Capturing Kids Hearts

Leadworthy Focus Character Traits

September: Empathy

Empathy builds positive classroom culture. Empathy empowers students to learn to understand each other to build trust and safety in the classroom.
Empathy strengthens community. Empathy helps students strengthen their relationships with classmates, other students and adults at school, and at home.
Empathy prepares your students to be leaders in their community. The best leaders understand the people they lead and are able to show they care.

October: Self-Direct

Self-direction strengthens relationships. Self-direction helps to grow social skills and develop meaningful, positive relationships with others.
Self-direction teaches personal responsibility. Learning to self-direct teaches students to take responsibility for their own actions.
Self-direction helps us to regulate emotions: Self-direction empowers students to regulate their impulses and emotional responses to situations and circumstances in their life.

November: Teamwork

Teamwork improves communication: Teamwork helps us improves our verbal and non-verbal communication skills, conveying that we care and a relevant message.
Teamwork builds interpersonal awareness: Growing a great team requires us to first build strong relationships through better understanding ourselves and others.
Teamwork celebrates diversity. Teamwork thrives from diverse ideas that come from a mixture of different genders, cultures, expertise, experience, and problem-solving approaches.

December: Responsibility

Responsibility teaches resilience. It is not possible to persevere and achieve our dreams without taking personal responsibility seriously.
Responsibility empowers us to own our actions. There is great power in being able to make conscious, calculated choices to reach goals and manage those things in our control.
Responsibility teaches us to manage our time and resources. Responsibly organizing and prioritizing needs is an executive function of the brain that improves with practice.

January: Respect

Respect contributes to a positive culture. People feel safe, supported, and engaged in the context of thoughtful social, emotional, civic, and intellectual interactions.
Respect decreases conflict. Respect helps us, and others, to be able to express ourselves without fear of being judged, humiliated, or discriminated against.
Respect encourages empathy. Respect helps us to understand each other and put ourselves in someone else shoes.

February: Kindness

Kindness boosts positive emotions. Acts of kindness create neural pathways that enhance feelings of well-being and the natural flow of feel-good endorphins and neurotransmitters.
Kindness is self-replicating. When we perform an act of kindness, it is likely to encourage others to act in a similar way.
Kindness reduces stress and anxiety. Kindness promotes positive relationships with other people. Anything that helps you to build bonds with other people helps decrease anxiety.

March: Courage

Courage encourages engagement. Courage helps students raise their hand, participate, try new things, and voice their opinions.
Courage builds self-confidence. Courage is the choice to act. By doing something, students increase their belief in themselves and their ability to do difficult or challenging things.
Courage can help reframe a negative. When something does not go as planned or a student gets upset about a mistake or failure, courage can help reframe the event in a positive light.

April: Perseverance

Perseverance encourages positive self-talk and thinking. When faced with difficult tasks, perseverance helps students reframe with positive thoughts, such as: "I'm not good at this YET!"
Perseverance develops empathy. Students gain a better understanding of who they are and develop more empathy and compassion for others who may struggle to reach a goal.
Perseverance sparks personal growth. Pushing through complex tasks builds resilience and helps students discover how capable they are

May: Integrity

Acknowledge and affirm acts with integrity. Publicly praise students who model acts of integrity such as honesty and honor. Encourage students to identify classmates who show integrity.
Use scenarios and role play. Challenge students with real-life scenarios and situations that allow them to reflect, discuss, and choose the best next step or action.
Create a culture of accountability. Invite students to give you feedback. Ask students to rate the class based on your Social Contract. Empower students with choice-based consequences.

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