It’s that time of year. Teachers are back to school and students are soon to follow. And, this is my first installment of the weekly blog.  Starting tonight, every Sunday night I will sit at my computer and write about a current event related to character and leadership.  In the blog, I usually provide my perspective, a video link and discussion questions. The purpose of this blog is to make a simple point – character and leadership matter today! These attributes weren’t just important in 1864 or in 1964 – they matter just as much now as they ever did.  And, I promise you, that I will find something going on each and every week that makes this point. Many of these stories you will know about and some of these stories will be barely known. Some will be inspirational and some will teach tough lessons. Sometimes it will be about someone who ruined his/her life with one bad decision and sometimes it will be about a selfless act that positively changed someone else’s life. The joy of writing this blog is that I never know what will transpire that will become a blog story.

My Hope #1 – read it: I hope that your teacher will share the blog with you every week. It is a great way to keep the class current and relevant. To be honest, I spend 4-6 hours every week researching and writing these blogs. I hate the thought of writing these blogs and not having it shared by teachers or viewed by students.

My Hope #2 – Be Inspired: I hope that these blogs will inspire you and that one or many of them will change the way you approach life.  I believe that students can be inspired and want to be inspired. People and stories can be the source of that inspiration.

My Hope #3 – Social Media:  One of my goals is to provide a “Filtered World-Wide Classroom.” Each week, I will provide discussion questions and social media questions. Respond to them and let me know what you think.  There are over 20,000 students taking a course like yours from all 50 states and 8 other countries.  Don’t you think it is cool to know what an 8th grader from Texas thinks in contrast to a 12th grader from rural Iowa in contrast with a sophomore from inner-city Los Angeles. So please:

* In the first week of class, either create a class Twitter or Facebook page or have the students use their own personal accounts. Follow us on Twitter @CDandLeadership (use #CDandL) and/or like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/characterandleadership. This will allow you to receive the posts as soon as they go live,  1) allowing students to discuss these issues at home, on the bus or before practice and 2) allowing students to receive these posts long after they leave this classroom.

* Respond to the social media questions.  Tell me what you think and why you think it (in the comment section below the blog or through Twitter/Facebook).  Keep it clean. Don’t swear or put down other students’ views. This is not a rant-session and it is a character and leadership site, so I will filter comments that are non-productive.