East meets West. After several years of offering trainings in
BC and in the Maritimes, two BC training team members traveled to Halifax in
April to meet with our East Coast counterparts. The visit provided a wonderful
opportunity to clarify our vision for Living Values Education in Canada, discuss
approaches and support each other. We were fortunate to be able to visit several
classrooms and observe living values lessons in action. These visits reinforced
the importance of values education and motivated students, teachers as well as
the LVEP team to continue their efforts to share information about Living Values
whenever possible.
Middle school project on Happiness
LVEP continues to develop mostly in BC, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island,
where the majority of the trainings have taken place. An adult education teacher
has taken the training and is using it with adults in Inuvik, NWT. Currently,
LVEP is being implemented to various degrees in individual classrooms. To our
knowledge, no entire school has adopted LVEP at this time. Plans are in place
for a school-wide study of the effectiveness of the program once we have an
entire school on board to pilot the program.
Atlantic Canada
The first LVEP facilitators? training took place in Halifax in August 2004.
Several teachers, family resource people and parents spent two days exploring
the adult learning process in order to learn how to embody the values during
facilitation. One of the highlights occurred when everyone had a 15 minute
opportunity to facilitate a group discussion on a value. The discussions were
rich and relevant to us as learners, resulting in very deep reflections on how
we embody the values as well as any challenges for us. Everyone left feeling
deeply close to the values, committed to becoming part of the LVEP facilitation
team in the Atlantic. Many participants said that just walking in the door for
the training, they felt their stress and worries fall away and expressed a
desire to join a team which could create such an atmosphere for others.
The regional director of Katimavik, a national youth program, is exploring the
possibility of utilizing the Living Values Activities for Young Adults. She
attended a Living Values Education Program workshop accompanied by two of her
youth leaders. All three left feeling very enthused and motivated to learn more
and to implement the program with their students. Laura, one of the youth
leaders, wrote, ?I had a great experience doing a workshop on Living Values with
my co-workers. We created ?hope for the world? flowers and talked about the
values of our office.?
A federal politician, current critic of Canada?s national childcare policy, has
been introduced to LVEP and is exploring the material and considering its
potential.
Atlantic Canada has hosted several refresher program for teachers using LVEP in
their classroom settings as well as for family resource educators. The focus
this year has been on sustaining the energies of those educators who are often
alone in a school implementing LVEP. A second focus has been on supporting the
LVEP training team in the Atlantic to enhance their confidence and skill as
facilitators of adults. The number of sites in the Atlantic using LVEP has
increased dramatically over the past 3 years and we find ourselves needing an
?ever-ready? team of trainers to visit schools and introduce the program.
April Refresher Day
Hope Flowers
With the recent visit of our national coordinator, we are experiencing renewed
enthusiasm for the program and are planning ways to continue to support teachers
in classrooms, possibly through follow-up visits, lunch time support group
chats, etc.
British Columbia
Our third annual summer training was held in Vancouver in August 2004. Educators
and parents from the Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island, the Kootenays and Inuvik,
NWT attended the session. We were fortunate to have the assistance of Marg
Huber, member of LVEP Canada, and an expert in Conflict Resolution. Marg had
just returned from Eastern Africa where she teaches PeaceMaking to communities,
using LVEP as a resource in her work. Teachers for Peace and Global Education, a
provincial specialist group of the British Columbia Teachers Federation,
continues to sponsor Living Values Education summer trainings.
Summer training
The summer training resulted in requests for additional trainings in the
Vancouver area during the past year. Teachers often comment on the simplicity of
the program and how it inspires them, providing them with a hands-on user
friendly resource for integrating values across the curriculum.
A one-day training was presented to a Surrey elementary school in September.
This school had experienced a large change of staff, including a new principal
and several teachers later observed that this day helped them significantly with
the staff bonding process, setting them up for a positive year.
Hyland Elementary staff making Peace Cakes
In the fall, an introductory Living Values workshop was presented at Simon
Fraser University as part of their Building A Culture of Peace conference.
In January 2005, Living Values Education information was shared at the Beginning
Teachers? Conference in Richmond, resulting in a number of good discussions and
interest in attending our summer training.
