Experience may sometimes be the best
teacher, but in areas of love and sexuality, experience can
be painful, if not dangerous. The Loving Well Project helps
adolescents learn responsible sexual and social values
through good literature, which reveals the complexity of
life and love relationships. Healthy friendships,romances,
and families require sensitivity and insight into ourselves
and others. The curriculum includes activities that enable
students to learn vicariously from their readings and from
conversations with teachers, parents, and friends. Loving
Well has been funded in part by the Office of Adolescent
Pregnancy Programs, U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services,* and cited in Congress for its innovative and
effective approach to character education.
Literature-based character education
The Art of Loving Well is a 340-page anthology of forty ethnically diverse selections, both time-honored classics and the best of contemporary adolescent literature. Its three sections--"Early Loves and Losses," "Romance," and "Commitment and Marriage"--include short stories, poems, essays, drama, folk tales, and myths. The curriculum challenges academically gifted students, yet some of its most dramatic successes involve chronic low achievers.
•An interdisciplinary approach to teaching about sexuality and healthy relationships
Loving Well was originally designed for eighth or ninth grade, but it has been used effectively with seventh through twelfth graders in a wide variety of home, community, and classroom settings. The curriculum promotes the standard language arts skills of reading, writing, listening, and speaking. At the same time its subject matter encourages coordination with other departments such as science, home economics, physical education, and guidance.
•Teacher support
A variety of creative classroom activities and homework assignments accompanies each selection to accommodate the goals and styles of individual teachers. A twenty minute videotape featuring veteran teachers and students as well as a paperback Teacher Guide contain additional resource materials, biographical notes on the authors included in the anthology, and suggestions from four years of field testing. Teacher training workshops are also available.
•Parent involvement
Many student activities in The Art of Loving Well are designed to generate conversations with parents or other adults. Parents applaud this curriculum because it is not sexually explicit and because it promotes conflict resolution and abstinence. Loving Well suggests that love, respect, trust, and sacrifice are not outdated virtues. Parents as well as teachers can once again be comfortable advocating responsible social behavior, not dogmatically, but with conviction; not oppressively, but with sensitivity; not with anger, but with love.
•Research based and field tested
The Loving Well Project was developed at Boston University and field tested over four years by approximately one hundred teachers and ten thousand students in inner-city, suburban, and rural communities of Maine, Massachusetts, and South Carolina.Independent evaluation confirms it's positive impact on adolescent attitudes and behavior. The Loving Well curriculum and supplementary materials are now being used successfully throughout the United States. They are available through the office of the Loving Well Project at Boston University.
*Adolescent Familv Life Act Grant #APH000819
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