2017 Peace Teacher Reflections
Our 2017 Peace Teachers reflect on "Aha!" moments or struggles in their classrooms from their year so far in USIP's Peace Teachers Program. These brief articles will challenge your notion of what it means to teach peace and provide educators with new ideas and insights for their own classrooms.
Amy Cameron, Grandview High School, Grandview, MO
"Before discovering the Peace Teachers Program’s shared curriculum and philosophy, I was ill-equipped to add “peacebuilding” into my day-to-day teaching. My students rarely venture outside a 10-mile radius – some for their entire lives. How can I help them understand that they are the future; they are global citizens?"
Read more of Amy's reflection on her experience as a Peace Teacher, "A Teacher's Response to "Is World Peace Possible?""
María Eugenia Zelaya, Eastside High School, Gainesville, FL
"Some people may think that a peacebuilding curriculum can only be integrated in Social Studies and that for any other subject is not realistic. This year, I took on the challenge of integrating a peacebuilding curriculum in my Spanish classes."
Read more of Maria's reflection on her experience as a Peace Teacher, "Peacebuilding Curriculum is Not Only for Social Studies Classes"
Ezra Shearer, Sentinel High School, Missoula, MT
"This generation is not given the appropriate credit for their intention, their tolerance and their commitment to making the world a better place. Perhaps, the overwhelming inability for the baby-boomers, Generation X and all others to effectively bridge divides to solve problems of common concern has translated to a deep motivation for students to push themselves to realize that the solutions will only be found within themselves and each other."
Read more of Ezra's reflection on his experience as a Peace Teacher, "Making the Time to Change the World"
Vince Facione, Will Rogers College High School, Tulsa, OK
"Dead. Archaic. Boring. Irrelevant. History for too long has been approached as a corpse or dusty old book. History’s root word is story. History’s grand narrative invites students to take an active role, walk in characters’ footsteps, understand the clues, causes and effects that shape history, and experience emotions and tensions as history unfolds in front of them."
Read more of Ezra's reflection on his experience as a Peace Teacher, "Making History Come Alive Through Conflict and Peace"
The views expressed here are those of the authors and not necessarily of the U.S. Institute of Peace.
Learn more about the USIP Peace Teacher program.