Teaching Literature to Change Lives
Integrating Character Education into Literature

(By Steve Miller, President, Legacy Educational Resources, as presented 3/27/08 at Kennesaw State University's Annual Conference on Literature)

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Introduction

Let’s start with the motivational question, since we’ve all got way too much on our plates already, without adding this "teach for life change" dimension.

It only stands to reason that if students feel safer in the classroom (that’s tolerance), feel like teachers and students care (that’s compassion), are improving at traits like diligence, promptness, love of learning, etc., they will tend to move from "D" students to "C", "B" students to "A", etc.

Isn’t that one of our ultimate goals in education? Professor Thomas Stanley studied successful business leaders, asking them to list, in order of importance, to what they attribute their success. (See his book, The Millionaire Mind.) Here are their top four responses:

What do you notice about these factors? (They’re all character and life skills related.) And what does that tell us as educators? (If we want our students to be successful in life, we’d better try to instill or reinforce good character.)

Those findings were reinforced by Jim Collins’ study of successful companies in his book, Good to Great. "The good-to-great companies placed greater weight on character attributes than on specific educational background, practical skills, specialized knowledge, or work experience."

At a recent tech conference I attended on social networking on the Web, the keynote speaker mentioned recently hearing a speech by Guy Kawasaki, the early marketer of Apple’s McIntosh Computer, who eventually left Apple and now spends his days matching start-up companies with funding.

Kawasaki said that he’s noticed a great differentiator between those who come to him for funding. The ones who say "I’ve got an idea that will make a ton of money" seldom do well. But if they say, "I’ve got an idea that will help a lot of people," they’ve got his ear. From his experience, that company is likely to make it. What he’s saying is that people who exhibit a certain character trait, the passion to give, end up doing better than the self-absorbed money-mongers.

Warren Buffet, the world’s greatest investor, arguably knows how to spot great companies better than anyone, since makes his billions by investing in them. Buffett once said,

'Somebody once said that in looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And if they don't have the first, the other two will kill you.'' (From Omaha World Herald, February 1, 1994)

So, to help students achieve success in life, we’d better help shape their character.

Do you remember the infamous unabomber, who methodically killed three people and injured 23 by mailing explosives? When we discovered that he was a brilliant Mathematician, a Harvard grad and former professor at Berkeley, we realized that stellar grades in the three "R’s" don’t necessarily produce a good person. In fact, if we sow only academics we may reap smarter criminals, like the leaders at Enron, who were described as "The Smartest Guys in the Room."

"In times of profound change, the learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists." (Al Rogers, Global Schoolhouse Network)

I recall speaking to a college professor who worked with graduate students from other countries. Some of these students were products of educational systems that we all admire for their stellar test scores. But they were taught primarily by rote memory. As a result, the professor said that he’d give the background of the nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and ask, "Do you think this was the right thing to do?" The students seemed incapable of thinking through the issue, responding, "Tell us the answer and we’ll memorize it."

It’s one thing to come home from school saying, "Cool: Heather finally learned the Pythagorean Theorum!" It’s quite another to come home saying, "Today, I think I just might have changed Heather’s life."

One day, my son came home after school and said, "a girl came up to me today and said, ‘Something your dad said today changed my life.’" How do you think I felt? Once I caught fire for changing lives, I could never again be content to merely pass on knowledge. I don’t want to just teach subjects; I want to leave a legacy.

I was speaking in Holland at a seminar on the arts. A British Playwright, a graduate of Oxford, spoke of the impact of a play he’d written about a man deserting his wife for another woman and the chaos it created. A fellow playwright told him, after seeing it performed, that he was inspired to go home and work on his relationship with his wife.

The playwright was thrilled! He didn’t just want to write a popular play. He wanted to change lives.

So let’s spend the rest of our time together sharing ways to make this happen.

Let’s look at the Georgia State Standards for Literature. (Put a portion here.) Now I’m not belittling this document. I understand that it must be written in terms of testable content. But let’s say I follow it to the letter and do what it says.

So I take Moby Dick and discuss diction, plot and structure. I note the creative use of analogy and description. That’s fine, and it’s all good to know, especially if your students are going to teach literature and possibly if they’re aspiring to become writers. But that’s a small percentage of our students.

When you think about this standard, doesn’t it sort of remind you of a dissection in Biology? You start with this beautiful lively frog. Then you put it to sleep and explore its wonderful structure until it’s dead. Isn’t it possible to do the same with Moby Dick?

Listen, the reason we’re into literature is that there’s life in great literature. Great teachers help students discover that life. Others kill it by overanalyzing it.

