Caring campaign(s)...

Calls to action...

1. Dare to care by Marty Kirschen
2. Call to action by Kurt Krueger
3. Foster Courage, Strength, Compassion in Adolescent Girls -Susan Fitzell
4. Regarding the value of standardized testing.
5. Promoting peace - Jacqueline Haessly (new March 2001)
6. Concrete approaches to respond to attacks (new September 2001)

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1. Dare to Care
I have recently completed writing an article for the August Back to School Issue of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) newsletter "Classroom Leadership." It is called "Teaching Caring, the Essential Subject." I was asked to include a 'call to action.' If you look up the ASCD "800" number through their website and speak to customer service, they will be happy to mail you a copy of the article. Marty Kirschen
http://www.ascd.org/

In your classroom
• Look at the examples of caring ... such a full one way
listening and see what happens.

• Keep in mind your students hobbies, interests and
learning styles when designing lessons.

• Value the power of repetition and ritual that can come
by having a morning circle each day.

• Try classroom meetings (Glasser, Nelson) to help students
help solve difficulties - Less is more

• Find a child that is not very likable and find a quality
about them that you can like and attend to it.

At your school
• Conduct an in-servce / retreat on caring at the start and
end of the year to discuss this topic

• Have self-help session with your grade level teachers
discussing situations and how to handle them.

• In the Teacher’s Lounge, avoid calling a child or their
parent bad or a loser.

• Have morning outside gatherings to sing songs ...
Being on common ground, we find common ground.

• Practice caring with office staff, crossing guard, parents

In the country
Through much communication and gatherings
including a consensus convention ...
• Articulate language of terms as well as meaning of caring

• Recognize that whether we are resolving conflict or
planting flowers, both are part of caring

• Come up with National Campaign, slogan, poster, song, work
with a national celebrity such as Oprah Winfrey or Bill Cosby.

• Come to understand caring in the context of individual
values and ethical decision making in general

• Study impact of standardized testing

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2. Call to Action by Kurt Krueger
Dear Editor, 30 August 00

"To educate a person in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society." - Theodore Roosevelt

The world is a mess because we have some educated people who have little character. I propose that we dramatically change this through societal education, in each county and/or state. Societal education includes all levels of society - see some ideas below.

We should have a set of character traits that all people could easily support. We would truly transform education into a continuance of a QUALITY CULTURE. We would have less violence, an improvement in test scores, and less social ills. I am a Physical Education teacher in the process of integrating Character Development in Van Nuys Middle School.

I realize that it should be a component in all schools of the world. Could we design a task force to develop a Character development program for sharing with ALL educators? Keep the focus on the higher reasons for education, developing our future compassionate leaders and conscientious and wise followers.

> > How can you help?
President Kennedy once stimulated America to a greater vision for our society. He stimulated the creation of the Peace Corps and the landing of people on the moon. We had a focus of the three R's and achieved great things in science and medicine. But our social structure was degenerating.

> > We need a greater vision to manifest for America for the new millennium. Let's focus our efforts on creating a better society by bringing America's focus to developing character qualities in everyone. This may be done through the full inclusion of character education throughout the curriculum of our education systems.

> > Here are some ideas for stimulating our schools and our society in the area of character consciousness:

> >1 By setting up a task force as was done for the space program, bringing together the best academicians, practitioners/teachers at all levels of education, and experts in the field of character development/education.

> > 2 Individuals now could share the vision with their elected > representatives (school board members too) and all their friends, etc.

> > 3 Organizations may do the same and put it on their web page, offer grants for implementation, and more...

> > 4 Who would support it? The UNESCO, National and State/regional governments, interested business and industries, and in general, the public.

> > 5 The Music industry could suggest the singers to create discs that are focused on one or several character. This could be at all levels of music from children's to adolescent and adult styles.

> > 6 The television/movie industry could have theme movies illustrating a > particular or set of character traits. A set of 52 character traits could be spread out for one a week, on each station.

