Classroom Environments for Peace: Taking a Closer Look.Fall brings us new opportunities to create peaceful classrooms. In addition to developing a positive social environment, teachers can create physical environments to promote peaceful interactions among children. Last spring, a group of teachers and early childhood professionals in the Baltimore area spent time observing children and closely examining the physical environment in their classrooms. They found areas that could spark conflicts and others that encouraged peace. The following suggestions are based on their observations. We welcome other ideas that you may have to pass on to the Network! Arranging Your Classroom for Peace Traffic Flow: The room arrangement should give children space to move about the room without bumping Bumping can refer to:
Face to Face Seating: Children should have an opportunity to attend fully to one another and to collaborate more naturally, developing mini-communities in table or desk groupings. Location for Distracting dis·tract tr.v. dis·tract·ed, dis·tract·ing, dis·tracts 1. To cause to turn away from the original focus of attention or interest; divert. 2. To pull in conflicting emotional directions; unsettle. Activities: Centers where movement and sounds may distract others should be placed around the walls away from the central table groupings, or in other suitable non-distracting arrangements. Children will learn to be purposeful pur·pose·ful adj. 1. Having a purpose; intentional: a purposeful musician. 2. Having or manifesting purpose; determined: entered the room with a purposeful look. in respecting others as they work. Collaborative Learning Collaborative learning is an umbrella term for a variety of approaches in education that involve joint intellectual effort by students or students and teachers. Collaborative learning refers to methodologies and environments in which learners engage in a common task in which each Centers: Children can practice collaborating, problem-solving, and perspective-taking in centers designed for learning and working together. An integral part of curricular learning objectives, these centers are not "something to do when (if) you finish your work." Places for Peacemaking Peacemaking See also Antimilitarism. Agrippa, Menenius Coriolanus’s witty friend; reasons with rioting mob. [Br. Lit.: Coriolanus] Antenor percipiently urges peace with Greeks. [Gk. Lit. : A Peace Table, or corner, where children develop portable peacemaking and conflict resolution skills to use in the classroom and beyond will be very valuable and useful. Suggestions for Making Changes * Evaluate classroom activities, including routines and use of materials: Do the activities encourage competition or collaboration? * Engage children in decision-making about room arrangement and seating assignments. * Allow children more time for completing work or for just thinking. Find creative ways to reduce stress among children. Reassure re·as·sure tr.v. re·as·sured, re·as·sur·ing, re·as·sures 1. To restore confidence to. 2. To assure again. 3. To reinsure. children that their needs will be met so that they will then be free to notice and help meet the needs of others. With thanks to graduate students in ECED ECED European Council on Eating Disorders 672, Spring 2000, Towson University. More Online Resources * League of Peaceful Schools, Nova Scotia Nova Scotia (nō`və skō`shə) [Lat.,=new Scotland], province (2001 pop. 908,007), 21,425 sq mi (55,491 sq km), E Canada. Geography : http:// www.leagueofpeacefulschools.ns.ca * Neveh Shalom sha·lom interj. Used as a traditional Jewish greeting or farewell. [Hebrew  (School for Israeli & Palestinian Children):
http: //www.nswas.com
* Teach Peace (Materials for Pre-K children & teachers): http: / / www.come.to / Rose4Peace * World Peace Project for children: http:// www.sadako.org Edyth Wheeler (ewheeler@gmu.edu) and Aline Stomfay-Stitz (astomfay@unf.edu) |
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