KIDS OF CHARACTER 12/01 - This Week's Character Mentoring Message

KIDS OF CHARACTER 12/01

This Week's Character Mentoring Message
The Classroom Teacher: A Portrait of Ethical Excellence

In the inaugural newsletter of excellence & ethics, a collaborative project of the Center for the 4th and 5th R’s and the Institute for Excellence and Ethics, the work of Hal Urban is cited with excerpts from his latest book, From the Classroom: 20 Things Good Teachers Do.

Urban taught high school for 35 years. Now, he is a speaker on character education to teachers, parents and students internationally. During his many years in the classroom, he developed, My Mission as a Teacher: A Promise to My Students, which embraced nine commitments he made to bring out the best in his students.

1. I’ll help you perform at your highest level in both academics and character…to do your best and be your best self.

2. I’ll treat you with the utmost respect…the same way I expect you to treat me and your classmates.

3. I’ll do everything in my power to create the best possible classroom atmosphere…one which I can teach and you can learn.

4. I’ll come to each class prepared with a meaningful lesson plan.

5. I’ll be consistent in maintaining high academic standards, while following my very strong belief that there’s no substitute for hard work.

6. Whenever possible, I’ll try to connect school to the larger world outside.

7. I’ll teach “life lessons” along with academic lessons.

8. I’ll make myself available to help you in academics and personal matters.

9. I’ll always give you my best.

Urban’s nine statements define ethical leadership for the educator. Each statement is a Performance Character Deliverable that Urban believed was essential to daily bring his A Game to his work as a high school teacher. His promise to students…year in and year out…defined raising-the-bar performance standards that he expected of himself. Urban was not a show-up-phone-it-in-professional. He intended to impact the lives of young people by demonstrating a tenacious commitment to his compelling and positive mission statement. Clearly, his mission had meaning. The students he taught were the beneficiaries of this educator’s ethical excellence.

To request being placed on the mailing list of the excellence & ethics newsletter, contact character@cortland.edu.

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