> > 7 The print media could emphasis the character traits daily, weekly or > monthly with a feature article/story/page. A good example is the Investors Business Daily's - Leaders & Success page.

> > 8 The Internet could have as site banners some great character quotes, stories or illustrations/cartoons depicting character qualities.

> > 9 The art scene could have murals developed for the cities of America illustrating particular character traits. Students at all levels could be the artists that paint murals around the schools, and cities, thus empowering them to manifest the quantities depicted.

Looking at an education model example:
Statistics in a three school study that I am aware of show that character education helps to drop detentions, as well as physical and verbal aggression. And at least as important, many behaviors correlated with academic success improve. All these schools did was to integrate each character building activity into their daily lesson plans.

> > How do you want to help?

Truly,
Kurt Krueger
kakrueger@bwwonline.net
818-994-6191, if busy 377-4012
Please recycle and reuse
Blessings

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3. Fostering Courage, Strength, and Compassion in
Adolescent Girls: The First Step
By Susan Fitzell

As a parent and educator, I continually search for ways to reach, nurture
and empower girls so that they may value their caring nature and keep the
strength of their child spirit. The task is challenging because adolescent
girls not only face the age old issues of coming of age, they must also deal
with attitudes, problems and pressures that were once reserved for adults.
Parents and teachers must overcome tremendous obstacles to accomplish the
task of fostering courage, strength and compassion in our girls.

A recent Nike Ad featuring a female runner being pursued by a chainsaw
wielding attacker brought the issues young women face to the fore for me
once again. Horrified, I got on my activist soapbox and encouraged all who I
knew to protest. Why? Because if our voices are not heard as a unified plea
to help our children, the media's assault to our senses and sensibilities
will continue. When we speak out against actions that diminish our girls, we
present ourselves as strong, caring and courageous role models.

Advertisers and scriptwriters continually present women in violent,
degrading scenes and we, as parents and educators, must deal with the
fall-out. Rather than become discouraged, we need to stand up and be
noticed. We have a powerful voice! Our girls hear us rise up to speak and
learn from our words and actions. The first step in the process of raising
strong girls is to be a positive role model.

Positive role models are critical to a child's development. Girls need
adults in their lives who model assertiveness, strength, caring and
responsiveness. They need to see the women in their lives value and foster
positive relationships. We need to empower them to make decisions and solve
problems within the safety net of our love and guidance. Girls need to see
us working to continually improve our ability to communicate our needs,
hopes, and concerns so that we nurture others but don't lose ourselves. In a
world defined by clothing labels, media hype, and gender stereotypes, girls
need role models who base their identity and self-worth on who they are as
people, rather than how pretty or fashionable they are.

Given the power of the media and the negative messages it sends about women,
we must educate our girls to recognize and reject this conditioning. First,
we must work to understand how the media and our culture impact our
thinking, and with that understanding learn to revive our true selves. Only,
then we can help our young women understand this conditioning and make
conscious choices about who they are and what they want rather than
subconsciously conform to society's expectations.

Each one of us is a powerful role model for the adolescent girls we reach.
We cannot be too assertive in sharing our views or providing a good example.
They need us desperately at this point in their lives. Let your voice be
heard!

Copyright 2000

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4. Regarding the Value of Standardized Testing
Archive transcript of focus session from Teachers.net
"Caring or Coercion - What are the costs of high stakes testing
and other methods of coercing students?"  with Professor Nel Noddings.
(You may view some of her writings on caring on our own site)

The discussion took place Thursday, March 23, 2000
http://teachers.net/archive/testing032300.html 


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5. Promoting peace - Jacqueline Haessly (new March 2001)

This is from Jacqueline Haessly, president of Peace Making Associates. She is commenting on the excerpt found below. I believe that her orientation towards "building peace as a primary approach is very important.