Now I don’t have a problem with what the state standards say. I do have a problem with what it doesn’t say. Standards don’t typically address the larger purposes of teaching literature.

It says nothing of developing a love for great literature. It says nothing about helping students achieve success in their lives.

I think the State would respond, "But that’s a "duh." Of course that’s what we’re up to here!" But I’d respond, "If so, let’s put that in our personal standards or goals for our class."

The practical outcome is this: Someone who wants to simply "comply with state standards" may start the first day of class like this:

And then we expect students to shoot up their hands saying, "Please, please! Do ‘irony’ first!" "No, no! I want ‘symbolism!’" until finally you intervene:

Why do we not see this response? We’ve done nothing to meet students at their point of need. They enter the class with no felt need to understand irony in literature. And they have no clue as to how putting effort into this class will possibly make them happier and more successful. And all the students who aren’t motivated by grades will decide that this is a good class to sleep through.

A person who understands our ultimate purposes in education might start the class this way:

"Students, my hope is that during this class you’ll discover some practical ways to live a more successful life. Right now you may see yourself as a little girl living at the end of a dead-end street, preparing to live a dead-end life. But you’ve got your entire life before you. And great literature reveals to us how people outside of your cul-de-sac lived their lives – some ending in great success, others in tragedy; some deliriously happy, others with huge regrets.

By reading great literature, you can find characters you identify with. You’ll find traits you want to live by, ideas for where you’d like to live, what you’d like to accomplish in life, what kind of person you’d like to marry, the kind of friends you want to attract and the kind you want to avoid.

You see, students, literature isn’t so much about plot, structure and symbolism. It’s about life and how people live it. Sure, we’ll learn the elements of good literature. But more than that, I hope you’ll learn something specific that can change your life."

Now isn’t that totally different than the first introduction? Don’t you think it will pull in more students than the former? You could continue this way:

"So, after you’ve read the first chapter of "Huckleberry Finn" for tomorrow’s class, don’t just think about structure and style. Think, "How do I identify with Huck? What do I like about his life that I could adopt? What disgusts me about his life that I’d like to avoid?"

I don’t just want to know that you’ve read the book. I want to know that you’ve thought about it, reflecting on your own life in response to your reading. If you do, it just might change your life."

So there’s a radical difference between the "life-changing teacher" and the "merely complies with state’s standards" teacher. So as a teacher, when you’re preparing your lesson plan for tomorrow’s class, I challenge you to ask the question, "How can tomorrow’s class impact a life?" Any ideas from you on how you motivate your class from the start?

It’s trite, but true: students don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.

Even when I do a one-time lecture on search engine positioning for Web sites in a New Media class at KSU, I’ll begin by asking the students what they aspire to do for a living. That way I can apply the material to their specific set of interests. One girl got so excited that after class she called her husband and said, "Today this guy told us how we can make our business successful!" Why isn’t every class like that?

How does that apply to your class? You might begin it like this:

What am I doing here? I’m taking an interest in my students. It’s not all about me increasing the test-taking ability of my students on standardized tests. It’s all about them and making them successful. And if I take an interest in their lives, maybe they’ll take an interest in my life and my subject.

Knowing my students gives me ammo I can use all semester. I can keep bringing up vocations and interests that are of interest to my students.

Relevant principles from Dale Carnegies’ classic – How to Win Friends and Influence People (I revised the wording for teachers):

Until you get used to thinking in terms of character, it might be difficult to figure out what character traits are being touched upon by any given book. So you may want to familiarize yourself with some good lists of traits. Make a copy and put it up near your desk or study room. Here are four:

Caution: the over-achievers among us might try to hit all of these character traits in a semester. But if you try to cover everything, you can’t give serious attention to any one trait. A better approach might be to take these lists and circle the traits you’re most passionate about. Concentrate on them and the ones that come up most frequently in your choice of literature. Those will probably be the traits you’ll be most effective in passing on to your students.

Educator Dr. Howard Hendricks complained that so much of education was simply transferring a set of notes from the teacher to the student, without going through the minds of either. (Teaching to Change Lives, by Howard Hendricks).

To avoid this with any given book, prep students with ideas like this:

"As you read this book, think about your own life and jot down ideas and questions."

This takes students beyond "the intention of the author." It forces us to think and apply knowledge. It moves us from knowledge to wisdom. Here are some sample questions that move into life-examination:

Benefits of these added "life questions"

1. They engage the practical students who are motivated by "why should I be studying this?"
   
   As a professional researcher and writer, I’ve never fallen in love with words. Instead, I fell in love with wisdom – practical knowledge - and reading was simply one of the easiest ways to attain it.
   
