Human Values in Education – Experiential workshops for children

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Experiential workshops with children & teenagers through music

recent actions (May-June 2018): 2-day workshopa & music performances, afro brazil percussions for 6th graders in primary schools, Attica, Greece: solidarity, unity, personal empowerment through music group performance

Short relevant video: https://youtu.be/dKAcMGq4rQk

Our organisation invited a well-known afro brazil percussionists’ group in Athens to collaborate with,primary school pupils (6th grade) in two primary schools in Attica, aiming at cultivating harmonious creative coexistence, authentic expression and joy through the ‘heart beat’ of the percussions.

Children familiarised themselves with rhythms, beat calls, body movements and the power of the instruments, being guided by the person responsible for the children’s education in the percussions' group

Music constitutes a global language. A great volume of literature and research has accentuated the unifying and cohesive attributes of music.
The sounds and vibrations of the percussions, in particular, bring people of every age and interest closer to the beat of the heart, to the liveliness of life, to the joy and connection amongst people.

Primary goals of the two-day workshops have been the cultivation of solidarity spirit, cooperation, responsibility and authentic expression via the active participation of the pupils.

Playing afro brazil percussions, the rhythmical movement of the bodies, practicing upon rhythms & the use of the voice lead naturally to
- authentic expression
- cultivation of responsibility and patience
- silent communication and understanding amongst the members of the group
- practice upon focusing
- care for every individual within the group and the whole group itself
- consolidation of a high sense of solidarity and acceptance
- positivity and joy

Each two-day workshop reached its peak time when the groups presented a short performance at each school yard, in the presence of the whole school: pupils, dancing in afro brazil beats & rhythms, parents and teachers.

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"Eeeh! Elate, enonomaste! Ekeheiria, Eugnomosyni, Eirini
Eeeh! Come on! We get united! Truce, Gratitude, Peace"

Our organisation responded with great pleasure and inspiration to the invitation of the 8th Primary School in Chaidari, Attica, Greece, to create within the school premises art interventions, honouring global human values, the ideals of the Olympiad, in accordance to the Olympic year of 2016, and the call of our times for solidarity consciousness and peaceful activism, especially due to the serious contemporary issue of (im)migration of large numbers of populations from Middle East to European countries.

The project “Eeeh! Come on! We get united! Truce, Gratitude, Peace [Eee! Elate, enonomaste! Ekeheiria, Eugnomosyni, Eirini (title of the project in Greek)]” took place on the 24th and 25th of May 2016, after a preparation of several months by our organisation.
During the two-day action pupils of the two higher classes of the primary school actively participated in the workshops which were directed by the practice of global human values in our everyday life. The values of Solidarity, Truce, Sincerity, Sustainability, Acceptance, Freedom and Gratitude were particularly highlighted. The children had the opportunity to create circular art works as parts of the seven ‘satellite’ art interventions within the school corridors, the seven delicate frames with velvet background and a small piece of rice paper hunging inside each of them, delicately bearing one value handwritten with golden hue, each dedicated to the above protagonists-global human values. They also worked as a team in creating two long calligraphy drawings upon white art paper, 1,70 metres long each, ‘allowing’ the word «peace» to emerge upon each of them.
The art action was completed with a large piece of art work, the core piece of the art intervention, installed in the main open space of the ground floor of the school, 3,50 metres long, honouring peace and the seven values, which are cultivated and flourish upon the ‘plains’ of internal and external Peace, symbolically/in form and in the everyday practice.

Feathers as symbol of fragility, purity, transformational power and justice complemented the main art installation.

Pupils, teachers, parents have been positively surprised by the art interventions which have sparked lively conversations and sharings of thoughts and emotions.

Our seed/invitation for Unity has found fertile ground in the school as well as within the hearts and minds of its people and local community.

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self-esteem, acceptance, connection

experiential initiative with children from Europe

23rd of May 2016

Working with children in a multicultural context always constitutes a creative, deep and inspiring process for our organisation.