> > The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention has
> > published "Measuring Violence-Related Attitudes, Beliefs, and Behaviors
Among Youths: A Compendium of Assessment Tools" It is available online at
> > http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/pub-res/measure.htm

One part of my doctoral research examines how language influences our
concepts and even our experiences of peace. This reference to research
directed to "measuring violence-related attitudes, reveals one of the
problems that exist in the area of peace and justice work.

So much of the focus appears to be on "stopping violence", "preventing
violence", and "managing conflict". Our research is directed toward
"measuring violence-related attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors". What if we,
as people committed to peace education, peace research, peace studies,
peacemaking and peace building were to place the emphasis on promoting peace
as presence, proclaiming peace as presence, and engaging in actions which
lead to actualizing peace. Then, our measuring would be directed toward
"measuring peace-related attitudes, beliefs and behaviors", and our
educational practices and our actions would be directed toward promotion of
peace and not just stopping or preventing violence.

In response to shootings in schools and work places, the emphasis is on
ever-greater efforts toward external security -- security guards, metal
detectors, rapid response teams to reduce impact of any violent act.

Where are the equally important efforts to promote environments where all
students and workers experience themselves as affirmed and respected, where
everyone has opportunity to develop skill in communicating needs, wants,
values, and feelings and where everyone experiences others as listeners who
really care what is being said, where conflict is resolved in peaceful,
non-threatening manner, where people learn to respect diversity, work and
play together cooperatively, and who are learning to live with others gently
on this planet

There are so many stories of people working to create these caring
environments,. Let's find a way to get these stories told; let's find a way
to name the peace acts that take place in homes and schools and workplaces
world-wide, and let's work to identify and promote the "measuring of those
peace-related attitudes, beliefs and behaviors", and our educational
practices and our actions that are already directed toward the promotion of
peace.

One example:

In one school, a teacher -- concerned about name-calling and labeling, and
apparent apathy among her students -- encouraged students to work as
individuals and as teams to engage in a "good act" each day. This was woven
into much of the regular academic course work, and as the semester
progressed, students kept records, wrote and gave reports, and did further
research to determine classroom, school, and community needs. Incidents of
negative activity decreased dramatically, and incidents of caring behaviors
increased even more dramatically.

Perhaps we could begin a collection of such stories here, stories that focus
on the positive ways that young people and adults are working to promote and
actualize peace and not just working to stop or prevent violence. Perhaps,
if we put our focus on the promotion of peace, there will not be so much
need to focus on stopping or preventing violence.

Peace, Jackie

Jacqueline Haessly
President, Peacemaking Associates
email: jacpeace@earthlink.net

In her words - some background on how she got to think this way
Long before I began my doctoral research, I longed to read peace related
material that identified what peace IS, rather than relate peace to war and
violence. In most of the peace research literature, peace is defined and
described as absence -- negative peace as absence of war and positive peace as
absence of violence -- both personal and institutional (depending upon
author). I think such terminology limits our ability to conceptualize what
peace is or could be.

So my research began by looking at that question, and I began to seek out
references to peace as presence -- vision statements, empowerment
statements, religious statements, children's statements and others.
And then began to identify common themes to all these references. I'm
still in the process of writing the final draft of the dissertation. I will
keep you informed. I do hope the research will be published. It's been very
exciting work.
Jacqueline Haessly

note ... you may wish to look at the article on morning meetings found in the
lessons section of our website.



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6. Concrete approaches to respond to attacks (new September 2001)

This came from Roger Weissberg, the Executive Director for the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning. You may learn more of the work of CASEL through their website http://www.casel.org/


He writes ...
Here is one of the best list with concrete approaches to respond
constructively to the recent attacks. I hope this information will be
helpful to many of you.

