As Summer School Sets in: Teachers Begin Planning Fall’s Curriculum

The school year has come to an end, and it is time for teachers to begin planning next fall’s curriculum. Joe Hoedel, Ph.D., has created a school curriculum focused on improving leadership and character traits amongst high school and middle school students.

Hoedel’s curriculum, Character Development and Leadership, can be used as a resource to teachers and administrators in planning their future semester. It can also be used alone, or integrated into other classes such as English, social studies, health or life skills. Each week contains a different theme, such as developing goals and priorities, orientation and expectations, showing respect for authority, handling peer pressure, cultural competence and many more.

This curriculum is firmly based in research. It has become the largest research study on character education in America, at a secondary level, with over 250 schools participating from 26 states. Drawn from student surveys, data shows that this curriculum caused tardies and absences to decrease. Also, GPAs improved from an average of 2.04 to 2.74, and drug abuse and violence declined dramatically.

Resources for the high school leadership and character-building curriculum include the Role Models: Examples of Character and Leadership textbook, with quizzes and vocabulary lists at the end of each chapter. In this book, students have the chance to read about a remarkable person who exemplifies the character trait of the week.

Hoedel believes that strong character education is based in finding a positive role model. Accordingly, he has included a set of 18 character-based movies. Each movie targets a specific character trait and includes discussion questions for each DVD. Upon ordering Hoedel’s curriculum, one also receives a set of 17 posters featuring positive role models, with a quote and trait of the week.

Hoedel grew up in Michigan and graduated with a masters and Ph.D. from Michigan State University. Hoedel and his wife live in Michigan where he developed the character education curriculum and authored his textbook, Role Models. Hoedel’s high school character curriculum is grounded in the belief that developing good character starts at a young age. He has spoken at countless schools and conferences, sharing his inspirational message with educators and students.

To learn more about Hoedel’s curriculum and teaching resources, please visit characterandleadership. He may also be reached by phone at 336-462-7834.