This curriculum came about, as many of the best projects do, almost by accident. As an educator and facilitator working with many groups across many sectors I* found that regardless of the group, some of the most vibrant conversations emerged when I was leading an activity that asked people to talk about their values. Some people had an easy time talking about their values: they could name them right away and talk about what those values meant, who they learnt them from, and what the values called on them to do with their life; for others the notion of naming values opened up a new way of thinking about their motivations, their choices, their actions, and their lives; and for everyone the fact of talking about their values made them feel closer to themselves, and interested in examining how their values show up in their lives. Ultimately, the fact of naming and talking about values opened up space for deeper consideration around why we do the things that we do. 

During the course of a year from the summer of 2024 through the summer of 2025, I found myself facilitating the same values based activities in nearly every setting I was working: a fellowship for educators wanting to develop their justice oriented lens; small town municipal workers participating in a learning group around community engagement; graduate students at a divinity school; teenagers in an online learning community; campers and counselors at a few different summer camps; and a group of facilitators that I regularly work with. The activity in question was the values draft, which has become the signature activity of this curriculum. 

In all of these sessions something else emerged: regardless of one’s fluency in speaking about values, everyone could find many moments where their values were not the driving force of their actions. This observation led me to understand two major challenges when it comes to people living in alignment with their values:

1. As a society, we don’t really talk about values. Who we are, who we want to be, how we aspire to see ourselves in the world - these are essential elements of becoming and being human, and yet the development, cultivation, and exploration of our values is missing from most of our educational and work environments. 

2. When we do name values, we are not practiced in living them. Oftentimes when values are named they live in the abstract and there is very little energy put towards what it takes to make them manifest through our actions. 

The intention of this curriculum is to provide a structure for individuals, groups, and institutions to explore what their values are, and what it could look like to more actively live by them.

* I, in this case refers to Jonah Canner, an educator, facilitator, curriculum designer, and consultant working with schools, summer camps, non profit organizations, individuals, and communities in the areas of restorative justice, identity development, equity, and navigating emotionally charged conversations. You can find out more about me and my other work here, or to learn more about the values curriculum you can reach out here