Another all day training occurred as part of the Delta Teachers Professional Day
in February. A group of teachers and support staff spent the day exploring LVEP.
Often, teachers discover they are already using a number of the Living Values
techniques, a realization which is validating and encouraging during a time when
teachers are often feeling stressed, demoralized and/or discouraged.
Participants often comment that Living Values sessions leave them feeling
energized and encouraged to continue their inspirational work.
Living Values Education continues their affiliation with BC?s Institute for
Ethical Leadership who are working to develop a lighthouse project, an entire
school implementing LVEP, where the effectiveness of the program can be
evaluated.
Elsewhere
Canadian LVEP trainers have far-reaching connections and are actively promoting
Living Values abroad. Aspects of the Living Values Education Program, in
particular the Conflict Resolution Model, have been taught to students in
Uganda, Rwanda and Southern Sudan as part of their PeaceMaking Initiative.
Introduced to the regions by one of our executive members, Marg Huber, she
writes, ?We were in Rwanda at the orphanage last week with four of our African
team, and it was a very amazing experience. The Living Values Education work
continues to add in a substantial way to the peacemaking training and I am so
deeply grateful to be part of it all.?
Number of Sites Using Living Values Education
Total Number of Sites - 30+
Sites include a variety of educational settings ? After school care programs,
YWCA childcare centre, elementary and middle schools (public and private),
private tutoring service, Street Youth Agency, Immigrant Settlement
Organization, Family Resource Centres, private psychotherapy clinic, martial
arts studio, Mt. St. Vincent University Masters of Education Program
Impact
The following comments have been shared by former participants of LVEP trainings
?
?LVEP resonates with my vision of teaching. During my first year of teaching, I
felt the over-emphasis on academics left a void within me, as if I were missing
an important piece of the puzzle. After taking the LVEP training, I realized
that we were not only educating the minds and bodies of children but their souls
as well. This values based program reaches the whole child through guided
imagery, songs, stories, drama and much more!?
Navnit Dosanjh, Kindergarten teacher, Surrey, BC
?Just had to tell you that Maya, my three year old grand-daughter, sits on top
of her dresser for over half an hour at a time, playing, listening and singing
her Living Values CD. She knows all the words and objects when she is unable to
finish listening to the entire CD. Just think if we can ?work on? three year
olds like this, how we could change the world!?
Val Hemingway, retired teacher, Vancouver, BC
?Since using LVEP, the key power players amongst my students are no longer being
sent to the office for assault and physical aggression. Incidents involving them
have become much more minor. Other teachers are noticing that my students use a
language of respect. While on duty, one teacher approached two students engaged
in an altercation which the supervisor expected to erupt into violence. When she
arrived within earshot, she heard one student say to the other, ?I respect you
but I do not agree with you.? The children were able to resolve their
differences without resorting to fisticuffs, something that would not have
occurred before.?
Lisa Jenson, Grade 6, Charlottetown, PEI
?After using the Conflict Resolution process countless times with a particularly
active little girl, I began to wonder whether all of my efforts would ever make
a difference. Then, one day, I heard a commotion while ushering my students down
the hallway; I turned to observe my rambunctious little girl standing between
two students, an arm on each one?s shoulder, calmly leading them through the
Conflict Resolution procedure! Although the little girl still has her
challenging moments, all my patience was certainly taking root!!?
Vaunda Halfyard, Primary One, Halifax, NS
The following work sample was submitted by Grade Two teacher, Lisa Forrest from
Halifax. In this self-esteem exercise, Brandon writes to himself.
Dear Brandon,
You are peaceful and nice to other people. You help them whenever they?re hurt.
You go get a duty (teacher) and then you go play a game. You support people, you
play games, you care about people, you are a good friend. You are friendly, you
play hands-off activities, you play with your friends a lot. You listen to your
teacher because she?s really valuable too, like everybody in the world. You
especially care about all the people of the world, not just yourself because
they?re valuable just like you. You are a cool friend. You play soccer. You play
a lot of games with your best friends like Jeffrey and Steven and?..You are so
much fun. You are so funny. You are so smart and you always write two pages with
nice sentences.
Love,
Brandon
Kindergarten artwork
