Peace Tools for Teachers

Peace Tools for Teachers

We use variations of these exercises in our peaceCENTER training, If you are using peaceCENTER material in your classroom, we would be delighted to add your lesson plans to the list. You can e-mail them to the webmaster."We challenge the culture of violence when we ourselves act in the certainty that violence is no longer acceptable, that it's tired and outdated no matter how many cling to it in the stubborn belief that it still works and that it's still valid."
Gerard Vanderhaar
Raoul WallenburgThis Day in Peace and Justice History is a list of events cued to specific dates, starting with 1-Jan: A law making slave importation into the U.S. illegal becomes effective. (1808) and ending with 29-Dec: Army massacres 300 women, men and children at Wounded Knee, SD (1890). Currently containting more than 700 entries, it is being added to constantly. It is available both as a web page (www.salsa.net/peace/timeline/thisday.html) and as an Excel spreadsheet (www.salsa.net/peace/timeline/thisdayinhistory.xls).

There are obvious ways to use the "This Day" timeline. Include extracts in newsletters and bulletins. Read it daily over the intercom, or post it on a bulletin board. Transfer it to banner paper and ring the room with it - include drawings! Here are some interactive activities that use the timeline in creative ways:

    My Day in Peace and Justice History
    Almost everyone is interested in events that happened on his or her birthday! Connect research about the peace and Justice timeline to student's birthdays to generates enthusiasm and engineer a diversity of events.

    198 Methods of Nonviolence
    Gene Sharp, a senior scholar at the Albert Einstein Institution, Cambridge, MA, wrote The Methods of Nonviolent Action, which describes 198 methods of nonviolent action, ranging from public speaking to civil disobedience. This list can be used in conjunction with the peaceCENTER's This Day in Peace and Justice History to delve deeper into the meaning of nonviolent action.

Decade for the Culture of Peace and NonviolenceThe Decade for the Culture of Peace and Nonviolence for the Children of the world runs from 2001 to 2010. The United Nations has developed a pledge, simple enough for even young children to understand and sign. The pledge is online at www.salsa.net/peace/nobellet.html and also available in an Adobe Acrobat portable document format, more suitable for printing, at www.salsa.net/peace/pledge.pdf.

Everyone can sign the pledge, either individually or in a group signing ceremony. It can also be signed online, adding to the more than 74 million names that have already taken the pledge on the UNESCO Web site - www.unesco.org/manifesto2000. Here are some additional ideas to make the pledge come alive in the classroom.

    Pledge for Peace - Today's News
    Scour today's newspaper looking for events that keep - or break - the United Nation's Pledge for Peace.

    Pledge for Peace - Tomorrow's News
    After you have looked in a current newspaper and found examples of violence, re-write those headlines as if it were 2010 and we had achieved a culture of peace. What will the world look like then?

    Pledge for Peace - Pledge Diary
    Make a Peace Pledge Diary and use it to record how you, your community and the world is moving towards a culture of peace and nonviolence.

RainbowPeace Symbols - Peace is in My Hands
Throughout history, symbols from the olive branch to the rainbow have symbolized peace. Learn about these peace signs - and make your own!

A New Language of PeaceA New Language of Peace
Every language has a word for peace. Mir. Shalom. Paz. Wolakota. Learn how to say peace in other languages and use this exercise as a springboard to discuss the meaning of peace.

Picture the Peaces
What would a day without violence look like? Peace is possible - can you picture it? The peaceCENTER has produced a do-it-yourself kit to help you conduct your own Picture the Peaces art contest.

Working it Out
Working it Out: is a set of 32 activities developed by Rosalyn Falcon Collier of the Youth Peaceworks Initiative. They are suitable for all ages, from preschoolers to adults and can be used as an ongoing program or as individual activities. We will periodically post lesson plans from this manual on the web site. The entire booklet can be obtained by sending a check for $10 to the peaceCENTER, PO Box 36, San Antonio, TX 78291. Please indicate that you want the "Working it Out" guide.

Popcorn PeacemakingPopcorn Peacemaking
Use popular movies to teach peace? Why not! A growing inventory of discussion guides that help you use popular videos - most available at libraries and video rental stores - to teach peace to adults and young adults.

Blessed Are the Peacemakers
30-plus biographies of some of the world's greatest peacemakers presented as a quiz. Hint: if you want to print the pop-up windows, RIGHT-click on the "who is this?" link and select "open in new window."

The Great Peace March
A timeline of 70 peace and justice events with Internet links leading to deeper information.

peaceQUOTES
A collection of more than 300 quotations about peace and justice.

Internet Tips for Teachers
If you encounter any problems using this material, look here for help.

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For further information contact:
peaceCENTER
P.O. Box 36, San Antonio, Texas 78291
(210) 224-HOPE or 224-4673   FAX (210) 222-1097