Summer Institute and Character Education Conferences
- For a listing of character education conferences around the country, visit the Character Education Partnership's web site.
Registrants for the 2009 Summer Institute: Click HERE for final details.
15th annual Smart & Good Schools Summer Institute (K-12):
"Maximizing the Power of Character
for Teaching and Learning"
JUNE 29 - JULY 1, 2009
Registration deadline extended to June 22!
Special Offer:
From June 10 - 22: For every registration, get another at half-price!
Scroll down for printable flyer and registration form.
Hosted by
and 
Location: Sperry Learning Center at the State University of New York College at Cortland.
Flexible format: Register for 1, 2, or 3 days in any combination. (Lunch, book, and conference take-aways are provided each day.
A quote from a previous attendee:
The Institute was invaluable. I was especially pleased with the resources we received, the caliber of presenters, the hands-on strategies we could immediately implement, and the networking that enabled us to share ideas with other educators. .
Click here for more quotes from previous attendees.
Daily Schedule and Workshops
MONDAY, 6/29
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Building Moral Intelligence: What Parents and Teachers Can Do Soon to have her own network television show, Michele Borba is one of the foremost experts on parenting and character education in the nation today. A dynamic and entertaining speaker, she keynotes conferences and consults with schools all over the world. She is an award-winning author of 22 books, including Building Moral Intelligence, and parenting expert on NBC's "Today" Show. Her keynote will describe many strategies for developing moral intelligence in the classroom and home. Click on name for full bio. |
11:45 - 1:00 pm: Lunch; Character Education Book Sale
Noon - 1:00 pm, Optional luncheon talk:
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Using Data to Plan and Improve Your Character Education Program (all levels) —Dr. Vlad Khmelkov and Ms. Mary Guilfoile How can you gather data on your students’ performance character (best work) and moral character (best behavior) and use that data to plan and evaluate your school’s character education initiative? Dr. Vlad Khmelkov will explain what the instrument CREE (Collective Responsibility for Excellence & Ethics) is designed to measure; how to use it to get baseline data on your students’ character and school culture; how to understand the findings; and how to use them to plan and monitor your character education effort. Mary Guilfoile will present a case study describing the process her school created for using the CREE in a way that gets staff and students to “own” the results and make improvements in their school. The session includes handouts that will help you share this information with colleagues in your school. The CREE, including versions for students, faculty, and parents, is the primary evaluation instrument being used in the Smart & Good Schools Initiative (ww.cortland.edu/character), including pilot sites in New York, Iowa, and Kansas. To learn more about the CREE and download the instrument, go to www.excellenceandethics.com.Dr. Vladimir Khmelkov is vice-president and director of research and technology at the Institute for Excellence & Ethics. Mary Guilfoile is director of faculty learning at The Devereaux Glenholme School, CT. |
1:15 - 4:00 pm:
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Developing the Catalytic Power Learn how to use the 4 KEYS to help students develop the skills—thinking outside the box, goal-setting, working smarter, teamwork, acting with integrity, and others—that they need to thrive in the 21 st Century. Matt Davidson is president and director of education at the Institute for Excellence and Ethics, Fayetteville, NY, and co-author of Smart & Good High Schools and Character Quotations. |
4:15 - 5:15 pm, Optional Bonus Session
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Power to Parent: 10 Things We Can Do To Raise Children of Character (all levels) How can we maximize our power as parents to help our kids develop respect, responsibility, hard work, and other essential virtues through everyday family interactions? Drawing on real-life examples and childrearing research, Tom will illustrate 10 practical strategies you can use in your own home and share with your parent community. (Many schools have used the handouts in their communications with families.) Tom Lickona, director of the Center for the 4th and 5th Rs, has been a family counselor and speaks often to parent groups. He is the author of several books on character development, including Raising Good Children and Character Matters: How To Help Our Children Develop Good Judgment, Integrity, and Other Essential Virtues. |
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TUESDAY, 6/30
8:30 - 11:30 am:
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"Courage for the Deed, Grace for the Doing": New Developments in the Shipley School Story
Under Usha Balamore's guidance, Shipley’s Lower School (pre-K-5) has become one of the nation’s leading examples of implementing the Smart & Good Schools philosophy. Learn how they involve staff, students, and parents in creating a true community of excellence and ethics. Usha Balamore is director of character education at The Shipley School, Bryn Mawr, PA and co-author of Teaching Goodness: Engaging the Moral and Academic Promise of Children |
11:30 - 1:15 pm: Box Lunch; Concert, Character Education Book Sale
and Optional Workshops
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With their award-winning songs and the powerful medium of music, Vitamin L offers positive messages and uplifting ideas to inspire young people to be loving, kind, caring, helpful, respectful, and to make good choices. The four Vitamin L recordings have received national awards and are being used in numerous schools across America. |
12:20 - 1:15 pm, Concurrent Workshops. Choose one of the following:
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What’s Worked For Us In Creating a Culture of Character: The Babylon Memorial Grade School Story. (Elementary Level) —Eric Freidman, Kimberly Mielenhausen, and Shannon Romanchuk.
