Our mission is to help individuals lead positive and productive lives by increasing their Self-Esteem, Character, and Social Emotional Learning skills. Our passion is identifying, teaching, and providing opportunities to practice vital character-based life skills. Our programs enable us to teach these skills through safe, wholesome activities that are both educational and fun.
Building Positive, Productive Individuals by increasing Self-Esteem, Character, and SEL (Social Emotional Learning)
Self-esteem is the sum total of all the thoughts, positive or negative, we have about our own self- worth. How we view ourselves will determinate the quality of every experience we have.
Self-Esteem has been defined as confidence in one's own worth or abilities; self-respect.
The National Association for Self-Esteem defined it as "The experience of being capable of meeting life's challenges and being worthy of happiness."
Helping your students develop high self-esteem has several benefits, according to the National Mental Health Information Center. Kids with healthy self-esteem are better equipped to deal with peer pressure and responsibility than kids who feel bad about themselves. Children with good self-esteem are also better able to deal with strong emotions, both good and bad, and to cope with challenges and frustrations when they arise.
Helping students increase and maintain positive self-esteem is a major factor in improving academic achievement and behavior.
“Intelligence plus character-that is the goal of true education.”
Martin Luther King Jr.
Character Education is the long-term process of helping young people develop good character, i.e., knowing, caring about, and acting upon core ethical values such as fairness, honesty, compassion, responsibility, and respect for self and others.
Our character forms over time, and is a dynamic combination of three key functions:
“To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society.”
Theodore Roosevelt
Social and emotional learning (SEL) is the process through which children and adults acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.
Research shows that promoting social and emotional skills leads to reduced violence and aggression among children, higher academic achievement, and an improved ability to function in schools and in the workplace.
Research has also shown that Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is a better indicator of future success than IQ (Goleman, 1995)
Daniel Goleman identified the 5 main components of EQ in his book, Emotional Intelligence as:
The owner and founder of T.E.A.M. Character, Charles Michael is a visionary with significant expertise in the field of Character Education and Afterschool Programs. He is passionate about making a difference in people's lives and strives to help our youth and adults reach their full potential. Charles Michael is a former Elon University full-scholarship basketball player and has been an Afterschool Program Specialist in Fairfax County Public Schools for more than 10 years. He has addressed youth and adults in a variety of venues and formats including:
According to research done by Johnson & Johnson, youth with low self-esteem
According to a study by the American Federation of Teachers, an overwhelming majority of Americans want public school to teach core ethical values.