Teaching Character Strengths with Trending Topics: Insights from Alexander Volkanovski

At the time of writing this article, Alexander ‘The Great’ Volkanovski has just lost his UFC Featherweight title after a long reign as champion. Like many other sporting superstars, we look at how these athletes handle their success and… importantly, how come back from failures and setbacks. This article will explain how I integrate character strengths with contemporary athletes into physical education lessons. Providing learning that develops the individual as a whole and not just their physical capabilities.

Many things are covered in a physical education lesson and this is typically done in a limited time frame of a few lessons a week. One overlooked but important cornerstone of a quality physical education lesson and a characteristic of a competent physical education student- is character (values and morals). Physical education is such an amazing medium to teach character strengths to students and how we should display our values inside and outside of a sport setting.

I may be biased but I think physical education is the best place to explicitly teach this to students in schools. One reason being is that students can talk about what these characteristics look like in the actual moment of experiencing failure or victory which can take place during an activity or lesson. Being able to talk honestly about how they feel when they are victorious or how they feel when they fail whilst in the moment of a game, will allow a true reflection and a genuine insight into their own reactions to success and failure.

We can use these moments to develop positive character strengths in students and ones that display the values and morals that we deem important to us as individuals. Students can display them right then and there in our next game or activity. We get to practice these morals and skills at the end of every game which is something very unique to Physical education.

I could talk forever about this topic and provide a wide range of sources as to the benefits of physical education and personal development/ positive psychology for students. We will save that for another article. If you do want to read more about character strengths in positive psychology please check out the Positivity Project.

This article will discuss how I used current trending sport icons to relate to my students and unpack our desired character strengths in PE lessons.

Character strengths: These are positive personality traits that reflect our basic identity (The Positivity Project, 2024)

Selecting a Sporting Icon

Before starting a unit of work on a chosen game category, you can research a few respected athletes in that sport. Alternatively, this could also be something that students do in a lesson but lately, with my older students, I like to integrate into the physical activity component of the lesson. Every school is different, at my current site students spend a lot of time in other subject areas and health lessons discussing positive education, values and character strengths, so what I do is build off that knowledge and go straight into selecting someone whom students admire or look up to. At a later date, I will write an article about teaching character strengths as stand-alone lessons.

What I also like to do at times is to pick athletes that may not be conventional athletes but popular ones. A great example is UFC Featherweight Champion, the Australian Alexander Volkanovski. Alexander is currently in the spot light as of late as he defends his UFC title and is growing in populairty in Australia. He is also ver much idolised by the boys who I teach whom are of the middle school age. Knowing that he is looked up too, I thought he would be a great example to use as a teaching tool for my middle school boys.

Alexander is a great athlete to pick because he is very relevant to my school site, he is Australian and I teach in schools in Australia so students can relate to him he is a champion who carries himself with dignity and has faced recently significant victories and defeats. Knowing this about this athlete and also knowing he is not popularised for negative things like partying, drugs and promiscuity I thought he was a great athlete to look at and unpack how he handled himself in situations of great defeat on a public stage and how he turned them into victories.  

To Summarise, When Selecting An Athlete:

1.     Make sure they are relevant and students know/admire the athlete

2.     Ensure that are appropriate for a school setting

3.     You will need to have some understanding of the athlete – you can’t talk about someone who you don’t know

4.     Have been in situations that make great teaching points for your students, i.e., they have faced defeat and handled it positively, and when they are victorious they a gracious.

5.     Be able to pull authentic teaching points and relate them to issues in your classroom. i.e., How we look at failing, how we look at competition, how we handle ourselves during times of uncertainty.

How To Integrate Into HPE Lessons?

There are so many ways to do this and of course, I’m sure you would have a lot of ways that would work best in your setting.

How I use it currently (Middle School Physical Education) :

I print an image of the athlete and around the athlete, I write the values that best describe their character. This is something that can be done with your students but for the sake of efficiency, I created the most recent one. Please see the example below:

At the start of our lesson, I discuss the character traits I am looking for:

“If we lose a game and we feel disappointed what are some ways we can handle that feeling of disappointment?”

