Chapter I Introduction

Based on UU No. 20 Tahun 2003 Tentang Sistem Pendidikan Nasional on Pasal 3, stated that national education functions to develop and form characters and also nation civilization in order to make nation live to be educated. National education aims to develop students potential to be religious human, having noble character, healthy, bookish, creative and being democratic and responsible citizen. Building on function and aim of the national education, it is clear that is needed to teach students by applying character education in learning process. It is important to make students become a citizen with good characters. Besides that, it is needed to apply characters education in learning process because informal education especially in family environment has not given meaningful contributions yet in supporting formation of students character. Parents activities, less comprehension of the parents in educating their childs in family environment, influence of around environment and influence of electronic media can give negative influence towards development and learning attainment of the student. Besides that, nowadays many sides of people demand to increase intensity and quality of the implementation of character education in formal education. It is because of social phenomenon. It is based on students delinquency increase, in a community such as a free fight, robbing which is done by the students and other moral cases. Those problems are in fidgety level now. Because of that, formal education institution is expected to be able increase its role in formation of students personality through increase the intensity and quality of character education.

Chapter II Content
2.1 Concept of Character Building/Education According Ali Ibrahim (2009) as cited in Solikan (2012), education practice in Indonesia is leaner oriented to hard skill based education (technical skill) which develop intelligence quotient (IQ), but its less in developing soft skill ability which is poured in emotional intelligence (EQ) and spiritual intelligence (SQ). As the time goes by, education which is only based on hard skill that produces graduate who has academic achievement should be repaired. Nowadays, learning process has to base on soft skill development (social interaction). It is very important in formation of character education, so then they are able to compete, do something with good attitude, respectful and interact with community. According to Tadkiroatun Musfiroh (UNY, 2008), character refers to attitudes, behaviors, motivations and skills. Character comes from Romaic which means to mark or focus on how to apply kindness values in form of action or behaviors. So then person who has kindness action or behaviors is called having noble character. Having noble characters mean that individu has knowledge about self potential which is marked by character values such as reflektif, percaya diri, rasional, logis, kritis, analitis, kreatif dan inovatif, mandiri, hidup sehat, bertanggung jawab, cinta ilmu, sabar, berhati-hati, rela berkorban, pemberani, dapat dipercaya, jujur, menepati janji, adil, rendah hati, malu berbuat salah, pemaaf, berhati lembut, setia, bekerja keras, tekun, ulet/gigih, teliti, berinisiatif, berpikir positif, disiplin, antisipatif, inisiatif, visioner, bersahaja, bersemangat, dinamis, hemat/efisien, menghargai waktu, pengabdian/dedikatif, pengendalian diri, produktif, ramah, cinta keindahan (estetis), sportif, tabah, terbuka, tertib. Individu juga memiliki kesadaran untuk berbuat yang terbaik atau unggul, dan individu juga mampu bertindak sesuai potensi dan kesadarannya tersebut. Karakteristik adalah realisasi perkembangan positif sebagai individu (intelektual, emosional, sosial, etika, dan perilaku).

According to T. Ramli (2003), character education has essence and same meaning with moral education. David Elkind and Freddy Sweet Ph.D. (2004) said that character education is the deliberate effort to help people understand, care about, and act upon core ethical values. When we think about the kind of character we want for our children, it is clear that we want them to be able to judge what is right, care deeply about what is right, and then do what they believe to be right, even in the face of pressure from without and temptation from within. In 2005, Thomas Lickona stated that character education is the deliberate effort to develop good character based on core virtues that are good for the individual and good for society. From those definitions can be concluded that Character Education or Character Building is an effort which is dealt with moral education to help people understand, care about, act upon core ethical values and also to develop good character. Character education is needed to be applied in learning process to develop students soft skills (social interaction), so then they can interact with the community respectfully. 2.2 Character Building/Education in Junior High School There are some examples of character building values in Junior High School. 1. Character Value in Relationship to God a. Religius 2. Character Value in Relationship to Our Self a. Jujur b. Bertanggung Jawab c. Bergaya hidup sehat d. Disiplin e. Kerja Keras f. Percaya Diri g. Berjiwa Wirausaha h. Berpikir logis, kritis, kreatif, and inovatif i. Mandiri j. Ingin tahu k. Cinta Ilmu

3. Character Value in Relationship to Human a. Sadar akan hak dan kewajiban diri dan orang lain b. Patuh pada aturan-aturan sosial c. Menghargai karya dan prestasi orang lain d. Santun e. Demokratis 4. Character Value in Relationship to Environment a. Peduli sosial dan lingkungan 5. Nationality Values a. Nasionalis b. Menghargai keberagamaan

2.3

The Implementation of Characters Building in learning process The implementation of characters building in learning process is done by doing some

steps. The steps are: Learning Planning In this step, syllabus, lesson plan, and other materials are prepared. Syllabus, lesson plan and learning materials are made to make learning process can facilitate characters building in learning process. The easy way to make syllabus, lesson plan and learning materials with character building is by adapting syllabus, lesson plan and earning materials which had made with character building.

