October 2007

A regular e-zine from the British Institute of Sathya Sai Education  www.ssehv.org.uk
Registered Charity No. 1118625

 

Dear Readers

Welcome to the October 2007 issue of the Sathya Sai Education in Human Values UK email newsletter.

This month:

New IT Lab and Mural for Sathya Sai School of Leicester

Opinion: Why Do We Use the 'Direct Method' of Teaching SSEHV?
Update on Sathya Sai School of St Andrews

Thought for the Day - Excellence
Story: Ariel Learns to Care
Training Update

If you have any feedback, or would like to share your experiences of SSEHV, please write to us.

Kind Regards,
The Edito
r


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New IT Lab and Mural for Sathya Sai School of Leicester

By Ganesh Yoganathan

This summer, a group of us were fortunate to be able to support the Sathya Sai School, Leicester, with the supply and installation of a ten-seat ICT computer lab. This comprised of ten brand new PCs and high quality monitors contributed by the Sathya Sai UK Trust, workstation desks, chairs and all necessary networking peripherals and cables including full broadband and file transfer services.

It was one of those amazing occasions when you receive far more than you give. Just like the fragrant smell of jasmine or lilies upon an open field, free and open to all who pass, there is a beautiful, pure fragrance of unity and community to be found within the humble walls of Sathya Sai School Leicester.

Within those very walls, there is evidence of a simple, powerful message of love and a commitment to the development of character within the hearts and minds of children. It is a message that encompasses not just those children, but their parents and teachers alike. It is a shared vision of preparing children to develop into ideal citizens (future leaders) both in society and the world at large, with a secure foundation based in Sai Teachings, Human Values and a refreshing approach to the National Curriculum.

The ICT Lab was a small part of a much bigger effort by many of the children's parents, teachers and support workers from various parts of the country to relocate many of the classrooms which included the fitting of a science lab and a brand new and extensive school library. Many of these items were obtained through local auctions of school equipment. It was an immense demonstration of love and sincerity shared by all that participated to support the school's vision of a brighter tomorrow for our children.

Recently, Lark Beecham and Judith Bruni were invited to paint a mural along a 24m x 1.8m stretch of the school car park wall. After much deliberation they have created with the help of the school children and teachers a beautiful and timeless mural, with illustrations and quotations to inspire students, teachers and parents alike. It serves as a constant reminder to all who pass through those grounds, the purpose and future vision of the school.

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Why do we use the Direct Method of teaching SSEHV?

By Christina Wilson

The 'direct method' of teaching SSEHV means giving a lesson focusing entirely on human values, as per the lesson plans in the SSEHV teaching manuals. The 'indirect method' means integrating values education into other curriculum subjects, thereby incorporating values education into other classes.

Christina writes: I am aware that there is a certain 'school of thought' within SSEHV that the direct method is not as important as the indirect method. I have even heard it said that it is not necessary. This concerns me a little and I just wanted to share a few thoughts.

Firstly, I think different cultures might have a greater or lesser need for the direct method, but generally speaking - based on my experience to date of working with SSEHV within the UK context, and to a much lesser extent with teachers in Morocco - I agree with Carole Alderman that it has an important, in my opinion, indispensable role to play within many state schools. In SSEHV we talk about the programme providing a framework for children to develop 'emotional literacy'. The SSEHV lesson plans create the opportunity for children to learn to:

a) identify their experience
b) verbalise it in a non-violent way within a safe context
c) develop a greater 'emotional vocabulary' to help them to express their emotions in a non-violent way
d) manage their emotional experience in a way which is conducive to their well-being.

As we know, sadly, in a large majority of our children these skills are sorely lacking. A lot of significant research has been done which indicates that if children even simply lack the vocabulary and language skills to give their inner experience a name, and therefore to be able to communicate it, the likelihood is that they will develop 'violent' behaviour patterns as coping strategies. Many of the children in the UK lack many or all of these basic skills, so in state schools the opportunity to learn even just very the basic levels of self-awareness and self-expression from the heart, in the positive and creative way created by a 'values lesson' are a vital and essential step in them being able to manage their experience themselves. As we all know, the lesson plans are constructed to encourage exactly this.

