Peacemakers best practices formats.

A. Basic Role Play: Present the ‘topic’ – it can be literally anything. Tell a story or explain the problem. Explain why it might be important to students.

1. -> lead the class in volunteering discussion on the topic

2. ->teacher role models the topic issue and creates one or more solutions

3. -> repeat this

4. -> have two students come up and role model the problem and the solution

5. -> set the whole class loose to find a partner and practice the problem and the solution

6. -> bring them back to seated, and have a few come up as ‘actors’ and act out the problem and the solution.

Finish up with the final point you want to leave them with. (The most important part, the part that creates transfer, is their practice and role play.)

B. Chalk talk. In this, we build the lesson by stages, on the white board. It might be the attitude plan, or the weather. It might be a giant, angry cat. It might be a family in a house. As you do the lesson, progress the drawing toward what you want the students to have a visual of. (Kids become entranced by your visuals and where you’re going next, and sometimes it’s even better if your art is uneven. They tend to vividly remember the symbolism of a chalk talk even years later.)

C. Multimodal. Students do a hands-on activity which reinforces the lesson. Preferably, drawing something freehand that illustrates the lesson. Students can draw their fears, then make them into airplanes and throw them into the garbage. Students can draw a broken heart, and then draw a clock and a mended heart to show how time helps to feel better. Etc. (Making sad or scary art and then throwing it away or flying it away is very empowering for students.)

D. Pairing. This is especially good for listening and talking practice of any kind. Have students select a partner and line up facing each other. Then, they take turns listening and talking on a given topic, or one selected by the teacher. Then, move one line down one and repeat. (This takes students out of their comfort zone, and they have to talk and listen to different people.) About every 4 minutes, have one line move down one again. At the end, after their seated, ask this question: “Did you learn something about another classmate that you didn’t know before?” “Did you talk to someone that you don’t usually talk to?” If there’s time, elicit some specific examples from the class.

E. Socratic method. Use questions and dialectic to engage students and facilitate their finding their own answers. This is a time honored tradition which says that truth comes out in dialogue. In other words, pretty much all the information you want to bring out is already contained among the students; questions simply build the lesson by drawing this out.