Handbook for Effective

School-Based Prevention Programs

The Four Worlds International Institute

for Human and Community Development

EDUCATIONAL TRAINING SERVICES

The Four Worlds International Institute is now able to offer this selection of training modules and workshops related to education and the prevention of alcohol and drug abuse.

1. Integrated Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention Curriculum

 

 

This workshop can help school staff understand the many components of an effective in-school prevention program: information; decision-making; coping; self-esteem; volitional development; healing; spiritual/cultural empowerment; bonding to family, community and school; and connecting school programs with an integrated community prevention strategy.

Participants in this workshop will learn strategies for implementing these components and will gain hands-on experience with appropriate existing resource materials. Ways to build these components into existing school programs and subject areas are suggested.

Ideally this is a three-day workshop with an additional day at either end for community resource people who will support the school program.
 

2. Linking In-School Programs with Community Prevention Efforts

 

 

This workshop investigates the essential link between in-school alcohol and drug abuse prevention programs and those programs in the community that have this issue as one of their concerns. This is a working session which provides a theoretical base and framework for a practical planning process tailored to the needs of each particular community.

The participants of this workshop will also be introduced to the Four Worlds documents which can support such a venture: "Taking Time to Listen: Using Community-Based Research to Build Programs", "Developing Healthy Communities: Fundamental Strategies for Health Promotion," "Towards the Year 2000", "Overview of the Four Worlds Project", "Wholistic Educational Evaluation", and "The Four Worlds Community Education Series".
 

3. The Sacred Tree

 

 

This workshop will assist the participants to effectively implement the Four Worlds International Institutes' curriculum program entitled "The Sacred Tree". This curriculum package is designed to contribute to the positive self-esteem and identity in Native students as they learn more about themselves and about the life-preserving, life-enhancing values which form the core of Native culture. Positive self-esteem has been shown by research to be one of the major factors contributing to the prevention of alcohol and drug abuse.

The contents and teaching strategies contained in "The Sacred Tree" kit will be thoroughly explored and suggestions will be offered for integrating the curriculum into the school program. The basic philosophy and educational processes involved in a curriculum designed to promote personal growth and identity will also be investigated. Ideally this is at least a full-day workshop.
 

4. Walking With Grandfather

 

 

This workshop functions as an in-service to educators using the "Walking With Grandfather" video series. The programs in this six-part series are based on Native legends and stories and are designed to promote life-enhancing, life-preserving values. Stories and legends have always been an essential part of Native education. The "Walking With Grandfather" series demonstrates how the special learning relationships established through storytelling and the global learning fostered by the use of symbolic language can become part of each child's school experience.

In the course of this workshop, a basic model for an integrated and wholistic approach to education will be explored and educators will have a chance to work with some of the teaching strategies suggested by this type of approach. The link between positive self-esteem, social success, healthy values, and alcohol and drug abuse prevention will also be investigated. Ideally this is at least a full-day workshop.
 

5. Promoting Cross-Cultural Understanding through Curriculum

 

 

Research is now showing strong links between a lack of strong personal identity among Native people, the relationship between Native people and the dominant culture that surrounds them, and alcohol and drug abuse.

The above workshop is designed to give educators a working understanding of 17 teaching strategies that can help students understand human universals and the nature of cultural differences, the roots and dynamics of prejudice, and some theories about social change. Several case studies, including a unit on the effects of the media's stereotyping of Indians, are also examined.

This approach to multicultural education is designed for active involvement on the part of the learner to help students develop positive attitudes and values, and to build connections between what is being learned and everyday experiences. The contents and teaching/learning activities which are utilized in the Four Worlds International Institute's "Unity in Diversity" and "Images of Indians" curriculum kits and which are based on the above philosophy will be explored in detail. Ideally this is at least a two-day workshop.

6. Developing culturally Appropriate Curriculum

 

 

This workshop presents a basic model for looking at what culture is and what its implications are for education. Participants are led through a process of generating a culturally appropriate model of what human beings are and how human beings grow and change, of applying that model to the content, process and context of education, and of generating specific teaching strategies consistent with the above. Several case studies are studied and a research method appropriate for uncovering cultural values as they apply to education is introduced. The link between alcohol and drug abuse prevention and school success is explored. Ideally this is at least a three-day workshop.
 

7. Educational Evaluation and Planning

 

 

This workshop is intended to be a working session for educators and other community people interested in building a viable, flexible and culturally appropriate education system. Participants will have the opportunity to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of their existing system, to begining to articulate a clear model of what they want it to be, to assess their resources and needs and to begin to build a solid plan for how they can achieve their goals. Some alternative models will be presented to give participants an idea of innovations in education that have been successful in other places.

Ideally this is at least a three-day workshop which involves key education personnel as well as band council members, school board members and interested community members.

Note:

These workshops are available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Please book well in advance for your scheduled event to ascertain that a trainer is available. For more detailed information about any of these workshops and for a discussion of the costs involved in bringing them to your area, please contact the Four worlds International Institute directly. If you are not familiar with the curriculum materials referred to in these courses descriptions you can read about them in more detail in the Four Worlds International Institutes Resource Catalogue available from the following address.