Can your Character Education or PBIS program do THIS???

Last Friday I was in a school that is in Year One of implementing the Generation Text Online program. I spent the day visiting K-8 classrooms; watching and listening to how the Gen Text Program is transforming relationships in the classrooms. I wish I had a video camera that day! I couldn’t stop the teachers from telling me how their classes are literally transforming before their eyes as a result of them implementing the Gen Text framework in their daily teaching and learning!

In one class the teacher was having a discussion with her students that revolved around Chapter 4 (Establishing a Common Language) and 5 (The Eight Essential Questions to Ask Yourself). The lesson was using inquiry based instruction to discover some of the things that are happening in the students’ daily lives and how that related to the text they were reading, Forty Acres and A Mule.

The classroom discussion was looking at how certain negative things happen and how those things affect others and cause a chain reaction. The teacher was using the 8 Essential Questions (Chapter 5) to guide the class conversation, helping students to see how their own choices can affect others. One child was sharing about how his father moved out of his house as a result of some things that his mother had done. Another boy added to the discussion; he connected that this was the same reason why his (step) brother doesn’t have a dad and he does. This teacher facilitated the discussion by using appreciative inquiry guiding her students to connect the curriculum text and this discussion to their everyday lives. The Gen Text framework allowed students to enhance their understanding of certain behaviors, the effects of those behaviors and the chain of events that can follow.

The Gen Text Framework directs students in a process that allows them to reflect on how particular choices and decisions can prevent negative situations and consequences. Sometimes I hear people say that we have to do something about the epidemic of divorce in this country. That is a very tall order! I believe we owe it to our kids to talk about divorce and to discuss the pros and cons of certain behaviors that can affect a long marriage or a messy divorce. The lessons that this framework facilitates is for real kids, with real problems, real time! What REAL LIFE problems do your students need guidance on?

Have you had a chance to look through the online teacher resources that Generation Text Online provides to educators? This is a comprehensive program that is scalable and adaptable to any classroom. This program is affordable and encourages school districts to implement small groups at a time, using a turn-key model to eventually infuse it into the learning that is taking place in every classroom, including the training of new teachers that join your district each year. If you would like more information that would guide your K-12 students in being prepared for a global, pluralistic society, I recommend you contact Generation Text Online.