   Questions like these can pull the practical people into reading – those who aren’t into reading for reading’s sake, but will read to get information. That’s me. If you say, "Steve, you’ve just got to read this novel, it’s captivating!" I won’t read it. If you say, "Steve, this author uses the best analogies I’ve ever seen." I’ll read the first five pages to observe and understand her technique." But if you say, "This book takes the latest scientific studies of learning and applies them practically to helping learning disabled and unmotivated to achieve," I’m all over it.
   
   So for learners like me, you’ll inspire me by telling me, not that Jurassic Park had a cool story line, but that "it warned me very specifically about how things can get out of hand when I ignore wise counsel."
2. They engage the creative, outside of the box thinkers.
   
   Some of these students don’t "get" the grade thing. (Perhaps these are the "C" students who will one day be successful entrepreneurs.)

Hint: Have them write it out answers before discussing, or discuss it in a small group first, to get more class discussion. Many aren’t good at coming up with comments "off the top of their heads." Others are scared that they’ve misunderstood the question and are afraid of looking stupid. So giving them some time to get their thoughts together makes it safer for them to discuss in front of the group.

Don’t try to be perfect. Both you and your students know you’re not. My pastor is great at pointing out his own imperfections. People love it because they know he’s in the process like the rest of us.

If you’re discussing a character trait, tell times you blew it that hurt you. Then tell times you did it right that helped you. Sometimes it won’t take but two minutes. But adding your personal life can be powerful.

Two ways to use personal stories:

One of my graduate school professors, Dr. William Craig, was a great model for me in this area. In a "History of Philosophy" class, the brilliant professor (two earned Ph.D.'s) would devote five minutes at the beginning of class to a sort of real-life moment. I don’t recall if it was every day or once a week or every now and then. But I’ll never forget one day, when he began class with this nugget:

"You know, you can make A's in my class, while flunking in real life. I remember a time when I was struggling with balancing studies with my marriage. I was working on my Ph.D. at the University of Munich, Germany. The academic load was overwhelming. My main professor would keep pulling out books in French and German that he said were must reads for my dissertation.

 

So I talked to a professor about my struggle with balance and he advised me, 'Look around you. People around here with Ph.D.'s are a dime a dozen. But how many people do you see who have a really great marriage? Whatever the cost, don't neglect your relationship with your wife.' It really put things in perspective for me."

Well, that was 25 years ago, and I'm not sure how much I remember today about Kant and Hegel. But I'll never forget that simple life story from a teacher who cared as much about my life as about my passing his class.

Typically, values education (or, character education, or life-change education) tries to move students through three steps:

Pointing out a trait like "kindness" in a character in literature helps students to identify or know kindness. Showing how it’s positively impacted your life and others helps them to desire the good. Giving specific action points and opportunities to live out kindness helps them to do kindness. Through repetition, it becomes a part of their lives.

After reading a novel that touches on integrity, you might ask students: "So you think that person’s integrity allowed him to come out on top in the end. Do you think that’s typical of real people?" Students may well respond, "No. It’s the businessmen who lie about their products and lie on their resumes and step all over the small people who get to the top."

Well, I used to think that as well. But there’s strong evidence to the contrary. When professor Thomas Stanley studied people who were successful at their businesses and accumulating wealth, he asked them "what characteristics they attributed their success to. Here’s what they put up at the top…."

In this way, you’ve reinforced integrity with another line of proof, hopefully moving students closer to "desiring the good."

So where do you find information like this – stories and facts that motivate students to pursue various traits? I have a vast and growing collection at www.character-education.info .

In a study, only one in four think their teachers and fellow students care about them. Here are some helpful articles on our site about developing a culture of caring in your class.

A specific way to show caring is to avoid overtly or subtly putting up the "A" students and putting down the "D" students. Some studies show that if you believe your students are smart, they tend to make better grades. The key here is to realize that all kids are smart in their own ways. Some act disinterested and detached because they don’t learn well in an academic setting. Thus, being peer-driven, they’ve got to decide, "Do I continue acting like I’m trying, but keep making poor grades, thus proving that I’m dumb? Or, do I act disinterested so that I might be perceived as smart, but just unmotivated?"

In the final analysis, we don’t really know what those students will become, do we. Dr. Stanley found that most of his highly successful businessmen and accumulators of wealth had a "C" average.

Discussion: Why?

So let’s rethink our use of the word "smart." It seems to me that the language of smart hasn’t kept up with our understanding of smart. We now know that "emotional IQ" is very different from the IQ we typically measure, yet is perhaps more important for a successful life. We also know that some can be great memorizers, and thus perform well on tests, but have little ability to apply those facts to real life.