>
>As a result of receiving many suggestions from all around the world and also
>gathering ideas from the Social Psy, Community Psy, and Counseling Psy
>Training Directors listserves, I have compiled the following list of
>recommending strategies for assisting people in the aftermath of the
>September 11 tragedy. If you can think of others, send them to me. Obviously,
>we must all practice within our expertise so we must keep this in mind when
>considering implementing the recommendations that follow. We plan to launch a
>webpage very soon of concrete ways we can be of help.
>
>peace, Larry Gerstein, Ph.D.
>Director, Counseling Psychology Doctoral Program, Ball State University
>Fellow, American Psychological Association
>
>Suggestions for How to Help Persons After September 11
>General Suggestions
>1. Obtain materials for psychologists from the APA Practice Directorate
>website (http://www.apa.org/practice). The web-based resources include a
>cover memo outlining the purpose of the materials, a discussion guide for use
>by psychologists, a list of Internet resources as background materials,
>suggested steps for reaching out to local schools, and â œReactions and
>Guidelines for Children Following Trauma/Disaster.â
>
>2. Share helpful psychological information with the public by visiting:
>http://www.apa.org; http://helping.apa.org
>
>3. Obtain information on breavement by visiting:
>http://www.utulsa.edu/cpsc/bereavement.htm
>
>4. Donate blood, and money. Volunteer to assist
>American National Red Cross
>430 17th Street NW
>Washington, D.C. 20006
>1-800-GIVE-LIFE
>www.redcross.org
>Specify that the contribution is for Disaster Relief
>
>5. Donate money to:
>United Way of New York City
>2 Park Ave
>New York, NY 10016
>www.uwnyc.org
>Specify contribution for the Sept 11th fund
>
>6. Donors may specify the community -- Washington, D.C. (code 9011) or New
>York City (code 9012) where they would like their contributions to help. One
>hundred percent of all donations will be used to respond to the needs of the
>victims of these disasters. Established to help the victims of the terrorist
>attacks in Washington, New York City and elsewhere in the United States. The
>purpose of the fund is to mobilize financial resources to respond to the
>pressing needs of the victims and their families and all those affected by
>the tragedy.
>
>7. Donate money to:
>International Association of Fire Fighters
>1750 New York Ave, NW
>Washington, D.C. 20006
>Specify contribution for disaster relief
>
>8. Donate money to:
>World Trade Center/Pentagon Fund
>Federal Employee Education & Assistance Fund (FEEA)
>call 303-933-7580
>Send checks to:
>FEEA World Trade Center/Pentagon Fund
>8441 W. Bowles Ave Suite 200
>Littleton, CO 80123-9501.
>
>Families needing assistance may contact FEEA (800-323-4140 or
303-933-7580)
>
>The Federal Employee Education & Assistance Fund is the only non-profit,
>non-governmental agency whose sole mission is to provide educational and
>emergency financial assistance civilian federal and postal employees.
>
>9. Donate money, food, and clothing to:
>Salvation Army
>800-SAL-ARMY
>
>10. Medical personnel willing to go into Manhattan to assist victims and
>emergency workers can call 516-656-9254 or 516-656-9252. The City of Glen
>Cove, New York is coordinated transportation of medical personnel via ferry
>to Manhattan.
>
>11. Collect Coins and Dollars on campus and in the community.
>
>12. Visit an excellent website on how to help: www.helping.org
>
>13. Organize and participate in candlelight vigils for peace and compassion
>
>14. Arrange public gatherings to express compassion for the victims and their
>love ones
>
>15. Arrange public gatherings to express the need for peaceful and
>non-violent solutions
>
>16. Assist the New York State Disaster Response Network
>call 800-732-3933
>
>17. Host a neighborhood meeting to listen and support each other
>
>18. Coordinate prayer services in hospitals, nursing facilities, and other
>social service and educational institutions
>
>19. Assist Interfaith Centers and International Student Centers
>
>20. Address the emotional and safety needs of international students. Offer
>them free campus housing or arrange for them to stay in safe homes in the
>community.
>
