Virtue in Action

Virtue in Action

To grow in virtue, we must first “own” our faults, have the courage to address them, and a combination of grace and intention to change our actions and behaviors. 

How does your school recognize students who demonstrate virtue? The truth is we may do a better job as teachers (or parents) recognizing when infractions to a virtuous life have occurred. 

Discipline is necessary and even more powerful when rooted in the language of virtue.  This comes in the form of time outs, a one on one conversation, lunch detention, before or after school prayer, an office referral, a phone call home…Yet, for this discipline to be meaningful each of these interventions must be part of a greater conversation with the child:

• Begin with a prayer (I most often pray to the Holy Spirit..)
• What did you do?
• Why did you do it?
• What’s going to happen if you do it again?
• What virtue do you need to work on?
• How will you cultivate that virtue?
• You are not alone…God will give you every grace if you ask…Let’s pray! 

Our school uses the Disciple of Christ, Education in Virtue program which has these great cards that have a prayer, scripture, and saint right on the back of the card to guide these interventions. 

(Side note: You can access them online by going to the left side bar of this blog and clicking on “Learn the Virtues.” This only works if you are reading this on a computer or the web version of this blog on your phone.)

But…How are we noticing those students who are applying that simple formula on a regular basis in areas that don’t require some egregious lapse in character to get noticed? I am going to list a few school wide examples, but I encourage those of you who regularly read this blog to then comment with your great ideas or what your school is already doing!

Monthly or weekly school wide recognition (after mass or morning prayer is a great time)

• Don’t forget Carol Dweck’s advice to praise wisely by stating out loud specific actions and behaviors demonstrated by the child, so others can learn truly what that virtue in action looks like and sounds like

A weekly school wide focus virtue for more in depth study

• Students may do quick skits or role play 
• Integrate this virtue into writer’s workshop, quick writes, or journaling during Religion class
• Write poems or letters that can be shared at morning prayer or before/after all school mass
• Include the virtue and ways to cultivate it in weekly newsletters

Daily recognition of Christian Witness:

• Distribute positive virtue tickets regularly
• Have a weekly drawing and pass out prayer cards to students who get tickets

(We have a whole box full of prayer cards, sometimes with beautiful medals, that get sent to the school from Religious organizations seeking support. You know what I’m talking about! Instead of recycling these…put them to use!)

Parents - if your child’s school has implemented education in virtue in, get on board! Use the same language at home with your child. You may even want to modify and use some of the same tools at home. 

As a matter of fact at one of my schools, our latest “Virtue in Action” tickets are a revised version of something we tried awhile back that sort of fizzled out. By demonstrating a collective growth mindset, we have reinvented this strategy!

After writing this, I think I’m going to send a sheet home to parents this week so they can also give them out at home! Why not? What a great way to partner together! Parents practice spelling words and turn gray doing math homework, why wouldn’t they review and practice the virtues as well? Great ACT scores are one thing…but eternity is a whole different ball game.