Black Ants and Buddhists: Thinking Critically and Teaching Differently in the Primary Grades
What would a classroom look like if understanding and respecting differences in race, culture, beliefs, and opinions were at its heart? Welcome to Mary Cowhey's Peace Class in Northampton, MA, where first and second graders view the entire curriculum through the framework of understanding the world, and trying to do their part to make it a better place.\ Woven through the book is Mary's unflinching and humorous account of her own roots in a struggling large Irish Catholic family and her early...
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What would a classroom look like if understanding and respecting differences in race, culture, beliefs, and opinions were at its heart? Welcome to Mary Cowhey's Peace Class in Northampton, MA, where first and second graders view the entire curriculum through the framework of understanding the world, and trying to do their part to make it a better place.Woven through the book is Mary's unflinching and humorous account of her own roots in a struggling large Irish Catholic family and her early career as a community activist. Mary's teaching is infused with lessons of her heroes: Gandhi, Eleanor Roosevelt, Helen Keller, Martin Luther King, and others. Her students learn to make connections between their lives, the books they read, the community leaders they meet, and the larger world.If you were inspired to become a teacher because you wanted to change the world, and instead find yourself limited by teach-to-the-test pressures, this is the book that will make you think hard about how you spend your time with students. It offers no easy answers, just a wealth of insight into the challenges of helping students think critically about the world, and starting points for conversations about diversity and controversy in your classroom, as well as in the larger community.
Prologue : black ants and Buddhism11Introduction142Compassion, action, and change223Routines : a day in the life of the peace class364It takes a village to teach first grade575Talking about peace816Learning through activism1017Teaching history so children will care1228Nurturing history detectives1409Seeing ourselves and our families through students' eyes16410Responding when tragedy enters the classroom17911Building trust with families and weathering controversy19312Going against the grain208Afterword : "Take this hammer"224
