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Current Status -
October 2007
Living Values Education was born when twenty educators from around the world
gathered at UNICEF Headquarters in New York City in August 1996 to discuss the
needs of children, their experiences of working with values and how educators
can integrate values to better prepare students for lifelong learning. The LVE
Team in the USA has continued to play an international role in providing
training for educators in many countries and generating materials. They also
began building a shared body of resources and successful practices.
In 1998, a few teachers in California and Massachusetts, and a School
Psychologist in Alaska, began piloting the LVE values activities that had been
developed — with good results. In 1999, a Professor of Management at Bentley
College was innovative in involving college students interested in service
learning. Business majors deepened their understanding of personal values, and
worked collaboratively with the staff at a near by multicultural elementary
school to offer values activities with young students. This service learning
resulted in several major transformations of priorities of the college students
as well as greater feelings of acceptance by the elementary school students.
Living Values: An Educational Program, Inc., was incorporated in 2000 in the
USA, becoming a national non-profit organization which serves as a training and
educational corporation. The board of directors is a nonsectarian group of
educators and other professionals who envision the future success and happiness
of children.
Honors: With the publication of the Living Values Series of five books by Health
Communications, Inc., in April 2001, implementation spread. The series was
awarded the 2002 Teachers’ Choice Award, an award sponsored by Learning
magazine, a national publication for teachers and educators in the USA.
Currently, there are active LVEP, Inc., teams in all four corners of the USA:
New York, Florida, California and Washington. The first LVEP Educator Training
in Seattle was held this August, with 32 educators enjoying the values awareness
session, the values activities, creating their vision and fine-tuning their
skills.
While on-site trainings are available throughout our country during the year,
annual LVEP Educator Trainings are held at Peace Village in the Catskill
Mountains of New York. The seventh annual LVEP Educator Training was held in
July 2005. This year’s LVEP time also included a Train-the-Trainer session and a
retreat for educators already implementing LVEP. The retreat was a new event.
Titled “The Power of Pure Intention in Education,” the retreat focused on rest,
renewal, and re-energizing. Educators were asked to reconnect with the pure
intention that initially brought them into this filed and explore what allows
them to stay connected to their positive core.
Number of Sites Using Living Values Education
Unknown
Many parents and teachers are using LVEP’s Living Values Activities books with
children and youth in the USA. Over 20,000 books have been sold! While there are
many teachers that use LVEP in their classrooms independently, only a few
schools are known to be implementing LVEP school-wide. More than 800 educators
have undergone LVEP Educator Training in the USA. Groups of educators are
encouraged to collaboratively explore whole school/system implementation.
Impact
In Montessori Schools
Shanon Flowers-Downing, a teacher at Redhouse Montessori School in
Kansas City, wrote: “I have used the Living Values Education Program from start
to finish this past school year with my preschool students. I absolutely loved
it, the children loved it, and the outcome was really spectacular. I was dealing
with a very angry and aggressive boy at the beginning of the year. After the
unit on respect with a few added lessons of my own, the child found respect for
himself, for others, and for the environment. He was truly my 'Star' this year.
Through the teacher education center that I teach at, I have encouraged many
other teachers from many other Montessori schools to use the program in their
schools. Several have and have found some very similar results.”
Samantha Florek, a teacher with the Montessori Elementary Charter School in
Albuquerque, New Mexico, shared, “These Montessori children have a shelf that is
just for cosmic education and living values activities. We love this program and
continue to grow more each year. The children here are greatly loving the
activities and music. They love singing the songs. The LVEP program has blended
with both Montessori and state standards.”
In Day Care Centers
Sheryl Rhodes, the director of the Thousand Palms Child Care Center in Thousand
Palms, California, sees an enormous difference in children that have been
involved with LVEP for several years. She notes, “We’ve been very pleased with
the results of Living Values Education Program. There is a peaceful atmosphere.
The younger children have good communication skills. They talk about values, are
positive and resolve their own conflicts. They use the language that the
teachers use about values to discuss behavior.” The teachers even adapt some of
the lessons from Living Values Activities for Children Ages 3-7 to use with the
two year-olds!”
Chithra Laksmanan used LVEP for several years at her Jack and Jill Preschool
before she retired. Her enthusiasm for the program continues. She tells one
story about two four-year old boys who were quarreling during free play time.
