A peaceable classroom

A client drew my attention to this new book: Creating the Peaceable Classroom: Techniques to Calm, Uplift, and Focus Teachers and Students. She sent me a friend’s blog post.

“My elementary teaching days have passed, but I would totally be using this book if I were working in a school. I came across it in the vastly rich bookstore at the Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health in Lenox, MA. 

“Who wouldn't want a peaceable classroom?

“Creating the Peaceable Classroom is an incredible collection of tools for teachers and their students to self-regulate their thoughts and behaviors when under stress or over stimulated. With these tools in hand, all members of a classroom community can focus their attention where it needs to be.”

Have you noticed that our young people are more and more stressed? I even know of a fifth grader who insisted upon a Blackberry for her birthday. Her schedule was too complicated to keep straight!

I didn’t even carry a calendar until my senior year in college, and then only because I needed to keep track of job interviews. Fifth grade?!

“[Author Sandy] Bothmer starts with detailed information on ‘Bringing Balance and Vitality to the Classroom Arrangement’ through the use of Feng Shui—the ancient Chinese art of creating environments that foster individual and personal goals. Teachers have always put time and efforts into classroom arrangements—but sometimes with as much focus on neat and pretty as on truly functional. Here we go beyond desks and blackboards to new key classroom elements (from rugs and sofas to fountains and wind chimes), how to place them, and why they help teachers and students to do their best work. 

“Think about a store or location you've been to where traffic flow restricts access or where the shopping experience just isn't good. On the other hand, if you've been to DisneyLand/World, you know how well people can flow in and around the rides and exhibits. Those folks spend a lot of time and effort on what people see and how they can see and move around it. Don't we owe that same opportunity to our children as they learn?”

What a great idea! Another blessing of using Feng Shui is to add the children’s instincts into the mix and let them participate in this fine and ancient art. Feng Shui has made me a much more prolific writer over the years. What could it do to enhance and enchant learning environments? A whole lot!

“Subsequent chapters describe in detail activities that foster a peaceable classroom such as doing deep belly breathing, striking yoga poses, stating positive affirmations, participating in guided imagery, and listening to music. “

I recently read a moving essay in Spirituality & Health (Sept/Oct) about a young woman who had been terrorized by the Catholic Sisters who taught at her parochial school. She sought them out to begin a process of forgiveness, and received so much more! She and the Sisters who’d scared her together created sacred peace. It was beautiful.

“Teachers will be glad to see that there are actual lesson plans with objectives, materials lists, and step-by-step instructions. The background for how and why these activities connect to classroom success is another important offering. A guiding principle is that the activities are all ones that focus on "the whole self" (as opposed to just the brain...) as essential to the learning process. Some of my favorites are raisin focusing, dog and cat pose, and rocky coast visualization.

“What I really appreciate about the ideas in Creating the Peaceable Classroom is that they model techniques that can extend to life outside the classroom. How wonderful to empower children to notice their own reaction/response to a situation and then appropriately manage it.  Very terrapeutic, indeed!”

My spiritual daughter, Laura, who has been teaching in the Teach for America program for several years in the roughest school district in Los Angeles, could have used a book like this. Creating peaceable classrooms is something that we all can commit to and help with and it will go a long way toward creating peaceable humans, who will then help to create peace on Earth.