Class and Small Group Value Clarification
For students who are unaccustomed to this method, it is necessary to expose them to it slowly and early in the year. The value clarification method encourages students to think about what they consider important to themselves and ranks this importance equally with the teacher’s opinions. This method allows the student to challenge a peer’s or the teacher’s ideas on a given topic. I find it easier to introduce this method outside of specific curriculum material and deal with the concept of personal values in relation to life or education in general. My first value clarification sessions take place in the first week of school.
The first exercise I use is called ‘Rank Order‘. Its aim is to get students to loosen up and feel comfortable speaking in class. It also encourages them to think about value judgements and lets them know that what they think and say is valid. The importance of this acknowledgment of their opinions and interpretations will be seen in the description of the ‘shared inquiry‘ process. ‘Rank Order‘ and seventy-eight other exercises can be found in Value Clarification by Simon, Howe, and Kirschenbaum.
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A second category of value clarification exercises involves small groups. I will use this type in dealing with the Greek myths and concepts of heroes and heroines This will take place after the following readings and shared inquiry discussions of the selections:
Man the Myth Maker:
Prometheus by W.T. Jewkes, p. 32
Pandora by W.T. Jewkes, p. 74
Phaethon by Edith Hamilton, p.81
Atalanta’s Race by Rex Warner, p. 100
Pegasus by Patrick Kavanagh, p. 140
Mythology
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Perseus, p. 141
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Atalanta,p. 173
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Theseus, p. 149
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The Trojan War, p. 178
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Hercules, p. 159
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The Adventures of Odysseus, p. 202
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The strategy involved here is to get students to think about the Greek heroes and heroines and to formulate the qualities which are inherent in the heroic act. Once the heroic qualities have been discussed and written about, the students will attach symbols to the qualities and include them in their hero’s or heroine’s coat-of-arms project which is described below.
