Sample overview of Journeyman and Master class content for different lenses

I thought I would throw this out for anyone who wanted an idea of what it could look like.  We insert classics (people, books, poems, videos, etc.) wherever they fit.

Reminder of Goals of levels:

Core:

Questions: Why do I want to learn about this? How does this relate to me? Why do I care? What does a principle look like/feel like?  Showing evidence for the principle

-Create a love and interest of the lens of focus for that week (while reinforcing the principle)

Purposes: Inspire, Serve

Journeyman:

Questions – How can I learn to think and organize my thoughts? How do I find principles? How do I find evidence for these principles? How do I communicate those effectively?

Purposes:

Freedom to research knowledge of interest

Tools for learning in a particular lens and finding principles in what is learned and for communicating that truth

Master:

Questions – Where do I go for the best education? How do I serve others with my education? How do I present principles and their evidence in a beautiful way? Cultural Literacy (Breath), Classics (Depth)

Purposes: “Become” a classic by studying classics (not necessarily books), finding principles and evidence for them and applying those principles.

Communicating those principles in an effective and beautiful way.

 (There are specifics in the outline below, based upon books or particulars that we have chosen to focus on this year, like being able to be civil and identify fallacies as leaders.  However, you should be able to get the gist of it.)

Leadership Academy Lens

Journeyman

1) 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens discussion

2) Simulation to reinforce concept of month and leadership abilities

3) Leadership Biography to reinforce concept of month

Master

1) Whatever Happened to Justice?

2) Application of what we have learned in this lens this week to real world

3) Civility discussion

4) Fallacies discussion

Geo-Conquest Lens

Journeyman

1) Focus on a continent (i.e. Feb-Africa and Australia):presentations

2) Map and timeline of relevant time and location

3) Focus on monthly theme/principle: biography, group of people, historical event, etc

Master

1) Geo-conquest game (the youth come with questions they have made themselves from the material that has been presented in this lens this week in the classes, divide into two teams, and they see who can answer the most correctly)

2) Services in area/Application project for monthly theme

3) How many countries can you name on the map? (optional :)...)

Eureka Lens

Journeyman

1) Dr. Posin’s Giants

2) Math game

3) Experiment based on principles

Master

1) The Math Book--brief sharing moment where the youth share one thing that happened during that time frame

2) Deeper experiments about the principle--more youth led

3) Math classic project/discussion about the principle

Imaginative Arts Lens

Journeyman

1) Artist focus--learn about the history of art (1-1 1/2 hours)

    a) picture study 60 seconds--study, think about it, notice, etc.

    b) principle to practice (i.e. use of lines, shading)

2) Spiritual Lives of Great Composers: focus on Composer or music from time period (15 minutes)

3) Art project about the principle (and inspired from the artist)

4)  Lit/Poetry project/book about the principle

Master

1) Bringing their own art about the principle and showcasing what they did

2) Specialty classes(projects and art)

3) Literature--short story, poetry, language

4) Wanting to bring together all that was discussed during the month about the monthly theme/principle

Planning a new year

The following is simply a suggestion.  How you arrive at the final decision should be understood up front or specified within your bylaws.

1. Principles of 7 months:
Similar to the mentality of inspirements, we should start with principles that we want to teach.  I would sit down with those, youth and mentors, who feel that they really understand the seven monthly principles, and brainstorm how you want to focus on each month.  Someone may have a classic that they feel is very meaningful in a certain area and you many center your monthly theme on that aspect.  For example, someone may feel that "Little Britches" is important for them (or their youth, if they are an adult) to read that year.  "Little Britches" has a strong work and property theme, about the freedom, strength of character, and life lessons that can be learned through hard work and sacrifice.  Therefore, the "work" month could focus on that aspect of the principle.

