The Character Coach

The Minnesota Character Initiative is once again working with CHARACTER COUNTS! to provide the 3-day Character Development Seminar, a training certification for character development specialists to use the CHARACTER COUNTS! framework. The training will be held on June 21-23, 2010.  MN folks can get Postive Behavior Units for the training. For more information, give me [...]

Bermuda In Bermuda for the  Building Character through Sport and Recreation Conference starting tonight and running through Saturday.  Gorgeous views are only outdone by the incredibly warm, friendly and dedicated staff of the Department of Youth, Sport and Recreation here on the island and the participants at the conference. For participants that participate in the [...]

Heading to the Bermuda Youth and Sports Conference in a week or so to do a keynote on CHARACTER COUNTS!, a session on Partnership Development and a session on Curriculum Integration.  Anxious to learn more about how youth involvement and character development work in Bermuda.

It’s CHARACTER COUNTS! Week! Time to recognize, celebrate and reflect on efforts across the country to positively impact the character of our children and youth. I am honored to be a active participant in the character education field and to have watched almost fifteen years of growth as awareness, recognition and commitment to the need [...]

October 15th, Minnesota Character will make a debut in the Exhibit Area of the State-wide Education Minnesota Conference.  Thanks to our friend, Michael Rhodes with Film Clips for Character Education, Minnesota Character will be offering a 30 day free trial to the Film Clips streaming site as well as proudly running and displaying the Film [...]

Grants noted from Youth Today pertinent to service-learning projects that are focused on environmental projects and understand & promote  service-learning that is youth-led Grant: Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge – For youth-led environmental projects. Funder: Siemens Foundation, Discovery Education and the National Science Teachers Association. Eligibility: Students in grades kindergarten to eight. Deadline: [...]

One of the greatest lessons of character we can teach our youth is our ability to make mistakes with character–that includes being willing to admit mistakes and genuinely apologize. I wonder if you also have worked with organizations that seem to have operational policies (though most likely unstated) that keep their employees from ever saying [...]

Film Clips/Spirit of America is offering a 30-day free trial of the new live streaming site so that you can see the 96 clips from first-run movies like Shrek, Star Wars,  & Coach Carter that have been tailored to expand or enhance conversations about decision-making, bullying, respect, courage, etc.  The clips are available via DVD, a [...]

Deb Dominguez has hit it right on with her 5 tips for connecting with Gen Y workers present and future.  Gen Y is stimulating change in the work environment and personally I think that is fantastic! Course, I’ve always had a healthy discontent for the status quo! Throughout the article you’ll see a foundation of [...]

There is a growing social network around service-learning called the Service-learning Providers’ Network. If you work with youth and believe in empowering them through service, then this is the place for you. Being developed through a Kellogg grant, COMPASS Institute and a host of other partner organizations,  the goal is to empower people that present [...]