‘Best Cases/Practices’ in peace education - November 25, 2005

 

Friday, November 25 - 9:00 am - 5:00 pm [Location: Student Union Centre, 3rd Floor, CIBC Banquet Hall] - Concurrent Sessions of ‘Best Cases/Practices’ in peace education.  This (and the Trade Fair Saturday and Sunday) will provide opportunity for people to disseminate information on innovative new and best practices in peace education, and will provide the opportunity for the audience to learn new methods, obtain new materials and ask questions, trade notes, etc.

Participants who ask for time slots to make their presentation will be asked to provide a summary and time required.  We plan on offering a large selection of choices, and conference participants can choose which sessions they want to attend.  Currently, the following presentations are planned:

Kathy Bickmore, Ph.D., Associate Professor Curriculum, Teaching & Learning Department, OISE/University of Toronto - discussion of some of the recent research Kathy has been doing on curriculum guidelines and professional development/support for public school teachers to teach about global and local conflicts & peacemaking/ peacebuilding.  Titles include: "Gentle peacekeeping, or foundations for democratic peacebuilding. or . . .?  Representation of conflict in Canadian public school curricula", "Facilitating 'difficult citizenship' education: teacher learning for constructive conflict", and "Re-humanization and Difficult Decision-Making, Global and Local: Canadian Curriculum and Teacher Development Cases".

Michael Williams, Storyteller, Teacher, Peace Educator, Scotland - will present on his work with the Cross-Party Group on Creating a Culture of Peace in Scotland at the Parliament, and his experience using Oxfam's 'Get Global' programme in the classroom with secondary-school aged Steiner pupils and  the Juniper Programme - for Primary and Secondary students. This (Juniper Programme) has been running in England for over ten years and is now establishing in Scotland.

Khalida Syed is a PH.D candidate in the department of Elementary Education at the University of Alberta. She is currently working on collecting data for her dissertation entitled, "Sharing cultural narratives promoting Peace".  She is on leave of absence from her teaching position in a Pakistani University where she taught American, British and Canadian literature to graduate students. She also introduced Canadian Literature for the first time in Pakistan with the support of the Canadian Foreign Affairs office.  Currently she is also involved in promoting cross-cultural, intercultural, interfaith narratives for peace education.

William Payne, Rotary World Peace Scholar, Argentina - information about the Rotary World Peace Scholars program, as well as an interactive workshop regarding Christian Peacemakers Teams work in conflict zones and generally the concept of nonviolent intervention in conflict situations.

Speaking Peace: An Introduction to Nonviolent Communication, a half-day workshop by Rachelle Lamb.  Nonviolent Communication, developed by international peacemaker Dr. Marshall Rosenberg, is a powerful communication process that helps people speak authentically from their hearts about what matters most. Through the use of non-blaming honesty and empathic listening, NVC raises the bar for communication and allows everyone to get their needs met on their own terms, without coercion, fear of retribution, or loss of self-esteem. Whether engaging with friends, family, co-workers or those believed to be enemies, NVC offers concrete effective tools that empower people to engage in creative dialogue in order to construct mutually satisfying solutions, harmony and connection. Rachel le Lamb is the president of Mindful Communication based in Victoria , BC , and is a certified trainer of Nonviolent Communication. She has co-trained with Dr. Rosenberg and is the author of NVC Communication Basics: A Concise Overview of Nonviolent Communication. Additional info, including Chapter 1 of Nonviolent Communication, can be found on her website at www.mindfulcommunication.ca.

Bob Stewart, Chair of the Rotary Club of Okotoks Peace Plus Committee and Conference Chair, is pleased to invite Rotarians to a half day workshop intended to help Rotarians help Rotary to achieve its Peace Mission.  As you know, "Rotary is a worldwide organization of business and professional leaders that provides humanitarian service, encourages high ethical standards in all vocations, and helps build goodwill and peace in the world."  (quote reference http://www.rotary.org/aboutrotary/index.html ).  Click on this link to see the more detailed invitation.  Participants will be interested to hear about the Rotary Centers for International Studies in peace and conflict resolution, and Rotary World Peace Scholars program.  Click on this link to see a copy of the Powerpoint Presentation used in the Workshop. 

Amanda Byron, Director Violence Prevention/Core Faculty Member Graduate Program in Conflict Resolution Portland State University - Restorative Justice as a means for building Peace Education in K-12 Education.

Elaheh Sari, Virtues Village International, http://www.charactereducation.ca/ will present a half day, interactive workshop "The 4th R – The Creation of Peace filled Relationships". 

