At
dusk on 22 May 2001 some 4,500 people, 3,300 of them Bahá'ís,
representative of more than 200 countries and territories, gathered
at the foot of Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel. They were there
to witness the opening of the Terraces of the Shrine of the
Báb, a project begun ten years before that has transformed
the ancient barren face of the mountain into 19 majestic terraced
gardens cascading down the length of the mountain.
|
|
ERA Education Resource Agency
“Virtues” Pilot Project Offered to Educators in the Public School
System
At
the direction of the National Spiritual Assembly of The Baha'is
of Alaska, the Education Resource Agency has begun the work
of offering moral education programs to Alaska’s public schools.
ERA has decided to offer a one-year pilot project to Alaska’s
Public Schools where Bahá’ís currently hold teaching
positions, Preschool through Grade 12.
ERA offered training to teaching staff in the “Virtues Project
Educator’s Guide” on August 17-18, 2002 at the Anchorage Bahá’í
Center. Eleven participants attended the training in the Virtues
Project curriculum. The participant’s roles in education varied
from teachers of
elementary and middle schools, Principals, prevention specialists,
alternative education teacher, Head Start staff, school counselors,
registered nurses, to business owners involved in an inter-faith
movement to help children. The participants were from the communities
of
Anchorage, Wasilla, McGrath, Fairbanks, Kotzebue, and Homer.
One of the schools in the Mat-Su School District has already
been using this curriculum and has built it into a
school-wide program that is appreciated and supported by parents,
students and staff. It has become a model for other schools
who may wish to embark on a whole-school approach to virtues
education.
ERA is already getting feedback from Bahá’ís who
are implementing this curriculum. At a school in Homer, with
the approval and support of teachers and the administration,
the
Virtues Project was begun by having the school focus on a virtue
each week. The first week, the students studied the virtue of
RESPECT, and then wrote post cards to residents of
the community stating why they respected them. When residents
began receiving these post cards in the mail, they contacted
the school to thank them and offer their support to this new
program. Several Kotzebue Bahá’ís who have individually
sponsored a long-term volunteer after-school roller skating
program have the door open to include the Virtues
program with the children.
In
the early hours of the morning of 29 May, Baha'is throughout
the world commemorate the passing of Baha'u'llah. The Founder
of the Baha'i Faith died in the Holy Land in 1892 at the Mansion
of Bahji in Acre. His Shrine there is the holiest place on earth
for Baha'is. The commemoration, which is observed at 3 a.m.,
4 a.m. Alaska time, involves the reading of prayers and Writings.
 more
about
|
