The Code 

The Code is a revolutionary, research-based character education curriculum that simplifies the task of providing ethical instruction to schoolchildren in grades K-5. A powerful academic tool, this captivating work helps develop young people into ethical, morally sound, community-oriented, self-disciplined adults who will become responsible members of society.

The Code is stunningly unique because it accomplishes three simple goals:

1. The code motivates student participation

Let’s face it: While vitally important, "character" is not the most exciting subject in the world for kids. That is why teaching effectively is often difficult to do. Themed as a modern Code of Chivalry in the time of knights, princesses, kings and castles, The Code is an adventure in character education, captivating young imaginations and making the notion of becoming a modern-day noble champion seem cool and relevant;

2. The code is extremely teacher-friendly

The Code is considerate of busy teachers who already have a million things to do. Integrated, flexible, convenient and designed to be strategically employable for any school, The Code gives teachers daily 10-MINUTE pre-packaged lessons (just like Nutri-System meals) with an instruction timeline for the calendar year. No other character education program of this caliber is so easy to use;

3. The code encourages parental support

The Code is non-sectarian, multicultural and embraces universally accepted character traits such as Tolerance, Responsibility, Respect, and Honesty. It allows for parental participation throughout, teaches parents how to cooperate with the character-building process and encourages their involvement.

We invite you to take a tour inside The Code to see why many educators are hailing it as the most impressive program they have ever been associated with.

Features:

✠ Material compliant with 11 Principles of Character Education and the North Carolina Student Citizen Act of 2001.

✠ Based on Bloom’s Taxonomy

✠ Integrated

✠ One monthly character trait

✠ 10-minute prepared lessons with reproducibles

✠ Daily teacher timeline

The Code is divided into three major sections: (1) Castle Connection; (2) Communicate The Code; (3) Carry out The Code. All of the lessons and activities underneath each section are discussed below.

✠ Castle Connection

One of the important characteristics of The Code curriculum is our proactive facilitation of parental involvement in the character building process. Our goal is to help build a team, consisting of educators, students and their families in order to assist students in their character growth. The following activities are designed to help strengthen home relationships and create a more consistent, positive developmental environment for students:

Parent Letter:

Every month you will find a letter to parents that you may reproduce and send home with students as you begin studying a particular virtue. The letter will: (1) notify the parents of the virtue that the student will be studying for the month; (2) make parents aware of an upcoming Castle Connection Activity that involves their participation; (3) offer further suggestions to parents as to how they can be involved in the character education program.

Student Self-Assessment:

Every month you will find a reproducible self-assessment worksheet that the student is to take home and complete with parental help. The purpose of the self-assessment is to give students the opportunity to identify strengths and areas for growth. Send the self-assessment worksheet home with the student as you introduce each virtue so the student can evaluate his/her existing character traits.

Castle Connection Activity:

Every month you will find a "home activity" worksheet that can be reproduced and sent home with the student. This activity is designed to give families an opportunity to complete an easy and fun project together that will hopefully engender dialogue about important issues relating to the particular character trait being studied. The Castle Connection Activity worksheets, in fact, encourage parents to discuss with students issues that are important to the family. See "The Code Timeline" for a possible schedule to allow students to share their experiences.

✠ Communicate The Code

In this section you will assist students in defining each virtue and thinking analytically about the virtue through a variety of teaching tools such as discussion questions and activities, quotations, puzzles and books.

Definitions:

For each virtue, you will find a page that provides explanations of what the virtue is and what it is not. It is recommended that, at the beginning of each month, you use the information on this page to introduce the virtue that you will be studying. You might do "pretest and posttest" exercises and ask students to define the virtue themselves before you share the information with them, and then ask them again to define the virtue after you have taught the information.

Case Study:

Every character trait you study will involve the reading and analyzing of a case study. The case study is basically a "moral story" in which the characters in the story are presented with a moral dilemma related to the particular virtue being studied. Questions should discuss the story and related questions in class as the teacher serves as facilitator.

Historical Profile:

Students everywhere are fascinated by knights, castles, kings, queens, poets, monks and nuns of the Middle Ages. This is not surprising, for the medieval world encompassed all the elements of great drama: political intrigue, pageantry, romance and tragedy. A study of the people and events of the Middle Ages is not only entertaining, students can learn a great deal about character by studying the lives of significant persons of the past. In the age of knights and castles there were many important individuals that influenced society in a profound way, both positively and negatively. In keeping with the theme of knights and chivalry, historical profiles of individuals, groups and occupations from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance are provided for each virtue. You may want to familiarize yourself with medieval life so that you can put each profile in historical context and answer any questions your students might have. After all, the beliefs and actions of medieval persons along with the religious and political milieu of the day may seem very strange to the modern student. Thoughtful discussion questions about the profile are also provided to help students analyze the information given in the profile.

Discussion Questions and Activity:

For each virtue, the student is presented with discussion questions and an activity related to the virtue. The purpose of the discussion questions is to help the student relate the virtue to his or her own experience. The activity is designed to assist the student in learning the virtue by using a variety of teaching strategies.

Quotations:

At least once during the week the teacher should challenge students to analyze ways in which each of The Code character qualities applies to their lives. For each character quality you will find five quotations, taken from various sources, which examine the character quality in a unique way. Challenge your students to analyze the quotes and discuss them. If you know the author of the quote, you may want to share with your students something about the author that may shed more light on the quote and create more interest for the students. By analyzing these quotes, your students will not only be exploring character issues, they will be developing higher order thinking skills. You may want to post the quotation of the week on the bulletin board and encourage your students to memorize it.

