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Australia: Living Values
Testimonials
Testimonial from Jacqueline Stein
Alia Secondary College
Melbourne Victoria
I have fifteen years teaching experience in secondary schools;
Government and private; traditional and alternative; small and large
scale; and in three different countries: Australia, UK, and Spain
My current school is Alia College where I project manage an innovative
government initiative on Values Education based on LVE. Alia College is
a small, private alternative school focusing on academic achievement.
The students are aged between 12-18.
I initiated the introduction of discrete classes on Values Education at
Alia the week following an LVE workshop held at Baxter retreat in May
2002. We started LVE with the students in years 9 and 10 then followed
quickly in years 7 and 8.
Fortunately Alia was granted status as one of the 60 schools nation-wide
to take part in an action-research project. This extra funding has
allowed Alia to extend LVE into VCE (post 16 education) linking it into
programmes such as Mind Matters and Community Service.
Alia?s curriculum is fluid and open to change and development.
Teachers are encouraged and supported in the introduction of courses,
which they are passionate about. After the LVE workshop I was certainly
passionate about the power of this work and understood that it does make
a difference to the lives of young people. Since the introduction of LVE
a number of teachers and parents have expressed interest in joining the
lessons and embarking on training in the facilitation of LVE.
LVE is different because it works! I experienced changes in the
relationships between students and teachers within 6 weeks. Students who
were extremely resistant in the beginning were making suggestions as to
how to improve the classroom atmosphere and even suggesting mediations
that they had used at home. Students were getting insights into how they
really felt about things separating raw emotion from feeling and then
were given the tools to deal with issues. The 14-18 age group
particularly appreciated conflict-resolution techniques. From a teaching
perspective the books containing LVE are easily accessible, easy to
follow and non-prescriptive. They can be used in part, as a whole course
or interwoven throughout the curriculum. The support through materials
and through the educator network is a further delight.
From a personal perspective the biggest breakthrough was in ME! I was
more enthused in the classroom, more loving and a much better teacher!
And finally what the students say:
?Coming to values makes me feel happy, it changes my day because it
has a quiet atmosphere. I feel good even if my classmates are grumpy
because the atmosphere is loving and the teacher reflects happiness and
love.? (Year 8 student)
?When I went into my values lesson at the end of last term I was
feeling angry but at the end I felt peaceful.? (Year 8 student)
?I was surprised to discover that wisdom was one of
my values.? (Year 7 student)
?It?s not just that I like values classes I really enjoy them. At
the start I was dead against values, I didn?t feel like I got anything
out of the class. I distracted people and didn?t put in any effort.
Then I thought for one lesson I would really contribute. That lesson
changes the way I felt about values. I can relate to everything that we
talk about. I find myself discovering things about myself that I never
knew. Values class is really worthwhile. ? (Year 9 student)
?As a student-teacher returning to Alia the addition of Vales has,
from my observations, produced some interesting outcomes. Not having
been at Alia for about six weeks the change in attitude, and outlook, of
certain students was immediately obvious. Perhaps it would be a little
idealistic to attribute all changes to the Values program, but the focus
of the program, is definitely making a positive impact. When students,
or anyone for that matter, reflect on themselves, their environment and
their actions/motivations they gain a deeper understanding of self and
of others. The benefits from, and through, Values continues to amaze
me-Scott Pearce.?
Jacqueline Stein
April 2003
Testimonial from Karen Fryer
Pearcedale Primary School
Frankston Victoria
I have been a teacher for 13 years, but I have only taught full time for
5 of those years. I was away on family leave for almost ten years
when I returned full time. This is now my third full time
year. I am a Grade one teacher at Pearcedale Primary School.
I went to the first Living Values Seminar primarily for my own
personal development. My original thought, was that if it helped
me with my teaching that would be an added bonus, but my focus was on my
own well-being. As it turned out, the seminar provided me with
tools for both my personal and professional life.
I had a very difficult grade last year, with 16 boys and 8 girls.
Five of the boys had ADHD and when I arrived at the seminar, I was
feeling very challenged as a teacher. I was constantly
struggling with discipline and unruly behaviour and to be honest was
almost ready to give up.