>21. Disseminate educational materials and PSAs to the media, schools, and
>community on how to address and cope with the tragedy
>
>22. Appear on local radio and television stations
>
>23. Assist the staff of the Residence Halls and Student Services Offices
>
>24. Offer discussion groups on campus and in the community
>
>25. Staff phone lines to answer questions and perform crisis intervention
>
>26. Offer pro bono or low cost crisis intervention services
>
>27. Volunteer to offer services at your local airport
>
>28. Arrange informal â œbrown bagâ lunches on campus and schools for
>students
>who wish to drop in and talk
>
>29. Visit this website that presents information on how therapy helps in
>times of a trauma: http://helping.apa.org/therapy/traumaticstress.html
>
>30. Monitor the mood of students at dinners and activities
>
>31. Distribute psychoeducational materials on campus and in schools
>concerning how to cope with the tragedy and where to find services
>
>32. If needed, assist the local police and fire departments
>
>33. Organize fundraising activities such as a car wash, bake sale, yard sale,
>etc.
>
>34. Offer pro bono workshops and outreach programs on how to reduce the
>anxiety/phobia associated with flying
>
>35. Offer outreach programs on forgiveness
>
>36. Offer outreach programs on race relations
>
>37. Visit these websites for information on crisis prevention and responses
> http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu
>
> Coping with Emotions after a Disaster
> http://www.psychworks.com/PTSD%20response.htm
>
> After a Disaster: Steps You Can Take to Cope
> http://www.wright.edu/sopp/cps/TraumaticStress.html=20
>
> The Child Survivor of Traumatic Stress
> http://users.umassmed.edu/Kenneth.Fletcher/kidsurv.html
>
> National Center for PTSD
> http://www.ncptsd.org/
>
> Primary Care Treatment of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder
> http://www.aafp.org/afp/20000901/1035.html
> http://www.psychiatrist.com/supplenet/v61s05/02index.htm
> http://www.aaets.org/arts/art87.htm
> http://www.athealth.com/Consumer/directory/
> http://www.athealth.com/Consumer/tcenter/tcenter.html
>
> Psychiatric Dimensions of Disaster
> http://www.psych.org/pract_of_psych/disaster.cfm
>
> Comorbidity of Psychiatric Disorders and PTSD
> www.psychiatrist.com/supplenet/v61s07/61s07.pdf#nameddest=brady
>
> How to communicate & treat children & adolescents during crisis
> http://www.aap.org/advocacy/releases/disastercomm.htm
> http://www.guideline.gov/VIEWS/summary.asp?guideline=000314
>
> Supporting Survivors, Families and Loved Ones in the Aftermath
> http://www.aaets.org/arts/art98.htm
>
>How to help young people and children
>1. Encourage young people and children to design murals that allow them to
>express their feelings and thoughts.
>
>2. Encourage young people and children to send cards, toys, and clothes to
>young people and children in New York City and Washington, D.C.
>
>3. Link school children around the world with children in New York City and
>Washington, D.C. and facilitate conversations between these children through
>chat rooms and e-mail.
>
>4. Review these general resources that can be used by parents, teachers, and
>other caregivers to help children through these difficult days.
>
>The Parent Center: www.parentcenter.com/general/34754.html
>
>American Academy of Pediatrics:
>http://www.aap.org/advocacy/releases/disastercomm.htm
>
>American Psychological Association:
>http://helping.apa.org/therapy/traumaticstress.html#children
>
>American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry:
>http://www.aacap.org/
>
>5. Some general advice from the Child and Family experts includes:
>a. Continuously reassure your children that you will help to keep them safe.
>
>b. Turn off the TV. Overexposure to the media can be traumatizing. If your
>older children are watching the news, be sure to watch with them.
>
>c. Be aware that your child's age will affect his or her response.
>Adolescents in particular may be hard hit by these kinds of events. Obtaining
>counseling for a child or adolescent soon after a disaster may reduce
>long-term effects.
>
>d. Calmly express your emotions, but remember that a composed demeanor will
>provide a greater sense of security for your child.
>
