Rebecca Janke

Good Neighbors in the Classroom and Beyond

A poll, completed Oct. 15, 2006 by the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) at the University of Maryland, underscores the longing of many Americans for a foreign policy that reflects the good-neighbor principles of mutual respect and cooperation.

Seventy-nine percent of the respondents believed that “the United States should think in terms of being a good neighbor with other countries.” The PIPA poll offers new reason to believe that Americans would support a Global Good Neighbor policy—an improved global neighborhood. Couple this with the Millenium Development Goals agreed to by all the world’s countries and leading development institutions, the time is ripe for Montessorians to bring this emphasis to our work in an intentional way through extensions and variations in various curriculum areas.

Geography

The sandpaper globe, colored globe, land forms, maps and flags can all be presented with a Global Good Neighbor emphasis. For example one can say, “We, as peacemakers, care about our neighbors all over the earth,” when presenting the colored globe. When presenting the rivers of the world to older children, one can say “By keeping the nearest river to us clean and free of toxic chemicals, we act as a good neighbor to the people and animals who live downstream from us since they depend on the river too.”

As the students branch out with continent maps and the corresponding flags of different countries, include stories of people showing mutual respect and cooperation so students can see how people connect to the land and address mutual concerns in their sense of place. When we incorporate the stories of what people are doing to care for each other and the land, geography lessons become a rich resource for learning good neighbor consciousness and good neighbor strategies.

Add the earth flag to your classroom if you don’t already have one. This image is a powerful reminder that we are all in this together.

Sensorial

To be a good neighbor means to learn and appreciate each other’s culture. With the Cultural Ways Feeling Box, children can explore each other’s culture through the sense of touch. Ask parents to send a small object representing their culture along with an explanation of its use and significance. Invite the child, perhaps in cooperation with a parent, to share an object with the large group. After collecting enough items put them into the feeling box.

During individual work time children are invited to use Cultural Ways Feeling Box and guess one of the object without looking at it. After guessing, the child takes it out to see if she is correct. If you happen to be present, ask the child:

• What culture uses this object?
• Who in our class is from that culture?

History

After working with the Needs of Man ask the children if they know of any needs that people have that are not being met. Do all the people in the world have enough food to eat? Does everyone have shelter? Does everyone who needs medicine receive it?

In the art area, have drawing paper available for the children to draw a picture of someone who is hungry, homeless or without medicine. Invite them to post their pictures on a bulletin board.

Invite a representative (a peacemaker) from a local agency, who works with people who are in need of food assistance to explain to the children why some people do not have enough food to eat. Brainstorm of ways the children can provide meaningful assistance to be a good neighbor.

Language Arts

A sixth-grade English/social studies teacher asked students to write about their earliest experiences of friendship or bullying. Through discussion, the class concluded that elementary children often struggle with both–how to maintain and build strong friendships and how to stand up to bullying behaviors.

They identified third grade as a place where they could have an impact and wrote letters to the third-grade students to verify the need. Their project then was to lead interactive lessons that model friendship. Using the book How Humans Make Friends, the middle school students developed skits and scenarios, which they presented to the younger kids, and made posters, which they left in the classrooms. The students visited three classes weekly for three weeks. Feedback from the third-grade teachers between visits made the reflection sessions instructive and improved the project and experience for everyone involved. Ask your sixth grade students about their earliest experiences of friendship and bullying and see what project they would like to do.

Practical Life/Sensorial

Share an article about babies born with AIDS. One class agreed they wanted to help in some way and decided to make baby blankets. They looked at pictures of quilts made by pioneer women and decided to use similar patterns for decoration. Using soft fabric and fabric markers, they worked with geometric patterns in soothing colors. A parent volunteer sewed the edges, and the completed blankets went on “tour” in the school to teach others about this important subject. Students created mini-lessons to make their classroom presentations interactive. Using the constructive triangles or templates from the geometric cabinet, children can create patterns for blankets.

There are many ways to be a good neighbor. By using this term frequently, and over the years, we plant the seeds for future government leaders to work with the Good Neighbor Policy and perhaps, just perhaps, we’ll get closer to a world without war.

Resources

The Millenium Development Goals www.un.org/milleniumgoals/
A monthly newsletter showing how people move from awareness to creating good neighborhood experiences, good for storytelling and research projects: www.goodnewsagency.org

Earth Flag
To purchase an earth flag: www.earthflags.com.

Poverty

To learn more about poverty issues and to get ideas for service and action, visit these Web sites and organizations online:

www.shareourstrength.org
Share Our Strength mobilizes individuals and industries to lend their talents to raise funds and awareness for the fight against hunger and poverty, by addressing immediate and long-term solutions. Their Great American Bake Sale program offers educational curriculum and opportunities to work toward eliminating childhood hunger in America.

www.oxfamamerica.org
www.oxfam.org
Both Oxfam America and Oxfam International are dedicated to finding long-term solutions to poverty, hunger and social injustice around the world. Visit their pages for youth to find ways to become involved.

www.nationalhomeless.org
The National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH) engages in public education, policy advocacy and grassroots organizing. Become educated about homelessness and learn the many ways students can become knowledgeable and involved.

Rebecca Janke, a former Montessori teacher and school owner, 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.