Values for the Yatra

Archdiocesan Value Education Centre (AVEC ) E-Letter January 2010

BEGINNING ANEW
In life you rise and you fall, without thought you take it all.
And then the realization hits you, there has to be something you have to do.
You can’t live like this forever, for sometimes it’s now or never.
And then you have to take life’s reign in your own hand,
and not be terrorized by someone else in your own land.
You begin a new, you let go of the past. You’re finally a new person,
trying to make your freedom last.
You make up with the losses and you shun off the fears,
you start right there, by smiling through the tears.
It’s your new beginning, your new tale to tell.
It’s yours to be yourself, to live outside the shell.
It’s yours the humble victory, the joyous might and glory.
It’s yours to frame the happy ending to your story.
Everyday is your new beginning, a new day dawning with new hope,
renewed faith and everlasting grace.
And hope in your new day, to others joy you bring,
and be the change you want to see, without fretting about a thing.
( By: OLIVIA MISQUITTA, Mary Immaculate Girls High School—Borivli
Winner of the AVEC Poem Competition)

The first chapter of Mitch Albom's bestseller, ‘The Five People You Meet in Heaven’, is titled ‘The End.’
A strange title for the beginning of a book but as Albom explains: "all endings are also beginnings.
We just don't know it at the time." And so it is for us as we step into a new year, leaving behind the
previous year with all its memories and regrets, success stories and failures, hopes and fears. A year
has ended and with the dawn of another year, we are offered another beginning, a new beginning.
In this ISSUE The end of the year is very much like the end of the final chapter in a book. We can decide what we
liked and what we did not like. We can decide that in order to open one door we must close another
Beginning Anew 1 or we can just run into the New Year, letting new directions find us. If we are among those that
have long and short goals in place we can use this New Year to measure our milestones and adjust
our lives by making new plans as we move forward, to be able to think about the opportunities. We
must abandon the limitations on what we think is impossible. After all even a withering flower, a
Holistic Education 2
yellow leaf, a cloudy grey sky, fresh cocoons are all signs of new beginnings…

Power Reading 3 It would be ideal if we could be open to the unexpected. To reach out and look forward to making
new friends and the many joys that can come into our lives. Have we stopped looking for the satis-
faction of our own accomplishments in life? Have we forgotten what it feels like to have the sand
Don Bosco 4
between our toes at the beach? Do we remember how good a peach tastes with the dribble running
down our chin? We can allow ourselves to experience all this. And as well all the joy and apprecia-
Republic day 5 tion of life's small and large pleasures again. Can we be patient as we await the blooms?

Yes we can break the cycle, break the chain, we can start all over- in the new beginning. We can
News & Photos 6
learn, teach, share the dream, the prayer: the notion that we can do better. And about that door we
opened into the New Year. Take it off the hinges. It is going to be great year! But YOU have to be-
lieve it! The past is no longer in my control
The present I now joyously behold
With joy and love I will embrace today
A beautiful future before me will enfold
Natasha Almeida
 Values for the Yatra
Archdiocesan Value Education Centre (AVEC ) E-Letter January 2010

EDUCATION – SACREDNESS
The noble task of education is to encourage everyone to life their minds and spirits to the
plane of the universal and, in some measure, to transcend themselves.
“ T he tension between the spiritual and the material : often without realizing it, the world
has a longing, often unexpressed, for an ideal and for values that we shall term ‘ moral ’ .
It is thus education ’ s noble task to encourage each and everyone, acting in accordance
with their traditions and convictions and paying full respect to pluralism, to lift their minds and spirits to
the plane of the universal and, in some measure, to transcend themselves. It is no exaggeration to say
that the survival of humanity depends thereon. ” ( Jacques Delors) .

HOLISTIC Education leads to wisdom and intuition, which belong to the spiritual realm.
This spiritual permeates all the dimensions of holistic growth.
According to Danah Zohar ( 2000 ) , it is the spirit that facilitates the dialogue between reason and
emotion, between the mind and body. It integrates the intra- and inter-personal and fosters qualities of
respect and responsibility, of gentleness, humility, self-restraint and compassion.

