Character Strong 

How to navigate and implement the Character Strong Sessions

CharacterStrong: How to navigate the sessions

• Each lesson begins (open bracket) with an introductory activity

  • 9th: powerful words

  • 10th: gratitude practice

  • 11th: mindfulness prompt

  • 12th: powerful quotes

• Community (heart icon)

  • The Community portion of the session is designed to give students choice. There is a menu of options that they can choose from that offer a variety of ways to get to know each other. Feel free to mix up the implementation here! You can role model by participating in the game yourself, have students turn and talk to get more people sharing at once, and/or go 1 student at a time. In a 30 minute delivery, this section takes around 4 minutes. 

• Content (double paper icon)

  • The content portion of each session is the largest part. When the To Be List isn’t present, the content portion averages 22 minutes. Once the To Be List process is introduced, the content portion averages 16 minutes. The content section in particular has implementation icons to help you know what to do on each slide. There are 5 different icons to look out for (key below). The number after each icon represents a rough time estimate (in minutes) for that slide based on a 30 minutes delivery.

• Character (List icon)

  • In session 5-6, the To Be List process is introduced. The goal is to give students practical ways to put the concepts we are discussing into real-life action. After it is first introduced, each session will include "Last Session’s To Be List" (the one they were asked to complete before this session) and “This Session’s To Be List" (the new challenge they are being given before we meet next). In a 30 minute delivery, this section should take around 6 minutes (3-4 minutes to reflect on the previous challenge and 2-3 minutes to discuss the new challenging being offered

    • Tip 1: The To Be List challenges are invitations, not requirements!

    • Tip 2: The power is in the discussion.

    • Tip 3: You can vary how these conversations take place! Full group, partnerships, individual journaling, etc.

• Closure (closed bracket)

  • As each session comes to an end, we have some practical reflection questions or actions that will help wrap things up and think about the learning we just experienced. In a 30 minute delivery, this is around 2 minutes. It's also good flex time if something runs short or long in the session.