Celebrating World Citizenship in Your Classroom

Resources

Rebecca Janke

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It's a grand moment when a child can name all the continents on the World Map. S/he has accomplished a great work and many Montessori students have been known to proudly display their hand-made map on their bedroom wall, the family refrigerator door or other "hall of fame" place. As a former directress of a preschool and elementary program, my staff and I decided to take this work a bit further with a World Citizenship Ceremony. On the day the child was ready to take their completed map home, s/he was vested as a World Citizen with their very own World Citizen Vest. (One of our mothers, who loved to sew, made forty blue felt vests each year in two different sizes, twenty small and twenty large. Another two moms cut out enough continents in the corresponding colors of the World Map and glued them on in the pattern, as you see in the photos. Blue was chosen for the body of the vest to represent the oceans.)

The World Citizen Vest, kept by the child, served as a reminder that peacemakers care about people, animals and plants all over the world and that now they have a part in caring for the world as well. Many of the children chose to wear their vests to events in the community, the store and other places of business when going on errands with their family, extended family visits, and back at school at various times throughout the year.

Because of the vesting ceremony, we were able to introduce other global education activities to the child that put him/her in an active role, providing deeper meaning and purpose for further study.

To extend this concept we brought typical speakers to the classroom, such as the dentist, nature park reservist, firefighter, etc., and we introduced them as peacemakers - a person who gets up every day to go to work and makes the world a better place. We asked them to share their story as to how they came to their work, show some of the tools they use, and how their work helps other people. Because of this emphasis the children were able to go anywhere in the community and see peacemakers busily at work. This, we felt, was important since both ours and the children's media diet can lead us to believe we are surrounded by nothing but violence. As Thich Nhat Hanh, who was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Dr. Martin Luther King says, "Peace is all around us. That's not in question. What is in question is our ability to see it." Not only did the children begin to see their local community alive with peacemakers but they were excited to wear their World Citizen Vest in public and claim they were peacemakers as well.

Goals

• To see oneself as a member of the world community
• To see oneself as a caring, active participant within the world community
• To develop intrinsic motivation for learning about other people and places
• To welcome and celebrate the child to the world community
• To notice and recognize the peacemaking efforts of those around us

Materials

• World Map
• World Citizen Vest
• Candle or Battery Operated Candle
• Large Red Felt Heart
• National Geographic Magazine (or other world magazine or book)
• Bowl of Water with Flower
• Sandpaper Globe
• Bell
• Talking Piece
• Teaching Peace Cassette or CD/Tape Recorder or CD Player

Presentation

• "Today we are honoring (name of child) as a World Citizen." (Invite the child to come forward and stand next to the big red felt heart on the floor. Invite children, one at a time, to place the following on the red heart - a bell, talking piece, bowl of water with a flower floating on top, the sandpaper globe, World Map, the World Citizen Vest, and candle.) After they are seated light the candle.
• "Name of Child has learned all the names of the continents of the world and finished her World Map. She is now ready to be vested as a World Citizen." Invite another child to ring the bell four times, one in each direction of north, south, east and west and with each ring say along with all the children, "We ring the bell to the north. We ring the bell to the east. We ring the bell to the south. We ring the bell to the west. We welcome you as a World Citizen."
• Ask the honored child to give a peace wish for the world. (i.e., I wish that everyone had a home. I wish everyone had enough food to eat, etc.) Then she passes the talking piece to the person sitting next to the teacher and the talking piece moves counterclockwise around the circle as each child says their peace wish for the world. (Record what they say.)
• "Thank you for all your peace wishes for the world. We will now vest child's name as a World Citizen. She knows all the names of the continents where other people, animals and plants live who also wish for a more peaceful world." (Put the World Citizen Vest on child.) "Congratulations on your great work. May your life be one of caring, sharing, respect and dignity to everyone under the sun."
• Once the child is vested, invite her to walk around the circle with the sandpaper globe. She stops at the first child on the teacher's right and says, "Peace to you." The other child says back, "Peace to you." The honored child continues around the circle and says "Peace to you" to each child, who says it back to her.
• "We now wish to present you with your own copy of National Geographic (or other magazine or book) for you are ready to learn about the many interesting people, plants, animals and places in our world.
• Close by singing "Teaching Peace" by Red Grammer from the Teaching Peace Cassette. Invite a child to extinguish the candle and say good-bye for the day.

Language Development

• World Citizen
• World Citizen Vest
• Peace to you
• North, South, East, West
• Honoring
• Counterclockwise
• Peace Wish
• Respect
• Dignity
• National Geographic
• Teaching peace
• Bowl/Water/Flower
• Talking piece
• Bell
• Candle
• Heart
• Continents
• World Map
• Sandpaper Globe
• People
• Plants
• Animals
• Empowering Children
• Helping to prepare a ceremony
• Being honored and recognized in the presence of others
• Voicing a peace wish for the world and have it recorded by teacher
• Receiving a new tool (National Geographic) for further learning
• Owning and wearing a World Citizen Vest

Points of Interest:

• Gathering together for a ceremony
• Putting ceremonial artifacts on felt heart
• Seeing one of your peers being honored and recognized
• Hearing everyone's peace wish
• Watching your peer greet others with "Peace to you" and having an opportunity to say it as well
• Being recognized and honored for your great work
• Singing a Red Grammer song

Extensions, Variations

• Post the children's peace wishes in the classroom. Review them for your lesson planning. Wherever possible infuse the topics mentioned in the peace wishes into various activities throughout the curriculum area. The day that you present one of these lessons, say thank you to the person who initiated the idea. "Today we have some new material in the practical life area that addresses Jason's peace wish for the world."
• Invite traditional speakers to the classroom but introduce them as peacemakers who get up every day and make the world a better place because of the work they do. For example, peace is a non-toothache. Therefore, the dentist is a peacemaker because he or she can take the pain away by fixing our teeth or helping us to have a beautiful smile. Peace is also giving someone a beautiful smile. What would the world be like if there were no one to check out our groceries? The checkout person becomes a peacemaker. What would the world be like if there were no fire fighters? The list continues. Presenting people this way in your community helps the children to see a world in which they are surrounded by peace. Violence is an interruption to peace instead of peace being an occasional happening in a sea of violence. This provides children with a solid foundation that peace is possible as well as a sense of hope and belief that they too can make a contribution.

Resources

Available at www.humanrightsandpeacestore.org

• Teaching Peace Cassette or CD
• The Peace Book
• Peace Begins With You
• The Whole Kid Peace Activity Book
• Learning the Skills of Peacemaking
• Peacemaker's A,B,C's for Young Children
• World Peace: The Children's Wish CD

Rebecca Janke is the co-founder and Executive Director of Growing Communities for Peace, a non-profit organization providing peace education consulting and resources to schools, parents and community leaders. She can be reached at 651-214-8282 or pe...@umn.edu