“ Before making practical plans, we need to promote a spirituality of communion, making it the guiding
principle of education… A spirituality of communion also means an ability to think of our brothers and
sisters around us… as ‘ those who are a part of me.” ( Novo Millenio Ineunte, 43 )

SPIRITUAL INTELLIGENCE is that deep intuitive sense that unifies and helps to develop meaning,
vision and value, establishes the basis for deep interpersonal relationships, and serves as a bridge
between science and the realm of consciousness.
INDICATIONS OF A SUPERIOR SPIRITUAL INTELLIGENCE ( Danah Zohar) :
1. The capacity to be flexible
2. A high degree of self-awareness
3. A capacity to face and use suffering
4. A capacity to face and transcend suffering
5. The characteristic of being inspired by vision and values
6. Unwillingness to cause unnecessary harm
7. An inclination to see connections between diverse things ( being holisitic )
8. A marked tendency to ask “ W hy? ” or “ What if? ’ questions & seek ‘ fundamental ’ answers
9. Being what psychologists call ‘ field-independent ’ - possessing a facility to work against
convention, and Being a ‘ s ervant leader ’ – someone who inspires others.

* Invite Teachers to become WHOLISTIC EDUCATORS *

 Values for the Yatra
Archdiocesan Value Education Centre (AVEC ) E-Letter January 2010

The Purpose of Reading = To gather Information

POWER READING is for Collecting ‘KEYWORDS’

20% of your KEY WORDS form your MIND-MAPS
It effectively reduces YOUR STUDY TIME by 80%

Learning to Power Read helps you in two ways:

Concentration & Comprehension
Discover Your Reading Style
HABITS OF SLOW READERS _ HABITS OF POWER READERS
Slow readers LIP READING every word Power readers USE A PENCIL –PACER

SUB-VOCALIZATION CIRCLE KEY WORDS

Slow readers create VOICE WORDS
Slow Readers go into REGRESSION
Because of POOR VOCABULARY/
SELF CONFIDENCE
They READ WORD FOR WORD as a result
they are able to read
ONLY 120 WORDS PER MINUTE
Power Readers GATHER INFORMATION fast
Power readers READ FROM BACK 2 FRONT
Because it is THE SUMMARY that GUIDES YOU
They PUSH & STRETCH themselves as a
result they are able to read about
850 WORDS PER MINUTE

Slow Readers have a SHORT EYE SPAN Power Readers have an EXPAND EYE SPAN
to 8-12 GROUP WORDS
To 1-2 WORDS PER SECOND

* Invite Students to develop the proper Habit of Power Reading. *

 Values for the Yatra
Archdiocesan
ArchdiocesanValue
ValueEducation Centre
Education (AVEC
Centre ) E-Letter
(AVEC ) E-LetterJanuary 2010 2009
December

Don Bosco : Educator and Teacher of the Young

January 31st : Feast of Don Bosco
(A special feature on the Preventive System of Don Bosco)

"Don Bosco realized his personal holiness through an educative commitment

(John Paul II, Letter Juvenum Patris, 5). His pastoral praxis and pedagogical
style spring from this experience. Spiritual life, apostolic commitment, educative
method are three aspects of a single reality: the love and pastoral charity that
unifies and drives all of existence: to be in the Church signs and bearers of
God’s love for the young

"This system is based entirely on reason, religion and above all on loving-kindness” (Don
Bosco). This ‘Preventive System’ of Don Bosco is a way of Educating the Young to wholeness.

The Preventive System as Pedagogy

The Preventive System is also a pedagogical method characterized by: the wish to be amidst the
young sharing their life, looking sympathetically at their world, attentive to their real experiences and
values;· the unconditional acceptance that becomes a tireless capacity for dialogue and power for
their growth· the preventive criterion which believes in the strength of the good already present in
every youngster, even the most needy, and which seeks to develop this through positive good ex-
periences;· the centrality of reason which becomes reasonableness of requests and rules, flexibility
and persuasiveness in proposals; and of religion understood as developing the sense of God present
in every person and the power of Christian evangelization; and of loving-kindness expressed as an
educative love that enables growth and brings about a meeting of minds and hearts;
· a positive environment shot through with personal relationships, enlivened by the loving and reliable
presence of educators and one which is also active, energizing and on behalf of the young;
· with a style of animation that believes in the positive resources of the young.