I have typically sat down with a group of mentors, brainstormed meaningful books or classics that we want our youth to read, separate those classics into the seven themes (several times, books may discuss more than one theme), and then selected the books within the themes/principles that we wanted to focus on.
-you can now bring in poems and scriptures that fit this theme, to help round it out, although you don't need to have these in place before you move on

2. Look at the scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 88 about what we study:

 77 And I give unto you a commandment that you shall ^ateach one another the ^bdoctrine of the kingdom.

 78 Teach ye diligently and my ^agrace shall attend you, that you may be ^binstructed more perfectly in theory, in principle, in doctrine, in the law of the gospel, in all things that pertain unto the kingdom of God, that are expedient for you to understand;

 79 Of things both in ^aheaven and in the earth, and under the earth; things which have been, things which are, things which must ^bshortly come to pass; things which are at home, things which are abroad; the wars and the perplexities of the ^cnations, and the judgments which are on the land; and a ^dknowledge also of countries and of kingdoms—

 80 That ye may be prepared in all things when I shall send you again to ^amagnify the calling whereunto I have called you, and the ^bmission with which I have commissioned you.

Evaluate how you are going to use the lenses of art, science, and geo-conquest to bring out these points. 

Class games and techniques from the previous year should be evaluated for effectiveness and new ideas should be encouraged.  At this point, if you have lens mentors who have sound understanding of their stewardship, I would let them organize the decision making process per your group's method as outlined in your bylaws, whether by appointed committee, volunteer temporary committee, or junior mentor/lens mentor corroboration.   Then they can bring their ideas and suggestions (complete with classics, games/activities, projects) to the group or principal mentor for finalization...again, per bylaw method.

3.Come together to determine what will be studied which month. I find it easier to start with the scientific or art lens. If the person who is mentoring one of those lenses has people they would like to study, they can see if or how they fit in with the selected monthly leadership themes.  For instance, one year when we had a group of scientists that the mentor wanted to study, one of the people was Edison, famous for his work ethic.  We placed him in the month of "Work" even if he had nothing to do with the geographical theme of "Asia" that we had for that month.  Each Vanguard group can determine how effectively they want to use the lenses to coincide with the principles. The more the mentor understands the seven principles, the easier it is to make connections, and the less a student may feel like they are being fed a stream of non-related information.  Leaders make connections and bridge gaps between apparently different fields to bring things together. :)

Again, the more liberty and stewardship the mentor feels over their area, the better they are able to communicate their own passion to those they are mentoring.

4. Geography/history.  You can use this lens to help the youth focus on an area, its history and culture and understand the context of the literature, scientist, leaders, or art that they are studying in the other class(es).

Subjects may not seem to always "perfectly" complement each other, particularly in the continent of study for that month (i.e. you read a book based in Africa and study a scientist from Norway in the same month and choose to study Africa as your continent of focus). It can also be challenging to bring in leaders from the particular time period the group may be focusing on for the year, if a group chooses to organize their group in a particular time period.  However, you should keep in mind that all the material for the month should be considered lenses or angles through which the youth can study a particular truth.  The priority in choosing the continent of study should be to see, first, what the principle is, and then from there decide which continent (See post on geography and lenses.)

5. Time period.  If a group chooses to follow the pattern of time periods of other groups (like "ancient history", "medieval history," "early modern history," "later modern history"), then it is easier to facilitate multi-group events that bring out this theme (like the medieval feast two groups had last year.)  However, the needs of the particular group should take precedence.  Time periods are definitely low on the totem pole of priorities in how to structure a year.  We simply adopted this tool to help us narrow down the spectrum of focus years ago, but I have since seen how it helps to also provide more context and connections.

The brainstorming/planning for the year is best done in an open-environment, including youth and mentors that feel vested in and aware of the basic principles of Vanguard.  Synergy creates miracles, especially when including the youth mentors.  Ask them: what their needs are; how they would like to help or share their mission; how they would like to learn more about geography, science, and art; concerns, questions, and suggestions.  Specific classes and needs of youth that might not work for the whole group could be used in journeyman or master-level classes.

 With the spirit in your midst, you will be amazed at the higher truths and potential you can achieve!

Book selection guidelines and suggestions

"When you gather data, you become informed.  When you read, you develop wisdom." Bauer, Well-trained Mind p. 24

Amen. I will reserve the championing of the why of classics in education for other posts.  Classics--books, art, poetry, the lives of people--are truly the crux of a leadership education.  They are ideas and examples that bring you face to face with greatness and can be read again and again and again.  They motivate and inspire you to do more. (If you still need to be sold on the value of classics at this point, you should probably go back and read all the books on the "Methods Behind the Madness" list :).)  While there are many list of "classics" (like ones I have linked to below), one should not be limited to officially designated classics in a prayerful reflection of which books to select for a year.