Classroom Connections, while unable to make a presentation, will be providing a package of resource material for participants

Teaching Peace to Patriots and Nationalists, by Rajmohan Ramanathapillai, Asst. Professor of Philosophy and Peace and Justice Studies, Director of Peace and Justice Studies, Gettysburg College , rramanat@gettysburg.com .  National threat, grievances, self-defense and justice are frequently evoked themes when nations go to war. Leaders fervently invoke narrow patriotism and nationalism to unify and rally the people for war. In the rush to war alternative ideas and peaceful resolutions are perceived as naïve, traitorous and even dangerous for national survival.  In such a lethal environment, peace educators are often harassed, stigmatized, socially alienated and sometimes killed. The main question this paper addresses is how peace should be taught in such highly emotionally charged environments without peace advocates being perceived as unpatriotic. This paper aims to discuss the treacherous challenges for peace educators in the time of war and will explore strategies for peace education for patriots and nationalists. 

Canadian Peace Education Foundation - Bob Stewart will provide an overview of the Foundation and introduce a discussion on related action plans.

The International Peace Research Association 2006 Conference, Calgary - of particular interest to the Peace Research community.  As you may know, the gathering of hundreds of some of the finest peace researchers and educators in the world in Calgary during the summer of 2006 is an unprecedented opportunity and event, first of all for Calgary but also for the province of Alberta and for Canada. We have such a splendid opportunity to play the role of gracious, supportive and enthusiastic hosts to a large group of people from every continent, to introduce them to Canada, Alberta and Calgary and to exchange with them diverse cultural values, understandings and perspectives, both theirs and ours.  The time to plan for IPRA 2006 is important, and will have a positive impact on peace research in Canada.   Please read the Letter of Invitation to Canadian Peace Researchers and "Concerned Others".

"The Culture of Peace News Network - Canada".  A workshop to "brainstorm" the creation of a Canadian alternative to "the Culture of War News Networks".   U.N. Resolution A/RES/57/6 Encourages the involvement of the mass media in education for a culture of peace and non-violence, with particular regard to children and young people, including through the planned expansion of the Culture of Peace News Network as a global network of Internet sites in many languages.  This workshop will be of particular significance to anyone who is interested in the media and participating in the creation of a Culture of Peace News Network in Canada.  Workshop leader:  Tom Rippon, Vancouver at avalon100[at]pacificcoast.net 

Report from the Provinces on the Status, Progress and Future of Peace Education.   As education is a provincial mandate, transformation of the education system to a Culture of Peace must engage provincial education ministries and local school boards, among others.  Reports will be solicited from Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta (where we have some known current activity) and any other Provincial/Federal Ministries and Committees that would like to respond, for group consideration.  Participants should also come with knowledge of what is happening in their provinces, and in their schools/districts and share that with the group.

Open Space Technology and using it in a School Peace Education Program - Leslie Higgins, Open Space facilitator for our Youth Day, Thursday November 24.

Peacetocome.com offers a spiritual training aimed at calming human passions and inner turmoil. The training develops inner peace within our being. Peace need to start within human beings before individuals can bring peace out into the world. The training is practiced twice a week for half an hour. It is available to anyone 17 years or older of any or no religious denomination. (Visit: http://www.peacetocome.com )  Simon Monbaron is Executive Director of Peacetocome.com. He is a spiritual advisor and practiced the spiritual training with the Subud organization for 50 years. He is an authorized representative of Muhammad Subuh Sumohadiwidjojo, founder of Subud. Subud has spread to 90 countries without any advertisement.

The role of the school library media program in education for peace, by Pamela Anderson, PhD student at Indiana University in the education school’s Curriculum and Instruction.

Simon De abreu presenting: Liberation Theatre (Theatre of Liberation) a.k.a. Theatre of the Oppressed is . . . A Highly Participatory, Interactive Theatre . . . developed to not only entertain, but to engage and educate.  Nevertheless, most importantly, incite and empower people to "perform" non-violent political action. Liberate yourself and have fun doing it.  Liberation Theatre (LT) takes a celebratory approach to building community and fostering human development. LT is a fabulous way of focusing on social justice issues found in various communities.  i.e. Peace education issues or education issues related to peace and conflict.  In Canada, one of primary goals of Theatre of Liberation is to address the political indifference found in many communities all over the county.  For more info please visit www.henry-v.ca/liberation ; Breaking the Cycle of Violence in Theatre: Taking back the theatre with Theatre of Liberation  

Author Carolyn Pogue will describe her experience as Peace Writer in Residence in Provost, Alberta in 1994.  Her book, Remember Peace is a guide for teachers and leaders wishing to help students from grade 4 to 7 connect Remembrance Day to peace. She will introduce this new resource from Connections Publishing and read from another new book for peace leaders who work with children, A New Day: Peacemaking Stories and Activities.

[Note - this is a work-in-progress - if you would like to make a presentation, please submit a summary with your qualifications and time requirement to Bob Stewart stewartr[at]peace.ca ]