Children of primary education and early adolescence from Italy, Poland, Sweden, Greece, Romania were the protagonists of our invitation for them to interact, play, sing, act in short theatre improvisations, express themselves through innovative and simple activities, which embrace the surprise, welcome every quality of the Self, free from fears and anxieties, celebrate each moment, provide the space to honour personal qualities and qualities of the group/community.

The initiative constituted part of an Erasmus+ schools' programme, to which the 24th Primary School of Acharnes, Greece, was core partner.

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"the gifts of peace"

3-day action with the plenary of a school community in Piraeus

21st-23rd of April 2015

The action was dedicated to the gifts which peace is offering everyday, since our planet is urgently in need of these gifts. The initiative was also inspired by the 22nd of April, the world Mother Earth's day and its global celebration.

The 3-day action provided tools and techniques to pupils and teachers towards the achievement of peace interactions in their everyday life. It also familiarised experientially every participant with the qualities, benefits and practices of peaceful thoughts and actions.

An art intervetion was created in the school with the collaboration of the pupils, the teachers and an artist, one of the main facilitators of the initiative. The art installation is integrated in the school environment and constitutes "the peace and love niche", embracing in its ambience and space everybody present in the school premises.

The event reached its peak during the 3rd day when everybody participated in the peaceful march "the peace footsteps" in the neighbouring park.

The pupils experienced peaceful activism, shared emotions, expressed themselves, collaborated, learned, offered support to each other, discussed, created artworks, sang, became peace makers within their school and their life in overall (hopefully)! Peace seeds are planted within them. Pupils and teachers have taken the responsibility for their growth further on...

The peace gifts are sustainable and resilient. The more we offer them the more they become!

For the 3-day action there has also been a post in the website of the International Community for the Compassion: http://charterforcompassion.org/node/8612

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the  s p i r a l travels to the Greek province along with the Human Values in Education

1st and 2nd Kindergarten in Gargalianoi (south-western Greece) - December 2011

During the workshops with the kids emphasis has been laid upon

-the activation of their holistic self,

-the qualities of cooperation, patience, acceptance, love for the Self and the Other,

-the metamorphosis of the 'wrong',

-the gifts of the silence inside and outside (of us)

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19.12.2010

...with the participation of 5,5-12 years old children our team received inspiration and became creative within a programme of flowing activities impregnated with qualities and emanations of the global values of Love, Truth, Peace.
The workshop took place in the SPRING PEOPLE multi-space, at Psirri Athenian neighbourhood.

(...from the workshop’s announcement)
"The contemporary child has been often introduced to roles beyond its real self, when at home, in school, within groups and friends, searching – often desperately - for  recognition, acceptance and inclusion, excellence, nevertheless jostling at the same time its inner power, faith to the self and unity with everything around it. The Christmas celebration rings the bell of self-advancement and offer to the world around."

The workshop has been developed and structured as follows:
Music/songs, narration, quotations and positive affirmations, silent sitting, group activities (visual arts, theatre, observation and collaboration games etc.), body activation, invigoration of the senses apart from the 'conquering' sense of vision

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Children from the Athenian neighbourhood of Gazi get acquainted with the power of Art, 27.11.2010

Small group of children from the non-profit organisation “Roads of Life” have been given the opportunity to visit the solo exhibition with works by Makis Theofylaktopoulos, hosted in Benaki Museum at Pireos Street.

The experience of the museum as a space for art, its architectural structure and the artworks of the exhibition Theofylaktopoulos instigated questions regarding the exhibition’s title, subject matter and content, the role of the museums today, the relationship of contemporary people, and especially of the children, with the Art. These questions were attributed a multicoloured character and left space for deeper research, since they were articulated by immigrants children.

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The  s p i r a l continues to coordinate, facilitate and animate the HUMAN VALUES workshops for schools, NGOs, sensitive social groups, educators, volunteers, independent groups of children and adults…