Example: Paul Orfalea, the founder and driving force behind Kinkos. He’s brilliant, but dyslexic and hyperactive. Because of this, he never learned to read. Yet, he refuses to think of his learning style as a "deficit." He sees it as an asset.

So to build a compassionate classroom, avoid mentally dividing the class between winners and losers, smart and dumb. We really have no idea where each of these students will end up.

Here’s a good source: Books That Build Character, by William Kilpatrick and Gregory and Suzanne M. Wolfe – Three hundred books, from elementary through the teen years, that are especially useful for instilling character.

Also see our collection of articles at www.character-education.info and share your ideas and ask questions on our new forum.

The Character Education Partnership has a blog that many people contribute to. Join the discussion at www.character.org and click on "Join the Discussion on Performance Values" on the left column.

Conclusion

Everyone can be a life-changer! Here’s an example that I wrote for an inner city group:

Younger people may know his name from advertisements for the George FOREMAN Grill. Older folks remember him as one of the greatest boxers of all time. In his remarkable lifetime record, he fought 81 times, winning 76 times, 68 of them by a knock out. (1)

At age 19, he fought his way to an Olympic gold medal. In his early 20's, he defeated the seemingly invincible Joe Frazier, knocking him down six times in four rounds to become the heavyweight champion of the world. In his first fight to defend his title, he knocked out his opponent in under a minute, the fastest-ever knockout for a heavyweight championship bout.

Later in life, he needed to raise money for his youth center and decided to show everyone that middle-aged men weren't over the hill. Few believed that he could fight seriously against younger fighters, but he stunned the world by winning fight after fight and finally knocking out the reigning champ at age 45.

Yet, his incredible career may have never gotten off the ground had a few people not believed in him. You see, it wasn't easy to believe in George as a youth. He grew up in a poor home in a poor neighborhood and lived by the law of the jungle, constantly getting into fights to try to prove himself. To get money, he'd mug people on the streets. His friends were so bad that he thought of himself as one of the good boys. After all, he never knifed any of his victims. But anyone who looked at him wrong had better run away fast, or they'd get a taste of the FOREMAN fist. He was was a big bully with a terrible temper. (2)

Fortunately, George ran across people who cared. As a teenager, he moved from Texas to Oregon with the Job Corps, a government program to give young people a chance to work and learn a trade. While he was there, Doc Broadus, who worked with security, saw potential in him as a boxer and helped him to begin training. A fellow Job Corp worker, a hippie from Washington state, shared his Bob Dylan music with George, encouraging him to think about the lyrics, exercise his mind with reading, and to learn to engage people with his words rather than his fists. His teacher reinforced his new zest for learning. For the first time, George fell in love with reading, opening his mind to new worlds. (3)

Then there was Mrs. Moon, the lunchroom lady. You might think, "What kind of influence could a lunch-room lady have on a mean, tough bully? Surely only a tough coach could get through to a person like him." But you see, George had grown up hungry. His mother was so poor that she couldn't afford to give her children enough food. He was too embarrassed to tell anyone and ask for a handout. So back during his school days, he would often blow air into his brown paper sack so that other students would think he had something to eat. If the sack held anything, it might be a mayonnaise sandwich.

So you can see why food was important to George. And the lunch lady controlled the food. So when she told him to straighten up, he listened. She noticed what foods George liked and scooped out a bit extra into his plate. She smiled at him and talked to him. She even invited George home to eat with her family, once a month, every month for six months.

How did this make him feel? According to George,

"Mrs. Moon just made me feel that I was special. She liked me for me. ... Her words echoed in my ears: 'You watch that temper.' The way she said it, smiling and cheerful, I believed she knew something I didn't. And I wanted to do as she said. Most of all, I wanted to please her." (4)

In the final paragraphs of his autobiography, after his huge early success in boxing, establishing a youth center to help young people, and regaining his title late in life, he looked back to remember Mrs. Moon:

"As vividly as if it happened the day before, I remembered the look on Mrs. Moon's face that first time I passed through the lunch line at the Oregon Job Corps center. She smiled at me. That was the moment I decided I was special." (5)

So never say, "I’m just a lunch lady," or "I’m just a literature teacher," or "Nobody cares what I think around here." You never know who's waiting for someone, anyone, to show that they care. A few caring students or staff are today smiling at someone who needs a smile, and in the process are inspiring the next George Foreman or Albert Einstein or Martin Luther King. Never underestimate the power of kindness.

Sources

(Copyright September, 2007. Written by Steve Miller for Legacy Educational Resources.)