We’ll share our steps for getting started and reasons for making educating for character a high priority in our school. This session describes our key strategies: morning meetings, using literature with a character education lens, engaging children in do-good activities, and keeping the conversation alive among our staff via the Eleven Principles of Effective Character Education and Quality Standards. Program results have been strikingly positive.
Babylon Memorial Grade School (K-5) was named a 2008 National School of Character by the Character Education Partnership. Eric Freidman has been its principal for the past 18 years. Kim Mielenhausen has been a 5th-grade teacher for six years and a member of the Character Education Committee. Shannon Romanchuk is a 3rd-grade teacher and advisor to the school’s Community Helpers Club.
- The Power of Poetry to Develop Performance Character: Learn How to Teach Your Students to Memorize and Perform Poems—and Increase Their Confidence, Vocabulary, Reading Skills, Teamwork, Creativity, and Public Presentation Abilities in the Process! —Janet Fagal, 3rd-grade teacher, State Street Elementary School, Skaneateles, NY
Come find out how easy it is to help 3rd-graders (probably applicable to 2nd-5th as well, though I have not tried that yet!) learn over 40 poems by heart during the school year with no pressure, test, homework, or requirements while using little class time. Learn how your students can present these poems at an end-of-the-year program that requires limited teacher prep and effort.
Sound too good to be true? Come see the evidence of how this simple program can help your students work as a team, learn poems that will help them with science and social studies content, become "public speakers" without even knowing it, improve memory and reading fluency, develop a love for and knowledge of poetry and poets, understand the basics of poetry forms—and then be able to learn to write powerful poetry themselves. Your kids will have lots of fun and gain impressive abilities that can last a lifetime. Poems range from Hughes's "April Rain Song" and de la Mare's "The Snowflake" to Wordsworth and Longfellow.
Janet Fagal has taught elementary school for more than 30 years. She recently received the “American Pen Women” Award for her poetry work with children. Seven of her students have received awards for poetry they wrote in her class.
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Strategies for Becoming a Smart & Good School: The Waterloo Middle School Story (Secondary Level)—Michael Ferrara, Karen Moretti, and the Waterloo Middle School Character Education Team.
Over the past eight years, Waterloo Middle School, a 2008 National School of Character, has turned around its school culture through strategies such as common language, an anti-bullying initiative, a student-led RESPECT team, and advisories that teach academic goal-setting. We challenge and help our students strive for excellence in academics (performance character) and interpersonal behavior (moral character) every day. Come and learn from our staff leadership team how we get our whole school behind this effort.
Mike Ferrara has been principal at Waterloo Middle School for the past eight years. Karen Moretti is a Spanish teacher and chair of the Character Education Team. Team members include Susan Burgess, assistant principal, teachers Debbie Barg, Joanne Corey, Jennifer Knitter, Allison Panek, Mary Schiraldi, and Mary Beth Stowell; and Teaching Assistants Kim Coriale and Heather Bonetti.
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Using Vitamin L Songs to Build Character (Elementary level) —Janice Nigro, director, The Vitamin L Project, with Jan Nigro, Vitamin L songwriter, and some of Vitamin L’s teen singers.
If you liked the Vitamin L songs you heard in the lunchtime concert, you’ll want to know how to use them in your school to build good character. This session will focus on using the joy, fun and power of songs as a tool to support character-building initiatives at the elementary level. Participants will learn the choruses to several outstanding songs, receive classroom activity suggestions to go with the songs. You will learn about numerous ways these songs are currently being used in elementary schools.
