From Kids to Laureates: It's About Engagement Resources

Rebecca Janke

"Whether children build a world of peace or a world of hatred is as much a result of the choices we as adults make, as well as the choices they make. Children will build a world using the tools and materials we provide them with, so let us choose to teach them the ways of peace."
- Dr. Wangari Maath - Founder of the Greenbelt Movement

Early Exposure to Animal and Plant Care Reduces Violence

Research shows that the first signs of violent, aggressive behavior in juveniles and adults starts with the abuse of animals in early childhood and the early elementary years. Research also indicates that if an adult is abusing animals, that adult may also be abusing children and/or a spouse. The link is so strong that veterinarians and other animal workers are urged to call social services when they are working with animal abuse cases.

Incorporating animal and plant care in the curriculum may prevent violence.

When children work with plants and animals they experience the need to be needed and have an opportunity to give their love and attention to someone or something outside of themselves. This lays the foundation and builds children's natural abilities for empathy and compassion.

Resources

American Humane Assn. sponsors a "Be Kind to Animals Kid Contest" for Be Kind to Animals Week. Winner receives a $5,000 college scholarship and a year's worth of free products from contest sponsors. Three additional national finalists receive $1,000 plus a variety of valuable prizes.
www.americanhumane.org

The Latham Foundation provides teaching resources including Child Abuse, Domestic Violence, and Animal Abuse: Linking the Circles of Compassion for Prevention and Intervention and Teaching Compassion: A Guide for Humane Educators, Teachers, and Parents.
www.latham.org

All for Animals: Tips and Inspiration for Living a More Compassionate Life by Karen Lee Stevens, Fithian Press, 2001

Canines in the Classroom: Raising Human Children through Interactions with Animals by Michelle A. Rivera, Lantern Books, 2004

So You Love Animals: An Action-Packed, Fun-Filled Book to Help Kids Help Animals by Zoe Weil, Animal Learn, 1994

Greening School Grounds: Creating Habitats for Learning, edited by Tim Grant and Gail Littlejohn, New Society Publishers, 2001

Healthy Foods from Healthy Soils: Hands-On Resource for Educators by Elizabeth Patten and Kathy Lyons, Tilbury House, 2003

The Green Belt Movement: Sharing the Approach and the Experience by Wangari Maathai, Lantern Books, 2004

A Sense of 'Belonging' Bounces to First Place in Quest for a More Peaceful World

What is the number one thing that works in violence prevention and creates a deep feeling of peace? It's a sense of belonging.

Researchers were stumped when it came to figuring out why some children who have experienced trauma or horrific events can grow up to become strong, resilient adults while other children are "crippled" in one way or another by the same event. On further investigation they found that the resilient children had at least one adult in their life that adored them-they belonged.

Classroom discipline that centers on "belonging" strategies rather than ostracizing, banishment and punishing models creates a deep sense of community where children learn how to implement restorative justice. With restorative justice practices students learn how to hold each other accountable, support each other in the journey to repair the harm and solve problems at their root level.

Resources

The Compassionate Classroom: Relationship Based Teaching and Learning by Sura Hart and Victoria Kindle Hodson, Puddle Dancer Press, 2004

Go With Peace by Kelly Guinan, Kind Regards, 2005

Because We Can Change the World: A Practical Guide to Building Cooperative, Inclusive Classroom Communities by Mara Sapon-Shevin, Allyn and Bacon, 1999

Just In Time: Powerful Strategies to Promote Positive Behavior by Allen N Mendler, National Educational Service, 2005

The Compassionate Classroom: Lessons that Nurture Wisdom and Empathy by Jane Dalton and Lyn Fairchild, Zephyr Press, 2004

Everyday Careers Provide Foundation for a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence

We define peacemakers as those individuals who make our world a better place to live, work and play. The dentist becomes a peacemaker because he or she went to school to learn how to help us have, as Thich Nhat Hahn would say, "a non-toothache." The grocery store clerk becomes a peacemaker because he or she helps us check out our food. The firefighters are peacemakers because they work at keeping us safe. And the list goes on. Peacemakers are not only social activists.

When bringing guest speakers to the classroom introduce them as Peacemaker _______.

Ask your speaker to share how he or she developed skills to make the world a better place. In doing so you will help your students to feel and see peace wherever they go, and help them begin to think about career choices. Help your students to SEE peace.

Resources

Peace Begins with You by Katherine Scholes, Little Brown and Company, 1989 (Classic Text)

Educating the Heart: Standards-Based Activities to Foster Character, Community, and Self-Reflection by Alison Hagee, Zephyr Press, 2003

Kids Taking Action: Community Service Learning Projects, K-8 by Pamela Roberts, Northeast Foundation for Children, 2002.

The New Teacher Book: Finding Purpose, Balance, and Hope During Your First Years in the Classroom by Rethinking Schools, 2004

Mindfulness and Meaningful Work: Explorations in Right Livelihood, edited by Claude Whitmyer, Parallax Press, 1994

Nobel Laureates Hold our Collective Feet to the Fire

The Fifth World Summit of Nobel Peace laureates met last November in Rome. The brainchild of Mikhail Gorbachev, this gathering has been held annually since 1999. Much of their time together was spent discussing the intransigent problems that afflict our 21st century society - global terrorism, poverty, weapons of mass destruction and environmental devastation. Their intent is to propose new guidelines to the world for international policies that are more in line with the times based on the concept that national interest must be completely reexamined within the framework of an increasingly complex and interconnected world.

Even though the laureates have no formal institutional means to work with global governing bodies and no executive arm to carry out even the most well-intentioned ideas, policies and programs, they may have something much more important at their disposal: moral weight. Few individuals on the planet carry greater moral authority than those who have been honored with the Nobel Peace Prize.

Morals and ethics were front and center during their week together. As Paul Berman, cultural critic, recently said, "The terrorist speak insanely of deep things. The anti-terrorists had better speak sanely of equally deep things." There is a sense that these celebrated activists may have a unique capacity to mobilize themselves in service to a larger calling to "speak sanely of deep things" and actually be heard.

These summits usually end with a collective statement prepared by the laureates, but this time, Gorbachev and others pushed for more. Plans are being developed to take on an action orientation.

"When Nobel Peace laureates say 'we' they mean the entire human community," Jonathan Granoff of the International Peace Bureau said. "Articulating that framework of human unity is the first step that needs to be taken to address the crises facing our world. Global challenges are now impacting people's personal lives at a local level. An interest expressed on the trading floor of the futures market in Chicago can affect agricultural village life in a town in Chad. In so many ways, in the space of a few days, a business decision by a few people rationally acting solely for themselves can either bless people far away with jobs and services or perhaps curse the environment in which others live day to day."

The Nobel Peace laureates seem to have a real recognition of this interconnectedness and they are energized by that insight. To keep abreast of their work and incorporating it into your curriculum visit www.nobelprize.org or www.nobelforpeace-summit.org.

Rebecca Janke, a former Montessori teacher, is the Executive Director of Growing Communities for Peace, a non-profit organization specializing in peace and human rights education. She can be reached at pe...@umn.edu or 651-214-8282. All resources mentioned in this article are available at www.humanrightsandpeacestore.org.

Sidebar:

Chicken Soup for...Janke

An essay by Public School Montessorian columnist Rebecca Janke is included in a new book in the "Chicken Soup" series.

Janke's "Strengthening the Circle of Life" appears in Chicken Soup for the Soul-Stories for a Better World, published in August.

The essay is drawn from The Compassionate Rebel: Energized by Anger, Motivated by Love which she edited with Burt Berlowe. It describes how one man moves from despair over the death of his son to a life of commitment and compassion.