T.R.U.E. Choices Features

Understanding by Design The goal of any Heartwood lesson is to promote enduring understanding of the Heartwood attributes. But how best to ensure deep understanding as opposed to memorizing definitions or learning facts? Heartwood Institute has constructed each lesson around the principles and techniques developed by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe in their work Understanding by Design (ASCD, 2005). Wiggins and McTighe define understanding as the integration of six distinct facets or "lenses": "When one truly understands, one Can explain: phenomena, facts, and data. Can interpret: tell meaningful stories, offer apt translations, provide a revealing historical or personal dimension to ideas and events; can make them personal. Can apply: effectively use and adapt what one knows in diverse contexts. Can have perspective: see the big picture, and other viewpoints. Can empathize: find value in what others see differently. Has self-knowledge: perceive the personal style, prejudices, projections, and habits of mind that both shape and impede one's own understanding.	Guide to T.R.U.E. Choices Review Vocabulary, Mapwork, and History Connections. Read story aloud while students take notes on Side A of Key Concepts worksheets. Put students in small groups to answer Key Questions on Side B, followed by class discussion. Use Journal Writing for individual reflection in class or at home. Use Optional Activities to extend lessons through social studies, language arts, art, and applications of the attributes. Broaden and deepen learning with Conflict Resolution activities and Conflict Resolution Skill Builders, whole class Action Plans, and exploration of Resources.
Features
Centered on Social Studies - and the World Because character education belongs in every part of the middle grades school, T.R.U.E. Choices can be integrated into many content areas. Social Studies is its special home. The Social Studies domains such as history, civics, and geography focus on how people live today, in the past, and in a rainbow of cultures. If character education is about being the best you can be in your world, young adolescents must have a better knowledge of that world.
Different Strands for Unit Integration T.R.U.E. Choices offers units organized into three strands within each universal character attribute: United States Europe, Latin America, and Canada Asia, Africa, and World Cultures These strands are used to match the range of social studies topics in middle grades. In each unit of a particular strand, two books that exemplify aspects of one of the seven core attributes are included.
The Role of Conflict Resolution T.R.U.E. Choices includes Conflict Resolution activities in the lesson design for each of the 42 books in the program. Why? "Conflicts often are the greatest challenge to being ethical," says Dr. Martha Harty, experienced mediator and conflict skills trainer. "Middle schoolers face bigger challenges, more serious conflicts than they did as younger children. They are both ready and in need of concrete strategies for how to handle conflicts in a way that accords with their ethical framework - hence the need for conflict resolution skill."