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LVEP in Action
FEATURED SCHOOL Aventura City of Excellence School in Miami, FL - ACES is a shining example of the power of the Living Values program to change lives. The school adopted the program in 2003 and has shown remarkable results since then, including being awarded the Promising Practices Citation by the Character Education Partnership. IMPACT OF LIVING VALUES IN SCHOOLSDAY CARE CENTERS
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."
ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS New York - 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."
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.
"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.
MIDDLE SCHOOLS 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.
MONTESORRI 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." |
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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!"
Cheating is against the rules, of course, but it's a topic of frequent discussion among the 600 students at ACES.
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."
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