I felt truly inspired by the first Living Values
Seminar and I embraced the ideals and "values"
immediately. They were things that I already knew I believed and
wanted to impart as a teacher. Teaching the 3 rs are important,
but I always felt my duty was to do more, especially in this world we
live in......
So, I was motivated and inspired to teach "living values" but
I was not sure how. By the third day of the seminar, I made a firm
decision that I would not try to do "it all", but I would
introduce maybe one or two concepts as a starting point.
The first of these, was a little exercise that Adrian Stepnell (LVE
Trainer) taught us. And this was a very simple 1 minute
visualization telling the children they were silent stars. After a
few days of this, I asked them to write about their experiences.
The results amazed me. I also noticed the children were becoming
quieter (perhaps from my more relaxed approach) and more responsive to
me.
The second thing I was inspired by was the film about the French
Kindergarten and the mime artist. I knew that I was not a mime
artist, but I felt that I could do something that at least reflected
this idea. I had a hand puppet teddy bear at school already
and I named him Sebastian. The first time I introduced him, I just
put him on my hand and I did not say a word. The children were
looking and pointing and I would point to them (using Sebastian) and
pointed to the floor. Eventually some of them got it and sat on
the floor. I crossed Sebastian's legs and the children did the
same and ultimately they all sat on the floor. I did not
speak a word.....and the children were totally quiet waiting for me to
do something. I pointed to them one by one using Sebastian and had
Sebastian shake their hands. Some of the children (boys) wanted to
be rough and I would pull Sebastian's paw back and shake his head.
After a couple of times, they were more gentle. The second time I
did this, I also had Sebastian give them a peck on the cheek.
Eventually they would want a hug, a peck and a shake of the hand.
Also, whenever I sat with Sebastian, they new immediately to sit and
wait and it was time to be silent. I personally could not believe
the impact this one thing had on this grade. The children were
captivated by this, especially the difficult ones.
I continued these two things for a whole term. In the last term, I
introduced some of the lessons from the Living Values Book, particularly
on peace and love. I also introduced the Happy Box (thank
you to Shirley for this idea). This was a fantastic concept and
some of the children went home and made their own happy boxes with their
families.
I discussed this with the Welfare co-ordinator at our school and he was
very interested and supportive of what I was trying to do within my
classroom and invited me to be a part of the welfare team to help
introduce "values teaching" across the whole school. I
am going to take up this challenge in this coming year.
Living Values is different because it seems to me that it underpins all
other welfare type programs. We had introduced Stop Think Do and
You Can Do It and while I do not undervalue or denigrate those programs,
I think they are very good. However, it seemed to me that we were
not teaching children "why" they should do or be these
things. Values education underpins these programs and gives a
basis for why. Why do we "get along"? Because
love, peace and happiness are important values we need to have
...etc.
It is also different in that, even with the very small changes I made, I
had success. While the grade still had its difficulties and the
children were still challenging, overall, I was gaining more from them
by reinforcing these values. The Happy Box was particularly
beneficial in this area. Just by asking the question, is that in
our Happy Box? etc.....seemed to make them think more about
what they were doing.
Finally, the major difference was in ME and my attitude to
teaching. I was able to be calmer in my approach and so more
effective. I was inspired to teach "values" and in that
I had to live it. I grew to "love" the grade, when for
the first two terms I was not liking them very much at all. I hope
this does not sound awful, but it was the truth. I found the
behaviour difficult and I was resenting the challenge, rather than
finding a way around it. Living Values helped me to be a better
person and so a better teacher.
Thank you for the opportunity to share this. I hope this has
helped you.
Kindest regards,
Karen Frye
March 2003
Testimonial from Shirley Lehmann
Seymour Primary School
Victoria, Australia
I have been involved in education, including class teaching since
1969. I teach at Seymour Primary School [Victoria, Australia] in Prep,
the first year of formal schooling.
I first started to use Living Values three years ago mainly to help me
to close the gap between how I lived my life outside the working hours
and how I managed the many things required of a teacher: especially in
the social/emotional development of children.
The philosophy behind Living Values matched the way I wanted to relate
to all people in my life, but especially to children directly under my
care. I also found that I could apply many of the activities, and the
values that they supported, in my role as parent.
Initially I simply began by monitoring my own approach to relationships.
