Abstract
Each day children attend school and often experience the challenge of how to become contributing and accountable members of their classroom and community. Teachers have opportunities throughout the day to model and assist students in developing their life skills. With the daily opportunities also come obstacles to integrate a viable and productive character education program for students in a classroom or school. Teachers already have a full schedule each day and lack an ample amount of time to teach life skills curriculum. Time is an obstacle in addition to the lack of curriculum. Schools often do not have a curriculum in place to teach life skills. A variety of character education programs exist, although schools do not always have funds or resources available to acquire them. The available programs do not always make a cultural connection to students. To create a deeper connection for students to the character education curriculum, it is important to use culturally responsive teaching strategies. Culturally responsive teaching allows the teacher to gain a deeper level of knowledge about their students and their family cultures. The purpose of this project was to create a character education program that is culturally relevant for all students. The curriculum will provide teachers with lessons that will teach students a life skill while connecting the lessons to their culture. Sources of Data The information and materials used to create the curriculum guide were gathered from books, articles, and existing character education programs. A review of several character education programs provided ideas about what to include in the lessons and how the lessons should flow. In addition, several books and lessons plans incorporating culturally responsive teaching techniques were reviewed to determine how to connect the culture of students to the curriculum. Conclusions Reached Character education is an important subject to teach every week in the classroom. Schools have a responsibility to assist students in becoming socially competent in the classroom and the world. Students have a greater opportunity to have a deeper connection to the curriculum when it makes a cultural connection.