Core Virtues in Action
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Is your school using Core Virtues? We’d love to publicize your efforts and share your stories. If you would like us to feature your school and efforts, just contact us at [email protected]. In this section of the website we feature schools and teachers who put the Core Virtues program into action. Our first choice for this spotlight was easy: Crossroads Academy, where the program began. The Core Virtues program was piloted at Crossroads Academy in Lyme, New Hampshire (a K-8 independent school and one of the nation’s first Core Knowledge schools) between 1991 and 1996. The author owes a special debt of gratitude to the wonderful faculty and students at Crossroads Academy, who have continued to provide counsel and feedback over the last fifteen years. Founded in 1991 and celebrating its twenty-sixth anniversary, Crossroads claims a number of firsts. The School is distinguished for its ambitious implementation of the Core Knowledge Sequence, and was one of the first schools in the country to employ that curriculum. Between 1994 and 1996, while Mary Beth Klee served as Head of School, she and Crossroads faculty puzzled over the best shape for their character education efforts. The result was Core Virtues. The author owes a special debt of gratitude to the wonderful Head, faculty and students at Crossroads Academy, who have continued to provide counsel and feedback over the last fifteen years. 
Left: Former Head of School, Jean Behnke - whose love of children and learning is matched only by her passion for the School’s mission.
Stories of the Core Virtue program’s impact on Crossroads students are legion. Whether purchasing gifts for children at a homeless shelter from a penny drive that raised over $1400, voluntarily serving a community dinner on Christmas day, donating a room full of food to David’s House (a local charity) by running sponsored laps, or singing heartily to seniors at nursing homes, the kids frequently exhibit generosity, compassion, perseverance, and gratitude in action. How does the “action” flow from the literature-based program? “It’s a natural extension,” Jean Behnke comments. “The stories in our morning gatherings give the children real heroes, and inspire a love of the virtues. Kids have plenty of opportunities to practice those virtues in their daily interactions on the playground and in the classroom, but the desire to do more is always there.” Without compromising the school’s academic focus, Crossroads teachers build on that desire creatively through various community service activities. These allow eager students to participate in a network that is broader than the School. 
Crossroads Academy celebrates its
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Victoria Price has been teaching the Core Virtues program at Crossroads Academy since 1993. Her character education experience spans all levels – from first grade to eighth grade. As one of the school’s most beloved and demanding English teachers, she has had many opportunities to parlay the program’s literature base into rewarding writing assignments. Mrs. Price has also worked tirelessly on expanding the School’s middle school character education program. Vicky has led numerous professional development workshops in character education for teachers in Arkansas and Colorado, where the Core Virtues program was implemented with a federal grant.
Crossroads, she notes, showcases the Core Virtues definition of courage as “moving beyond fear, finding the strength to venture and persevere,” but she asks:. “What do our children know of courage? What do they think makes one courageous? When students were asked to give examples, they effortlessly provided their insights…They defined courage as pushing themselves out of their comfort zone, being mentally strong, doing the right thing, even if it’s scary or difficult. They pointed to physical courage as the strength to try something new – like jumping into the deep end of the pool or being a ski-jumper ‘like my brother and fly ten feet above the ground as it falls away.’ But they know it’s not just physical. Courage is needed to break a bad habit like losing one’s temper. Courage is key when trying to do a hard math problem or make a presentation to the whole class. Moral courage, they say, is standing up for a friend, or as one student wrote after sharing an example about his grandmother: “it took great courage to hide us Jews during the Holocaust.” Courage, they told me, is raising your hand in response to a question you might not normally answer, sticking up for someone at recess, and doing what’s right when you know it would be easier to do nothing at all. One student wrote about how hard it was to stop older children from taunting younger ones on the school bus when he himself was one of the younger ones! But he did and they stopped.” One student wrote: “it’s hard to be courageous; not many people are.” Yet ultimately, our courage determines who we are. When courage is summoned and fears are faced, Mrs. Price notes, students are left with a sense that they can reach deep within and accomplish great things. |