Puzzles:

The puzzles are fun exercises designed to stimulate logical reasoning and reinforce the learning of the virtues. Some of the puzzles will also develop vocabulary related to the virtues.

Literature:

For each virtue, an annotated bibliography is provided. The literature in The Code curriculum was selected for several reasons. The literature was chosen for its quality. There are many award-winning books in the bibliography. The literature was chosen because of its availability. The books selected should be in your school library or in a local bookstore. The literature is eclectic and multicultural. Works of fiction, nonfiction, biographies, novels and simple children’s books that represent various cultures are listed. Hopefully, students, through their reading and analysis of the suggested literature, will formulate personal ideas about particular character traits. Reading stories will be an important tool to help students increase their comprehensions of each month’s virtue.

Rotary International Lesson:

As part of the optional EarlyAct FirstKnight program, students will learn about Rotary, International, the world’s first and largest service organization for businessmen and women. Founded in Chicago, Illinois in 1905 by Paul P. Harris, Rotary has established its motto of "service above self" as a model for successful leaders in 200 countries around the world. Each month, students will learn how to employ the high ethical standards of Rotary and their historic knightly counterparts, who enhanced their societies through a commitment to truth, fairness, building goodwill/better friendships, and seeking mutual benefit in their relationships with others.

✠ Carry out The Code

The final section of the curriculum was created to give the teacher the opportunity to help the student apply and synthesize what has been learned during the month and to evaluate how well the student has comprehended the information received during the month-long study of a virtue.

Class Project:

The class project will take four days to complete. For two days, students will collaborate on a given project. The following two days will be designated for students to present their projects. Allowing four days to complete the project gives the teacher and students some flexibility in terms of schedule. Upon completion, projects can be displayed in the classroom, on bulletin boards or in the hallways where they can be viewed by other classes, parents and visitors.

Learning Log Response Questions:

The final activity of The Code is for the student to "log" what he or she has learned throughout the month. Several questions are provided to assist the student in reflecting on what he/she believes to be the most important lessons learned. In this exercise, the student attempts to assimilate the information he or she has been given during the month and incorporate it into his or her life. Students may use notebook paper to "log" their learning. You might want to have students keep a folder in which to keep their learning "logs".

Certificate of Knightly Character:

Meaningful praise is essential to your students’ internalization of The Code. Once your students complete every activity successfully, award the Certificate of Knightly Character to them at the end of each month.

The Code, in teaching certain virtues, presents definitions of virtues, age-appropriate lessons, excellent literature, interesting questions for discussion, thought-provoking quotes to analyze, challenging puzzles, and exciting projects and activities for school and home. The curriculum is framed by the exciting theme of knighthood and chivalry and is designed to be used independently or reinforced by either the Rotary EarlyAct FirstKnight program (www.eafk.org), or dramatic, live-action elements presented by The Knights of The Guild. Medieval knights lived according to an unwritten code of chivalry. The curriculum encourages students to live according to a modern code of chivalry. During the year students will focus upon the following virtues:

Grade Levels K-5

Tolerance, Responsibility, Confidence, Perseverance, Discipline, Respect, Honesty, Compassion, Friendliness, and Service

Grades Levels 6-8

Prowess, Justice, Loyalty, Defense, Courage, Faith, Humility, Largesse, Nobility and Franchise

By the end of the year students should be able to have a thorough understanding of some of the key features of good character. Integration of this program into a teachers’ existing curriculum will be challenging and rewarding. By utilizing this curriculum, however, the teacher can create a more peaceful and positive educational environment for students. Take note also of the program’s flexibility. You can utilize it in its entirety or choose the parts that you wish to teach. The materials you need to teach the virtues are in hand, you need only incorporate these resources according to your teaching style.

The Code curriculum is designed to give you choices. Apply it alone or in support of other character education programs that require teachers to create their own lesson plans; use it with Rotary’s EarlyAct FirstKnight program (see www.eafk.org); or supplement it with exciting Knights of The Guild Program Enhancement Options.

Independently:

Benefits:

• One-hour staff training
• Easy, instant application
• Teacher-friendly
• Supports, enhances and simplifies Character Counts and other character education programs that place time demands on busy teachers.

With Rotary: 

Rotary, International is the world’s largest service organization for business leaders. Rotary Clubs have partnered with The Knights of The Guild to bring schools a dynamic character-building program called EarlyAct FirstKnight (www.eafk.org). EarlyAct FirstKnight combines daily Code academics with Rotarian-led campus service clubs that show students how to apply good character proactively in their community through national and international service projects. This option offers several advantages to your campus:

Benefits:

• Sponsorship of your school by a local Rotary Club
• Monthly knighting ceremonies to honor student achievements
• Bimonthly Rotarian-led student service clubs
• Parent education modules

With Knights of the Guild Enhancement Options: 

Knights of The Guild offer live-action student assemblies and activities at your school that bring multidimensional learning enhancements to The Code Curriculum.

Benefits:

• Student educational assemblies and special appearances by real armored knights and live horses
• Elaborate special ceremonies to recognize student and faculty
• The Tournament of Champions, our premier Las Vegas-quality character-building spectacular with jousting knights, costumed horses, musical soundtracks, and Hollywood special effects. Performed LIVE at your campus.