The Preventive System as Pastoral Ministry

This original proposal for evangelizing the young departs from the point of encounter with the young
right where they are to be found, by valuing the natural and supernatural patrimony that each young-
ster has in his or her self, and in an educative environment which is rich in proposals; it is carried out
via an educative approach that privileges the poorest and neediest; it promotes the development of
the positive resources they have and proposes a particular form of Christian life and youthful holi-
ness. This original project of Christian life is organized around certain experiences of faith, certain
choices of gospel values and attitudes that constitute Salesian Youth Spirituality (SYS)
.

The Preventive System as Spirituality

The Preventive System finds its source and centre in the experience of God’s charity that through
His Providence ‘comes before’ (the real meaning of ‘preventive’) each creature. This charity accom-
panies and saves (gives life to) the individual This experience predisposes the educator to welcome
God in the young, convinced that in them God offers the grace of encounter with Him, and calls the
educator to serve God in them, recognizing their dignity, renewing faith in their resources of good-
ness and educating them to fullness of life.
This pastoral charity creates an educative rapport fitted to the adolescent, indeed the poorest of
them. It is a fruit of the conviction that each life, even the poorest, most complex, most precarious
existence, carries within it the power of redemption and the seed of happiness – through the mysteri-
ous presence of the Holy Spirit
 Values for the Yatra
Archdiocesan Value Education Centre (AVEC ) E-Letter January 2010

The ‘Preventive System’: Making your School Different

1. The ‘Environment’ of the School: The idea of the school becoming a ‘second home’ is a reality
in the Salesian set-up. The presence of the educator draws out the best form the student because it
is an environment where the student feels loved. Love is the language spoken and experienced in
this environment.
2. The ‘Presence’ is Enabling: The student longs for the presence of the educator in their midst.
This presence is welcoming, friendly, educative and accompanying. The student realizes that the
educator is not there to stifle the freedom of the student but rather it is an enabling presence that
transforms the outlook of the students to their educators.
3. The ‘Inner Dimensions of Youth’: The preventive system of Don Bosco addresses the very
quest of every student/ young person and satisfies the deepest desires in living a purposeful and
meaningful life. The preventive system touches the three inner core principles (reason, religion and
loving kindness) that bring the young person face to face with his/her own dignity as a person.
4. A ‘Spirituality of Relationships’: The secret of Don Bosco’s preventive system is found in the
depths of the relationship that is bridged between the student and the educator. We are called to
walk first through the door of the heart of the young person so that the young person can finally walk
out through the door of our heart. Don Bosco believed in the power of the ‘web of relationships’.
5. A ‘Holistic Formation’: Don Bosco’s educative system is holistic to the core. Young people are
accompanied to become good Christians and responsible citizens. The body-head-heart-soul forma-
tion leads the young person to grow fully in an environment of responsible freedom, trust and guided
by conscience.

Republic Day: What have ‘You” done to stop INDIA bleeding?

.

2010
 Values for the Yatra
Archdiocesan Value Education Centre (AVEC ) E-Letter January 2010

Teachers’ Seminar at AVEC : December 2010

AVEC conducted a day-seminar for the students of Holy Cross, Juhu

on 15th December 2010.

St. Mary's ICSE invited the AVEC Team to conduct a half-day program
for the Value Education Teachers on 17th December 2010.

TEACHERS’ SEMINAR: ABE schools of Thane, Raigad, Navi

Mumbai deaneries will be invited to a one-day seminar to be organized
by AVEC at St. John the Baptist School, Thane on 3rd Feb 2010.
Letters of invitation will be sent to the respective schools.

AVEC wishes all Std X students the best of luck in the Exams

AVEC E-Letter ‘Values for the Yatra’ is an initiative to provide Animation

Resources for Teachers involved in Value Education in the ABE schools/
Jr. Colleges .Values for the Yatra will be published every month and is for
private circulation. Your valuable suggestions are most welcome to assist
us in making Values for the Yatra a useful tool of animation and bonding
among the teachers and students of the ABE schools in Mumbai.

CONTACT:
Fr. Glenford Lowe, SDB / Natasha Almeida / Rochwyn Fernandes
AVEC—Don Bosco Youth Services, Matunga 400019 , MUMBAI
Ph: 24154477 e-mail: avecmatunga@gmail.com