I found that the more I adopted the L.V. approach, the more able I
became to manage potentially stressful situations. This applied to
working directly with children in the classroom and in the yard as well
as my relationships with colleagues and family members.
Before I attended training sessions, I introduced the Peace Unit and
enjoyed the reactions of the class [at that time a grade 2]. We 'did
Peace' for many weeks and discovered how much friendlier the class
became. I was more peaceful and that flowed into everything I did.
After training sessions, I began to use the materials in a more
systematic way: working through the Peace, Respect , Love and
Responsibility units. As our school has programs in place which
complement L.V. I linked several sets of ideas and activities into the
L.V. materials.
Many parents were very impressed with the classroom atmosphere and the
things that the children were discussing at home. They greatly supported
what we were doing, including sending along ideas and material and
coming to speak to the class. Articles in the class and whole school
newsletters really assisted with generating interest
and discussion.
I find the material extremely easy to read, digest and to implement. The
main thing is to use them as a starting point to discover what the
children know and to learn from them.
This year I am introducing the Peace Unit right from the start of the
year and will introduce the units in the suggested sequence to see how
we go. So far the children have responded so well and can see how much
happier our class is when we put the ideas into practice. I find the
materials to be the most positive and successful I have used when
addressing the fact that, although we are one very special group, we are
made up of very special people, and although each of us is very special,
we also form a group which benefits from living the values that are so
important to us.
Shirley Lehmann
Febrauary 2003
Testimonial from Sheila Gooding
St Paul of the Cross
Dulwich Hill, Sydney Australia
Classroom Teacher, Grade 2
Teaching Experience:
40 years teaching experience
Bilingual Primary Teacher -Overseas
English-as-a-Second-Language Teacher, K-6
Reading Recovery Teacher
Classroom Teacher
In 2002 I had a challenging class of 26 students. I
was desperate to find a program to teach them self-respect and
co-operation. I used activities from different books with little
success. However, my teaching strategies changed when I had attended a
weekend course called Living Values between 14-16 June at Leura.
I was excited about the course and the activities that Living Values
offered. On 3-6 October, I did the second session of Living Values
Education in Melbourne. I was inspired by other teachers who presented
their units. The enthusiasm and change brought about was great.
In Term 3 my grade partner and I introduced the Living Values
Unit. We started with Peace as suggested in Living Values Ages
8-14. This was followed by Respect. Our Peace song was from the Monica
Brown CD - Peace Songs. We sang this song everyday. I also entered the
class in the school Talent Quest which took the students into the
finals. By Week 6 we were looking forward to Peace time. Baking a World
Cake was integrated with the text type, Procedure. We started our
Peaceful Star exercises with the idea of owning our own colourful star.
We painted stars and wrote peaceful messages on it. I also read them
Heart Songs by Mattie, and some of the children even wrote their own
Peace poems. I read these poems before we went home and displayed them
where I could. I used Conflict Resolution a few times and by December
there was little need for it. I also skipped a few lessons but did most
of the activities.
In Term 4 we started Respect which we integrated in our unit,
Celebrations. The classes enjoyed the Stories-Lesson 24. I also
introduced the book, ?Finding the Magic?. We made a magic box with
some of their ideas: ?I feel good when I am happy?? to the more
positive, ?We are sensational at counting?. I had also introduced
Greetings of the world in Term 2 and changed the greeting each week.
With the Celebrations Unit we learned about celebrations around the
world such as Hanukkah, Ramadan, International Children?s Day,
Christmas. We read stories and looked for what we could learn from them.
We read and researched great leaders such as Nelson Mandela, Mother
Teresa, Mary MacKillop and Gandhi. Our motto was ?Look smart, act
smart and think smart!? The Attitude poem became a reminder when we
forgot. We could take the class anywhere knowing that it will be a
success.
These students are now in Year 3. They have made me rethink my own
values and taught me some good lessons. I will continue this program. It
will shoot off starlets in its own time, reaching others because of what
the Living Values program brought to them.
It?s now Term 1, 2003. I have a Year 2 class and I have introduced
Respect to my class. I find that it keeps me in tune with the needs of
the students. I recommend the program to others.
Sheila Gooding
February 2003
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