1:30 - 4:00 pm:
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Power to Teach—Developing Moral and Performance Character in the Classroom Tom will share examples from outstanding teachers across the country that illustrate each of the 12 points of the Center’s comprehensive approach to character education, integrated with the latest Smart & Good ideas. Dr. Tom Lickona is director of the Center for the 4th and 5th Rs and co-director of the Smart & Good Schools Initiative. He is the author of Educating for Character, the book which helped launch the character education movement. (Click on name for full bio.) |
4:15 - 5:15 pm, Optional Bonus Session
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Power to Coach: How to Win with Integrity in a Cheating Culture Are you preparing athletes to join the cheating culture? Are they willing to lie, cheat, steal, and bend the rules to gain a competitive advantage? Or, are you developing athletes with the character needed for success in school, sport, work, and beyond? Character isn’t the problem, it’s the solution. It is the catalyst that maximizes talent potential; it is what initiates and sustains winning streaks; and, its absence perpetuates losing streaks. Come learn more about cutting-edge science and concrete practices for tapping into the power needed for coaching. Dr. Matt Davidson is director of education at the Institute for Excellence and Ethics and co-director, Smart & Good Schools Initiative. He is a marathon runner; former basketball coach; former research associate at the University of Notre Dame Center for Sport, Character, and Culture; and co-author of the character development module of the coaching certification program of the SUNY Institute for Youth Sports. |
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WEDNESDAY, 7/1
8:30 - 11:45 am:
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Power to Lead your School Rich and Phil will share the secrets of their success as principals with enthusiasm and humor. Both led their schools to winning the prestigious National School of Character award given annually by the Character Education Partnership in Washington, DC. Rich Parisi was an elementary school principal for over 30 years. Phil Catania was an urban educator for 32 years. They are both faculty members of the Smart & Good Schools Initiative. |
11:45 - 1:00 pm:
Box Lunch; Character Education Book Sale and Optional Workshops
Noon - 1:00 pm, Concurrent Workshops. Choose one of the following:
- Strategies for Success: My Top Ten Tips for Creating a Character-Based Classroom—Karen Moretti, Spanish Teacher, Waterloo Middle School, Waterloo, NY
This workshop presents tried and true strategies to bring out the best in middle school students, build a strong sense of community in your classroom, and create a positive learning environment for one and all. You'll take away a detailed handout with many teacher-friendly ideas from Karen's 25 years of teaching.
Karen Moretti is an award-winning middle school teacher at Waterloo Middle School, Waterloo, NY. She is also the Character Education Committee Chairperson at her school, which in 2008 became a National School of Character. She is a frequent workshop presenter.
- How to Maximize the Character-Building Power of Children's Literature (elementary and middle school levels) —Dr. Tom Lickona, Director, Center for the 4th and 5th Rs
Good children’s books have great potential as a tool for character development, but just reading and discussing a story doesn’t necessarily change kids’ behavior. How can we use the 4 KEYS (Self-Study, Other-Study, Public Performance, and a Community That Supports and Challenges) to maximize the power of any given book to impact students’ character and conduct? Tom will use two classics in children’s literature—The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes and Teammates by Peter Golenbock (both dealing with themes of exclusion and cruelty)—to show how to help students take a story to heart, set goals for their own behavior, and then be accountable for putting into practice what the story teaches. Workshop will include an extensive bibliography of books that build character.
Tom Lickona is author of books such as Educating for Character, Character Matters, and Raising Good Children that describe strategies used by teachers to maximize the character-building value of children’s literature.
- Developing Moral and Performance Character in the Classroom: Tips You Can Use Tomorrow —Cindy Christopher, 3rd-grade teacher, Tully Elementary School, Tully, NY
Moral character consists of those qualities—such as respect, kindness, and honesty—that enable students to be their best in their relationships and to function as a caring community. Performance character consists of those qualities—such as effort, self-discipline, and perseverance—that enable students to do their best work and succeed in school. Veteran 3rd- and 4th-grade teacher Cindy Christopher will share the nuts and bolts of what’s worked for her in developing these two sides of character in her students. You’ll leave with lots of easy-to-use tips that will make teaching more enjoyable—and effective!
Cindy Christopher is the author of four books for teachers: Nuts & Bolts: A Survival Guide for Teachers, Teacher Tips and Timesavers, Building Parent-Teacher Communication, and Teaching the Basics: Successful Strategies and Ready-To-Use Activities for the Elementary Teacher. A frequent workshop presenter throughout New York State, she has taught 3rd- and 4th-grade at Tully Elementary School for 20 years.
- Experiencing Power2Learn™: Sample Lessons from a Student Leadership and Character
Program that Develop 21st Century Skills (secondary level) —Dr. Matt Davidson, director of education, Institute for Excellence & Ethics
Does your school have a culture where kids are known and needed, safe and cared for? Do your students take initiative in improving their learning skills, spend extra effort to revise their assignments and make them better, take pride in the quality of their work, give constructive critique to each other, and demonstrate a commitment to academic integrity? When you intentionally develop character and culture, your students will have the Power2Learn.Built on the theory, research, and practices of the Smart & Good High Schools report, Power2Learn TM seeks to provide research-based tools to develop the student character and culture needed for teaching and learning. Come experience sample lessons from Power2Learn, a program being field tested in several states around the country beginning this fall.