What may be a classic to one group, may not be the same for another.  I expect the list of books a group uses to delve into understanding and ultimate intelligence to be as varied and unique as the individual scholars in their group :).  As with all things in Vanguard, I would follow the same path Karen outlined for creating inspirements which I also used in my suggested post on "Planning the new year." However, here are some of those same initial ideas to consider specifically before selecting your books for the year.  (Thanks, Marni, for your contribution!)

1. Pray.

2. Have the mentor in charge of that lens call for a temporary committee of all interested persons to brainstorm and select books. (It is great to include youth mentors in this; however, their input can be more powerful and personalized at the "master class" level.  The principal mentor should definitely be involved, but it is very meaningful for the person in charge of that lens to feel personal ownership and stewardship over the books they will be focusing on.) How the ultimate decision is made can vary from group to group, but should be done by people who understand the monthly principles.  We have done it by verbal discussion and consent in the past of a temporary committee.

3. Use Classics.  It must be a classic to the mentor/youth mentors. (See above definition of a classic.)

4.  Principle based - While most great books will bring in multiple monthly themes, the priority should be choosing a book that helps round out the principle discussion for the month.  What is a strong message of the book?  Does it inspire reflection and action as it lends clarity to the principle?  I wonder if a book is selected prayerfully and teaches a principle beautifully, if we even need to consider whether it is a classic or not :)?

5.  Historical placement/significance.  Each year in Vanguard the group may choose to focus on a time period.  While it is nice to have an added picture of the time period through literature, this should not be a focus point for selecting the classics.  For instance, "Uncle Tom's Cabin" is definitely one of the greats and definitely principle based, but it also gives a great picture of the time period, was written in the time period, and was definitely historically significant in that it helped to bring about change.  However, there are also many great books that are not placed in a time setting-wise or aren't historically significant, but they do have a great message and would fit with the principles well.

6.  Difficulty - Since this is considered a scholar group we should definitely be keeping in mind the age level and ability of the youth. If a book is simple (like "Charlie's Monument" that you mentioned) they should be meaningful enough that the older youth won't be bored.  At the same time, the reading level and subject matter should be within reason for the younger youth.  Don't be afraid to stretch them, but a stretch every month may mean less youth reading.

 

I hesitate to even put a "list," just because I am aware of the huge limitations such a "list" creates mentally.  However, by seeing the books below and how they are "categorized," perhaps it will help you in your own understanding of how books can be used in different monthly principles.

There is also a link here from the Vanguard resource blog for other lists of books that you can access that people have found helpful.

The Vanguard Youth Book Pool
I have not read all the books on the list...they are suggestions.  
Preview and use at your own discretion.  You may use any book you would like outside of this list as well, just find which genre it would fit under.  Please let us know of other good classics you use so we can update this list for others to use. 

Meaningful Life/Real Happiness

The Little Lame Prince 
Charlie's Monument, by Yorgason
Caddie Woodlawn

Endless Steppe

Pollyanna

Dragon’s Gate

Great Expectations
The Tale of Two Cities
Door in the Wall
The Voyage of Patience Goodspeed
Carry on, Mr. Bowditch
I am David (better for month of "Role of the Creator" perhaps)
Education of a Wandering Man
The Last Lecture, by Pausch
The Christmas Box?
Hamlet
Rayna M. Gangi's Mary Jemison: White Woman of the Seneca? 
To Kill a Mockingbird
Cyrano de Bergerac

Liberty

Watson’s Go to Birmingham

Number the Stars

Endless Steppe

When My Name was Keoko

Across Five Aprils

Up From Slavery

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Lonesome Gods

Legend of Bass Reeves

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
Witch of Blackbird Pond (1692--Salem Witch Trials)
Seven Miracles that Saved America
Seven Tipping Points that Saved the World
The Alliance, by Gerald Lund (but much better for "proper role of government") 
The Kidnapped Prince, by Equiano
Les Miserables 
Sarah's Key

Property/Work

Little Prince

Swiss Family Robinson

Dragon’s Gate

Up From Slavery

Strawberry Girl

Do Hard Things

Sign of the Beaver

40 Acres and a Mule
Laddie 
A Long Walk to Water, by Park? (better for Citizenship, but could easily fit here) 
Carry on, Mr. Bowditch
Discovering Isaac, by Behunin 
Charlie's Monument,
Wheel on the School
The Single Shard, by Park