One boy was so upset he told the first boy that he would not be invited to his
birthday party. Three other boys observed this. They spontaneously stopped
swinging, went inside to get their peace stars, and began to circle around the
two boys singing a peace song. The two boys stopped arguing, ran to get their
peace stars and joined them for the circle dance! Mrs. Laksmanan notes, “This
program works. I could see a difference the very first day. Not only have I
observed children imbibing and experiencing the values, but I have seen them
dialogue with each other to ease situations with great wisdom. I have had
feedback from the community that many of these children who were in my preschool
with LVEP are now role-models in school.”
Connie Leek, the Director of the Holy Rosary Pre-School in Davis, California,
noted, “I love this program. The children enjoy doing the LVEP activities. 'Lily
the Leopard' is their favorite story. One of the teachers reported to me that
when she asked a five-year old what 'respect' meant, she said, ‘Respect means I
treat others nicely, the way I want them to treat me." Many parents comment on
the improvement of the children’s communication skills. I encourage other
teachers to use this program.”
Joyce Lee, the Director of The International Parent-Child Nursery School in
Davis, California, wrote: “Our school comprises of global children whose parents
are from different countries, hence the LVEP activities of Peace and Tolerance
are vital components in our curriculum. The children love singing the songs and
enjoy the stories and art activities. They hug and bond with each other. The
atmosphere in the school is peaceful and we are one happy 'bunch' since we
blended the LVEP activities in our pre-school curriculum.”
In Elementary Schools
Mizzentop Day School in New York implements LVEP school-wide, along with the
STEP program. Amy Farrell reports that LVEP was strongly adopted by the whole
school five years ago. Educators from pre-school through eighth grade do a
different value every month and relate it throughout the curriculum. Small
groups of children meet to do the values activities and discuss the issues that
are current for them. The students contribute to a values bulletin board and
have done a 10 by 20 foot mural on values. Mrs. Farrell noted, “LVEP creates
such a positive environment and attitude for everyone – for the whole school
community. The students use the positive skills they have learned to solve
challenges and use values in their everyday language.”
In Florida, the Aventura City of Excellence School (ACES) began implementing
LVEP school-wide in the Fall of 2003 after an LVEP Educator Training.
“The Aventura City of Excellence School Vision Statement is to join with the
community to become the premier Charter School in the nation where academic
excellence coexists with the promotion of social responsibility grounded in an
atmosphere of human dignity. Our Living Values program supports the ACES Vision.
The ACES Living Values Education Program provides students with a safe, caring
environment based on values to assist students in developing social skills and
making wise choices. Students learn how to treat themselves and others with
respect and dignity. Values inform discipline, e.g., no bullying goes on at
ACES. In addition, the ACES Living Values Education Program provides Parenting
Workshops so the entire family can learn to practice these Values. ACES Parents
enthusiastically participate in the ‘Knock Your Socks Off’ Parent Workshop
series, which won the 2005 National Award from the Character Education
Partnership.
As the Miami Herald’s Monica Hatcher reported in the newspaper on November 29,
2004 in “Educating with Values”:
“In the cafeteria at Aventura City of Excellence School, where the lunchtime
noise sometimes sounds like a 747 at full takeoff power, Principal Kathleen
Murphy has a solution for silence.
She brings some noise
of her own.
‘Ladies and
gentlemen. Ladies and gentlemen!’ says Murphy, her voice blasting through the
din.
The quiet was
immediate. And then Murphy had the floor.
‘It is WAAAY too loud
in here.’ she boomed. ‘You are showing a lack of respect to your peers when you
talk while you're eating.’
Then Murphy flashed
one of her million-megawatt smiles and squeezed the shoulders of a student
seated in front of her.
‘You big social
animals, you,’ she laughed, as the room began to hum again, but at a
considerably lower decibel level.
Whether they realized
it or not, the students at Aventura City of Excellence School, known as ACES,
got a mini-lesson in the experimental Living Values Character Education program,
one facet of academic and social life that sets this public charter school
apart.
‘As a charter school,
we can push the envelope a little bit,’ explained Murphy, who has headed
Miami-Dade County's only city-sponsored charter school since it opened in the
fall of 2003.
