Overview
(I AMM) "I Am Moral"
Yes, kids need to be moral too. How? The exact same way adults are moral; by believing in good principles in life over bad principles. The good principles are "The High Five" Peace (The First Principle), Life, Love, Freedom and Equality (The Super Principle). These principles override all other things without conflicting with them. Examples of bad principles are selfishness (The Failed Principle), hate, greed and inequality and violence. A person excises these principles though the limitless power of each and every kid’s unique, personal, individual, one-of-a-kind identity. A person's identity controls the actions and destiny of their lives and this is the core of the program. This means helping kids get in tune with their identity and helping them to use it constructively and their own best interest which means not being violent. These programs are not just for schools but any and all youth groups and for any youth facilities. The content of "A Moral Kid" Program is the opinions and philosophy of Win The War! Against Violence alone. It is a proactive, forward and fresh thinking event to lessen reliance of the disciplinary and reactionary aspects in trying to curtail violence. It is an original proprietary program. Any similarity to any other group or program is not known to us and would be completely coincidental. It is non-political, non-religious, non-financial and non-judgmental. It does not advocate or conflict with any of other institution nor is it associated with any other group. Everything in the program is only in the context of violence prevention and reduction. Although the program may at some point discuss nationality, it will only be in a brief and broad sense. Win The War! Against Violence is an American organization and unequivocally supports the United States of America and the Constitution of the United States.
This program is not just about intervention but prevention. Not just about school violence but all youth violence. And not just violence youth do but violence that is done to youths.
"A Moral Kid" Formula for Violence Prevention
"A Moral Kid" Formula: Teaching children that by Voluntarily using your human free will to voluntarily recognize your true one of kind identity and voluntarily choosing to let your true identity make the decisions in your life. We call each person in this program an "Identity Station". Then voluntarily believing in the good principles Peace, Life, Love Freedom and Equality which we call the "The High Five" in both in words, actions and application. This makes someone "A Moral Kid" and a principled, peaceful person. Win The War! Against Violence believes this violence education curriculum is how to greatly reduce violence.
The Authors
The program was designed and is operated by the two founders and current directors of Win The War! Against Violence, Douglas A. Wain and Elisa Wain. Douglas A. Wain is author of the book "The War Against Violence Everywhere" and is also President of Douglas Safety Corp; a company that sells safety products which protect workers and helps companies comply with Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Standards. He also is mentor for children in the Lexington-Fayette County Public School System and has completed Virtus Training and volunteers for Parochial Schools in Lexington, KY. He has also been a Big Brother in Lexington, KY. Elisa Wain is a Teacher/Educator in the Lexington-Fayette Country Public School System for 10 years and has also worked in private schools in Lexington, KY. She has a Bachelors Degree in Education, Awarded Phi Zeta Kappa, and a Masters Degree in Elementary Education and a Rank I Degree in Primary Education. She also served on the board of Chrysalis House in Lexington, KY.
Age Appropriateness
Our program is called "Moral Kids" for those children of Primary School age, "A Moral Kid " A Violence Prevention Program for children of Middle School age and "A Moral Young Adult" for those young adults of High School age. Each of the three programs for youths is slightly altered for each of the three age groups to insure that the content is completely age appropriate. In some cases the messages are greatly simplified and more visualized for the youngest children. Outlines of the presentation can be sent home to parents with a permission slip so they can properly decide if their child would like to attend. Win The War! Against Violence is also consulting with many professionals in all related fields to make sure that the standard and content for each group is acceptable and in line with the norms of the parents, schools and independent educational groups. These consultations will be continual.