Learning Process Learning activity such as pre-activity, whilst-activity and post activity should be chosen and done to make students practice the values of character building targeted. It is needed to apply principals of Contextual Teaching and Learning on all of the learning steps. There are some steps that can be done to introduce value and apply the characters building in learning process. The following are the examples: a. In Pre-Activity Teacher comes on time (disiplin)

Teacher greets the students friendly when entering classroom (santun, peduli) Praying before start the learning process (5eligious) Check students attendance (disiplin, rajin)

b. In Whilst Activity Engage students to find any information about the topic learnt. (mandiri, berfikir logis, kreatif, kerjasama) Using variety methods or technique, learning media and other learning sources. (kreatif, kerja keras) Facilitate interaction among students, among students and teacher, environment and other learning sources. (kerjasama, saling menghargai, peduli lingkungan) Engage students actively in every learning process. (rasa percaya diri, mandiri) Accustom students read and write through meaningful assessment. (cinta ilmu, kreatif, logis) Give chance to think, analyze, and solve problem. (kreatif, percaya diri, kritis) Facilitate students in cooperative and collaborative learning. (kerjasama, saling menghargai, kerjasama) Facilitate students in making report individually or group. (jujur, bertanggung jawab, percaya diri, saling menghargai, mandiri, kerjasama) Giving positive reward and reinforcement in form of orally, written or others to students based on their success in learning. (saling menghargai, percaya diri, santun, kritis, logis) Giving confirmation through some sources. (percaya diri, logis, kritis) Giving motivation to the students who havent participated yet. (peduli, percaya diri) c. In Post Activity Making summary/conclusion together with the students. (mandiri, kerjasama, kritis, logis) Doing assessment and self reflection of learning activity. (jujur, mengetahui kelebihan dan kekurangan)

To make students practice the values of character building, there are some efforts that can be done. The following are the efforts: 1. Teacher has to be as a model in character building. From the beginning until the end of the learning process, language, attitude, and teacher action should be as reflection of character buildings values. 2. Give reward to the students who show character wanted and give punishment to the students who do bad attitude. Reward and punishment which is meant can be as verbal and non verbal expression. Because of that, teacher needs to be good observer for every student during learning process. 3. Avoid jokes when there is student who comes late or difficult in answering question. We need to avoid it to develop attitudes of bertanggung jawab, empati, kritis, kreatif, onovatif, rasa percaya diri etc.

Evaluation of Learning Attainment Basically, authentic assessment is applied. Technique and instrument of assessmentt

which is chosen and done are not only to measure students academic/cognitive attainment, but also to measure students self development. The following is example of instrument (self assessment) that can be used, adapted and developed by school in doing assessment.

How much do you improve in the following aspects after learning the materials in this unit? Put a tick () in the appropriate box.

No.

Aspect

Very Much

Much

Little

1. 2.

Asking for opinions Giving opinions

3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

Asking about facts Giving facts Patience Independence Confidence .

Learning Follow-Up Reinforcement assigment is given to facilitate learning participant in studying about

competency which has been learnt and about characters which have been applied. The assignment can be as home work which is done individually or in group. The assignment can increase target mastery and also invest character building values.

Chapter III Conclusion

Character Education or Character Building is an effort which is dealt with moral education to help people understand, care about, act upon core ethical values and also to develop good character. Character education is needed to be applied in learning process to develop students soft skills (social interaction), so then they can interact with the community respectfully. The implementation of characters building in learning process is done by doing some steps. The steps are learning Planning, learning process, evaluation of learning attainment, learning follow-up. There are some steps that can be done to introduce value and apply the characters building in learning process. It can be done in pre-activity, whilst activity and post activity.

References: Kementerian Pendidikan Nasional. 2010. Pendidikan Karakter di Sekolah Menengah Pertama. University of Ellinois Extensions. 2005. Building Character Education In Your Community. Solikan. 2012. Pembinaan Pendidikan Karakter di SMP (Bagian I). Avalaible from http://khan35.blogspot.com/2012/09/pembinaan-pendidikan-karakter-di-smp.html Solikan. 2012. Pembinaan Pendidikan Karakter di SMP (Bagian II). Avalaible from http://khan35.blogspot.com/2012/09/pembinaan-pendidikan-karakter-di-smp_2.html