In certain cultures where children learn the basics of self-awareness, expressing one's feelings in a non-hostile way, etc, at home, perhaps the direct method is not so vital. Similarly, in a school where a whole-school approach is geared to encouraging these skills from the very beginning in all aspects of school life, I can see that the direct method (however it is defined) is not considered so necessary after the age of eight. Having worked in State UK secondary education, however, my experience is that here our children are in the direst need of the opportunity for this kind of direction and input - and in some cases the teachers are too. I think it is vital and urgently needed - both at junior and secondary level. Another important benefit of the direct method is that it also encourages the teachers to reflect on how they practice the values themselves.

I guess, in the end, we have a big and wonderful SSEHV toolbox - and not all the tools are as necessary in each context - but this flexibility is just one more wonderful aspect of the programme.

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Update on Sathya Sai School of St Andrews

By Bob Alderman

Many of you may have heard that the Sathya Sai School at St.Andrews has ‘closed’ and been replaced by a new Montessori school. As Carole and I discovered when we visited head teacher Lesley-Ann Patrick at the School in August, not that much has changed……

Lesley-Ann explained that the SSEHV and Montessori methodologies are highly complementary. So the school has used Montessori and SSEHV side-by-side from the outset and this continues unchanged. So as far as the children and parents are concerned nothing has altered, only the ‘name over the door’ and the Board of Directors.

........

It is now called the Casa Della Pace Montessori Eco School. Those familiar with Italian may recognise ‘Casa della Pace’ as a translation of ‘Abode of Peace’, whilst ‘Eco’ refers to their wish for school premises designed and built in accordance with best ecological practice.

The School is very keen to establish strong links with BISSE. Indeed, they agreed to host our Foundation training at the school in early October. This is now being rescheduled as many of the participants have young children and it proved too difficult to arrange suitable care facilities for six days in a row. So we may agree upon three weekend sessions, for example. In any event, full details of the training will go on BISSE’s website as usual.

This is an exciting development for BISSE and SSEHV in Scotland as it will be the first SSEHV training to take place in Scotland for many years and hopefully a spring-board to greater things!

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Thought for the Day


"Excellence is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction, skillful execution and the vision of seeing obstacles as opportunities."

Anon

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Story

Ariel Learns to Care
By Jyoti Bharwani

Values:
Respect for other people, patience, non-violence, love, kindness

It was a cold, gloomy November morning. Ariel and her brother Timothy were playing at home together while their mother was finishing her chores in the kitchen.

Ariel, an active and often careless five year old, loved to play all the time. Timothy, who was three years older, was a quiet and kind boy who liked to play patiently and carefully with his toys. That day was a typical day in the children's house.

After breakfast, the children's mother had asked them to play with their own toys for an hour or so while she cleared the kitchen and tidied the house.

Timothy had run upstairs quickly to play with his Lego model. He had just started to build a jet plane from a new Lego kit that his father had bought him. It would be a long task involving concentration, patience and care. One small mistake and his jet could turn out unbalanced and wonky! As he began he could sense his sister eyeing him build his jet.

Ariel had indeed come upstairs feeling lonely. She didn't know what to do with herself that day, and she wanted some company. "Perhaps my brother will play with me", she thought. When she went in to Timothy's room she found him deep in concentration making a Lego toy which resembled a house.

"What are you making?" she quizzed him.

"I'm building a plane!" replied Timothy happily.

Ariel sighed. "Does that mean you can't play with me? I'm bored."

"Not right now, Ariel. Why don't you go and play with your dolls? When I've finished this model it's going to look fantastic. Dad will be so proud of me. He said we can build a display shelf in my room to keep it safe."

"Oh, Timothy, please play with me, I'm bored!" pleaded Ariel.

Timothy wanted to block out the noise, "Not now!" he replied firmly. He quickly put his head down and carried on building.