>e. Give your children extra time and attention and plan to spend more time
>with your children in the following months.
>
>f. Let your children ask questions, talk about what happened, and express
>their feelings.
>
>g. Play with children who can't talk yet to help them work out their fears
>and respond to the atmosphere around them.
>
>h. Keep regular schedules for activities such as eating, playing and going to
>bed to help restore a sense of security and normalcy.
>
>i. Consider how you and your child can help. Children are better able to
>regain their sense of power and security if they feel they can help in some
>way.
>
>j. Assemble outreach teams that offer crisis intervention services to
>children in our local schools.
>
>Suggestions for Teaching Classes
>1. Start with a statement about what you did and how you felt during the
>events that took place. Encourage students to do the same.
>
>2. Facilitate relatively unstructured discussions that would allow students
>to share information about their experiences, ask questions, and express their
>feelings.
>
>3. Discuss stereotyping and prejudice, some politics, and allow students to
>air their views, anger, grief, sadness, etc.
>
>4. Explain how various psychological concepts are operating around the
>country and world.
>
>5. Encourage students to have an open mind.
>
>6. Discuss individual differences in how people of different diverse groups
>think, feel, and act.
>
>7. Display understanding and empathy for all their values, beliefs, and
>attitudes.
>
>8. Discuss the relationship between the self-esteem literature and the
>consciousness and actions of a country and society.
>
>9. Discuss how the incident and the subsequent violence fit the
>self-presentational strategy of intimidation.
>
>10. DIscuss how our reactions as victims resemble the fear of those who
>experience hate crimes with the feelings of vulnerabilty related to our
>identities as U.S. citizens.
>
>11. Discuss the literature on ingroup bias, the violation of our belief in a
>just world, and the physiological effects of unpredictable and uncontrollable
>stress.
>
>12. Discuss the role of religion in the tragedy. For information on this
>topic visit:
>http://www.psywww.com/psyrelig
>http://www.psywww.com/psyrelig/fundamental.html
>http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/8874.html
>
>13. Review the literature on the bystander Intervention model of helping,
>conflict resolution, problem solving, peace studies, aggression,
>deindividuation, â œmob behavior,â attributions, intergroup conflict, group
>dynamics, and outgroup homogeneity bias.
>
>14. Visit this website: http://www.wmsu.org/programs/jean_baker.htm
>It includes basic critical incidence debriefing information for teachers and
>includes web resources.
>
>15. Suggest that your nontraditional students who may wonder what to tell
>their children visit:
>http://www.ces.purdue.edu/terrorism/children/index.html
>
>16. The Office of Teaching Resources in Psychology has materials on peace,
>genocide, conflict, and human rights. Visit:
>http://www.lemoyne.edu/OTRP/teachingresources.html#diversity
>
>17. Review the â œTraining Manual for Mental Health and Human Service Workers
>in Major Disaster.â Visit:
>http://www.mentalhealth.org/publications/allpubs/ADM90-538/
>
>18. Review the â œDisaster Mental Health Guidebook.â Visit:
>http://www.wramc.amedd.army.mil/departments/socialwork/provider/DMHS.htm
>
>19. To obtain a very extensive set of links pertaining to disasters and
>recovery that can be used as the basis for handouts when teaching
>about crisis intervention visit: http://www.trauma-pages.com/
>
>Some References for Assignments
>Baumeister, R. F. (1999). Evil: Inside human violence and cruelty. New York:
> Freeman.
>Beck, A. T. (1999). Prisoners of hate: The cognitive basis of anger,
> hostility, and violence. New York: HarperCollins.
>Kressel, N. J. (1996). Mass hate: The global rise of genocide and terror. New
> York: Plenum.
>Lerner, R. M. (1992). Final solutions: Biology, prejudice, and genocide.
> University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press.
>Staub, E. (1989). The roots of evil: The origins of genocide and other group
> violence. New York: Cambridge University Press.

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