When Alex Volkanovski lost his massive double-title match against Islam Mackhachev, what were his emotions? How did he overcome these emotions? (You may need to provide some insight into this)

I try to use specific examples of the athletes so I can build a connection and provide context into our situations compared to the athletes. This also makes the learning more genuine also far more interesting for the student.

Provide Context:

In our lesson after a game, we are looking for the following character strengths:

• Integrity (Not disputing the outcome)
• Respect (Resecting our opponents)
• Gracious (Winning humbly)

These values then become discussion points and even at times a form of peer observation. At the end of the activity, I will ask the students

• Does anyone want to highlight someone in their game who displayed one of the character’s strengths?
• Does anyone want to share someone from their team who was able to display character strengths, what did that look like?

I always ask questions from a strengths-based approach and never ask students to point out negatives when we are talking about character strengths. Now if it is necessary in your lesson and for your age group then it may be appropriate to unpack the impact negative character strengths have on your team and individual enjoyment of the activity.

The athlete becomes a discussion point and tool to discuss values and character strengths throughout the lesson. We use the athletes as role models we can learn from and observe their character when facing adversity. I find this is a much more powerful way to teach character strengths in a physical education lesson as students have a great deal of respect for athletes and many students idolise these figures. They can make personal connections to athletes and then, in turn, display the character strengths that they connect with and that they hope to adopt in the lesson in real-time.

Why It Works?

• It engages students who aren’t always engaged as they can relate and contribute to discussions because the athlete selected is current
• It ties in with what is being discussed and provides context, it shows what a real-life example looks like of someone who is displaying the desired character strengths
• We can discuss that would this champion be so loved and so great if they did not display this attitude in victory and defeat.
• It allows you to connect your physical education learning experience to what is happening in the current world of sports and entertainment
• It provides relevance to what you are teaching and examples of it happening at the highest levels
• It gives your students something to strive for and aspire to be

Growing up your parents may have always told you to work hard and be disciplined, never give up and try your best. Whilst that may have helped you in your sporting journey I’m sure the impact would not have been the same as seeing your idol training in a highlight video, or a documentary of the struggles they faced to achieve their dream.

When we make connections to the people we idolise and look up to, the lessons and values we know to be true become much more meaningful and personal.  

What Does The Evidence Say About Character Strengths In The Classroom?:

• Positive Impact on Academic Achievement: Teaching character strengths in schools has been linked to improved academic performance. According to a study published in the Journal of Positive Psychology, students who received character education interventions showed significant improvements in their academic achievements compared to those who did not receive such interventions (Park & Peterson, 2006).
• Enhanced Social and Emotional Skills: Incorporating character education in schools helps students develop crucial social and emotional skills necessary for success in various aspects of life. Research conducted by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) has shown that students who receive social-emotional learning (SEL) instruction, which often includes character education, demonstrate improved social skills, responsible decision-making, and better relationships with peers (Durlak et al., 2011).
• Long-term Benefits for Well-being and Citizenship: Teaching character strengths in schools not only benefits students academically but also prepares them for responsible citizenship and promotes overall well-being. A meta-analysis published in the Journal of School Health found that SEL programs, which often include character education components, have positive effects on students’ behavior, attitudes, and overall well-being, contributing to a safer and more supportive school environment (Durlak et al., 2011).

Sources:

• https://posproject.org/character-strengths/#myanchor1
• Durlak, J. A., Weissberg, R. P., Dymnicki, A. B., Taylor, R. D., & Schellinger, K. B. (2011). The impact of enhancing students’ social and emotional learning: A meta‐analysis of school‐based universal interventions. Child development, 82(1), 405-432.
• Park, N., & Peterson, C. (2006). Moral competence and character strengths among adolescents: The development and validation of the Values in Action Inventory of Strengths for Youth. Journal of adolescence, 29(6), 891-909.