my care the importance of having a moral compass.
- I use specific strategies to implement my core values, beliefs, and virtues in my daily thinking, decisions, and behaviors. share with young people in my care that choosing personal character values and learning how to use them helps us develop moral character.
- I share with the youth I care for a few of my personal character values. I explain how I use them to make daily decisions and guide my behaviors.
- I share a word list of character values with youth in my care. I discuss with them what those character values mean and what they look like in real life. For example, “What does kind behavior look like?” “What does respectful behavior look like?” “What does honest behavior look like?"
- I share with young people how I use my character values to guide my decisions and behaviors. For example, one of my chosen character values is honesty. My character values are part of who I am, no matter what situation I am in. If I find a wallet in a dark movie theater, I turn it into lost and found. If I am given more change than I deserve, I return the money to the cashier. If my friend asks me whether they look good in a particular outfit, and they don’t, I will not lie, nor will I say anything that hurts them. I might say something like, “I’ve seen you in much more flattering outfits.”
- I ask young people to give me examples of how they can use their character values to make everyday decisions.
- I observe young people and catch them when they engage in character values (virtues) such as kindness, honesty, respect, or any other virtue.
- When a young person is misbehaving or disrupting, I ask them to remember their chosen virtues. I understand that a simple question derails the disruptive behavior by forcing the upstairs brain to connect with the downstairs brain.
Scoring and using your responses to better support young people in developing their moral compass.
For more tips Read: Help Youth Develop a Moral Compass after completing the assessment.
Suggestions
To be successful at supporting children in developing their moral character these efforts must be ongoing. When working with younger children (K–2nd grade), it might be wise to choose one character value every two to three weeks. For example, weeks 1–3 focus on kindness; weeks 4–6 add respect; weeks 7–9 add helpful, etc. add as many character values as your class can master. Do not add a character value until the majority of the class has mastered at least 3.
When you can consistently answer true to all 8 statements, congratulations, you have successfully supported children in developing a moral compass.
Scoring Instructions
If you answered false to any of the statements, simply implement the statement so you can answer true.
- For example, to answer true for statement 1: Share with young people in your care the importance of having a moral compass.
- To answer true for statement 2: Share with young people in your care, that choosing personal character values and learning how to use them helps them develop a moral character.
- To answer true for statement 3: Share with youth I care for a few of your personal character values, and explain how you use them to make daily decisions and guide my behaviors.
- To answer true for statement 4: Share a word list of character values with youth in your care. Discuss with them what those character values mean and what they look like in real life. For example, “What does kind behavior look like?” “What does respectful behavior look like?” “What does honest behavior look like?
- To answer true for statement 5: Share with young people how you use your character values to guide your decisions and behaviors. Provide examples. Explain that your character values are part of who you are, no matter the situation. For example, you might have found a wallet in a dark theater and turned it in to the lost and found, and another time you might have returned money to the grocery cashier who gave you too much change. And you might have an example of a friend asking you how a particular outfit looked on them, and you didn't want to hurt their feelings, but you wanted to be honest, so you told them you believed another outfit would look more flattering. Encourage young people to share moral dilemmas and support them in working through them.
- To answer true for statement 6: Ask young people to give me examples of how they can use their character values to make everyday decisions.
- To answer true for statement 7: Observe young people and catch them when they engage in character values (virtues) such as kindness, honesty, respect, or any other virtue.
- To answer true for statement 8: When a young person is misbehaving or disrupting, I ask them to remember their chosen virtues. I understand that a simple question derails the disruptive behavior by forcing the upstairs brain to connect with the downstairs brain.
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