Teaching Virtues: Building Character Across the Curriculum Donald Trent Jacobs, Jessica Jacobs-Spencer, Scarecrow Press Inc. Lanham, MD. (173 pages). Paperback price, $35.00. The book may be ordered through Roman and Littlefield (800-499-9774) or through the on-line book companies.

In July, the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics released its fifth annual report titled America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well Being 2001 (US Government Printing Office, 2001). The report, based on 24 indicators grouped into five different categories, contains both positive and negative news about the status of America's youth. The number of America's children living in poverty decreased and their achievement in mathematics increased. On the other hand, they continued to exhibit unhealthy eating habits, to read below grade level, and to participate in high-risk behaviors such as smoking and drinking.

Interesting enough, the past several years have also seen an increase in the implementation of character education programs in America's public schools. While character education programs tend to be popular with educators, the results of such programs have been mixed. In Teaching Virtues: Building Character Across the Curriculum, the father-daughter team of Don Trent Jacobs and Jessica Jacobs-Spencer present a holistic approach to teaching character education from a Native-American perspective. Their easy-to-use manual gives the authors a platform for weaving together basic images of the American Indian culture with what they call universal virtues. The result is a rich four-part tapestry of content, pedagogy, lesson frameworks and Native American epistemology that brings to the teacher an authentic and comprehensive approach for teaching an integrated character education curriculum.

In Part I: The Strength of the North, the authors dismiss the typical arguments against character education, noting that almost everyone agrees on what is good character. They conclude that character education does not lead a student to any particular religious or political orientation but does provide a foundation for a student to achieve an improved lifestyle. The authors also strongly emphasize the positive correlation between effective character education and metacognition reflected in the mnemonic - CAT FAWN: CAT stands for Concentration Activated Transformation which relies on four major forces leading to deep learning: (FAWN) Fear, Authority, Words and Nature.

Part 2: The Enlightenment of the East contains the conceptual framework for teaching character education and provides teachers practical examples of lesson plans which are a matrix for embedding universal virtues into curriculum content. This conceptual model is of importance to the authors' discourse on the integrated matrix holding the lesson plans together. The model is composed of seven inner circles surrounded by one large circle entitled Spirituality. The seven circles are grouped into two categories and presented as a series of Venn diagrams. Good character, respect, and wisdom overlap the four circles titled Pedagogy that include inner skills, experience, virtues, and external skills. The conceptual model comes to life in the sample lesson plans that are presented as well as the Pedagogy and Procedures Checklist. The final chapter of this section is devoted entirely to the authentic assessment of character education programs.

Part 3: The Interconnections of the South illustrates the relationships between universal virtues and subject area content. The authors begin their illustrations with social studies and show how students can use universal virtues to examine and assess social institutions. Central to the lesson plans are the fundamental questions posed to students. For example, in a thematic unit on discrimination, the fundamental question necessitates that students draw comparisons between the Holocaust, the treatment of Blacks in the south, immigrants to the United States and American Indians. The authors value language arts lessons in which both plot and character provide impetus for the readers to listen to each other and to each character's reality. Science is presented as a study of the process of natural interrelationships, whereas mathematics is framed against the Native American belief in the sacredness of numbers.

In Part 4: The Mysteries of the West, Jacobs and Jacobs-Spencer challenge all who are interested in the welfare of children to approach character education through inculcating virtue awareness and development into daily discourse. Their view of learning combines a constructivist view with both an ecological and cultural awareness. This approach to learning sets the stage for the individual scholar to experience and examine the connections between himself/herself, communities, ecosystems, and tenets held by Native American cultures. The authors are fully aware that colleagues, administrators, school boards, and students may not accept their unique approach to character education.

In summary: Jacobs and Jacobs-Spencer's work is a practical approach to weaving character education into the very fabric of the curriculum. The lesson plans are examples teachers can adapt to any curriculum area. The authors' use of Native American Culture is at the very heart of their writing. Some readers may, however, view the frequent references to Native American Culture as limiting, and the very message of the work will be lost to both them and to their students. If this happens, both the teacher and the students will miss a very important journey down the road of true character development. This book would be an asset to school improvement teams pursuing goals of respect and responsibility. In particular, the book offers many suggestions for classroom interventions that incorporate the universal virtues.

Reference

America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being 2001. Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics. U.S. Government Printing Office: Vienna, VA, July 2001.