The Live Presentation
Our introduction to our "A Moral Kid" program is a Live, In Person presentation by an official speaker from waragainstviolence.org. The presentation also includes a computer slide show using a laptop and a projections screen which we bring to each session. The presentation can be held at any location and there is no set limit to how small or how large the amount of participants must be. We also have a print-out of the presentation to each participant. We will also bring a small portable public address system so we will need close access to two functional electrical outlets. Audience questions are key to the success of the presentation and are sought regularly throughout the program with never more than 10 minutes of uninterrupted speaking by the presenter at any time. Adults in the room are free to ask questions as well. The speaker will decide and the questioners while the program is underway. It is the intent of each presentation that the entire outline of "A Moral Kid" is presented and that the majority of the questions are answered. The presenter will stay at least 30 minutes after the program for any additional questions. The program is suitable for students or non-students and can be presented as many times as requested. We also welcome as much adult supervision as possible at the event. No violent or potentially disturbing images or descriptions are used or any other explicit material. The subject of sexuality is not included. However, if a question is asked on the topic, we will answer since it is consistent with our principles to answer all reasonable questions. Our presenters are to lead by example. This is acting with kindness to all questioners and everyone else at all times. We believe not answering reasonable questions in some way sends the wrong message to kids; a message of hypocrisy, unnecessary disrespect and inequality. The presenter will arrive one hour prior to their presentation, to be used for set up, and will be ready to begin at the scheduled time so it is our hope we can have this access to the presentation area.
There will be only one presenter sent by Win The War! Against Violence if the presenter should require an assistant, we will notify the host no less than 24 hours of the additional persons. All the people we assign to an event will have passed background checks conducted by Win The War! Against Violence. If there is a delay of one hour or more for us to begin the presentation, the event may have to be rescheduled. We will, however, make every effort to accommodate. Although our program might be changed occasionally in the hopes of improving it, the core content of the program will remain unchanged. We consider ourselves to be only as good as our last presentation. Feedback on the program by any partly is always welcomed.
Identity Recognition and Strengthening
We will conduct games and excises which help display a person individual identity. One is a game called "Who Am I" which all tell of what they like, don’t like till no one has the same answers. Then applying what they like and don't like in to real life situations. Also "Is That Me" test. We describe a person and an action and get responses if this person is them of not.
Interactivity
To make an impact on youth violence the program needs to be interactive between our organization and youths. That is why a live presentation would be more powerful then only viewing it. The interactively must also be continual after a live presentation every when they move beyond their youth.
Continuing Education of the Program
It would be too much to ask of any 40-minute presentation to make a permanent change it most kids? lives. We think this is true no matter what the subject matter was. That is why we consider our presentation only an introduction to our original formula for violence prevention. It is the important beginning of our program but not the complete program. Most of the follow up we believe should be done online, where there are lot of the kids are already. We call it our "A Moral Reminder" page. It is an age specific web address and site, to continue the education and support for violence prevention. It will be much more interactive then a presentation with a large audience could be. They can log on, register if they want to, explore real life situations and real life solutions for violence and most importantly, are able to ask questions and receive answers. One of the reasons we have a slightly different name for all six of our presentations is so each will have its own web portal. A special email address will also be provided for follow-up questions at any time after the program as well as an age specific web site. It will be an ongoing service for kids to take advantage of. In a sense the program will never end if a kid does not want his principles and peace training to stop. We hope to also somehow tie it in to some of the social networking sites. Win The War! Against Violence is also developing a video and webinar of the presentation.
Mentoring and Teams
We also plan to have individuals "Graduate" so they can move into groups and teams at our web site. Teams proven and successful reinforcement strategies but we believe that we must first ensure the teaching and training to individuals has advanced before they become part of "A Moral Kid" Teams, We are considering a possible "Graduation Test" for individuals so they can join the teams. We also plan to use our training presenters to work one on one with certain youths when they are no giving the 40 minute presentation. This mentoring service by Win The War! Against Violence could be for those most difficult cases or the most urgent ones.
Where it Fits in Schools
Our A Moral Kid" program can fit into most school anti-bullying program. It may also fit along-side other public service program that deal with drugs or other types of abuses. The same for other private youth groups. Violence Prevention and Reduction education we belief should be able to fit within with current curriculum and standards. Our program might even enhance current stand since violence is a major distraction and diversion to education through the country.