Ariel wandered around the room, and plonked herself down on the bed. She felt rejected and angry. She watched her brother, and an hour later he had finished.

"I can't believe I've done it!" he exclaimed aloud. "I can't wait to show mum and dad."

As Ariel watched she felt jealous that Timothy had something so grand to show their father, and knew she could not build a model like that. A terrible thought crept into her mind as her anger grew. She ran over to the Lego model, and with a single swoop she grabbed it and threw it to the floor. The Lego smashed in to many pieces. Timothy looked on shocked. Immediately he burst in to a flood of tears.

"Muuuuum!" he screamed.

Their mother raced up the stairs and into the room. She saw the Lego pieces on the floor and Timothy sobbing on the bed. Ariel's eyes were fixed on the floor. Even before Timothy spoke, their mother realised what had happened.

"Mum, Ariel broke my model. It took me a whole hour to build it!" cried Timothy.

"Ariel, why did you do that to Timothy's model?" their mother asked.

Ariel knew she had done the wrong thing, and felt bad. She burst into tears and ran to her room. Mother comforted Timothy and helped him to pick up the pieces. Then she helped him to carefully re-build the plane. As they worked together side by side, Timothy explained that he had asked Ariel not to touch the model.

"Timothy, do you know why Ariel did this?" asked his mum.

"She's jealous that I can build a model and she can't. I guess you give me lots of attention when I do something so good," sighed Timothy.

"Did she want to play with you?" asked mum.

Timothy had to admit that his sister had been bored. Mum finished helping him, and then went to find Ariel. "Ariel you know you shouldn't break your brother's toys on purpose, even if you had wanted him to play with you. What you did was very unkind and mean."

Ariel kept quiet, although deep inside she knew she was wrong.

The next day, after school, Ariel came home to a pretty little box wrapped in green spotted paper. "This present is for you Ariel," smiled her mother, "go ahead and open it!"

Ariel ripped off the paper to discover a wonderful Lego model of a pink butterfly. She grinned from ear to ear.

"Look it's for 5-7 year olds," beamed her mum. "Come on, we can build it together after you have both had your tea."

The two of them spent some time building the butterfly. Ariel was delighted that she could make it. When finished, it looked great. Timothy came to look. "Wow, Ariel! I didn't know you could build something so difficult."

Ariel grinned. She also suddenly remembered how she had ruined her brother's plane the day before. "Oh, Timothy, I'm sorry I broke your model yesterday. Now I know how much I love my butterfly. I would cry too if you broke it. You won't, will you?"

"Don't worry Ariel; I'm not going to touch it. I'm glad you understand how much you really hurt me though."

"I promise not to break any of your toys again." pronounced Ariel.

From that day on, Ariel did make an effort not to break anyone's toys again.

Questions
1. How did you feel when you heard the story?
2. Does this story remind you of anything from your life?
3. In what ways were Timothy and Ariel different?
4. How did Ariel feel when Timothy was too busy to play with her?
5. What did Ariel do and why?
6. How did Ariel feel after she had wrecked the Lego model?
7. What lesson did Ariel learn?
8. How could Ariel have behaved instead?
9. What name would you give the story?

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Training Update

All SSEHV courses are free to attend, although a refundable deposit of £10 may be required at registration (this is to cover photocopying costs of the extensive handouts provided at the course for you to keep). Details of all our training courses, together with contact information and dates can be found on our website at www.ssehv.org.uk, in the Training section.

The next course is:

Newcastle Upon Tyne - Foundation Course - Contact Neil Bisarya
Oct 27th, 28th; Nov 3rd, 4th, 10th, 11th

If there is no course scheduled in your area but you would like there to be one, this can be organised, as long as there are a minimum of ten people who would like to attend. Please contact the editor for more information.

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Copyright © 2007 British Institute of Sathya Sai Education (BISSE).
BISSE is a non-profit organisation committed to promoting human values in education.
Registered Charity No. 1118625
Registered address: The Glen, Cuckoo Hill, Pinner, Middlesex HA5 2BE United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0) 20 8429 2677   Email: feedback@ssehv.org.uk