Dr. Matt Davidson is co-author of the Smart & Good High Schools report, president of the Institute for Excellence & Ethics (www.excellenceandethics.com), and lead author of Power2Learn.
1:15 - 4:00 pm:
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Lessons From the Classroom: Hal will share nuggets from his latest best-selling book, Lessons from the Classroom, a gold mine of wisdom from a lifetime of award-winning teaching. Learn and laugh with one of the world’s most popular character education speakers. Hal Urban, Redwood City, CA, was an award-winning high school history and psychology teacher for over 35 years. He is an internationally sought after speaker, and author of five books including Life's Greatest Lessons and Lessons From the Classroom: 20 Things Good Teachers Do. |
Registration Fees, Deadline, and Confirmation
Registration Fees:
Special offer June 10 - 22:
For every registration, get another at 1/2 price!
- $125 for 1 day
- $250 for 2 days
- $350 for 3 days
Registration Deadline: June 15
Confirmation: If you have not received an e-mail confirmation from us within two weeks of sending in your registration, please check first with your school business office before you call us. Sometimes, registrations are held up while waiting for a purchase order.
Cancellation Policy: Cancellations must be made in writing by June 8. An administrative fee of 20% must be applied. Regrettably, refunds are not possible for "no shows" or cancellations after June 4. Substitutions are welcome; please update us ASAP if you substitute. Thanks!
No Walk-ins, please! Pre-registration is required as seats and materials are limited.
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What’s Included
Your Institute fee includes light morning refreshments, lunch, a binder of conference handouts, and a book each day.
Each day you may choose one of the following books:
Building Moral Intelligence by Dr. Michele Borba
Lessons from the Classroom by Hal Urban
Educating for Character by Thomas Lickona
Smart and Good High Schools by Thomas Lickona and Matthew Davidson
Developing Character for Classroom Success by Charlie Abourjilie
Character Matters by Thomas Lickona
Raising Good Children by Thomas Lickona
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Main Speakers (click on names below for bios)
- Dr. Usha Balamore, teacher, co-author, Teaching Goodness: Engaging the Moral and Academic Promise of Children
- Dr. Michele Borba, parenting expert, NBC "Today Show"; author Building Moral Intelligence
- Mr. Phil Catania, award-winning principal; national faculty member, Smart & Good Schools
- Dr. Matt Davidson, Director of Education, Institute for Excellence and Ethics, co-author, Character Education Evaluation Toolkit; co-author, Smart & Good High Schools
- Dr. Vlad Khmelkov, Vice-President and Director, Research and Technology, Institute for Excellence & Ethics
- Dr. Tom Lickona, Director, Center for the 4th and 5th Rs, author of Character Matters; co-author, Smart & Good High Schools
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Mr. Richard Parisi, award-winning principal; national faculty member, Smart & Good Schools; Director of Operations, Institute for Excellence & Ethics
- Dr. Hal Urban, teacher-author; Life's Greatest Lessons; Positive Words, Powerful Results; and Lessons from the Classroom
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Parking
Parking for the Summer Institute is available in the College’s parking lot outside the PER (Park) Center (see campus map). Shuttle bus service will be provided from the parking lot to Sperry Center, site of this year's Summer Institute. Shuttle bus pick-up and drop-off locations are next to the Park Center, across the street from Studio West. See Shuttle Bus schedule (available in June).
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Airports
Cortland is 45 minutes from the Syracuse’s Hancock International Airport Cars can be rented at the airport. There is also Greyhound bus service from Syracuse to Cortland. You'll need to take a cab from the airport to the bus station.
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Lodging
Special conference rates have been arranged with the hotels below. Blocks of rooms will be held until early- or mid-June, depending upon the hotel. Free continental breakfast is available at all hotels. Please call hotels directly for reservations. Be sure to mention that you'd like the conference rate for the Center for the 4th and 5th Rs and let them know you’ll be attending the Summer Institute.
The Hampton Inn and Comfort Inn are located close to each other, right off Exit 12 of Rt. 81. They are approximately 1 miles from campus. The Country Inn and Suites is located about a half mile from the back entrance to the College property, and a mile from the shuttle bus pick-up area.
Country Inn & Suites, (607) 753-8300: $95/night for 2 queen beds
Hampton Inn, (607) 662-0007 - $94/night for 2 queen beds
Comfort Inn, (607) 753-7721: $85/night for 2 double beds or a king
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Shuttle Bus Schedule
(click on link to print schedule)
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QUESTIONS? E-mail us!
View PowerPoint presentations from the 2008 Summer Institute in Character Education.