Measuring Impact
Our "A Moral Kid" Program is a support program for our main campaign which is Peace Competition and Award called Win The War! Kentucky. Attached is a portion of the Kentucky School Violations and Disciplinary Consequences by students in Kentucky Public Schools for the last three years, 2007 to 2010. This is only a portion because it a very large file. The numbers on this report is how we will judge our impact. This report is not perfect but is a good compass of disciplinary problem in schools. Violence is, of course, a disciplinary problem. The statistics currently separate Board Violations and Law violations. Violence is mostly being covered in the Law Violation sections but we now try to glean just the violence statistics from all the categories. We are in contact with a few State Education Departments on this question. The school statistics are also moving toward the FBI's UCR statistics to make them compatible with all the other state crime reporting numbers. These statistics are already on our web site so not only our organization, but all kids in Kentucky can see them too. The report is by individual school district. The districts that reduce the violence incident percentage the most in 2012 will receive an award from our organization and possibly other donated benefits. We will also work with twin schools. Two schools which are similar to each other. One which we do our program with and the other we will not. Although there may be other factors we will be able to measure impact with this method as well. While of course, we would never assume to take full credit for any reduction in violence in any district because of the many other great projects also working on violence prevention, we would certainly use these statistics to judge our programs impact on the kids in areas where we are engaged.
For the program to be most successful it must be interactive (preferably live) and continual. It also must be regularly updated by input from youths, adults and educators.
Costs and Fees
We are keenly aware that schools and youth facilities may not have any fund for a program like this when they are just trying to retain teachers and purchase the basics. That is why we will seek sponsors who will fully fund this outreach program. The will be no cost or fee to the recipients of the presentation or the facility it is held in. It may require different sponsors for different districts. We also will be applying for grants to cover the costs as well. There will be costs since kids are technologically very savvy and we want to match that and also because we hope to train as many qualified presenters as possible to reach as many kids in Kentucky as possible. This developmental phase is what we are in now. Win The War! Against Violence does not charge for any meetings, consultations or solicitations. Trail presentations are free of charge as well.
Although we offer "A Moral Kid" free to all it is our hope that those who use the program will be interactive with our organization by providing us continual input and feedback to help maximize the positive inpact of the program.
Security
First and foremost the presentation will be done in a peaceful, safe and respectful manner for all who are present. If by chance there is a rare situation where they may be a potential danger to the peace, the program will immediately stop so the problem can be addressed. If necessary, the presentation would be canceled to ensure the safety of all people attending. Violence prevention before, during and after the program is one of the fundamental keys to the success of the event. Win The War! Against Violence will carry a suitable insurance liability policy to present such an event. The presenter will be trained and certified and routinely monitored by Win The War! Against Violence to ensure he or she is fully qualified to give the presentation and handle any unusual circumstances. Waragainstviolence.org will constantly be training new presenters to reach as many people as possible wherever they are in the U.S. The presenter will also act as an informal peace officer. The training of all our personnel is continuous.
Handouts
A paper handout with an outline of the presentation will be given out to each individual before the presentation. There will also be certain points highlighted on the handout along with information on the continuing education of the "A Moral Kid" Program. A button/pin with or bracelet our program slogan "I AMM" "I am moral " or our core phrase "I am an Identity Station" or "Peace - It's a Voluntary Thing" may also be given out to participants at the end of the presentation if agreed upon in advance. We can provide permission slips for kids who want to attend which can be sent to the guardians of the children along with an outline of the presentation if so desired. A script of the entire program can also be submitted to school officials.
Oversight
Win The War! Against Violence has set up a committee to oversee the entire program. The members of the committee will not include the Directors or Board Members of the organization. Members of the community where the program is being used would be invited to be on the committee.
Timetable
It is our hope to start our first presentation with youth groups in Lexington, Kentucky in January 2012. It is also hoped to reach most of the larger cities in Kentucky by the end of 2012. It depending on the results of our impact and the ability to adequately train new presenters who would be fully qualified to conduct the event.
© 2011 War Against Violence Corporation