The Living Values
program seeks to integrate 11 core values, such as respect, responsibility,
honest and love into the school day, beginning with reflection on a special
values message in the morning.
Cheating is against
the rules, of course, but it's a topic of frequent discussion among the 600
students at ACES.
‘It also means we
have no bullies,’ Murphy said.
The Living Values
program is one way administrators and teachers say they try to mold child as
both good citizens and good students at the only public school within Aventura's
city limits.
‘It's important
because love, peace and respect are values to have in our lives,’ said Julianne
Garber, an 8-year-old in third grade.
Parents
agree--because there are 600-plus families on the admissions waiting list. ....”
ACES students with letters received from
students doing LVEP in India!
LVEP students in India wave hello!
An Award: The school was selected as a National Schools of Character Promising
Practices citation recipient for their Living Values "Knock Your Socks Off
Parent Workshops" in the spring of 2005. A few quotes from parents at ACES:
"I think my child listens to me better because I learned to talk at his pace,
not yell out orders or demands across the house."
"I am more consistent with how I advise him when he doesn't do what he is told."
"My child is using new terms regarding respect for others, e.g., "waste" of
someone's time, or money (when food is disposed of). He has an appreciation of
friendship and (demonstrates) other values that I have noticed throughout the
year."
In a Middle School
In California, Lorien Eck began implementing LVEP at John Muir Middle School in
South Central Los Angeles in the Fall of 2002, her first year there and her
first year of teaching. During her second year at the school, she invited the
rest of the staff to join her in teaching LVEP. Twenty teachers, twenty percent
of the staff, responded with a “yes” and obtained the activity books midway
through the year. This 2004-2005 school year, LVEP students have posted peace
slogans around the school, banners, and created values word art as a culminating
project on the Tolerance Unit.
Ms Eck comments: “After teaching for three years in South Central Los Angeles in
a middle school and implementing Living Values Education Program in my
classroom, I have personally felt safer, more at ease, and have enjoyed teaching
overall much more than I thought I would have! I have seen that at the
school-wide level, there is a climate of peace within the school grounds,
despite shooting and rampant gang-related activity outside. One of our school
administrators mentioned at a staff meeting this spring that the school
atmosphere has been very peaceful this school year. And, finally, I have noticed
reduced fighting amongst students in and outside of the classrooms, as well
calmer and more tolerant day-to-day behaviors in general.”
In Homeschool Groups
“We are currently using the activity guides with several homeschool groups in
the area and everyone loves it. It makes my heart smile to hear my (four-year
old) daughter reminding everyone to be a peace star, and she sings the peace
star song constantly!”
Other Comments by Educators
"There are many band-aids in the market today; Living Values is a program of
integrity and self-reflection for the whole child."
Cristina Casanova, Former Citywide Coordinator for Professional Staff
Development,
New York Board of Education, New York, USA
"This book (Living Values Activities for Children Ages 3-7)
is an essential tool to implement values teaching. It creates positive change
for children and educators. No school should be without it."
Penny Morris, Kindergarten Teacher, Jenkintown,
Pennsylvania, USA
"Our girls love doing the Living Values Activities and are
enriched by them. The counselors, mentors, and teachers not only enjoyed the
LVEP Educator Training but became more effective with the students."
Nellie Caudillo Kaniski, Counselor, Santa Ana College,
President of MANA of Orange
County, a National Latina Organization
"There has been so much improvement. My students grew in
self-confidence, awareness of the world and ability to relate to each other
respectfully. Instead of talking about other students, they began really talking
to each other. LVEP made the most difference with the marginalized, antagonistic
students."
Susan Hustad, Teacher, Long Beach, California, USA
And, a few comments from participants at the August 2005
LVEP Education Training in Seattle, in response to the question: “What did you
enjoy the most?”
“Building trust and allowing us to be ourselves.”
“. . . working on activities, sharing ideas and resources.”
“. . . your calm and comfortable presentation style.”
“The videos, the appreciative inquiry, the group work, the gentle spirit of it
all…”
“That is like asking if I require food, water, sleep or shelter to survive. I
enjoyed all.”
“Working with like-minded educators that understand the importance of values in
education and everyday life.”
“Meeting others with common interest … nature walk, etc.”
“Being given time and space to reflect with others and alone. Beautifully
balanced!”
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