Kon Tiki (great book for exploration or antiquity)
Poor Richard's Almanac by Franklin 
These is my Words (1800's)
Oliver Twist (1800's)

Role of the Creator/Natural Law

Bronze Bow

In My Father’s House

Standing for Something

A Heart Like His

The Dream Giver

St. Joan—by Twain

Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe

Prince Caspian
Pollyanna

Swiss Family Robinson

The Chosen
Fire and the Covenant
Seven Miracles
Seven Tipping Points 
St. Joan, by Twain (best fit here, hard to read, but amazing!)
Discovering Isaac, by Behunin
The Lost Prince, by Burnett
The Alchemist, by Coehlo
The Real George Washington or Thomas Jefferson
The Screwtape Letters, by Lewis
Mere Christianity, by Lewis
The Last Battle, by Lewis 
"All's well that End's well" as a somewhat broken example, Shakespeare
The Jungle Book (1899) 
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Scarlet Letter (Hawthorne)
The Witch from Blackbird Pond (Salem Witch Trials, 1692)
Poor Richard's Almanac (laws...)

Service-Oriented Leadership

Little Lord Fauntleroy

Little Lame Prince

Little Princess

Goose Girl

Elantris

River Secrets

Otto and the Silver Hand 
The Seer and the Sword (Also great for citizenship month)-fantasy novel with contrasting examples of leadership as well as people who make sacrifices to do the right thing; clean book, enjoyable to read...great for an end of the year selection :).
Watership Down, by Adams

The Lost Prince, by Burnett
Princess Academy, by Hale
The Seer and the Stone
The Real George Washington
The Real Thomas Jefferson
The Lord of the Rings series by Tolkein
Walking Drum (12/13th cent) by L'amour
Louis Braille: The Boy who invented the Books for the Blind
Up from Slavery (this one and the one above would go together well...)
The White Stag (situated ancient history/medieval times...could work for "expansion" theme)  
To Kill a Mockingbird
"A Tale of Two Cities" by Dickens (situation: French Revolution of 1789)
Cyrano de Bergerac

Society

Dream Giver

The Chosen

The Hunger Games
Seven Miracles
Seven Tipping Points 
The Witch of Blackbird Pond 
The Alliance, by Gerald Lund (excellent and clean!)
St. Joan by Twain 
The Hobbit, by Tolkien
Antigone*
Les Miserables*
*these are a remarkable combination (see post on "Outline of Monthly Principles")
"The Giver" by Lowry
"A Tale of Two Cities" by Dickens (situation: French Revolution of 1789)
Watership Down, by Adams 

The Real Thomas Jefferson
A Long Walk to Water, by Park
Mysterious Benedict Society, by Stewart
The Wizard of Oz
Hamlet
The Jungle Book (1899) 
A Wrinkle in Time
The Law, by Bastiat 
To Kill a Mockingbird
Gulliver's Travels (1726) (Check out Wikipedia's outline of "themes": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulliver%27s_Travels) 
The Little Prince by de Saint-Exupéry 
Sarah's Key
These is my Words (1800's)
"The Virginian" 1800's 
The Little Princess, by Burnett

Citizenship

Do Hard Things

Hamlet

Tale of Despereaux

Hero and the Crown

Jane Eyre

Goose Girl
Fire and the Covenant
The Horse and His Boy
The Silver Chair
Ivanhoe
The Alliance, by Gerald Lund (but much better for "proper role of government")
A Long Walk to Water, by Park ? (Clean, short, powerful--perfect for Africa...about the Lost Boys of Sudan)
The Seer and the Sword (Also great for service-oriented leadership)-fantasy novel with contrasting examples of leadership, as well as people who make sacrifices to do the right thing; clean book, enjoyable to read...great for a last month selection :).) 
A Tale of Two Cities, by Dickens
Watership Down, by Adams
Princess Academy, by Hale
The Wizard of Oz
Goose Girl, by Hale
The Lonesome Gods, by L'Amour
Wheel on the School
The Seer and the Stone, by Hanley
The Real George Washington or Thomas Jefferson
Mysterious Benedict Society, by Stewart
A Long Walk to Water
Stargirl, by Spinelli
The Hobbit, by Tolkein
Walking Drum (12/13th Cent) by L'amour
The Last Battle, by Lewis
Prince Caspian, by Lewis
Hamlet
Rayna M. Gangi's Mary Jemison: White Woman of the Seneca
"A Tale of Two Cities" by Dickens (situation: French Revolution of 1789)
Cyrano de Bergerac 
The Little Prince by de Saint-Exupéry 
Sarah's Key (WWII)
These is my Words (1800's)
 

Summer—get excited about learning!

Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles:
Comment from a youth about this book: I think it helps you want to use your imagination.
It talks about learning from you mistakes, and not giving in to bad feelings like fear, pride, and greed.
It also talks about age, and how it doesn't matter, but there's something you can give and someone you can help no matter how old you are.

Laddie

Do Hard Things

TJEd for Teens
Education of a Wandering Man
Mysterious Benedict Society, by Stewart

Books that can go over the course of the year:
-Mythology: use different myths for the different themes they fit in

-TJEd for Teens
-7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens

2011-2012

Summer – Year with Miss Agnes, Mysterious Benedict Society

Meaningful Life – Charlie’s Monument, The Secret Garden

Liberty – Homeless Bird; Year of Impossible Goodbyes

God – I Am David, The Hiding Place

Leadership – The Tempest, Lord of the Rings

Property/Work – Single Shard, Remembering Isaac

Proper Role of Govt – Wizard of Oz, Animal Farm

Citizenship – Fish by L.S. Matthews, Lonesome Gods

2010-2011

Summer - Phantom Tollbooth

Life and Pursuit of Happiness - Carry On, Mr. Bowditch

Liberty - Equiano: The Kidnapped Prince

Property - Miracles on Maple Hill

God - The Alchemist

Leadership - The Lost Prince

Society - Angel on the Square

Citizenship - The Princess Academy

2009 - 2010

Summer – Chasing Vermeer

Life and Pursuit of Happiness - Door in the Wall

Liberty - The Red Scarf Girl

Property - Little Britches

Pursuit of Happiness - Seven Wonders of Sassafrass Springs

God - Boy in the Striped Pajamas

Leadership - The Whipping Boy

Society - The Giver

Citizenship - City of Ember

Monthly continent/Yearly time period approach

I have found that it is wonderful to make everything as much as possible fit within the monthly continent theme (and ditto for using a time period for the whole year).  It provides additional potential for connection of concepts and ideas, not to mention it gives a cultural, historical, political, and geographical background for the artists, scientists, leaders, and book studied.

We found that separating the continents as follows helped ease the discussion of different continents with different numbers of countries and cultures within its borders (order is irrelevant in itself...we always tried to make the continent work as much as possible with the people we were studying or the book we were reading, or both, on those magical months :)...):
North America
Eastern Europe
Western Europe
Eastern Asia and Oceania
Western Asia
South America
Africa
(every few years, we include something about Antarctica with Oceania)

For instance, one month we studied the concept of "Freedom," with the focus on Western Asia.  We did an art project with glittering tiles, studied math from the viewpoint of "The Alexandrians," read about Muhammad and Buddha, and read "The Homeless Bird" and "Year of Impossible Goodbyes."  It was wonderful to see overlap and connections made between the different subjects and increased relevance of projects in that context!

For the time periods, we have, in the past, just used the break down of Susan Wise Bauer in her series "Story of the World": Ancient, Medieval, Early Modern Times, and Modern Times.  However, each group should apply and use this element as they feel it helps their group, not hinders them.

These two tools, using the continents and focusing on a time period for the year, allows the students to see the development of thought and style in art, science, and history in various places of the world and time periods, and, again, gives context and more connections.  However, they should be secondary to the importance of the monthly principles and different lenses.  For instance, if the book and the scientist are from two different continents, the mentors should decide whether the scientist or the book would be better understood by looking at the geography and history of a particular continent.

Also, as geography is in itself a lens, you could choose a continent solely on how different peoples within it or historically how it has fit within the theme.  For example, on the month where you are considering the impact of religion in society, you might want to study a sampling of different religions for your geographical/historical focus.  A fabulous continent to study with that would be Asia, with its diversity of religions.