Character Action Media consists of video and text lessons of inspiring stories of individuals living out the personal and civic virtues /character traits in ways that are relevant to youth. Lessons help students understand the virtues, inspire them to live out the virtues, and present individual and group activities relevant to the focused virtues.
CAM is a versatile resource that can be used in a variety of school applications, after school programs and youth programs.
Program Structure
CAM Video-based lessons (3–15 minutes) focus on stories of athletes, coaches, entertainers, government leaders, community activists, everyday heroes and current events. Each lesson includes interviews, major media footage and music, presented in a style designed to inspire the youth audience. At the end of each video, the narrator offers the audience a comment and / or “question to think about” that the instructor may use for group discussion.
A Leader’s Guide is included for each lesson which supports critical thinking and civic engagement through discussion questions, journal writing options, extended learning activities such as debates, team presentations, community service projects, and ideas for participating in public policy development. These activities help students to more fully understand, live out, and assimilate the focused virtues / character traits within their own lives.
Leaders are encouraged, but not required, to lead their group in activities outlined in the Leader’s Guide.
Target Audience
Students and youth groups in the 5th -12th grades
Anticipated Outcomes
By focusing on stories that are relevant to students’ lives and communicating these stories in an exciting multimedia format, we help students:
- Understand personal and civic virtues by connecting virtues to people, events and issues of interest to students
- Identify opportunities to live out the virtues in their own lives by learning the stories and positive outcomes of others living out the virtues
- Dedicate themselves to living out the virtues in their lives
- View and critically analyze events and issues in their personal lives and in our wider communities, from the perspective of the virtues
- Practice civic engagement- as recommended by The National Task Force on Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement- through experiential learning activities presented in each lesson such as debates, team presentations, and service projects.
Content Applications
- CAM enables schools to efficiently incorporate character education elements into the Social Studies & Language Arts/English curricula, open periods, after school programs, and summer school programs
- youth programs such as church-based teen groups and community service programs
- individual families
Educational Standards / Benchmarks
The optional activities presented in the CAM videos and Leader’s Guides support standards in the Language Arts, English, Social Studies, and Civics curricula including: critical thinking, writing, discussion and debate skills, team collaboration, and presentation skills.
Highlighted Personal and Civic Virtues
| Compassion | Courage |
| Discipline | Empathy |
| Fortitude | Generosity |
| Gratitude | Integrity |
| Justice | Love |
| Perseverance | Respect for Others |
| Responsibility | Solidarity |
| Tolerance | Wisdom |