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ahimsa
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Posted: June 03 2003,13:14 |
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| Quote (CPNN Administrator @ Mar. 02 2003,19:51) | | Readers comments are invited on the question: "How can we get children involved in the peace process through literacy?" |
As a language and reading teacher I feel that yes, students can learn about peace through literacy. Reading about Frederck Douglas, Dr. King, Gandhi, and Oloudah Aquino students learn! Learning about others humanizes them. I try to bring that to to classroom.
By writing essays frequently about pertinent topics, and their feelings, students are also able to relate and process. My students were required to write 4X a week, beginning with a 1/2 page essay nightly to a full page by December break. This is in the fourth grade.
I also think that reading centers are very valuable in the classroom. Invite discussion between children and the class. have the children write about nonviolence. These are not new topics to the classroom teacher. We maintain order in the classroom by invoking the "Golden Rule" and good behavior. We try to model it ourselves in using dignity with others. I myself apologize to students whenever appropriate.
In my project, I encourage students to write, and I read other's letters to them, letters to and from children in other countries. Students realize through discussion that they can think differently about whomever at the time is supposed to be their enemy.
Judith Biondo Meeker
morethanwarmth.org
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