Freedom Within Limits: Peace Education In The Montessori Classroom

In our modern world, it is so easy to get sucked in to conflict online, on the news, with our family and friends. It is important that at a very young age, we begin to learn how to settle our differences and appropriately handle strong emotions.

Peace education is a major component of the Montessori classroom. Adults model peaceful and respectful behavior, and because Montessori classrooms are composed of mixed age groups, older students serve as role models for younger children.

Most classrooms have a peace corner or peace table, at which two students can go to resolve a conflict or a single child can go to calm down and feel peaceful. One strategy is the use of a peace rose. Children learn to take turns holding the peace rose while speaking about how they feel. They stay at the peace table until they have heard each other and resolved their conflict. With very young children, adults model and coach the children with words they can use. Older students can do this independently. At the Elementary level, when the imagination takes off, students enjoy role playing and solving problems in small groups. Elementary and Middle School age students may participate in student-led community meetings, in which conflicts are discussed, brainstormed, and resolved as a group.

This book provides learning experiences to reduce violence, enhance personal integrity and foster mutual respect. We teach conflict resolution, peer mediation and prejudice reduction.

Dettagli