Elementary children are not in school just to learn the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic. It is also a duty of the school system to demonstrate those traits which help adults become successful in later life....the traits that help them learn to get along with their fellow man, learn how to resolve conflicts without violence, and re-establish personality traits often lost in this Me-First society. Character Education can do this. The goal of the Character Education Partnership (CEP) is a nonpartisan coalition of organizations and individuals dedicated to developing moral character and civic virtue in our nation's youth as one means of creating a more compassionate and responsible society. More and more school systems are incorporating some format of character education into their curriculum, and teachers are combining it with other classroom objectives to help students make the connection between the real world and how to treat their fellow human beings with dignity.

How can music be used to promote the character education traits? Like anything else, music is a fantastic tool that involves students and can allow words with rhymes to teach lessons, which is easier to do than to lecture, and a lot more fun! There's a vast array of CD's and music that can help you get started.

As usual, Plank Road Publishing's Music K-8 has songs for just about every occasion, including character ed.(And, they are great people with whom you can work!) Some examples (links lead to a page with sound clips):
Arm in Arm: Although this was used in The Elves' Impersonator, this song's message is year-round and universal. The message is about acceptance, no matter what one looks like. The musical The Elves' Impersonator itself is based on a story about an elf who is just a little different and teased by the other elves. Arm in Arm is the lesson to be learned in how people feel when they are teased for something that they cannot help.

From The Inside Out, also by Plank Road, is written with the understanding that it's more and more important to teach and talk about character and to understand what it means to be a responsible individual. This all-school revues covers several of the character traits emphasized in Character Education curriculum:
From The Inside Out The title song
I Promise. The lyrics reinforce the virtues of honesty, truthfulness, and keeping promises.
Responsible -Song about....responsibility!
My Personal Code - Starts with a soloist, with some surprises in the style!
It Starts With Me - A natural extension of the message of this revue is stated in this powerful finale.

Another source for music (from a referral by teacher Nancy Williams) for Character Education is The Learning Workshop, Inc. They offer a CD called "Character Building for Life",which includes songs on self opinion, sportsmanship, rules, feelings,manners,anger, & thinking before speaking. There are also posters offered through The Learning Workshop on individual worth, sportsmanship, and manners.

If you live in the Midwest and need assembly ideas, don't look any further than Frilly and Miller! This husband-wife team presents VERY COOL musical assemblies on the following topics: Character Building,Conflict Resolution (Fight Free), Drug Awareness! (Good Choices), I Like To Read, and School Is Cool! They also offer teacher workshops on using music in character education. But, your students will LOVE the assemblies! And, if you're not careful, you just might be called on to join the show! Best of all, they offer CD's, Karaoke tapes, and lyrics sheets for all their songs via their website. (My fifth graders are going to be doing their song "The Power of Positive Peer Group Pressure" for their DARE graduation.) And, you will just enjoy them, period.

Get your creative juices flowing and have your kids write some lyrics based on character education traits. The Music K-8 CD's include tracks with words and without words, and they strongly encourage teachers to use the accompaniment tracks to guide students in composition projects. Your kids will have a blast making up the words, then decking themselves out to present their song in front of the school.

Don't let the teachers get shy. Some of the most fun I've had with Character Ed assemblies is when the teachers take a good ole Beach Boys song or other 60's song, change a few of the lyrics, deck themselves out in Hawaiian shirts and sunglasses, and put on a show!

How does YOUR school use music to bring across Character Education messages? Send us your contributions. The compilations will be included in a future article for the "It's Elementary" section.