Integrated Curriculum Chpt. 3 - 5

I found it very interesting to read about KNOW/DO/BE bridge within these chapters. With that stated, I have witnessed both in my placements last year and my student teaching this year that the 'BE' factor is becoming smaller and smaller. From my experiences, it appears to me that character education is rarely brought up in schools today. It seems that students need to KNOW their language arts standards, or be able to DO what they've learned through mathematic standards, but as for who they are meant to BE...well, that just keeps becoming a smaller and smaller concept to teach students.

Some teachers I've worked with act as if their curriculum needs to focus soley on getting the standards covered without ever addressing any concern on teaching their students to have good moral value and to be good citizens in the community. Why can't students practice both their character education and cover their standards simultaneously, but so many teachers fail to go this extra mile in teaching children to be generous, caring adults. And yes, although families should be teaching this to their children, some families are not around enough to do so. If your heart is really there one hundred percent then I feel that being an educator means taking on a parental role sometimes and looking out for the good of the student. Success isn't always academic, and what good is straight A's going to do for a student if they have never learned the right way to treat others and get along with one another.