Tuesday, December 2, 2008

"Having character is cool!"

-Written by Adam Kertesz

I feel honoured, and petrified, to be writing the first real entry of the brand new Dynamix Blog. There is a lot of pressure with writing the very first entry (not including our 'Intro' post). I hope to not let you down. Ok, I admit our readership is probably pretty low at the moment (Hi Mom!), but one day this blog will be hailed by Time Magazine as the most influential blog of our time. But I'm getting ahead of myself here... Let's get started....

I came across this amazing article the other day by way of my Google Reader (if you don't know what this is, look it up. It will change your life.)

As someone who is so passionate about developing character skills in children, it is refreshing to know I am not alone. Ladies and Gentleman, a round of applause for Arthur Birenbaum, a teacher at Richmond Rose Public School in Richmond Hill, Ontario.

To me, Mr Birenbaum is a trailblazer. According to thefreedictionary.com (sorry, a paid dictionary is not in the budget), a trailblazer is:
1. One that blazes a trail.
2. An innovative leader in a field; a pioneer.

Based on this article, Mr Birenbaum initiated a Character Development program at his school 4,5 years ago. There are people in the field today that are just learning this term today, but Mr Birenbaum has been teaching it and instilling it in his school's cutlture for 4-5 years now. Based on the continually rising crime in Toronto over the last couple years, I don't think anyone would disagree with how crucial developing strong moral character is in our youth today. I'd say Mr Birenbaum was certainly ahead of his time, no?

Mr Birenbaum, well done! I look forward to meeting you soon, shaking your hand and thanking you for your committment to a cause that, as someone in the industry, I know can be quite discouraging at times, if we let it. We need more teachers like you out there..



(And with that, the Dynamix Blog is born...)

PS In case you're new to this blogging thing, the proper thing to do now is to comment on how awesome a read that was (and ok, while you're at it, tell me your thoughts on this increasingly important issue.)

2 comments:

  1. Great writing and good luck with your blog.
    your #1 fan always
    mom

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  2. Hi Dynamix,
    Great blog! You have international readers now so I am sure that you are on your way to being the most influential blog of our time! Great article that you have found Adam, I particularly liked the part about getting the older students to teach the younger students. I wonder if that could be something to incorporate into your program? Take a sixth grader into the kindergarten classes with you? At my school we are doing a lot of education based around sustainability - teaching children about their place in creating a sustainable world both envirnomentally and socially. It is cool to see the influence it has on children's sense of responsibility.

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